Dexter
9.36/10.0
Login to rate this
Orphaned at the age of three due to the murder of his mother, Dexter Morgan is adopted by Miami police officer Harry Morgan and his wife Doris. After discovering that young Dexter has been killing a multitude of neighborhood pets for several years, Harry tells Dexter that he believes the need to kill "got into" him at too early an age, and that he believes Dexter's need to kill will only grow. To keep Dexter from killing innocent people, Harry begins teaching Dexter "The Code." In this code, Dexter's victims must be killers themselves who have killed someone without justifiable cause and will likely do so again. Dexter must also always be sure that his target is guilty, and thus, frequently goes to extreme lengths to get undeniable proof of his victim's guilt. Most important, Dexter must never get caught. Flashbacks throughout the series show Harry, who died several years before, instructing Dexter on how to fake human behaviour, how to cover his tracks after a kill, and even how to stranglehold a target to knock them out and capture them.
Dexter has followed The Code religiously to satisfy his "Dark Passenger" (the name he has assigned to his urge to kill). Like many serial killers, he keeps trophies; before dispatching a wrongdoer, Dexter makes an incision on their cheek with a scalpel and collects a blood sample, which he preserves on a blood slide. He stores his collection in a box concealed inside his air conditioner.
In the beginning of the series, Dexter believes that he has no emotions, and he has to work non-stop to appear normal and blend in with the other people around him. Initially, Dexter is (with varying success) able to fake 'normal' emotions and maintain his appearance as an unremarkable friend and neighbor. He does maintain a few personal relationships early on, stating that he is "fond" of his adoptive sister Debra. She is unaware of Harry's training but harbors lingering jealousy of the perceived preferential treatment Harry gave Dexter. However, in the last episode of the sixth season, she walks in on Dexter executing "the Doomsday Killer", which reveals to her that Dexter is a murderer, although she has yet to discover the entirety of his secret life and his past. As part of his "disguise" in season one, Dexter dates a woman named Rita who is too traumatized from years of abuse at the hands of her ex-husband, Paul Bennett, to be intimate with Dexter. This suits Dexter, who believes getting intimate will reveal his darker side to Rita. He is fond of (and good with) children in general, particularly Rita's two children, Astor and Cody. However, his attachment to Debra, Rita, Astor and Cody, and later his biological son, Harrison, have all complicated his double life and made him question his "need" to kill.
Writing credits:
Jeff Lindsay & James Manos Jr.
Main Cast:
Michael C. Hall ... Dexter Morgan
Jennifer Carpenter ... Debra Morgan
Lauren Vélez ... Lt. Maria LaGuerta
David Zayas ... Sgt. Angel Batista
James Remar ... Harry Morgan
C.S. Lee ... Vince Masuka
Julie Benz ... Rita Bennett
Desmond Harrington ... Joey Quinn
Christina Robinson ... Astor Bennett
Reoccurring Cast:
Preston Bailey ... Cody Bennett
Geoff Pierson ... Captain Tom Matthews
Erik King ... Sgt. James Doakes
Luke Andrew Kruntchev ... Harrison Morgan
Evan George Kruntchev ... Harrison Morgan
David Ramsey ... Anton Briggs
Keith Carradine ... Special Agent Frank Lundy
Jimmy Smits ... Miguel Prado
Colin Hanks ... Travis Marshall
John Lithgow ... Arthur Mitchell
Aimee Garcia ... Jamie Batista
Pablo Soriano ... Detective Ramos
Thanks to mw2merc for this description.