Hey everyone! Thanks for watching my video. I made it a couple years ago but the majority of the attention it's gotten has been very recent, which has been an awesome surprise. I've been reading through the comments, which I really appreciate, and I keep seeing two that I wanted to address... First, people can't believe that I don't give season four more credit. And I get it. John Lithgow was incredible. The whole season was. I rank it only behind seasons 2 and 7, for reasons I explain in the video, and season 1, which is a sentimental favorite. Second, a lot of people are upset that I spoiled the ending of Murder on the Orient Express. I don't get this one. The whole video is about moral dilemmas, so I was comparing the two big ones on Dexter with ones from other stories. It's kind of impossible to compare dilemmas without discussing what happens during them. And I put a spoiler warning at the start of the video. So my question is, are people missing the spoiler warning, or do some people not understand what a spoiler warning is? I don't mean for that to sound snarky. I'm seriously asking. If the spoiler alert is too quick then I'll make it longer going forward because I don't want to spoil anything. I appreciate any feedback here. Thank you again so much. Dave Oh, I forgot to mention that yes, I do mispronounce episodic, as so many people have been nice enough to point out. LOL. Please keep roasting me for it;-)
Great analysis, got yourself a new sub. The YT algorithm just recommended this to me lol, interesting timing. As for your question, idk I think the warning was long enough. I definitely could read it completely.
I'd be interested in your thoughts on Dexter New Blood and how that show resolves itself compared to how the original series did it. I think the new show worked stronger with it.
The show was HEAVILY promoted in its' time. We heard about it everywhere. Why? Because the main character went after nobodies while once again, the oligarchy was completely ignored and unscathed. "Well done Dexter", they all said.
I have this rule. Don't write dark stories if you're scared of dark implications. The writers of Breaking Bad understood this. Writers of Bojack Horseman knew this. The writers of Dexter did not.
Yes, it's almost like they were scared of somehow ruining or changing Dexter's character. I mean, it's kind of boring that he remains the same throughout the entire story.
@@stretch654 Because Dexter is constructed as a bad boy. On one side, he kills people, everything else is on the good side. Audience likes these kind of characters and authors are very careful to keep Dexter as he is, if anything they turn Dexter to be better. So we got the show that has a very dark setting, yet it's really a no sugar vanilla flavour when it comes to serial killers. What authors didn't know is that audience LOVES when characters from good to rotten bad... like Walter White did. If they had the balls to gradually turn Dexter worse, and worse, and worse until audience hate him, this show would be a bomb.
@@dariozanze4929 Barry did this also really good. The hitman protagonist wants to stop beeing a hitman and become an actor and you just excpect it to work but instead he becomes worse every season and pretends that everytime he kills someone it will be the last time.
@@dariozanze4929 I would've loved to see him deteriorate throughout the show, however I suspect many female viewers would've been turned off by that. Part of Dexter's appeal is that he often acts in the best interests of those closest to him (Debra, Rita, Harrison, Lumen, etc.) while pursuing his own goals, displaying great competency at providing for and protecting those he values (despite a few slip-ups) and taking an active role in eliminating other societal threats. Yet, he's a bit of a challenge (living a secret and guarded life) and, as we saw with Rita, many women would like to rescue, domesticate, and use this monster to their advantage. That's hot. If he had instead degraded to the point of irredeemability, it would've been much more interesting to see but ruined his appeal to many female viewers. No one says Tony Soprano or Walter White is hot (baldness and physicality aside). I can't help but think New Blood showing Dexter to be solitary, yet self-domesticated and otherwise "unavailable" is just a small facet as to why that sequel caused great disappointment.
Truly, the biggest mistake in the series is that the code should have been: Don't get caught. Don't kill the innocent. Stay away from small town cops armed with the power of google.
So many people said that the finale of Dexter: New Blood was a great conclusion for the story, made total sense, etc. I will argue that it made zero sense in terms of what the characters would and wouldn't do (and that's setting aside the massive plot holes and retconning of original Dexter stories to fit the sequel and lead to that point). To me, it just feels that the writers felt compelled to shoehorn the story into a conclusion that they planned in advance but couldn't make either the story or the characters fit.
@@elinat8665 I honestly might hate the ending for New Blood MORE than the last few seasons of Dexter. They had such a good villain too. Destroyed any chance of a good story with the last episode.
its not that characters acted differently, its that they wrote dexter to have finally cracked. Which relating a lot to dexter myself I can completely see in him. When he brought his son with him, he crossed into psychosis. The storyline as ridiculous as it is was idea from the book where Dex teaches astor and cody to murder. @@elinat8665
@@elinat8665 The writing was so lazy it's painful, plus it felt like a forced way to leave doors open for spinoffs. Either have Dexter face the music or have him get shot trying to get away.
Okay but Doakes going to prison after being framed by Dexter and trying to convince everyone of the truth would have been such a perfect escalation for their antagonism: Doakes has gone from being able to freely pursue the truth about Dexter, to being in full possesion of the truth but unable to do anything about it. It would also be a great escallation from the previous dilema where Dexter framed his girlfriends ex husband, showing him developing new codes/patterns of behaviour for new situations, and how impossible it is for a strict set of rules to be applied to a variety of situations with an equal moral outcome. The stakes would have been raised because any slip up on Dexters part would cooberate Doakes story. You could also have a character like Angel, who had significant emotional beats with both of them, put in the middle of the fight and have him start to question what actually happened. Theres just so much potential for where the story could go from there its such a waste of potential.
Dude, imagine, what if Debra or Angel figured something was wrong with Dexter, visited Doakes in death row, and Doakes helped them piecing out that Dexter was the real Bay Harbor Butcher, and it kicked the manhunt back in motion. So much wasted potential.
@hollyro4665 I watched that show like over a decade ago so I don't really remember it that well but maybe that's where it came from in my brain lol. I feel like framed man has to convince people of who the real killer is is a pretty common trope tho and it would be interesting to see it play out in a show where the serial killer is the protagonist.
Yeah, and that kind of storyline has been pulled of before too! NBC’s Hannibal did it, with Hannibal framing Will Graham for the Chesapeake Ripper case. Now Will did end up getting out of it, but only because Hannibal and another killer both tried to make it look like the Ripper was still at large so doubt would be cast on his conviction. And it also gave Hannibal plenty of time to clean up any loose ends so nobody could trace the murders back to him even after Will, who was very insistent Hannibal was the killer, was released. If they’d done something like that, with Dexter framing Doakes, cleaning up his act and then regretting having done it and choosing to find a way to free him without Doakes being able to point the finger would have made a great story. And nobody but Doakes saw Dexter do it. If there’s no evidence, the accusation can’t be followed through.
@beedoesthings8037 you make a really good point, I would rather see it play out a bit differently with Dexter not seeing anything wrong with what he did and continuing with his life while Doakes has to work hard to convince the people around him and the people on the outside who believe him having to fight to find evidence while pretending not to suspect anything. Meanwhile it's becoming increasingly obvious that Dexters moral code doesn't stop him from being a bad person
You didn’t mention the ultimate moral dilemma in Poirot, where in the finale he is unable to prove that the killer is guilty so he kills him and then out of the guilt of becoming a murderer he doesn’t take his heart medicine so he would have a heart attack, effectively killing himself as punishment.
That's a great point. Such an odd way for the series to end. I gotta watch it again. My literal reaction to watching that the first time was "Wait... What?" lol
@@davescripted3796 If you've read the book series, you'd find it wasn't a weird way to end the series at al (this is also how the book-series ends,by the way)l. While Poirot was a man of high morals for sure, he was also a man of ego. A very big ego. Him killing Norton was actually very in character, as Poirot couldn't allow Norton to get away with his crimes (his Morality), and how would it look if Poirot had let the killer get away after Poirot had caught so many of them? It could affect hos reputation, and Poirot enjoyed when people thought the best of him (his Ego). Christie also conformed it herself, saying that's why she hated Poirot so much, because he was "a detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep".
@@KimeraOne there's abit of a flaw in that statement, EGO, how does Poriot care about what others think of him, most of it is for his own benefit, and his moral code, given he used to be a detective who has a thirst for justice and seeing things right and his OCD is really what allows him to see things right and see what others dont, a man learning to live with a disadvantage and making the best of it also Christie lived abit like Poriot, her house, papers and the like, some modern block of apartments and would live in seclusion maybe she really just hated him as he reminded her so much of herself, and was really making a personal judgement on herself
When I watched Dexter I always liked to think that he wasn't actually a psychopath and that he was just a disturbed child poorly raised by his disillusioned Dad. There were so many instances where he seemed to have convinced himself that he couldn't feel but he clearly could... Then they went and scanned his brain and destroyed any question
To be fair there are several shows and movies that play with that trope of "psychopath stops being a psychopath once he discovers the power of friendship" and it always strikes me as odd
@@BRobMorrishe shows way too much empathy and sympathy for others in the show to be a psychopath. They make the mistake of arguing (like much fiction) that he's only like this because of trauma. In reality many people with good childhoods are just terrible and other people have horrible childhoods but choose to be good people. The book version is more selfish, but the author dips his toe in the supernatural.
@@jacobstaten2366 it's too simple to say "well other people have bad childhoods and aren't like that" people aren't the same, their brain chemistries aren't the same and how they think about their experiences (that are never absolute mirrors) aren't the same
I think the perfect solution to this problem would have been to keep the course of events the same, but with Dexter resolving that he’d have to kill him with that not having to happen. The fact that he knows he would have done it will have still shaken him to his core, and the technicality of him not actually doing it but still being torn up over it keeps him a sympathetic character from the POV of the audience while not canceling out the effect of the dilemma.
I agree! That's the only solution I've heard that could actually work. As much as people might want Dexter to go through with the difficult choice, it would ruin the show.
The interesting thing is that Dexter did break his code, but they never touched on it. In season 5 when he’s reeling from Rita’s murder he kills a random guy at a rest stop. Sure they made it seem like he was unsavory and possibly could’ve fit the code, but there was no way Dexter could’ve known that for sure. Instead it’s undone by the introduction of Lumen and the code being reinvigorated in Dexter. Could you imagine if that first few episodes it showed Dexter hunting outside of his code, maybe actually targeting an innocent and then maybe that leads him to Lumen and it actually gives him a reason to use the code again.
@@user-fz9vk4js5l yeah that’s what I’m saying, the writers still had to make it seem like he was some stereotypical asshole, maybe an abusive drunk or something. They leaned too heavily into this Dark Avenger aspect of Dexter. I remember in season 1 he kills a drunk driver who yeah he killed someone behind the wheel, but Dexter justifies him fitting the code because he’s an alcoholic who still drives drunk. If you look at Harry’s code, that guy doesn’t fit the code really, because he’s not a serial killer per se. If they just leaned more into Dexter changing the code to feed his urges, then they could’ve tackled those moral dilemmas. Instead they just always found ways for Dexters victims to always fit the code, and whenever there was a risk to him and his dark passenger getting exposed, there was outside intervention, almost nigh divine intervention.
@@Schrodinger_ another aspect the show could’ve tackled, Dexter killing someone via the ritual and the code and him finding out they were truly innocent. Would he feel more guilt or conflict that he killed someone who didn’t fit the code? As the video says, Dexter is a killer who seemingly grows a conscious over the course of the show, so if he killed someone innocent, not to protect his secret but because he was wrong would he feel guilty about or would it thrill him and make him crave it more than killing someone within the code?
“Why isn’t Dexter allowed to be bad, HE’S A SERIAL KILLER” I love that quote. Killing Doakes made so much narrative sense to me. He finds out in the episodes before that Harry finally saw what the code has wrought and couldn’t live with himself. Dexter should have the thought that if Harry didn’t respect the code, why should he? The rules were so vague that Harry never considered when the 2 rules became mutually exclusive. Dexter could say Doakes deserved because of his vigilante Justice toward the Haitian in S1. Hell, he killed and would kill for a lot less. But unfortunately the writers thought we would riot if the serial killer killed someone and gives Dexter a convenient out and then the chickens take 4 seasons to roost because he forgot a blood slide (something he’d never do) only to do the same song and dance again, fuck it.
5:25 Reminds me of the Doctor Who Quote “Sometimes, the only choices you have are bad ones, but you still have to choose.” Funnily enough, this is in the Orient Express episode!
@@iprobablyforgotsomething as someone who has watched it my whole life, i think you'd like it, i gained many moral lessons from it as a child, and also a fear of statues.
In the Witcher I recall Geralt saying "f I have to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all" which in my view is choosing the greater evil
Maybe the problem was trying to imply that there was a moral dilemma in the first place. Dexter never truly had a code. He had his father's code. He held onto it because of how it served him. It allowed him to move freely in the world, feeling good about himself, indulging his worst impulses, with people still holding him in high esteem. I think his real dilemma was more of an identity crisis... He seemed to have a serious case of imposter syndrome because he could never really be himself and was afraid to try. It's pretty telling that others had to do the really "dirty" work for him. In some ways I think that was the real moral test, which he obviously failed. Especially when Deb, a deeply feeling person, was the one to "take care of" Maria. I haven't watched the series in years, though. This was a nice reminder to rewatch!
