# 'Dexter' on Showtime? (Open spoilers - lots of 'em) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2006, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712 "2006-09-30T05:53:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![toadbriar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@toadbriar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadbriar)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/1 "2006-09-30T05:53:33Z")
I haven’t got Showtime but I’ve seen a couple commercials for this new series. Not sure if it’s premiered yet. Apparently the premise is that he is a serial killer but he works for the police to solve crimes? They’re playing it all cute, that he’s the hero, terribly clever except he’s just so mischievous what with the killing people and all. I’m kinda disturbed by it and keep hope I’m misinterpreting it - surely they’re not making a serial killer a good guy? I probably have more of a taste for the lurid than most but this makes me go ‘ew.’ Does anyone know more? I know I’m probably reacting exactly as designed, but the commercial gives me a big ol’ WTF. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/2 "2006-09-30T06:12:28Z")
[QUOTE=toadbriar] I haven’t got Showtime but I’ve seen a couple commercials for this new series. Not sure if it’s premiered yet. Apparently the premise is that he is a serial killer but he works for the police to solve crimes? They’re playing it all cute, that he’s the hero, terribly clever except he’s just so mischievous what with the killing people and all. I’m kinda disturbed by it and keep hope I’m misinterpreting it - surely they’re not making a serial killer a good guy? I probably have more of a taste for the lurid than most but this makes me go ‘ew.’ Does anyone know more? I know I’m probably reacting exactly as designed, but the commercial gives me a big ol’ WTF. [/QUOTE] My understanding is that they twist the serial killer thing by making him only kill criminals who’ve escaped justice. Kind of a postmodern _Hardcastle and McCormick_… ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/3 "2006-09-30T11:16:32Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] My understanding is that they twist the serial killer thing by making him only kill criminals who’ve escaped justice. Kind of a postmodern _Hardcastle and McCormick_… [/QUOTE] In the books, he only kills Serial Killers. I suppose we can infer that they have escaped justice so far - but primarily because they haven’t been caught. I enjoyed the first book a lot. The second one was somewhat darker and I didn’t enjoy it as much. I am disappointed that it has become a series as I believe that this could ruin the books. Luckily I don’t have Showtime, so I won’t see them. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/4 "2006-09-30T11:25:16Z")
[QUOTE=toadbriar] \ I’m kinda disturbed by it and keep hope I’m misinterpreting it - surely they’re not making a serial killer a good guy? \ [/QUOTE] Sorry, fogot to address this. Dexter lived through a traumatic experience as a very young child where he witnessed him mother killed and then was locked away with her body. We infer that this is what caused him to later in life become a serial killer (whether the psychology of this is accurate or not, I will not address.) Dexter is adopted at a young age by a police man. The police man (and perhaps his step sister) are the only ones that Dexter loves. (He says something to the effect that if he knew what love was or was capapable of it, he felt it for his step father.) His step father recognizes what Dexter will become and instead of condemning him, trains him to only hunt other serial killers. Dexter’s first kill is a nurse that was slowing killing patients - Dex’s stepfather is one of them. Yes it is disturbing, as are most of those books in the psycho-horrer genre. Silence of the Lambs, The Red Dragon et al. But Dexter was smartly written, fast paced and quirky/clever at times. ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/5 "2006-09-30T15:58:26Z")
You can watch the entire first episode [here](http://www.sho.com/site/dexter/sneakpeek/home.do). The password is “sneak peek” (no quotation marks). I quite enjoyed it, but I have never read the books so I didn’t go in knowing what to expect. Too bad I don’t get Showtime. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/6 "2006-09-30T16:58:32Z")
I haven’t read the books. Hadn’t even heard of them until Showtime started pimping Dexter. The premiere is Sunday and I’ll be watching. I hope it’s not just a gorefest. I don’t know how I feel about the premise of the show. How does Dexter know who these killers are? How does he know they’re guilty? Why haven’t the killers been arrested? If Dexter knows about them and has evidence of their guilt, why doesn’t he go to the police? Will these be killers who have had trials but get off on a ludicrous technicality or because of a corrupt judge? How many serial killers can one person find in a lifetime? Enough to make a TV series? ---
**Author:** ![toadbriar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@toadbriar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadbriar)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/7 "2006-09-30T17:12:04Z")
Thanks for the insight! I’ll definitely give the books a look. I’m awfully curious to see how the author makes it work - “you’re gonna make me identify with and cheer for this guy?? I’d like to see it - ok, do your stuff.” I didn’t feel that way about, for instance, Hannibal Lecter. But then I guess that’s what I read this sort of stuff for - to try to capture what it feels like to be something else. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/8 "2006-09-30T17:17:42Z")
I have high hopes for this. I haven’t read the books, but the premise is intriguing, and I loved Michael C. Hall in “Six Feet Under.” ---
**Author:** ![YPOD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e99b99/32.png) [@YPOD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YPOD)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/9 "2006-09-30T22:30:50Z")
Read the two books Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Dearly Devoted Dexter - they are quite enjoyable. Imagine Hanniabal Lector with a laid back attitude and more of a sense of humor. Basically, he goes after killers that he alone has found, and doesn’t worry about the rules of evidence, which gives him an enormous advantage over the police. Also, as a homicidal maniac himself, he has an understanding of how they work, and can sort of “sense” when he is with another maniac. The series looks to be following the first book pretty closely. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/10 "2006-10-01T01:28:35Z")
