In both the novels and the TV series, Dexter is a forensic blood spatter analyst who works for the Miami Police Department; in his spare time, he is a serial killer but only preys on other murderers who have escaped the justice system. He follows an elaborate code of ethics and procedures taught to him in childhood by his foster father, Harry Morgan (which he refers to as "The Code" or "The Code of Harry"), which hinges on two principles: Dexter can only kill people after finding evidence that they are guilty of murder, and he must dispose of all evidence so he never gets caught.
Since childhood, Dexter has felt homicidal urges directed by an inner voice he calls "the Dark Passenger"; when that voice cannot be ignored, he "lets the Dark Passenger do the driving". He abides by a moral code taught to him by his foster father, Harry Morgan, in which he only allows himself to kill people who are themselves murderers. Dexter considers himself emotionally divorced from the rest of humanity; in his narration, he refers to "humans" as if he is not one himself. Source: Wikipedia
Necks are punctured, limbs are severed, hearts are carved out, cheeks are peeled open – depraved bodies are unpieced and discarded so that tiny young feet may once again frolic freely on soft green grasses. Dexter doesn't just kill people who kill people, he dismantles them, as if hoping to locate their evil under a heavy vein or inside a skeletal crevice. If only evil were pluckable, then with perhaps a pair of tweezers aimed at exactly the right places in his body, he might actually have a chance at being normal, even suburban. He might stop killing. He might even stop hating himself so much.
Evil is examined here, even explained. We are told that Dexter witnessed his mother's brutal execution as a baby and this rearranged him quite fundamentally. Through consistent first person narration, Dexter is humanised, even endeared to the audience. He kills but we understand. We are made to understand. And through this effort, we are forced to consider the tortured childhoods of every serial killer and child rapist that is Dexter's victim. Not only are our wounds made in childhood, but so are our daggers. And not everybody had the good fortune to be trained into directing their murderous tendencies towards the extermination of 'deserving' people. And every deserving person had a thoroughly undeserved childhood.
Dexter is one shape of moral outrage, he is one response to suburban apathy, he is Karma's soldier, he is a traumatised child, he is a reluctant husband, he is a heartless killer. As the series continues, Dexter has to grapple with the consequences of feeling, even of loving. He questions his urges relentlessly. He develops a morality. He fissures before our very eyes. This is the complexity for which I love the series. Not just for a sick dude with a knife you know.
The old debates brew on – does systemic failure justify individual vigilantism, is killing ever right, etc. The arguments are as old as evil itself and the world of Dexter is a fine jousting place for these.
And another thing, Michael C. Hall is, in my estimation, one of the dreamiest yummiest sexiest people on television. He is sin itself.