Realistically I think if any kind of real idea was being touched on it by the directors, it was probably Dexter's struggling to fit in and figure out who he is. He is a psychopath whos seen and done the worst things to sure, bad people, but seeing and doing those things doesnt change the effects on a person especially after being raised into it and shown what to do with those feelings. Dexter rarely struggles with 'morally' right or wrong things from what I remember, it a lot more down to what is gained or lost and an essential view point. Like dating Rita at first from what I remember was more to look normal and not fit into the criteria of 'Single adult white male' and seem more normal. Most of what we see initially of Dexter is him focusing on appearances and constantly worrying about if someone may see who he really is. Even toward the end of the show with his kid, the morally right thing is giving the kid up the moment Rita died, a psychopath murdering father who goes out once a week to murder isnt a good dad. But the issue wasnt morals. The issue came with Dexter being scared his kid would be like him, unfeeling, isolated, not knowing what these dark urges are or could be, and later struggling with how his kid would see him if he knew the truth. The show wasnt trying to tell us whos right and whos wrong, it was showing us way more about fitting in, overthinking, and self-loathing I think.
very true. Its supposed to be an antidote to sociopathy and psychopathy. I always thought it was clearly written that way. I relate to the character in ways most audiences do not, and I can honestly say it produced some effect. It did push me towards confronting my psychopathy and worst memories @@scorchinorphan1687
Killing Doakes would've broke his code, but there was enough gray there to have the *character* justify it in the moment. He talks about how Doakes shoots a lot of suspects and how he's not 100% innocent, given his past, and that's absolutely true. Killing Doakes would've led to some interesting character development for Dexter as he struggled with that choice for the rest of the series. Instead, as you said, it was a return to the status quo. The interesting thing about LaGuerta is that he couldn't even half-heartedly justify that killing. And he ends up running *anyway* in the end. It feels like the writers made it way harder on themselves than it needed to be just to allow Dexter to remain a "good guy". When the whole point of the series was (or at least should've been) that Dexter is not at all a good guy. Dexter is a puzzling series when it comes to the writing. Some of it is astonishingly well written (even, as you said, when they go off-book) and then some is so amateurishly written it shocks me that people were getting paid to write it.
The book/s make it clear that Doakes is every bit the monster Dexter is. Its why Doakes is hard on Dexter. Doakes can tell what Dexter is like and vice versa. Also the lab tech is a nutbar to. But the books do have a habit of having Dexter think a lot of people of like him. Unreliable narrator probably.
It is pretty strange that they killed off Doakes in season 2 since he was like the main foil to Dexter. For example that's like if in Breaking Bad they killed off Hank in season 2.
Doakes was a murderer, and Dexter knew it because the blood evidence didn't match Doakes' story of what happened under the bridge. So there's no code violation or moral dilemma. How does everyone keep missing this?
@@pintolerance785 They couldn't keep Doakes around and keep it from getting stale or Doakes seeming like a moron. Once he's suspicious, it'd be almost impossible for Dexter to not get caught.
I just discovered this channel, never heard of either or Poirot before 10 mins ago, but this dude talks about em in such an engaging way. Instant subscribe.
I just stopped after season 2 of Dexter, and I could never put into words why. Just felt like a good ending to the show. You've put the reason into words fantastically!
Same here. The first episode of Season 3 did a horrible job of filling the void left by Doakes. I realized the show was out of steam and just stopped watching.
Not gonna blame you for that because it's true. But I would HIGHLY recommend watching season 3 just so that you can get to the amazing season 4! And then after season 4, you can truly stop. But there's just SO much that's FANTASTIC about season 4 - I promise you, it's worth it.
It's very strange how the show refuses to accept the absurdly obvious reality that a "good guy serial killer" is paradoxical and impossible. He's not killing as a means to an end to rid the world of evil people, he's finding evil people as a means to the end of fulfilling his urge to murder. Harry's code doesn't work because you might identify bad guys incorrectly, disproportionately administer death to someone who didn't deserve such a severe punishment, or get caught and be forced to act in self preservation. Instead of writing Dexter the character with his code against the reality of the universe and letting it hit its natural conflicts, they molded the universe around Dexter to allow him to kill people for pleasure and get away with it.
I wouldnt say "good guy serial killer" is impossible, partly due to how subjective the word Good is. But there are even some common ethical arguments that would promote Dexter's actions, particularly utilitarianism (as controversial as utilitarianism is). Personally, I think he saved a lot more lives than he actually took, and the lives he saved were worth more than the scum he tended to take out. Even if he was only doing it to fulfill his own needs. That being said, I don't really believe there's been a good guy serial killer in real life... or, at least not more than one in a billion or so. To be willing to kill, but also have the discipline to hold back from killing until you have absolute proof, it's a very specific temperament. Also it's a rare person who would be in a position to encounter, confirm, and abduct that many people who the world would be absolutely better off without.
It's not strange at all. A lot (and I mean A LOT) of people share the show's mentality: vigilante justice is the right kind of justice, because bad guys getting away would be the worst thing imaginable, bad judgement just does not exist, and no punishment is too harsh. Vigilantes are revered because they are a projection of many people's sense of justice.
9:00 Might have been interesting if Dexter had realized that Lila was going to find Doakes and now had to make the choice: 1) Stop Lila, leaving him with the same dilemma about how to deal with Doakes. 2) Let Lila fix his problem for him, technically following the code, but also knowing full well that he pulled a fast one.
YES, this perfectly explains why season 2 was so exciting and then so disappointing. It made me hate Dexter that he got everything he wanted, by doing absolutely nothing, then punished Lyla for it by killing her at the end, as if she wasn't his easy way out for the most compelling problem of the show so far. Everything leading up to that ending had been so delightful but it made me lose all interest I had in continuing. This really put it into words. Also same, Jane's death was so harrowing that even expecting the worst, it was so shocking I didn't know how to live with it for a second there. It's amazing how Walt is so awful yet I don't feel cheated by his actions the way I felt cheated by Dexter
I was literally thinking that all this sounds like what Barry handled perfectly. A bad person who thinks hes a good guy forced to come to terms with who he is.
I loved Doakes, he was such a great antagonist to Dexter and no other character equalled his presence and charisma. They should ve kept him in for more seasons and have a real cat and mouse plot going for way longer as it was truly exciting to watch. Or find a way to make him survive season 2's story which would ve kept Dexter on his toes for the next seasons. As you said, the excitement for the next seasons never matched season 2's conflict.
@@spookspotlightnews-spookoh he survived alright... But getting blown up might have been a more desirable outcome. I'm not sure Showtime had the nerve to go down that rabbit hole.
The real Dexter definitely would’ve killed Doaks, and I would’ve LOVED to see him agonize over it for seasons to come. I agree with you, we were robbed. Would love to see your perspective on the seasons & why you ranked them the way you did.
@@beattheodds6219 part of the code is not to get caught. the not killing of innocence applies more to his mo, who he can have fun killing. not to what he has to do in order to not get caught.
This video essay is outstanding: It's well explained, the production value is as good as anyone else's in the writing craft space, and it's entertaining. Looking forward to more. Subscribed.
my gripe was always that they didnt know how to let a sociopath be an actual sociopath. we could have had a show where we see how that kind of person really deals with dilemmas pitting their personal code against the feelings of their supposed loved ones; these would be no-brainer "abandon life and flee" situations. which works fine for a seasonally episodic setup! plenty of human drama to be mined from those he leaves behind, rather than some phony inner turmoil. half hearted attempts for him to grow emotionally fell flat anyway. it just never really made any sense.
@@myboatforacar well number one sociopaths actually have a conscience, its just weak. That being said, he didn't start killing bad guys to protect the innocent like the other guy claims, he did it cuz his father tried to tame him and tried to teach him how to not get caught
@@nomanejane5766 My armchair psychologist's reading of it was that it was a redirection of his feeling of helplessness, which were amplified when he was a child through the trauma he underwent, manifesting as primeval wrath under a thick veneer of methodically maintained control. That's why he endulges in this extreme version of a power fantasy - revenge.
It's more than just the moral dilemmas, it's the character of Dexter himself. What is Dexter supposed to be? A true psychopath or a deeply unstable person due to immense childhood trauma? The show acts as if Dexter is an actual psychopath, especially in the later seasons with all that nonsense about him meeting his 'maker' who is supposedly an expert on psychopathy. However if Dexter was a true psychopath he would have never been capable of actual emotions, which the show claims is true yet shows the exact opposite. His marriage than grief after his wife's death than him falling in love again with 1 of his victims all show emotional awareness, something psychopaths lack by definition. Moreover the reveal that Dexter was 'born in blood' helps support this second notion that Dexter is just a deeply traumatized person rather than actually a psychopath. The show didn't know which version they wanted Dexter to be so he ended up being both and neither at the same time, which ultimately ruined the character and the series at large.
I agree, the casting holds this show back so much. Now that i think of it, the newer dexter show about him as a lumberjack killer or whatever has better casting and it works much better, although its held back by the script
The thing about Dexter's "moral code" that allows him to be a vigilante killer while still considering himself a good person is that it's a facade, and always was. It was a lie he told himself time and time again because the ugly truth was always that he kills because he wants to. There are several points throughout the show where Dexter's true nature shows itself when he's backed into a corner. Had season 2 stuck to its guns and had Dexter commit to that choice -- had he killed Doakes to protect himself -- then season 3 could have been the start of his downward spiral. Dexter would have no idea what to think of himself, and he would have to wrestle with everything that's just been outlined, until eventually things came to a head, and he accepted what he really was. We would see a version of Dexter without this false sense of justice telling him that what he's doing is okay, and he would start killing anyone he wanted to without remorse, which would inevitably cause the perfect little life he built around himself to crumble. Fans might not have liked this--because a lot of people seem to misunderstand Dexter and consider him some kind of hero--but I think that would have been the best direction to take here.
Great video, really love the breakdown of why S2 and S7’s dilemmas let Dexter get off easy. Have to disagree on S1 and S4 though, those seasons nail the story they’re trying to tell on all cylinders. S1 still feels the most exciting to rewatch personally, would’ve been interesting if they had Brian live like he did in the books. S2 is let down by Lila but a more exciting season than S3 but gotta point out how underrated Miguel is. Jimmy Smits gave the show some classic scenes.
@retroRENEGADE - I just rewatched S1-8 before watching 9 and I agree that S3 is totally underrated - Jimmy Smits as Miguel Prado was a better relationship w/ Dexter than Rita ever was. They had trust, friendship, common goals, shared interests, Dexter showed him who he was, let him in on his ritual, his code, his kills, they killed together, covered for each other, even had plans to make Miami a better place ONLY when the law didn’t work and couldn’t work and he had a partner in a District Attorney that, combined with Miami Metro, had a much better chance of bringing actual justice to people one way or the other. Sure, he turned out to be a charming liar that used Dexter and didn’t absorb his code and went to kill the lawyer giving him problems. But the average season of Dexter has a big bad monster of a killer like the Ice Truck Killer, Trinity Killer, etc. and what I loved about S2 was that Dexter was being hunted and in S3, he and Miguel were the big bads *together*. I never connected with Rita (though she didn’t deserve what she got), mostly because the show always kept her at arms length and introduced her as a cover for Dexter and she was always preventing him from doing what he wanted to do, which is why we were watching. The actress did a great job with her; I think it was just the writing that had me cold on her. Miguel was possibly the best non-Deb relationship that Dexter had in the show, until Hannah (good or bad, at least they both knew what the other was and it was all in the open).
"would’ve been interesting if they had Brian live like he did in the books" Thank you! I can't stop thinking about this one. It just seems like an infinitely more interesting idea to keep him around. Not only would it make Dexter a more selfish and morally grey character if they kept him alive, but Brian also had so much more potential. He could be the one to keep disillusioning Dexter about Harry. he could keep digging into their pasts. He could be a call to the dark side. He could create so much more problems and solutions to other problems, just by the fact that he's Dexter's family and a killer *without* morals. Killing him off feels like such missed opportunity to me.
I just rewatched S1-8 of Dexter and the New Blood limited series all in a row. I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed S3 (the Miguel Prado season). I felt that Prado and Dexter had a better and more *REAL* relationship than Dexter ever had with Rita. They had trust, friendship, Dexter could share who he was, his code, his ritual, they had a kinship, a shared purpose, they protected each other, and they even killed together. Of course, ultimately, Prado was a charming bastard who lied to everyone and used them for his own purposes, but that’s what made him such a compelling character in the 8 seasons of the main show. It challenged the idea that Dexter couldn’t have friends, couldn’t have a real life, and couldn’t have FEELINGS. Which is something that I think I missed when watching the show as it aired - all the stuff with Harry is just proof that Dexter DOES have a conscience and feelings. It’s not necessarily what Harry would have said; it’s what Dexter is imagining and projecting on to the memory of Harry to talk him out of doing things he wants to do, and to protect him. By the end of the 9th season, New Blood, I’m almost convinced that Dexter was just TOLD he was a psychopath and trained to be one (and while. he definitely did have dark, homicidal urges, he still had feelings). He had multiple, real relationships where he shared his secret with people. He cared about people. By the end of the show, I was fully in the Deb camp where I felt that she was the moral center of the show and always had been, and I had really started to hate Dexter for all the harm he caused everyone. But Dexter most definitely FELT that harm he was causing. Hell, it even made the abysmal finale better on a rewatch, picking up details like the episode where Dexter’s co-worker in the file room (the friend of Harry) gets a terminal illness. She doesn’t fit the code, she doesn’t kill or plan to kill, she knows who he is and won’t tell… and she can’t kill herself either, due to her religion making that the worst sin that would condemn her to hell. Deb meets her and says to Dex, “if I’m ever on a machine, unplug me” which is exactly what happens at the end of the show (something I’d long forgotten about by the time it aired). I wish Doakes would have survived another season and secretly recruited other members of Miami Metro to work on exposing Dexter and have Dexter have to figure out whether to kill them all or go on the run. He was a great character and the “surprise, motherfucker” meme on the internet everywhere just made it that much funnier the two times he did it in the show. I thought New Blood was a much better ending for the character, if not perfect. But MUCH better.