Does he have a lab? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/11 "2006-10-01T01:49:31Z")
**YPOD** , you say he’s a homicidal maniac. If it’s not giving too much away, does Dexter kill only bad guys? If there’s no bad guy around and Dexter needs to kill someone, what does he do? I guess what I’m asking is if he can control himself, because that’d be a lot more interesting than if he couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/12 "2006-10-01T21:35:31Z")
I don’t get Showtime, but when I read about this, I thought it was an interesting premise. A serial killer who kills serial killers! Now that’s interesting. [QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Does he have a lab? [/QUOTE] **Bryan** , get out of his la-bor-a-tor-y! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/13 "2006-10-01T21:51:46Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] **YPOD** , you say he’s a homicidal maniac. If it’s not giving too much away, does Dexter kill only bad guys? If there’s no bad guy around and Dexter needs to kill someone, what does he do? I guess what I’m asking is if he can control himself, because that’d be a lot more interesting than if he couldn’t. [/QUOTE] Understand that my entire knowledge of the show comes from the recent article in _Entertainment Weekly_, but the premise is that he’s not compelled to do this, it’s just the only thing that makes him happy. He’s a classic sociopath otherwise, having to fake emotion and interest in human interactions on the job. His cop foster-father, recognizing what the child was, worked very hard to more or less train him to only kill bad guys. In other words, it doesn’t appear that he’s a Jason Voorhees type (kill, kill, kill, kill) so much as a Patrick Bateman type (killing’s the only thing that makes me feel anything). ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/14 "2006-10-01T21:54:22Z")
Thanks, **jayjay**. That makes it sound even more interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/15 "2006-10-01T23:03:06Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Understand that my entire knowledge of the show comes from the recent article in _Entertainment Weekly_, but the premise is that he’s not compelled to do this, it’s just the only thing that makes him happy. He’s a classic sociopath otherwise, having to fake emotion and interest in human interactions on the job. His cop foster-father, recognizing what the child was, worked very hard to more or less train him to only kill bad guys. In other words, it doesn’t appear that he’s a Jason Voorhees type (kill, kill, kill, kill) so much as a Patrick Bateman type (killing’s the only thing that makes me feel anything). [/QUOTE] In the book he talks about the “dark rider” and yes, it seems to drive him. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/16 "2006-10-02T03:17:19Z")
I liked it. I wasn’t sure about all the exposition. Other shows I like (Deadwood, Kidnapped) don’t do much exposition, so Dexter felt a bit dumbed down. I like Dexter the person. He has an odd way of holding things together, but different strokes and all that. It’s good that he’s being given a challenge, and that he and people he knows might be in danger. If he was a Hannibal Lecter type omnipotent genius, that’d take away any tension. ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/17 "2006-10-02T04:48:55Z")
I’m not sure how I felt about this show. He was just a little too much in your face crazy and not enough normal guy for me to like him. Without giving anything away, it’s a little far fetched and there are holes in the plot. Does the woman that gives him the files ever connect this with all the dead people? How does his sister not know that he’s a raging psychopath? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/18 "2006-10-02T14:55:01Z")
Read the first book and thought it was schlock, but have seen most of the show’s first season and it is waaay better than the source material. Michael C. Hall is excellent and the look and feel (shots, music, etc.) are all just top notch. The sister sort of bugs me, but I like the top cop from Oz. We are supposed to believe that Dexter is compelled to kill whether he likes it or not (he’s a sociopath, so he’s really neither here nor there) and that his foster father has helped him channel it into something, uh, productive. Hall compared the situation to making ‘lemons out of lemonade.’ Because his foster pop was a cop and he is now in forensics, he is pretty good at cleaning up after himself and is meticulous when it comes to research and murder of his victims (child killers, mostly). (btw **Khadaji** , that may have been a bit of a spoiler. You don’t learn about Dexter’s childhood trauma 'til much later) ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/19 "2006-10-02T16:25:03Z")
[QUOTE=Susie Derkins] You can watch the entire first episode [here](http://www.sho.com/site/dexter/sneakpeek/home.do). The password is “sneak peek” (no quotation marks). I quite enjoyed it, but I have never read the books so I didn’t go in knowing what to expect. Too bad I don’t get Showtime. [/QUOTE] God bless you & God bless Showtime for putting that up! I expected to enjoy it- now I am freakin’ enthralled! Almost ready to add Showtime to my cable. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712/20 "2006-10-02T16:50:00Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] The police man (and perhaps his step sister) are the only ones that Dexter loves. (He says something to the effect that if he knew what love was or was capapable of it, he felt it for his step father.) [/QUOTE] I thought he was referring to his step-sis, not his father. I like the show and the premise. This will keep me happy til \*\*The Sopranos \*\* comes back in '07 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dexter-on-showtime-open-spoilers-lots-of-em/374712.md?page=2)