You may be right, it has been two years since I read it.
Wow, I liked the first episode a lot. Michael C. Hall was terrific. I don’t really have room for another “story arc” episodic show in my TV-watching schedule, but this looks like a show that I really want to keep watching, so I’m going to jettison “Vanished” from my “must see” list.
I was a bit woozy-headed when I watched this, and it wasn’t clear to me how Dexter is disposing of the bodies of his victims after he’s through with them. Can someone clue me in?
(I just “got” your screenname!)
It was not made clear, but I think he said something about garbage bags - perhaps he takes them in his boat and dumps them off shore somewhere
When we first saw Dexter going to his hideaway, it looked like there were three large holes in the ground, grave size, so I thought they were for Dexter’s victims. But then we saw him cutting and the garbage bags.
Was he going to re-inter the bodies of the little boys in those holes?
Intriguing show. Definitely something I will follow. But I really didn’t like Doakes. Too hostile.
I thought this was a feel-good creepy story. Michael C Hall is an amazing actor, and he really sells this detached person with too much going on upstairs. Then he goes all friendly, funny and normal with his sister. Very twisted.
I’m a little upset about the spoiler above, but I think it adds to the character, I’m now just hoping it isn’t a giant plot point later (like an end of episode revelation)
Showtime is becoming a player in the high standards of TV dramas.
I also liked the show a lot more than I thought I would. It has a nice creepy feel to it, sort of forcing you to root for the serial killer…and I like the tension of the one black cop who just hates Dexter and senses this boy ain’t right in the head and said, “I’ll be watchin’ you…” Also, the sexless relationship with the girlfriend was interesting…the whole show sort of turns everything upside down and that alone makes it worth watching.
Good start to the show - have it on my DVR list and will keep watching.
Much has been made of sociopathic Dexter having to feign normal emotion, so it didn’t fit when he got so angry with the first guy he killed. Nobody else was around, so he didn’t need to fake anything.
So can he feel emotion or can’t he?
The ‘anger’ he was showing was part of the art of the kill. his victim was still able to feel terror, and feel as if this was his comeupance. Plus, I think killing is something that gets Dex riled up. Remember…he was with his girlfriend in the car and got turned on by talking about the case he was working on. She doesn’t turn him on, but he was getting a bit flushed by the thought of the ‘clean bloodless’ killer.
I don’t buy the whole “emotionless” thing. Sure, he doesn’t necessarily feel in the “normal” way, but yes, he has emotions. He does love his adoptive parents & sister, his girlfriend, her kids; he does like most of his co-workers; he’s generally a friendly guy. His trauma did leave an emotionally empty spot & a lack of the hesitancy most of us would feel in killing, but he lets that empty spot define him & ignores what I consider to be genuine emotions.
I’m leaning that way too. My personal (and probably wrong) opinion that since he is a serial killer he wants to deny that he is human just like anyone else. He loved his adoptive parents so much that for the longest time he killed only animals because of what his parents might think. He killed that dog when he was young because it was bothering his very ill mother.
I get the impression that Dexter really does have some normal emotions, if he lets his guard down. Reading the books, you can see that he really cares for his sister, likes kids in general and his girlfriend’s in particular, and even comes to enjoy hanging out at her house, watching TV and having a beer. To a degree, it seems llike he wants to convince himself that he has no emotions - that makes it easier to deal with what he does. That could explain why he had so few girlfriends - he was mentally taking himself out of the equation to begin with, and he sort of ended up liking the situation with his current girlfriend unexpectedly. In the novels at least, they did not explain how he got rid of the bodies, although it seems he is always on his boat after one of his hits. They have changed it a little from the books - the first victim shown was a priest in the books, but on TV he is a civilian.