@@jason555jason555 I understand why people are conflicted over it. There’s not a consensus about how people believe it SHOULD have ended. Should Dexter get away with it and keep killing? Eventually get caught? Should it have been Deb that caught him? Should the existence of Cody and Astrid and Rita as his cover that eventually became *real* people to him that he cared about change him? And moreso for Harrison, his son by blood? I get why people didn’t like the original ending we got but I think in large part, no matter what happened, a large percentage of the fans would have had issues with it because it didn’t do what they wanted. So for the show to come back at all, I thought that New Blood was really well done. I especially loved how cinematic it felt - the swap from 16x9 (which filled the screen in the original series run) to something closer to 21x9 widescreen with a LOT of depth of field usage and the really beautiful color palette in the environments and costume design was so visually pleasing to look at. **SPOILERS FOR NEW BLOOD AHEAD** - I thought that the actor that played Harrison (Jack Alcott) was inspired casting. He felt vulnerable and confused enough that you weren’t sure if he was a normal kid and Dexter was projecting or if he was genuinely struggling with his urges due to being born in blood and what he saw. I also thought that the placement of “Chekhov’s Gun” right there on the wall in between the kitchen of the cabin and the room Harrison slept in was perfect, being put front and center throughout the entire series and then it was obviously of vital importance to the way they resolved the show. I’d personally watch a spinoff were they follow Harrison, who might now be really triggered by the events of the finale on top of everything else. And maybe try to do what he originally thought Dexter was actually doing - more of a vigilante superhero style killer that was taking out the trash than someone that **NEEDED** to do it and that’s just who he was trained to do it to. I’m assuming this won’t ever happen but I’d support it if it did. I also loved how they used Deb in this. She was FEROCIOUS and TERRIFYING and really tormented Dexter (with her being his own thoughts of course). So just like the way he envisioned Harry, the way he imagined Deb and talked to her was further proof that he *did* have feelings and wasn’t completely a sociopath that had to fake emotions to blend in with humanity. The absolute violence that Deb used against Dexter was scary at times; I thought she was gonna claw his face off. So yeah, I thought that New Blood ended up being significantly better than it could have been, and without question a better ending than the original. Clancy Brown was a worthy final target and when the lights came on in his underground lair, displaying all of his victims? Probably the most disgusted I’ve been with a killer throughout the entire run of Dexter. I wish that they did maybe 2 more episodes, would be my main complaint. But yeah, I’m glad it happened at all.
@@MrJagermeister Yeah, New Blood felt a little rushed. I was disappointed that they made it seem like Angel was going to meet Dexter after all those years and he was going to be executed like Clyde Phillips originally was going to end the show. Then they just abandoned that idea completely and there was no pay off to that scene where Dexter's gf tells Angel about Dexter. If they had spaced it out a little more it would have been better. I think I read somewhere a couple years or more ago that Clyde Phillips wanted to end the show with Season 2 and have Dexter be killed by the state of Florida with an electrocution chair and he would hallucinate all the people he killed directly and indirectly in the observation room and the whole show was his life flashing before his eyes. Then they were told they had to do more seasons and by the time they were close to the end of the show Scott Buck wasn't allowed to end it by killing Dexter like Clyde Phillips wanted because they wanted to keep it open for a spinoff or more seasons(probably because of money) so we got that dogshit ending in Season 8. That's why Season 2 felt a little odd being so early on considering the content of the season. It felt like it should have been the end of the show, it felt like that because they thought they were filming the final season.
New Blood had way too many plot holes and it’s like they forgot about what happened in all the other seasons.. Season 1 to 4 were amazing then it went downhill, they should’ve finished strong with a season 5 with Dex on the run like Breaking bad instead of just milking it (don’t know why many hate on season 3😑) imo
i could see dex framing doax, cause while he couldnt justify killing him, he didnt think doaks was a good person at all. he thought doaks was like him, a killer but one who used the military to justify his murders. thats why he brings it up and doaks says :jesus that was war" and dex just says something like.."uh huh, sure"
This was Dexter trying to come up with an excuse to kill him. He tried a lot to find one but didn't convince himself of nothing who makes Doakes a code match
Doakes in the books really did use the military and police as an excuse to kill - that's where that came from The way the show was written didn't show that so maybe it was dexter looking for an excuse there
I didn't watch past season one, but this is such a great video essay. I feel like the obvious ending is for dexter to kill himself, realizing that he has become someone who will not violate the code and choosing to sacrifice himself to save his family the pain of further exposure and Maria from death. I actually think that would be kind of beautiful, for him to realize that he will never stop killing and be the bigger person and remove himself from the equation to protect everyone he loves.
SPOILERS AHEAD This is how Dexter New Blood ends, in a sense. He has the character in the end of the show shoot him, as a way to atone for all his supposed horrid actions. Dexter does realize he's the problem, and dies for it, but this correct ending can't make up for the disasters of the show that came before it. Like, if it happened far far earlier, maybe after Trinity, now that would be an ending alright.
I think both the writers of the show and the character (Dexter) himself probably believes that he's incapable of love or caring about others, but he did care about those in his day to day life. He's not a soulless machine, just really messed up from a young age with the worst possible parent teaching to control his urges instead of getting him help. There are a million other ways that Dexter could have processed his traumas, or dealt with his personality of being impulsive and harmful, but he did not need to murder anyone. I think that's what makes Dexter a great character if you consider that his childhood was so fucked up and his adoptive father really messed him up instead of just getting him help, but who knows, maybe he sees what kind of help people like Dexter would have gotten so he dealt with it his own way, creating the monster he decided to end his life over, realizing what he did was a huge mistake and that he enabled a killer, regardless if the killings are justifiable or not. It's actually kind of why the show had bad writing at points, they couldn't let Dexter grow, to make himself accountable, or to change in any meaningful way. It also means the show couldn't go on when it reached an actual end point. That was the biggest issue with the series was that people wanted more of Dexter but didn't want him to change. It's why, even now, with an ending befitting of Dexter in New Blood, that people still find it a bad ending because of a multitude of reasons, one I hear being "Why can't you just make Dexter good again?" They just wanted him to kill more people, they don't care about his journey or growth or fall into depravity. I think that's what puts a show like Breaking Bad above Dexter in terms of writing. You get to be manipulated by Walter White and realize just how much of a monster he is over and over again and see how far he will go to reach his goals. @@J-Rush
@@blueisasomedancer In the book, "Dearly Devoted Dexter"(2005) Doakes was the victim of a serial mutilator known as Dr. Dano. The "doctor" would kidnap people and play his version of Hangman. For every answer a person got wrong, he would remove a body part. At the end, most victims were reduced to "yodeling potatoes." He got partway through his procedure with Doakes. It was enough to get Doakes out of the picture... mostly.
@asomedancer MASSIVE SPOILERS if you haven't read it, but here's a few in even the *first* book: The barking dog next door is...not re-homed. Dexter comes home and finds it's not barking because it's dead. Because Rita's kids killed it. Turns out, they're also deeply damaged...and he decides he needs to shepherd them in Harry's Code! Brian kidnaps Deborah and LaGuerta. Dexter won't kill Deborah, but he lets Brian kill LaGuerta and then helps Brian escape. So Deb also *knows* he's a serial killer and has absolutely no illusions about his total lack of actual morals, except as enforced by Harry's Code, since she watches him let Brian kill LaGuerta. Saying it follows it "pretty closely" is, imo, inaccurate. Sure, there are a lot of familiar beats, but that kind of massive change to Dexter's character means the core of it all is fundamentally altered.
@2:50 Doakes didn’t trip over himself. There was a big gap in the wood flooring in the bridge that he was walking backwards on. If he kept his eye on Dexter while backing up, he would’ve tripped anyway because of the broken bridge.
Excellent video! The best example of moral dilemmas done well is Barry on HBO. It’s the most character choice-driven show I’ve ever seen. The writers never write a character out of a dilemma to maintain them as a “good” person in the eyes of the audience. Barry and everyone else receive every consequence of every choice, no matter how tragic or brutal.
The biggest dramatic outcome would've been for dexter to debase himself by increasingly flauting his code, becoming a twisted version of himself, _and_ for that to be the lynchpin that gets him outed, forcing him to run and hide anyway. The only way he could redeem himself, even someonewhat, would then be for him to turn himself in, possibly as a sacrifice for the protection of his family.
I watch the show like it’s a comedy. It’s hilarious to me how bad dexter is at being a killer sometimes and how the police he works with are so oblivious to him being a killer
This was nice to see. Back when S2 came out it killed my interest in the show for exactly the reason you lay out. It introduced an interesting moral dilemma with the two main outcomes changing the status quo and then just had it miraculously resolve itself in favour of Dexter with no consequences. At that point any tension I had about him being discovered dissolved. I knew the writers would just throw in some bullshit any time they brought up something interesting to maintain their lead character's code. The code ceased to matter because it would simply never be broken. My friends who watched the show didn't agree and kept watching and because of their persistence I eventually ended up watching S3 a couple years after it aired. I felt nothing because I knew Dexter would "win" regardless of what he did.
You should watch Season 4 if you never did. Even if you think Dexter will "Win" it still makes amazing television, thanks to the Trinity Killer. Easily the best anatagonist of the series.
Conversely if Dexter did break his code it also ends the show. IMO him breaking the code to kill Doakes would have killed interest in the show. A serial killer who kills to satisfy their urges and tries to not get caught is a pretty boring premise with nothing interesting to offer.
@@spicy_mintnot necessarialy. It would be boring if he just became a normal serial killer but they could have made soeething with it. Made so that by breaking his code Dexter had to grapple with what his code even meant and what to do now. They could even return to the status quo by making Dexter try to stop killing but convince himself that stopping is worse as the other serial killers won't be stopped unless he kills them (if it's true and he is doing good or not it's an audience debate), now this is frammed still by the lens of Dexter wanting to kill more people but being stopped by the morality quesiion brought by the code. So Dexter decides to do something to punish himself for breaking it once and keeps going. Except now both Dexter and the audience now he can kill innocents for selfish reasons and to question the validity of code making the payoff of Dexter choosing to die as to get the world rid of another evil (himself) better.
The show is about a serial killer that doesn’t get caught, if that were to happen there would only be one season. “Breaking Bad sucks because I know Walter is not going to die in season 2”. Ok I guess.
I have an idea they could've used if Dexter killed Laguerta. Like you said "He isn't a good serial killer anymore, he's just a killer", they coul've used what seemed to me a good idea in season 6 : make Bryan replace Harry in his mind. It was underused in season 6, but it could've been great to see a Dexter tortured by his brother's illusion, trying to force him to let it go and kill whoever he wants to.
That’s why he always WAS he kills because he likes killing It’s Harry that made sure he killed those who “deserve it” How is this still lost on people lol
I think you're exactly right and you've got the point about how they re-introduced Bryan (one effin' time!) as another "Dark Passenger". They could've even had Harry and Bryan acting as the angel and devil on your shoulders wrestling for control with Harry slowly fading away. Eventually Dexter left to himself and Bryan and then eventually have the Dark Passengers leave. It could be left ambiguous if they will return to Dexter's mind one day or if the "Dark Passenger" was just always a facade Dexter's mind made to rationalize his carnal nature.
I've been showing my husband Dexter because he's never seen it. We are on season 4, which I think is undoubtedly the best the show ever was. And while my husband is enjoying John Lithgow's performance, he just doesn't really care enough to keep going. This wasn't always the case, and I am pretty sure that he stopped caring once they killed off Doakes in the way they did. He was such a fun character and it brought so much tension to things to have someone who clearly sees through Dexter from get go. To get rid of him by allowing Lila to kill him was such a waste. There were so many ways that storyline could have gone. Could have framed Doakes and dealt with the aftermath of him trying to prove his innocence. Dexter would have to be on his best behavior and that could drive him a bit crazy until he does something impulsive, and it fucks everything up. Could have HIM kill Doakes and deal with the aftermath of that. But no. We got what we got.
Love the comparison with Poirot's moral dilemma!! David Suchet brought that character to life with style and hilarity, seeing him struggle with a real moral/ethical/religious decision was incredible and no other actor in the role is worth even a footnote. As for Dex... Agree completely about S2's finale being a bit of a let down, but it worked for S7 because Deb had been wrestling with her own morals and code that entire season too and Jennifer Carpenter was phenomenal in that scene and when she first found out the whole truth... I think the real Dex would have used the excuse of Doakes' history with Black Ops to try and justify killing him, and it would have made S3 better with him grappling with the knowledge that he is capable of bending the code in that way. S4 is better than you rated it, they did an excellent job with the twists, cat and mouse of Dex vs Trinity, Dex's arrogance getting Rita killed etc. I think if S6 and S5's main plots had been flipped, then people would be more forgiving of the Lumen storyline, but it came too close on the heels of Rita's death, which was a devastating blow to viewers, especially with the tragedy of Dex only realising he loved her when she was already gone. We needed more time to see him deal with that, before they introduced another love interest. I also think the finale of S5 was another cop out: Deb faced her own moral dilemma which was great, but I think she should have actually seen them and then come to the same conclusion. Then we could have had Deb accept those particular kills, but still grapple with the idea of Dex going outside the law, slowly becoming more suspicious etc until she finds the blood slides and flips out. That would have made it much more believable than her buying Dex's bullshit about the DDK and helping him cover it up. The less said about S8 & 9 the better.
This was actually really cathartic. I remember watching it as it was first airing and while I didn't conceptualize their blunder to this degree at the time I remember thinking "They just bailed him out! What the Fuck?!". Season three was like the aftertaste of the end of season two and a pretty lousy reset of the stakes and I only stuck around for season four for John Lithgow. I jumped ship without even trying season five and wondered until I heard how they ended it whether I should give the rest a go. I was wondering again today until I saw this video. Thank you for your service o7
I never got why season 4 was so well regarded. Yes, the Trinity Killer was well acted, but Dexter's motivations for not killing him as soon as he found out who he was always felt very forced to me. "Oh, I must learn from him". Nope, moral dilemmas aside you had very few people suspecting you, you knew he was guilty, and he should've just been another blood slide as soon as episode 1. Season 3 at least had a compelling reason to exist, Dexter was trying to create a protege. Everything after that existed through inertia and hope that it would recapture the magic of the first two seasons. Still beats whatever the third book was trying to be. But at least the novels recovered after that.
Same, after multiple rewatches I came to the opinion that the 4th season is among the show's worst, because the plot requires Dexter to act like an idiot the whole time. Even season 3 was better and season 5, which is so unfairly hated, actually has the second best villain in the show (after Brian). It's also a great point to end the show for me, everything after that sucked so hard.
@Omeria Season 3 was my favorite, because Jimmy Smits played a truly believable narcissistic sociopath. And his dynamic with Dexter was really compelling, for all the reasons bad friendships can be that way. And I think Seasons 1 and 2, with his estranged brother and then with Doakes, were similarly compelling and excellent. After that i think it all fell off a bit. I liked Johnny Lee Miller in season 5, and Ray Stevenson in 7, but overall the magnetic polar energy between Dexter and his antagonists got lost in the broader plot elements and convoluted writing for me.
I never really liked Dexter but I recognize he is the vehicle for the show's plot to keep going. James Doakes still remains my favorite character in Dexter, tied with Batista but no one after him really hit the same energy or presence for me. Erik King friggin' KILLED it (pun intended) as Sgt. Doakes.
Great analysis. This was actually my exact criticism of New Blood. They had an opportunity to set up a moral dilemma with Dexter in jail between Harrison and Logan, yet they didn't execute it right at all.
Hello! Would you clarify what you mean? Dexter did have a moral dilemma in the jail - he killed Logan, not because he fit the code, but simply so that Dexter could escape.
@@StefanSochinsky My take on that is he could have spared Logan. Dexter wanted out of the cell, but killing Logan went against the code of Harry. I wonder if Dexter still held to that code though. I didn't like the fresh blood season to be honest, I think it did more harm than good to the legacy of Dexter. He was sharp, smart and cunning in the 8 seasons based in Miami, but in that backwater hick-town, he was a derp! Miami Dexter would not have made the asinine mistakes Derp Dexter made. But then again, it's really the writers who wrote that trash. The finale of the 8th season with Deb being tossed in the ocean really pissed me off. She deserved better. My hope was that some reconciliation would be achieved with the revival of the series, but that proved false as well. I hold an imagined ending in my mind as to what happened, and no writer can match that.
@@Maderyne Hello! Killing Logan actually DIDN'T violate Harry's Code. Rule 1: Don't get caught. And as far as Dexter's mistakes and missteps, I kind of felt like that was part of the point in New Blood - Dexter's been out of the game, so to speak, for so long that he's rusty. Granted, I thought the pacing of it could have been a little better, but I actually don't have a problem with New Blood. Something I'd like to see (despite my opinion that Dexter is completely done) is Dexter be Harrison's dark passenger.
@@StefanSochinskyBut that would be the case for Doakes as well. Being caught. He caught Dexter. So no, it does go against the code. As per the series' own rulesettubg,
What disappointed me the most was that he ran away and nothing he did was discovered. It would have been great if everything he did was discovered, like Breaking Bad when the whole world finds out who Walter White really was. It was very impactful, the big secret that was the whole reason for the series to exist was discovered. To me, Dexter would have had a great ending if he got more and more violent and used less of his code, only to be discovered and die.
Yeah pretty spot on breakdown and analysis. The way i wanted the show to end was for Dexter to come to realisation that what was best for his son was for him to turn himself in and take responsibility for his actions (all of them). I also really wanted a scene between Dexter and an Angel who finally knew the truth.
Really enjoyed the video. I agree with all points. But a secondary view (kinda backed up by the new series) of the show is that it explores how Dexter reacts to how his actions effects others. I think that point is made by deb in Dexter's head of "Everybody near you dies."
Irish myth has a concept called "gaes" which is a code that grants power when held, and brings devastation when broken. Had Dexter been allowed to break his code and as a result become increasingly sloppy and grey, ultimately ending with killing his sister, it would have been a lot more compelling. But really, doakes should have been around until trinity, then that could expose dex to doakes, and you could cut out a bunch of fluff as dexter spiraled down.
@@thispersonwriting1889 haha, its sad to think about how many good concepts get trashed by bad writers. I watched dexter, then breaking bad, then got...and one out of three is a bad record. I don't even bother with these shows anymore because even if they start good they become trash.
@@daniel8181 I think the process is as follow: Writer/Author: comes up with material. Editor: removes clutter, flaws, and those good aspects with the potential to become ruinous. Publisher: sees quality, publishes it. Audience/Readers: sees quality, engages with it. Everyone: Congratulates writer/author. Continuation Writer/author: comes up with more material. Editor: Removes clutter and flaws. Editor: Attempts to remove those good aspects with the potential to become ruinous. Writer/author: Insists on including those elements because they are good elements. Publisher: Sees quality, publishes it. Audience/Readers: sees quality, engages with it. Everyone: congratulates Writer/author, admonishes Editor. Continuation Writer/Author: comes up with material Editor: removes flaws, attempts to remove clutter. Writer/Author: insists on including clutter. Publisher: sees amount of content, sees lack of flaws, publishes it. Audience/Readers: sees amount of content, sees lack of flaws, engages with it. Everyone: Congratulates writer/Author, chastises Editor. Good elements with ruinous potential: start to take over and become bad (with clutter in the way, it’s hard to notice, and these elements are so integral to the story by now that it’s too late to remove them). Continuation Writer/Author: comes up with material Editor: Attempts salvage and damage control. Publisher: publishes it Audience/Reader: engages with it, wonders where these flaws, clutter, and ruinous elements came from. Everyone: Yells at Editor for lack of quality. Nobody did anything unexpected, unreasonable, or with ill intent, and everybody did their jobs and reacted normally, and yet it ends up being what nobody wanted in the end.
Season 2 was fantastic. Dexter should have been 4 seasons long and Season 2 should have been the finale. Dexter should have been willing to have Doakes turn him in but then Doakes, at some point, tries to arrest Dexter (maybe he thinks Dexter's getting cold feet) and Dexter is forced to kill Doakes to save himself.
Season 4 was best IMHO. Trinity had me on the edge all season. Dexter could kill Doakes out of desperation, that's understandable. At the end of the day, he's still a serial killer. He can easily justify it by saying it preserves the code... More work to be done.
Trinity was my favorite season too. John Lithgow just nailed it, but yeah I have always thought like... Killing doakes is the only choice. There's a reason the first rule is don't get caught, that's how I could see him justifying it. Glad they kind of did that in the new blood series
Season 4 was when the homIcide department acted like dumbasses and we saw more of the personal relationship drama which was so so boring. The cat and mouse game between Trinity and Dexter however was handled beautifully.
Immediately subscribing and liking based on everything you've said up to 2:26, because it is all exactly what I have always thought about every opinion given so far : ) Anyone who watched Dexter from the start and didn't recognize the vast change the show underwent immediately after Season 2... wasn't watching it well enough to begin with. It baffles me how many people didn't notice the vast disparity between Season 2 and Seasons 3&4, and think it was after that point it went downhill. I also grew up watching and loving Poirot. And, having already read the books, I couldn't stomach even what was cut out of Season 1 of Game of Thrones (ie the full events of the Tournament, and Sandor's feelings for, and initial relationship with, Sansa) to include very poorly written non-book sex scenes for no purpose other than to include them, and felt very validated that I did not continue watching the adaptation past Season 1 by how it turned out, 7 (?) years later. I feel like I'm listening to myself speak. Thank you for having taste, whoever you are. edit: And yes, after watching till the end I still agree perfectly with everything you said, every emotion you expressed, every conclusion you reached, everything. The only difference is that I didn't watch Season 8 after Season 7 pulled that same nonsense, again, right after it spent the whole season seemingly genuinely attempting to redeem where it went astray in the first place. This could not be more spot-on. I suppose the only thing I would disagree with you about, and only slightly, is involving the piece of plate in Breaking Bad. When I watched it, that seemed like a loophole given to WW to at least justify his actions to himself, despite agreeing that the following scene where he first deliberately murdered another person was handled appropriately well, and clearly had a huge effect on him. Perhaps your taste is even better than mine, because I didn't see him as an absolute villain until Season 2 made it screamingly obvious... and that was the whole point of that season, to really shove it in the audience's face for anyone (like me) who may have still been mentally on his side after Season 1. But we still have the same basic opinions and feeling about it. It's the people who were still rooting for him after the ending of Season 2 that I can't begin to fathom. The entire season, with the black-and-white mystery cuts in each episode, all showing the literal cosmic aftermath of his evil that the universe shoved in his own face, not merely that of the audience, was a masterpiece. Of course, so were Seasons 3 and 4, which was what made watching them so poignant. I had some serious issues with Season 5 however, because it seemed like the writers had fallen into their own trap, and had to give him a "happy ending" instead of the one he always deserved, after Jane.
The thing you have to understand, is that Dexter is a female fantasy about a man who is extremely dark triad, but still intelligent, sensitive, and redeemable. The writers couldn't jeapordize that fantasy with silly things like "narrative consistency" or "good storytelling"
The idea of Dexter turning himself in (or being caught) reminds me a lot of how Barry handled its season 3 finale leading into the entire concept of season 4. Would've been interested to see the series continue with Doakes' presence and/or Dexter shifting his entire perspective after breaking the code. Great video!
@@logandabruteyea for whatever reason Doax was put in a position by the powers that be left him no choice but to defend his country. If Dexter was a wholy good guy he'd turn them in when he caught them.
Then again, when Harry is explaining the code, he says to Dexter that all the other rules are in service of the first one ‘Don’t get caught’ so killing Doakes to serve the ‘master’ rule seems like the best option in rationalising it. It would still cost Dexter for the other part of the code but that could have been one way his conscious could be resolved.
Yes I agree with your points. Dexter Season 1 though truly is the greatest season of Dexter, he wasn't let off scott free, he was forced to make hard desicions which were very conflicting and character changing. I wish Clyde and Scott would just revisit that seasom to recapture the magic of what made me truly fall im love with Dexter in the first place. S1's pacing was perfect, he pulled you in with intrigue, and the aide characters also had their own miniture arca that played well with the overall season conclusion. Born Free to this day is my favourite episode of Television (save for Ozymandias from Breaking Bad) It had stakes, drama, and a conflicting character moments. Like when Dexter killed Brian to save Deb, it makes sense, and ita gutwrenching. I love the other seasons but if I just think of Dexter s1 as the only season. A good intriguing mystery when a perfect beginning and satisfying ens.
For those who know, and without spoiling anything... Season 4 finale hit me like a truck. I had to take some time to get over that before I could watch anymore of the show.
Am I the only one who thinks Season 4 is by far the greatest season of Dexter? I mean, I cried at a TV episode for the first time since I saw Ozymiandas when Rita died and the Trinity killer was absolutely chilling. He was everything you need for a cool character, he was cold, arrogant and intelligent.
What's wrong with Season 5? l thought it had strong characters. Lumen is a love interest who understands Dexter's double life like Rita couldn't. She also gives up killing while killing is imbedded in Dexter's character, making her a strong foil. Also the villain is engaging. Jordan Chase is charismatic while Dexter is awkward. He is a celebrity while Dexter and other villains like Trinity hide in plain sight, showing that people of different backgrounds can still commit despicable crimes.
You make a good argument but I just didn't find it very exciting. Their relationship worked on paper but where's the passion? Where's the drama? Dexter loved Rita but had to hide who he was from her. He loved Hannah but couldn't trust her. Lumen was just someone he felt bad for and kept helping. As for Jordan, I never doubted Dexter would kill him, and Dexter never doubted it either.
@@davescripted3796 That's a good point about Jordan. I found him interesting while he was alive but there wasn't any doubt he'd die. There's no dilemma like with Doakes or Trinity. In terms of Lumen I really like her characterisation. lt would have been hard to build off season 4's powerful ending and I think they gave Dexter the sense of purpose he needed after losing Rita.
Your not wrong, but Lumen was an absolute gawd awful horrible character. Wouldn’t listen and annoying as hell. When I start over in the series I hate watching season 5 lol but I do it. But yea she’s just awful.
I thought season 5 was the second weakest season of all. Julia Styles' performance was trying too hard to live up to John Lithgow. I wished her character would've ended up on Dexters' table in the end. After all, she fitted the profile. It also seems to fit into the moral dilemma-theory. Would Dexter have killed her because of his code, or because he felt rejected by her?
I thought season 5 was dope but Debra letting them go was completely inexplicable. That's when Dexter should have been exposed and we should have headed towards the end game.
How would you expect a show to handle moral dilemmas when the main character doesn’t understand morality? The code doesn’t really matter. He kills plenty of cops to escape being caught, because he’s a monster.
No Dexter has a moral understanding. He saves innocent people even though he doesn't have to. He saved the immigrants after he killed the murderous couple. He saved the teenager who was about to get kill by Jeremy Downs. He saved the child who was kidnapped by Trinity. He saved Lumen. And I'm sure there are other examples. If Dexter didn't have a moral understanding, why would he have saved all theses people ? Dexter isn't the monster he thinks he is. Since the episode 1 of season 1, Dexter showed feelings. Don't believe everything Dexter says, he's a unreliable narrator.
@@KyoryaZ because he was given the code. Dexter doesnt follow harrys code because of morals , he follows it because he has the knowledge that its the only way for someone like him to survive.
That's a pretty boring way to approach a story like this. Just because the character's morals are skewed doesn't mean the narrative's has to be? In fact, all the more interesting to explore! Like what do you mean you can't explore moral dilemmas with a morally bankrupt character, that's the fun part lol??
@@KyoryaZI get the impression most people in these comments and the creator of this video didn’t watch the entire series and also didn’t watch New Blood.
the doakes and dexter dynamic was fantastic and what really made season two. Doakes was unapologetic and basically gave up trying to hide who he is and his past troubles because he found a role in society that was fulfilling and in his mind needed, which helped him find his purpose and peace. Dexter also found meaning and peace did but he did it basically the opposite way. By hiding what he was and working outside the law but still justifying his work and the thing he does. Perhaps that is why Doakes sees through him so easily/gets creeped out by his reactions. He doesn't see someone coping in their own unique way to their particularly bloody line of work he just sees the same facade he would be using if he was trying to hide something. Or to put it simply game recognizes game even if doakes wont admit it or doesn't understand how similar that are or could have been if life was just a little different he still sees dexter as a threat.
Great video! One thing I would disagree with is the idea that season 7 making Debra shoot LaGuerta was a cop out. I don't value season 7 as highly as you do, but I think that decision was on point. As for the follow up... Oh brother! But yeah, Debra is the most important character next to Dexter and the heart of the show. His way of life coupled with the close relationship with his sister he refused to compromise on lead to her getting forced into an impossible situation and ultimately her moral compass, her life and her entire worldview. Not unlike everyone around Walter White, where the downward spiral he tries to present as him sacrificing himself for the good of others gradually makes everyone around him worse of, corrupted and damaged. In a sense it's a much more hard hitting consequencethan anything you presented for the case where the resolution of the Laguerta dilemma was left entirely up to Dexter. Just think of the Dexter season 8's Ozymandias that could have been if only the showrunners had enough creative momentum to finish the story along the lines of its natural conclusion, at least the way they set it up in season 7. There's plenty of ways it could have gone still, but I'm pretty sure none of it ended up with a kind cutting his jaw on a treadmill...
I think the comparison with Breaking Bad is funny, because I think they actually do give Walter White an "out". The fact that he knows that the second he lets the guy free he'll try and kill him, leaves Walter White with no other choice than to kill him first. One might even say it's self defense (though I think that could very much be argued).
Yeah I agree. As soon as he realised that he was going to try to kill him, it gave him the "justification" of a preemptive attack and removed most of the moral dilemma. To me the first truly serious moral dilemma Walt faces that significantly changes his character is Jane's death.
You hit the nail on the head with this one. One of the things I really wanted to happen at the end of season 2, again at the end of season 4 / beginning of season 5 and of course at the end of season 7 was for a Dexter to break his code. He kind of does do it a few times in the series but it's always left vague. My ideal ending for this character was always with him running from the police as a serial killer without remorse. Imagine if he killed doakes and then season 3 and season 4 go on relatively the same except with the character grappling with his ultimate choice. Slowly the facade of his code slips away as he become more and more erratic, picking more reckless targets which only loosely fit into the code. And then you have Trinity kill Rita which sets dexter over the edge because he realizes that the code can't protect the people he cares about (It makes more sense to let Trinity get away). We have the next season being about Dexter grappling with this inner turmoil until deb finally realizes who he is; meanwhile, laguerta starts to follow the evidence that points towards dexter being the bay harbor butcher. This culminates in a scene where Deb walks in on Dexter murdering laguerta. She tries to stop her brother and he ultimately ends up killing her as well in an attempt to not get caught. In this process, Dexter has finally slipped up and other people come to see who he really is, causing him to flee from Miami. The final few episodes of the show should have Dexter killing indiscriminately over and over again, reveling in the violence and murder showing his true nature as a psychopathic murder as he attempts to evade capture. The show ends with the character either dying in a deserved hale of gunfire or turning himself in. There are so many compelling ways that they could have subverted the character and the formula of the show. Murder after all is very gruesome and many serial killers are much more brutal than Dexter ever was. If you want to make a show about a serial killer, then you should depict the true consequences of such a horrific profession. Also, people with borderline personality disorder don't suddenly develop consciences. You can have Dexter believe that he is somehow building this moral framework in his mind, but if the writers were clever, they could set it up so that it is just a twisted logic which he uses to justify his actions. In the cold light of reality, Dexter should have been nothing more than a killer at the end. He could have gone the way of Walter White, become somebody who embraced their inner personality as the series went on. In season 1 and 2, they make it very clear that the only reason why Dexter is able to function in society is because of the code... The logical conclusion is to erode the code over time and have the character break down completely. The irony of Dexter is that while it was a serialized show, it was also very episodic from season to season. The character wasn't allowed to change in any meaningful way because the producers seemed somewhat gun shy about making him into a proper villain. They also didn't want to drop the procedural cop drama that underpinned the show. Every season needed some kind of big bad guy that Dexter had to take down which really kind of destroyed any tension that the show could have created. It also led to the writers writing some of the most convoluted logic to further keep the character safe and friendly. It is absurd that Dexter had basically murdered 2 to 300 people by the end of the show but was still considered an anti-hero.
A lot of times I click into video essays mindlessly and click away five seconds in because I realize that I don't care at all. This was great the whole way through.
Yes, the cat and mouse between the two serial killers was exciting. This guy thinks there has to be permanent moral dilemmas to have any positive effect, but they don't.
There was a pattern of trying to get close to the villain of the season and failing. He ahould have brought his victims to Dokes to flip him the same as Poirot and take his dad's place, at least until the next season.
Season 1 & 2 are SUCH fantastic seasons of a show...there was an energy and macabre and beautiful art to it all and while the cop-out of Doakea being killed by someone other than Dexter, it's still imo, the top end of the show. I actually fell in love with Dexter from a video clip of one of Season 1's episode...less than a minute long. Where Dexter is called in to another victim of the Ice Truck Killer, where the body parts wete on a ice rink...Dexter sliding across the ice in pure wonder at the macabre display of the body snd describing that beauty...it was so wonderful & unlike any other show itself. Sure the show wasn't nearly as clever as it thought it was, but stellar performances by everyone, the macabre angle and a anti-hero main character, with a fun soundtrack, commentary on society & fitting in, the fun setting of Miami? It all worked....until Season 3 began, and I just immediately started to lose all the love I had. Season 3 wasn't awful, but it felt...a bit bland and kinda soulless and while Season 4 is really damn good, I think it's too contrived and nonsensical making it work...but still fun. Season 5 Immediately lost me and I stopped watching the show one they gave him a new love interest and how the show never wanted to develop or evolve Dexter. I followed the show, just didn't watch it intently and my best friend (whom I got into the show when it was still Seasons 1 & 2) filled me in and just...wow...for me, the show just never recouped the magic of S1 & S2, nor even hit the fun of S4. Maybe some moments or pieces were fun or well done (the 4 Horsemen galloping scene) but when they had given him ANOTHER love interest I was laughing in pain at how awful the writing was. I dunno how the return to Dexter really was with New Blood, but that only lasted for 1 Season and they apparently want to do a prequel show now? Let it die already...good grief. I always wished Dexter had been a 3-5 Season show snd st thst very moment of the dilemma of Doakes...he gave into his Dark Passenger. That Dexter would throwaway the Code of Harry and make his own Code...and that the show would culminated into a Nation-wide manhunt. Constantly trying to keep Dexter as purely a good guy without true & meaningful consequences that fulfill the narrative & entertain us, give us real drama is why the show had such a nosedive imo...the fact they kept redoing the same beats got old SO fast.
Hey everyone! Thanks for watching my video. I made it a couple years ago but the majority of the attention it's gotten has been very recent, which has been an awesome surprise. I've been reading through the comments, which I really appreciate, and I keep seeing two that I wanted to address...
First, people can't believe that I don't give season four more credit. And I get it. John Lithgow was incredible. The whole season was. I rank it only behind seasons 2 and 7, for reasons I explain in the video, and season 1, which is a sentimental favorite.
Second, a lot of people are upset that I spoiled the ending of Murder on the Orient Express. I don't get this one. The whole video is about moral dilemmas, so I was comparing the two big ones on Dexter with ones from other stories. It's kind of impossible to compare dilemmas without discussing what happens during them. And I put a spoiler warning at the start of the video. So my question is, are people missing the spoiler warning, or do some people not understand what a spoiler warning is? I don't mean for that to sound snarky. I'm seriously asking. If the spoiler alert is too quick then I'll make it longer going forward because I don't want to spoil anything.
I appreciate any feedback here.
Thank you again so much.
Dave
Oh, I forgot to mention that yes, I do mispronounce episodic, as so many people have been nice enough to point out. LOL. Please keep roasting me for it;-)
Great analysis, got yourself a new sub. The YT algorithm just recommended this to me lol, interesting timing. As for your question, idk I think the warning was long enough. I definitely could read it completely.
TY!!!🙏@@20Gero09
I would have also said the warning out loud before each comparison. Most people skip videos until they actually start.
I'd be interested in your thoughts on Dexter New Blood and how that show resolves itself compared to how the original series did it. I think the new show worked stronger with it.
The show was HEAVILY promoted in its' time. We heard about it everywhere. Why? Because the main character went after nobodies while once again, the oligarchy was completely ignored and unscathed. "Well done Dexter", they all said.
I have this rule. Don't write dark stories if you're scared of dark implications.
The writers of Breaking Bad understood this. Writers of Bojack Horseman knew this.
The writers of Dexter did not.
Yes, it's almost like they were scared of somehow ruining or changing Dexter's character. I mean, it's kind of boring that he remains the same throughout the entire story.
@@stretch654 Because Dexter is constructed as a bad boy. On one side, he kills people, everything else is on the good side. Audience likes these kind of characters and authors are very careful to keep Dexter as he is, if anything they turn Dexter to be better. So we got the show that has a very dark setting, yet it's really a no sugar vanilla flavour when it comes to serial killers.
What authors didn't know is that audience LOVES when characters from good to rotten bad... like Walter White did.
If they had the balls to gradually turn Dexter worse, and worse, and worse until audience hate him, this show would be a bomb.
The Sopranos was masterful at it.
@@dariozanze4929 Barry did this also really good. The hitman protagonist wants to stop beeing a hitman and become an actor and you just excpect it to work but instead he becomes worse every season and pretends that everytime he kills someone it will be the last time.
@@dariozanze4929 I would've loved to see him deteriorate throughout the show, however I suspect many female viewers would've been turned off by that. Part of Dexter's appeal is that he often acts in the best interests of those closest to him (Debra, Rita, Harrison, Lumen, etc.) while pursuing his own goals, displaying great competency at providing for and protecting those he values (despite a few slip-ups) and taking an active role in eliminating other societal threats. Yet, he's a bit of a challenge (living a secret and guarded life) and, as we saw with Rita, many women would like to rescue, domesticate, and use this monster to their advantage. That's hot.
If he had instead degraded to the point of irredeemability, it would've been much more interesting to see but ruined his appeal to many female viewers. No one says Tony Soprano or Walter White is hot (baldness and physicality aside). I can't help but think New Blood showing Dexter to be solitary, yet self-domesticated and otherwise "unavailable" is just a small facet as to why that sequel caused great disappointment.
Truly, the biggest mistake in the series is that the code should have been:
Don't get caught.
Don't kill the innocent.
Stay away from small town cops armed with the power of google.
Get a sponsor from Bing and make that used instead XD
So many people said that the finale of Dexter: New Blood was a great conclusion for the story, made total sense, etc. I will argue that it made zero sense in terms of what the characters would and wouldn't do (and that's setting aside the massive plot holes and retconning of original Dexter stories to fit the sequel and lead to that point). To me, it just feels that the writers felt compelled to shoehorn the story into a conclusion that they planned in advance but couldn't make either the story or the characters fit.
@@elinat8665 I honestly might hate the ending for New Blood MORE than the last few seasons of Dexter. They had such a good villain too. Destroyed any chance of a good story with the last episode.
its not that characters acted differently, its that they wrote dexter to have finally cracked. Which relating a lot to dexter myself I can completely see in him. When he brought his son with him, he crossed into psychosis.
The storyline as ridiculous as it is was idea from the book where Dex teaches astor and cody to murder.
@@elinat8665
@@elinat8665 The writing was so lazy it's painful, plus it felt like a forced way to leave doors open for spinoffs. Either have Dexter face the music or have him get shot trying to get away.
Good point! Never bail your characters out of their moral dilemmas.
@@WhereIsMyKek - Did you watch the video? It explains it quite clearly.
Okay but Doakes going to prison after being framed by Dexter and trying to convince everyone of the truth would have been such a perfect escalation for their antagonism: Doakes has gone from being able to freely pursue the truth about Dexter, to being in full possesion of the truth but unable to do anything about it. It would also be a great escallation from the previous dilema where Dexter framed his girlfriends ex husband, showing him developing new codes/patterns of behaviour for new situations, and how impossible it is for a strict set of rules to be applied to a variety of situations with an equal moral outcome. The stakes would have been raised because any slip up on Dexters part would cooberate Doakes story. You could also have a character like Angel, who had significant emotional beats with both of them, put in the middle of the fight and have him start to question what actually happened. Theres just so much potential for where the story could go from there its such a waste of potential.
Dude, imagine, what if Debra or Angel figured something was wrong with Dexter, visited Doakes in death row, and Doakes helped them piecing out that Dexter was the real Bay Harbor Butcher, and it kicked the manhunt back in motion. So much wasted potential.
Ok but that’s literally just the Hannibal series
@hollyro4665 I watched that show like over a decade ago so I don't really remember it that well but maybe that's where it came from in my brain lol. I feel like framed man has to convince people of who the real killer is is a pretty common trope tho and it would be interesting to see it play out in a show where the serial killer is the protagonist.
Yeah, and that kind of storyline has been pulled of before too! NBC’s Hannibal did it, with Hannibal framing Will Graham for the Chesapeake Ripper case. Now Will did end up getting out of it, but only because Hannibal and another killer both tried to make it look like the Ripper was still at large so doubt would be cast on his conviction. And it also gave Hannibal plenty of time to clean up any loose ends so nobody could trace the murders back to him even after Will, who was very insistent Hannibal was the killer, was released.
If they’d done something like that, with Dexter framing Doakes, cleaning up his act and then regretting having done it and choosing to find a way to free him without Doakes being able to point the finger would have made a great story. And nobody but Doakes saw Dexter do it. If there’s no evidence, the accusation can’t be followed through.
@beedoesthings8037 you make a really good point, I would rather see it play out a bit differently with Dexter not seeing anything wrong with what he did and continuing with his life while Doakes has to work hard to convince the people around him and the people on the outside who believe him having to fight to find evidence while pretending not to suspect anything. Meanwhile it's becoming increasingly obvious that Dexters moral code doesn't stop him from being a bad person
You didn’t mention the ultimate moral dilemma in Poirot, where in the finale he is unable to prove that the killer is guilty so he kills him and then out of the guilt of becoming a murderer he doesn’t take his heart medicine so he would have a heart attack, effectively killing himself as punishment.
That's a great point. Such an odd way for the series to end. I gotta watch it again. My literal reaction to watching that the first time was "Wait... What?" lol
Sounds like Javert from Les Miserables
@@davescripted3796 If you've read the book series, you'd find it wasn't a weird way to end the series at al (this is also how the book-series ends,by the way)l. While Poirot was a man of high morals for sure, he was also a man of ego. A very big ego. Him killing Norton was actually very in character, as Poirot couldn't allow Norton to get away with his crimes (his Morality), and how would it look if Poirot had let the killer get away after Poirot had caught so many of them? It could affect hos reputation, and Poirot enjoyed when people thought the best of him (his Ego).
Christie also conformed it herself, saying that's why she hated Poirot so much, because he was "a detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep".
Does not taking your medecine count as suicide, eschatologically ?
@@KimeraOne there's abit of a flaw in that statement, EGO, how does Poriot care about what others think of him, most of it is for his own benefit, and his moral code, given he used to be a detective who has a thirst for justice and seeing things right
and his OCD is really what allows him to see things right and see what others dont, a man learning to live with a disadvantage and making the best of it
also Christie lived abit like Poriot, her house, papers and the like, some modern block of apartments and would live in seclusion
maybe she really just hated him as he reminded her so much of herself, and was really making a personal judgement on herself
When I watched Dexter I always liked to think that he wasn't actually a psychopath and that he was just a disturbed child poorly raised by his disillusioned Dad. There were so many instances where he seemed to have convinced himself that he couldn't feel but he clearly could... Then they went and scanned his brain and destroyed any question
To be fair there are several shows and movies that play with that trope of "psychopath stops being a psychopath once he discovers the power of friendship" and it always strikes me as odd
@@McDonaldsCalifornia there is? Like what?
@@McDonaldsCaliforniaIirc people with personality disorders CAN mitigate them over time because they only arise due to trauma
@@BRobMorrishe shows way too much empathy and sympathy for others in the show to be a psychopath. They make the mistake of arguing (like much fiction) that he's only like this because of trauma. In reality many people with good childhoods are just terrible and other people have horrible childhoods but choose to be good people. The book version is more selfish, but the author dips his toe in the supernatural.
@@jacobstaten2366 it's too simple to say "well other people have bad childhoods and aren't like that" people aren't the same, their brain chemistries aren't the same and how they think about their experiences (that are never absolute mirrors) aren't the same
"He's now a lumberjack and he's Okay"
I saw they are putting out a new Dexter (same actor, new town), but it was on a channel I don't get.
"He sleeps all night and he works all day" (if there are any Monty Python fans out there, please keep it going).
He kills all night and he works all day!
Tune in next time when he puts on women's clothing and sits around in bars!
He cuts down trees, he eats his lunch, he goes to the lavatory
I think the perfect solution to this problem would have been to keep the course of events the same, but with Dexter resolving that he’d have to kill him with that not having to happen. The fact that he knows he would have done it will have still shaken him to his core, and the technicality of him not actually doing it but still being torn up over it keeps him a sympathetic character from the POV of the audience while not canceling out the effect of the dilemma.
I agree! That's the only solution I've heard that could actually work. As much as people might want Dexter to go through with the difficult choice, it would ruin the show.
The interesting thing is that Dexter did break his code, but they never touched on it. In season 5 when he’s reeling from Rita’s murder he kills a random guy at a rest stop. Sure they made it seem like he was unsavory and possibly could’ve fit the code, but there was no way Dexter could’ve known that for sure.
Instead it’s undone by the introduction of Lumen and the code being reinvigorated in Dexter. Could you imagine if that first few episodes it showed Dexter hunting outside of his code, maybe actually targeting an innocent and then maybe that leads him to Lumen and it actually gives him a reason to use the code again.
Yeah that’s by far the most annoying moment on the show for me. He just randomly murders someone who says mean words
Didn't he also kill a guy, via his ritual, who turned out to be innocent?
@@Schrodinger_if I remember he wasn’t guilty of the thing he kills the guy for but was guilty for something less bad.
@@user-fz9vk4js5l yeah that’s what I’m saying, the writers still had to make it seem like he was some stereotypical asshole, maybe an abusive drunk or something.
They leaned too heavily into this Dark Avenger aspect of Dexter. I remember in season 1 he kills a drunk driver who yeah he killed someone behind the wheel, but Dexter justifies him fitting the code because he’s an alcoholic who still drives drunk. If you look at Harry’s code, that guy doesn’t fit the code really, because he’s not a serial killer per se.
If they just leaned more into Dexter changing the code to feed his urges, then they could’ve tackled those moral dilemmas. Instead they just always found ways for Dexters victims to always fit the code, and whenever there was a risk to him and his dark passenger getting exposed, there was outside intervention, almost nigh divine intervention.
@@Schrodinger_ another aspect the show could’ve tackled, Dexter killing someone via the ritual and the code and him finding out they were truly innocent.
Would he feel more guilt or conflict that he killed someone who didn’t fit the code? As the video says, Dexter is a killer who seemingly grows a conscious over the course of the show, so if he killed someone innocent, not to protect his secret but because he was wrong would he feel guilty about or would it thrill him and make him crave it more than killing someone within the code?
“Why isn’t Dexter allowed to be bad, HE’S A SERIAL KILLER” I love that quote. Killing Doakes made so much narrative sense to me. He finds out in the episodes before that Harry finally saw what the code has wrought and couldn’t live with himself. Dexter should have the thought that if Harry didn’t respect the code, why should he? The rules were so vague that Harry never considered when the 2 rules became mutually exclusive. Dexter could say Doakes deserved because of his vigilante Justice toward the Haitian in S1. Hell, he killed and would kill for a lot less. But unfortunately the writers thought we would riot if the serial killer killed someone and gives Dexter a convenient out and then the chickens take 4 seasons to roost because he forgot a blood slide (something he’d never do) only to do the same song and dance again, fuck it.
Is he!? He kills serial killers. I think we call those kinds of people anti - heroes. Which I love
@@frankdeleon4209 He's not an anti-hero, he's a villain protagonist
@@kilianalexander2736 how!? He kills serial killers.
@@frankdeleon4209 and? He's still a serial killer. It's not a means to the end for him, it's all about the means. He enjoys it.
@@kilianalexander2736 I disagree I think Dexter represents a truth were not ready for
5:25 Reminds me of the Doctor Who Quote
“Sometimes, the only choices you have are bad ones, but you still have to choose.”
Funnily enough, this is in the Orient Express episode!
That's a great point, that quote, and since I've never seen Doctor Who, thanks for bringing it to my attention! (not being sarcastic, fyi)
@@iprobablyforgotsomething as someone who has watched it my whole life, i think you'd like it, i gained many moral lessons from it as a child, and also a fear of statues.
@@CertainOverlord I was smiling till you mentioned the statues.....
Sounds like voting
In the Witcher I recall Geralt saying "f I have to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all" which in my view is choosing the greater evil
THANK YOU FOR GIVING DAVID SUCHET THE CREDIT HE DESERVES
Best Poirot EVER. I’ve had a problem with the various iterations of Miss Marple.
Maybe the problem was trying to imply that there was a moral dilemma in the first place. Dexter never truly had a code. He had his father's code. He held onto it because of how it served him. It allowed him to move freely in the world, feeling good about himself, indulging his worst impulses, with people still holding him in high esteem. I think his real dilemma was more of an identity crisis... He seemed to have a serious case of imposter syndrome because he could never really be himself and was afraid to try. It's pretty telling that others had to do the really "dirty" work for him. In some ways I think that was the real moral test, which he obviously failed. Especially when Deb, a deeply feeling person, was the one to "take care of" Maria. I haven't watched the series in years, though. This was a nice reminder to rewatch!
Realistically I think if any kind of real idea was being touched on it by the directors, it was probably Dexter's struggling to fit in and figure out who he is. He is a psychopath whos seen and done the worst things to sure, bad people, but seeing and doing those things doesnt change the effects on a person especially after being raised into it and shown what to do with those feelings. Dexter rarely struggles with 'morally' right or wrong things from what I remember, it a lot more down to what is gained or lost and an essential view point. Like dating Rita at first from what I remember was more to look normal and not fit into the criteria of 'Single adult white male' and seem more normal. Most of what we see initially of Dexter is him focusing on appearances and constantly worrying about if someone may see who he really is. Even toward the end of the show with his kid, the morally right thing is giving the kid up the moment Rita died, a psychopath murdering father who goes out once a week to murder isnt a good dad. But the issue wasnt morals. The issue came with Dexter being scared his kid would be like him, unfeeling, isolated, not knowing what these dark urges are or could be, and later struggling with how his kid would see him if he knew the truth. The show wasnt trying to tell us whos right and whos wrong, it was showing us way more about fitting in, overthinking, and self-loathing I think.
@@scorchinorphan1687 Hmm... Yeah, I like your take on it. Well said!
The show never implied that Dexter's internal conflicts were moral dilemmas and seasons 2 and 5 directly contradict that reading.
@@AbandonedVoid Thanks, I'll look out for that when I watch again!
very true. Its supposed to be an antidote to sociopathy and psychopathy. I always thought it was clearly written that way. I relate to the character in ways most audiences do not, and I can honestly say it produced some effect. It did push me towards confronting my psychopathy and worst memories
@@scorchinorphan1687
Killing Doakes would've broke his code, but there was enough gray there to have the *character* justify it in the moment. He talks about how Doakes shoots a lot of suspects and how he's not 100% innocent, given his past, and that's absolutely true. Killing Doakes would've led to some interesting character development for Dexter as he struggled with that choice for the rest of the series.
Instead, as you said, it was a return to the status quo. The interesting thing about LaGuerta is that he couldn't even half-heartedly justify that killing. And he ends up running *anyway* in the end. It feels like the writers made it way harder on themselves than it needed to be just to allow Dexter to remain a "good guy". When the whole point of the series was (or at least should've been) that Dexter is not at all a good guy.
Dexter is a puzzling series when it comes to the writing. Some of it is astonishingly well written (even, as you said, when they go off-book) and then some is so amateurishly written it shocks me that people were getting paid to write it.
The book/s make it clear that Doakes is every bit the monster Dexter is. Its why Doakes is hard on Dexter. Doakes can tell what Dexter is like and vice versa. Also the lab tech is a nutbar to. But the books do have a habit of having Dexter think a lot of people of like him. Unreliable narrator probably.
It is pretty strange that they killed off Doakes in season 2 since he was like the main foil to Dexter.
For example that's like if in Breaking Bad they killed off Hank in season 2.
Point i tied to make but you made it way better… 😅
Doakes was a murderer, and Dexter knew it because the blood evidence didn't match Doakes' story of what happened under the bridge. So there's no code violation or moral dilemma. How does everyone keep missing this?
@@pintolerance785 They couldn't keep Doakes around and keep it from getting stale or Doakes seeming like a moron. Once he's suspicious, it'd be almost impossible for Dexter to not get caught.
I just discovered this channel, never heard of either or Poirot before 10 mins ago, but this dude talks about em in such an engaging way. Instant subscribe.
I just stopped after season 2 of Dexter, and I could never put into words why. Just felt like a good ending to the show. You've put the reason into words fantastically!
good choice lol. contrary i tried hatewatching to beat my screen addiction and only lowered my standards instead.
Same here. The first episode of Season 3 did a horrible job of filling the void left by Doakes. I realized the show was out of steam and just stopped watching.
Season 3 gets really good after a few episodes, then season 4 is awesome. Don't sleep on those, it's some amazing stuff.
Make season 4 ending your finale you won't regret it but that's all you don't have to watch after that
Not gonna blame you for that because it's true. But I would HIGHLY recommend watching season 3 just so that you can get to the amazing season 4! And then after season 4, you can truly stop. But there's just SO much that's FANTASTIC about season 4 - I promise you, it's worth it.
It's very strange how the show refuses to accept the absurdly obvious reality that a "good guy serial killer" is paradoxical and impossible. He's not killing as a means to an end to rid the world of evil people, he's finding evil people as a means to the end of fulfilling his urge to murder. Harry's code doesn't work because you might identify bad guys incorrectly, disproportionately administer death to someone who didn't deserve such a severe punishment, or get caught and be forced to act in self preservation. Instead of writing Dexter the character with his code against the reality of the universe and letting it hit its natural conflicts, they molded the universe around Dexter to allow him to kill people for pleasure and get away with it.
I wouldnt say "good guy serial killer" is impossible, partly due to how subjective the word Good is. But there are even some common ethical arguments that would promote Dexter's actions, particularly utilitarianism (as controversial as utilitarianism is).
Personally, I think he saved a lot more lives than he actually took, and the lives he saved were worth more than the scum he tended to take out. Even if he was only doing it to fulfill his own needs.
That being said, I don't really believe there's been a good guy serial killer in real life... or, at least not more than one in a billion or so. To be willing to kill, but also have the discipline to hold back from killing until you have absolute proof, it's a very specific temperament. Also it's a rare person who would be in a position to encounter, confirm, and abduct that many people who the world would be absolutely better off without.
It's not strange at all. A lot (and I mean A LOT) of people share the show's mentality: vigilante justice is the right kind of justice, because bad guys getting away would be the worst thing imaginable, bad judgement just does not exist, and no punishment is too harsh. Vigilantes are revered because they are a projection of many people's sense of justice.
Did u see new blood?
All a sudden he’s whacking nebody
9:00 Might have been interesting if Dexter had realized that Lila was going to find Doakes and now had to make the choice:
1) Stop Lila, leaving him with the same dilemma about how to deal with Doakes.
2) Let Lila fix his problem for him, technically following the code, but also knowing full well that he pulled a fast one.
Yeah, that would have been a good way to do it. Especially when you add in the fact that by not stopping Lila he ends up endangering Rita's kids.
YES, this perfectly explains why season 2 was so exciting and then so disappointing. It made me hate Dexter that he got everything he wanted, by doing absolutely nothing, then punished Lyla for it by killing her at the end, as if she wasn't his easy way out for the most compelling problem of the show so far. Everything leading up to that ending had been so delightful but it made me lose all interest I had in continuing. This really put it into words.
Also same, Jane's death was so harrowing that even expecting the worst, it was so shocking I didn't know how to live with it for a second there. It's amazing how Walt is so awful yet I don't feel cheated by his actions the way I felt cheated by Dexter
I really love how Barry handled similar themes basically perfectly.
I was literally thinking that all this sounds like what Barry handled perfectly. A bad person who thinks hes a good guy forced to come to terms with who he is.
I loved Doakes, he was such a great antagonist to Dexter and no other character equalled his presence and charisma. They should ve kept him in for more seasons and have a real cat and mouse plot going for way longer as it was truly exciting to watch. Or find a way to make him survive season 2's story which would ve kept Dexter on his toes for the next seasons. As you said, the excitement for the next seasons never matched season 2's conflict.
he survived in the books
The season with Trinity did. I'd flip the B+/B rating personally and rate 4th season the best.
The series should've ended there in hindsight...
Trinity was the next best villain, he came decently close esp when he confronts Dexter at MPD (great scene).
I guess to each his own, but in my opinion, Doakes was a bit too much, and too unrealistic.
@@spookspotlightnews-spookoh he survived alright... But getting blown up might have been a more desirable outcome. I'm not sure Showtime had the nerve to go down that rabbit hole.
The real Dexter definitely would’ve killed Doaks, and I would’ve LOVED to see him agonize over it for seasons to come. I agree with you, we were robbed.
Would love to see your perspective on the seasons & why you ranked them the way you did.
He would've killed doakes but if he did then it would've broke the code forever and he'd probably continued to do so realistically
@@beattheodds6219 part of the code is not to get caught. the not killing of innocence applies more to his mo, who he can have fun killing. not to what he has to do in order to not get caught.
@@GotoMaki4Micah thats why harry made the first rule dont get caught.
This is the real Dexter
“The real Dexter” lol no it wouldn’t have fit his overall characterization on the show.
This video essay is outstanding: It's well explained, the production value is as good as anyone else's in the writing craft space, and it's entertaining. Looking forward to more. Subscribed.
This perfectly puts into words what I was feeling about the show. Great analysis 👏🏻
No matter what he chooses one of those options still fit the code. Dont get caught is the first rule for a reason.
And all the other rules are to help fulfill rule 1
no because there's an important second half, never kill an innocent.
@@hyasf Rule 1 takes priority. The code is primarily for Dexter's survival, not for Harry's brand of justice.
@@Leopoldshark correct. it's established quite clearly that the point of the code is to ensure Dexter stays alive, and free, not that he does good.
Which is why, in the final analysis, Dexter was always a bad guy.
my gripe was always that they didnt know how to let a sociopath be an actual sociopath. we could have had a show where we see how that kind of person really deals with dilemmas pitting their personal code against the feelings of their supposed loved ones; these would be no-brainer "abandon life and flee" situations. which works fine for a seasonally episodic setup! plenty of human drama to be mined from those he leaves behind, rather than some phony inner turmoil. half hearted attempts for him to grow emotionally fell flat anyway. it just never really made any sense.
No cause Dexter stands out from other killers cause he actually cares about protecting the people and feel remorse for the innocent
@@Jacobsherman341so then how is he a sociopath, exactly?
@@myboatforacar idk but he’s a likeable guy with morals that’s all I’m saying
@@myboatforacar well number one sociopaths actually have a conscience, its just weak. That being said, he didn't start killing bad guys to protect the innocent like the other guy claims, he did it cuz his father tried to tame him and tried to teach him how to not get caught
@@nomanejane5766 My armchair psychologist's reading of it was that it was a redirection of his feeling of helplessness, which were amplified when he was a child through the trauma he underwent, manifesting as primeval wrath under a thick veneer of methodically maintained control. That's why he endulges in this extreme version of a power fantasy - revenge.
It's more than just the moral dilemmas, it's the character of Dexter himself. What is Dexter supposed to be? A true psychopath or a deeply unstable person due to immense childhood trauma? The show acts as if Dexter is an actual psychopath, especially in the later seasons with all that nonsense about him meeting his 'maker' who is supposedly an expert on psychopathy. However if Dexter was a true psychopath he would have never been capable of actual emotions, which the show claims is true yet shows the exact opposite. His marriage than grief after his wife's death than him falling in love again with 1 of his victims all show emotional awareness, something psychopaths lack by definition. Moreover the reveal that Dexter was 'born in blood' helps support this second notion that Dexter is just a deeply traumatized person rather than actually a psychopath. The show didn't know which version they wanted Dexter to be so he ended up being both and neither at the same time, which ultimately ruined the character and the series at large.
Dexter's largest mistake is actually hiring an acting cast that is inexplicably entirely cardboard
Doakes was the only good character besides dexter now that I think😅
I agree, the casting holds this show back so much. Now that i think of it, the newer dexter show about him as a lumberjack killer or whatever has better casting and it works much better, although its held back by the script
Epi-sode-ic he says
how are you supposed to pronounce it then??
@@Otra_Chica_de_Internet Eppy, so dick.
@@Otra_Chica_de_Internet Epi Saw Dick
@@Otra_Chica_de_InternetEpi-sod-ic
@@Otra_Chica_de_Internet epi-sod-ic the sod being like how you say turf or grass with soil.
Season 4 of Dexter is considered still one of the best seasons. Ever.
Season 1>
Trinity season was the best for sure
Season 01&02
@@MrDrgdf this. 1 & 2 were the best, 4 was only good because of trinity, the rest of the season was boring filler. All other seasons are dog shit.
Prefer season 7
The thing about Dexter's "moral code" that allows him to be a vigilante killer while still considering himself a good person is that it's a facade, and always was. It was a lie he told himself time and time again because the ugly truth was always that he kills because he wants to. There are several points throughout the show where Dexter's true nature shows itself when he's backed into a corner. Had season 2 stuck to its guns and had Dexter commit to that choice -- had he killed Doakes to protect himself -- then season 3 could have been the start of his downward spiral. Dexter would have no idea what to think of himself, and he would have to wrestle with everything that's just been outlined, until eventually things came to a head, and he accepted what he really was. We would see a version of Dexter without this false sense of justice telling him that what he's doing is okay, and he would start killing anyone he wanted to without remorse, which would inevitably cause the perfect little life he built around himself to crumble. Fans might not have liked this--because a lot of people seem to misunderstand Dexter and consider him some kind of hero--but I think that would have been the best direction to take here.
Great video, really love the breakdown of why S2 and S7’s dilemmas let Dexter get off easy. Have to disagree on S1 and S4 though, those seasons nail the story they’re trying to tell on all cylinders. S1 still feels the most exciting to rewatch personally, would’ve been interesting if they had Brian live like he did in the books. S2 is let down by Lila but a more exciting season than S3 but gotta point out how underrated Miguel is. Jimmy Smits gave the show some classic scenes.
Miguel’s amazing “Jesus, you have no shame - AND no case!”
@exa I guess it was a front?
@exa and he very much loved lumen
@retroRENEGADE - I just rewatched S1-8 before watching 9 and I agree that S3 is totally underrated - Jimmy Smits as Miguel Prado was a better relationship w/ Dexter than Rita ever was. They had trust, friendship, common goals, shared interests, Dexter showed him who he was, let him in on his ritual, his code, his kills, they killed together, covered for each other, even had plans to make Miami a better place ONLY when the law didn’t work and couldn’t work and he had a partner in a District Attorney that, combined with Miami Metro, had a much better chance of bringing actual justice to people one way or the other.
Sure, he turned out to be a charming liar that used Dexter and didn’t absorb his code and went to kill the lawyer giving him problems. But the average season of Dexter has a big bad monster of a killer like the Ice Truck Killer, Trinity Killer, etc. and what I loved about S2 was that Dexter was being hunted and in S3, he and Miguel were the big bads *together*.
I never connected with Rita (though she didn’t deserve what she got), mostly because the show always kept her at arms length and introduced her as a cover for Dexter and she was always preventing him from doing what he wanted to do, which is why we were watching. The actress did a great job with her; I think it was just the writing that had me cold on her. Miguel was possibly the best non-Deb relationship that Dexter had in the show, until Hannah (good or bad, at least they both knew what the other was and it was all in the open).
"would’ve been interesting if they had Brian live like he did in the books"
Thank you! I can't stop thinking about this one. It just seems like an infinitely more interesting idea to keep him around. Not only would it make Dexter a more selfish and morally grey character if they kept him alive, but Brian also had so much more potential. He could be the one to keep disillusioning Dexter about Harry. he could keep digging into their pasts. He could be a call to the dark side. He could create so much more problems and solutions to other problems, just by the fact that he's Dexter's family and a killer *without* morals. Killing him off feels like such missed opportunity to me.
I just rewatched S1-8 of Dexter and the New Blood limited series all in a row. I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed S3 (the Miguel Prado season). I felt that Prado and Dexter had a better and more *REAL* relationship than Dexter ever had with Rita. They had trust, friendship, Dexter could share who he was, his code, his ritual, they had a kinship, a shared purpose, they protected each other, and they even killed together.
Of course, ultimately, Prado was a charming bastard who lied to everyone and used them for his own purposes, but that’s what made him such a compelling character in the 8 seasons of the main show. It challenged the idea that Dexter couldn’t have friends, couldn’t have a real life, and couldn’t have FEELINGS. Which is something that I think I missed when watching the show as it aired - all the stuff with Harry is just proof that Dexter DOES have a conscience and feelings. It’s not necessarily what Harry would have said; it’s what Dexter is imagining and projecting on to the memory of Harry to talk him out of doing things he wants to do, and to protect him.
By the end of the 9th season, New Blood, I’m almost convinced that Dexter was just TOLD he was a psychopath and trained to be one (and while. he definitely did have dark, homicidal urges, he still had feelings). He had multiple, real relationships where he shared his secret with people. He cared about people. By the end of the show, I was fully in the Deb camp where I felt that she was the moral center of the show and always had been, and I had really started to hate Dexter for all the harm he caused everyone. But Dexter most definitely FELT that harm he was causing.
Hell, it even made the abysmal finale better on a rewatch, picking up details like the episode where Dexter’s co-worker in the file room (the friend of Harry) gets a terminal illness. She doesn’t fit the code, she doesn’t kill or plan to kill, she knows who he is and won’t tell… and she can’t kill herself either, due to her religion making that the worst sin that would condemn her to hell. Deb meets her and says to Dex, “if I’m ever on a machine, unplug me” which is exactly what happens at the end of the show (something I’d long forgotten about by the time it aired).
I wish Doakes would have survived another season and secretly recruited other members of Miami Metro to work on exposing Dexter and have Dexter have to figure out whether to kill them all or go on the run. He was a great character and the “surprise, motherfucker” meme on the internet everywhere just made it that much funnier the two times he did it in the show. I thought New Blood was a much better ending for the character, if not perfect. But MUCH better.
About time someone who doesnt rag on the New Blood finale
@@jason555jason555 I understand why people are conflicted over it. There’s not a consensus about how people believe it SHOULD have ended. Should Dexter get away with it and keep killing? Eventually get caught? Should it have been Deb that caught him? Should the existence of Cody and Astrid and Rita as his cover that eventually became *real* people to him that he cared about change him? And moreso for Harrison, his son by blood? I get why people didn’t like the original ending we got but I think in large part, no matter what happened, a large percentage of the fans would have had issues with it because it didn’t do what they wanted.
So for the show to come back at all, I thought that New Blood was really well done. I especially loved how cinematic it felt - the swap from 16x9 (which filled the screen in the original series run) to something closer to 21x9 widescreen with a LOT of depth of field usage and the really beautiful color palette in the environments and costume design was so visually pleasing to look at.
**SPOILERS FOR NEW BLOOD AHEAD** - I thought that the actor that played Harrison (Jack Alcott) was inspired casting. He felt vulnerable and confused enough that you weren’t sure if he was a normal kid and Dexter was projecting or if he was genuinely struggling with his urges due to being born in blood and what he saw. I also thought that the placement of “Chekhov’s Gun” right there on the wall in between the kitchen of the cabin and the room Harrison slept in was perfect, being put front and center throughout the entire series and then it was obviously of vital importance to the way they resolved the show.
I’d personally watch a spinoff were they follow Harrison, who might now be really triggered by the events of the finale on top of everything else. And maybe try to do what he originally thought Dexter was actually doing - more of a vigilante superhero style killer that was taking out the trash than someone that **NEEDED** to do it and that’s just who he was trained to do it to. I’m assuming this won’t ever happen but I’d support it if it did.
I also loved how they used Deb in this. She was FEROCIOUS and TERRIFYING and really tormented Dexter (with her being his own thoughts of course). So just like the way he envisioned Harry, the way he imagined Deb and talked to her was further proof that he *did* have feelings and wasn’t completely a sociopath that had to fake emotions to blend in with humanity. The absolute violence that Deb used against Dexter was scary at times; I thought she was gonna claw his face off. So yeah, I thought that New Blood ended up being significantly better than it could have been, and without question a better ending than the original. Clancy Brown was a worthy final target and when the lights came on in his underground lair, displaying all of his victims? Probably the most disgusted I’ve been with a killer throughout the entire run of Dexter. I wish that they did maybe 2 more episodes, would be my main complaint. But yeah, I’m glad it happened at all.
@@MrJagermeister Deb was awesome on new blood
@@MrJagermeister Yeah, New Blood felt a little rushed. I was disappointed that they made it seem like Angel was going to meet Dexter after all those years and he was going to be executed like Clyde Phillips originally was going to end the show. Then they just abandoned that idea completely and there was no pay off to that scene where Dexter's gf tells Angel about Dexter. If they had spaced it out a little more it would have been better.
I think I read somewhere a couple years or more ago that Clyde Phillips wanted to end the show with Season 2 and have Dexter be killed by the state of Florida with an electrocution chair and he would hallucinate all the people he killed directly and indirectly in the observation room and the whole show was his life flashing before his eyes. Then they were told they had to do more seasons and by the time they were close to the end of the show Scott Buck wasn't allowed to end it by killing Dexter like Clyde Phillips wanted because they wanted to keep it open for a spinoff or more seasons(probably because of money) so we got that dogshit ending in Season 8.
That's why Season 2 felt a little odd being so early on considering the content of the season. It felt like it should have been the end of the show, it felt like that because they thought they were filming the final season.
New Blood had way too many plot holes and it’s like they forgot about what happened in all the other seasons.. Season 1 to 4 were amazing then it went downhill, they should’ve finished strong with a season 5 with Dex on the run like Breaking bad instead of just milking it (don’t know why many hate on season 3😑) imo
Thank you for recognizing the beauty of David Suchet.
Thanks for sparking my interest in Poirot
Can't believe the whole series is in youtube
i could see dex framing doax, cause while he couldnt justify killing him, he didnt think doaks was a good person at all. he thought doaks was like him, a killer but one who used the military to justify his murders. thats why he brings it up and doaks says :jesus that was war" and dex just says something like.."uh huh, sure"
This was Dexter trying to come up with an excuse to kill him. He tried a lot to find one but didn't convince himself of nothing who makes Doakes a code match
@@diogosimao zz. . I
Doakes in the books really did use the military and police as an excuse to kill - that's where that came from
The way the show was written didn't show that so maybe it was dexter looking for an excuse there
Number one rule of his code don’t get caught and doakes was tying to infringe on that rule lol
I didn't watch past season one, but this is such a great video essay. I feel like the obvious ending is for dexter to kill himself, realizing that he has become someone who will not violate the code and choosing to sacrifice himself to save his family the pain of further exposure and Maria from death. I actually think that would be kind of beautiful, for him to realize that he will never stop killing and be the bigger person and remove himself from the equation to protect everyone he loves.
SPOILERS AHEAD
This is how Dexter New Blood ends, in a sense. He has the character in the end of the show shoot him, as a way to atone for all his supposed horrid actions. Dexter does realize he's the problem, and dies for it, but this correct ending can't make up for the disasters of the show that came before it. Like, if it happened far far earlier, maybe after Trinity, now that would be an ending alright.
@@LuciaS_VA ....
.
...
..
...not to mention all the shit he pulled in NB alone. Granted, he caught a monster while he was at it, but still...
Doesn’t dexter love nobody? He’s a psychopath
I think both the writers of the show and the character (Dexter) himself probably believes that he's incapable of love or caring about others, but he did care about those in his day to day life. He's not a soulless machine, just really messed up from a young age with the worst possible parent teaching to control his urges instead of getting him help.
There are a million other ways that Dexter could have processed his traumas, or dealt with his personality of being impulsive and harmful, but he did not need to murder anyone. I think that's what makes Dexter a great character if you consider that his childhood was so fucked up and his adoptive father really messed him up instead of just getting him help, but who knows, maybe he sees what kind of help people like Dexter would have gotten so he dealt with it his own way, creating the monster he decided to end his life over, realizing what he did was a huge mistake and that he enabled a killer, regardless if the killings are justifiable or not.
It's actually kind of why the show had bad writing at points, they couldn't let Dexter grow, to make himself accountable, or to change in any meaningful way. It also means the show couldn't go on when it reached an actual end point. That was the biggest issue with the series was that people wanted more of Dexter but didn't want him to change.
It's why, even now, with an ending befitting of Dexter in New Blood, that people still find it a bad ending because of a multitude of reasons, one I hear being "Why can't you just make Dexter good again?"
They just wanted him to kill more people, they don't care about his journey or growth or fall into depravity. I think that's what puts a show like Breaking Bad above Dexter in terms of writing. You get to be manipulated by Walter White and realize just how much of a monster he is over and over again and see how far he will go to reach his goals. @@J-Rush
@@J-Rush Only in the first season and even then he clearly loves Deb.
Whatever else you say about the show, Debra's actress was freaking phenomenal.
Loved this video, succinctly articulated something I couldn’t put my finger on
The book was SOOO much darker than the show what happened to doakes in the book was monumentally horrifying.
What happened in the books?
@@blueisasomedancer In the book, "Dearly Devoted Dexter"(2005) Doakes was the victim of a serial mutilator known as Dr. Dano. The "doctor" would kidnap people and play his version of Hangman. For every answer a person got wrong, he would remove a body part. At the end, most victims were reduced to "yodeling potatoes." He got partway through his procedure with Doakes. It was enough to get Doakes out of the picture... mostly.
@@a.houston946 dang
Glad that somebody mentions the books! I read the books before continuing to watch the show. Needless to say, I was disappointed with the latter.
@asomedancer MASSIVE SPOILERS if you haven't read it, but here's a few in even the *first* book:
The barking dog next door is...not re-homed. Dexter comes home and finds it's not barking because it's dead. Because Rita's kids killed it. Turns out, they're also deeply damaged...and he decides he needs to shepherd them in Harry's Code!
Brian kidnaps Deborah and LaGuerta. Dexter won't kill Deborah, but he lets Brian kill LaGuerta and then helps Brian escape. So Deb also *knows* he's a serial killer and has absolutely no illusions about his total lack of actual morals, except as enforced by Harry's Code, since she watches him let Brian kill LaGuerta.
Saying it follows it "pretty closely" is, imo, inaccurate. Sure, there are a lot of familiar beats, but that kind of massive change to Dexter's character means the core of it all is fundamentally altered.
@2:50 Doakes didn’t trip over himself. There was a big gap in the wood flooring in the bridge that he was walking backwards on. If he kept his eye on Dexter while backing up, he would’ve tripped anyway because of the broken bridge.
Fantastic video. I've never heard of this show, but you firmly held my attention through the whole video
"I know you're connected to the ice truck driver."
"Could you be more vague?"
"I think you might be connected to somebody?"
Excellent video! The best example of moral dilemmas done well is Barry on HBO. It’s the most character choice-driven show I’ve ever seen. The writers never write a character out of a dilemma to maintain them as a “good” person in the eyes of the audience. Barry and everyone else receive every consequence of every choice, no matter how tragic or brutal.
Thank you!!! Barry is SUCH a good show and I don’t think enough people know about it.
The biggest dramatic outcome would've been for dexter to debase himself by increasingly flauting his code, becoming a twisted version of himself, _and_ for that to be the lynchpin that gets him outed, forcing him to run and hide anyway. The only way he could redeem himself, even someonewhat, would then be for him to turn himself in, possibly as a sacrifice for the protection of his family.
I watch the show like it’s a comedy. It’s hilarious to me how bad dexter is at being a killer sometimes and how the police he works with are so oblivious to him being a killer
I started watching TV Show because of Dexter. It's like I was looking for another equally exciting Shows, but never found one.
This was nice to see. Back when S2 came out it killed my interest in the show for exactly the reason you lay out. It introduced an interesting moral dilemma with the two main outcomes changing the status quo and then just had it miraculously resolve itself in favour of Dexter with no consequences. At that point any tension I had about him being discovered dissolved. I knew the writers would just throw in some bullshit any time they brought up something interesting to maintain their lead character's code. The code ceased to matter because it would simply never be broken.
My friends who watched the show didn't agree and kept watching and because of their persistence I eventually ended up watching S3 a couple years after it aired. I felt nothing because I knew Dexter would "win" regardless of what he did.
You should watch Season 4 if you never did. Even if you think Dexter will "Win" it still makes amazing television, thanks to the Trinity Killer. Easily the best anatagonist of the series.
Season 3 is fucking terrible and season 4 really isn't that great, the actor who plays Trinity is just really compelling. The season still sucks.
Conversely if Dexter did break his code it also ends the show. IMO him breaking the code to kill Doakes would have killed interest in the show. A serial killer who kills to satisfy their urges and tries to not get caught is a pretty boring premise with nothing interesting to offer.
@@spicy_mintnot necessarialy. It would be boring if he just became a normal serial killer but they could have made soeething with it. Made so that by breaking his code Dexter had to grapple with what his code even meant and what to do now. They could even return to the status quo by making Dexter try to stop killing but convince himself that stopping is worse as the other serial killers won't be stopped unless he kills them (if it's true and he is doing good or not it's an audience debate), now this is frammed still by the lens of Dexter wanting to kill more people but being stopped by the morality quesiion brought by the code. So Dexter decides to do something to punish himself for breaking it once and keeps going. Except now both Dexter and the audience now he can kill innocents for selfish reasons and to question the validity of code making the payoff of Dexter choosing to die as to get the world rid of another evil (himself) better.
The show is about a serial killer that doesn’t get caught, if that were to happen there would only be one season.
“Breaking Bad sucks because I know Walter is not going to die in season 2”. Ok I guess.
I have an idea they could've used if Dexter killed Laguerta. Like you said "He isn't a good serial killer anymore, he's just a killer", they coul've used what seemed to me a good idea in season 6 : make Bryan replace Harry in his mind. It was underused in season 6, but it could've been great to see a Dexter tortured by his brother's illusion, trying to force him to let it go and kill whoever he wants to.
That’s why he always WAS he kills because he likes killing
It’s Harry that made sure he killed those who “deserve it”
How is this still lost on people lol
I think you're exactly right and you've got the point about how they re-introduced Bryan (one effin' time!) as another "Dark Passenger". They could've even had Harry and Bryan acting as the angel and devil on your shoulders wrestling for control with Harry slowly fading away. Eventually Dexter left to himself and Bryan and then eventually have the Dark Passengers leave. It could be left ambiguous if they will return to Dexter's mind one day or if the "Dark Passenger" was just always a facade Dexter's mind made to rationalize his carnal nature.
I've been showing my husband Dexter because he's never seen it. We are on season 4, which I think is undoubtedly the best the show ever was. And while my husband is enjoying John Lithgow's performance, he just doesn't really care enough to keep going. This wasn't always the case, and I am pretty sure that he stopped caring once they killed off Doakes in the way they did. He was such a fun character and it brought so much tension to things to have someone who clearly sees through Dexter from get go. To get rid of him by allowing Lila to kill him was such a waste. There were so many ways that storyline could have gone. Could have framed Doakes and dealt with the aftermath of him trying to prove his innocence. Dexter would have to be on his best behavior and that could drive him a bit crazy until he does something impulsive, and it fucks everything up. Could have HIM kill Doakes and deal with the aftermath of that. But no. We got what we got.
Wild that O haven't seen this show in over a decade, and still remember the plot pretty well
Love the comparison with Poirot's moral dilemma!! David Suchet brought that character to life with style and hilarity, seeing him struggle with a real moral/ethical/religious decision was incredible and no other actor in the role is worth even a footnote.
As for Dex... Agree completely about S2's finale being a bit of a let down, but it worked for S7 because Deb had been wrestling with her own morals and code that entire season too and Jennifer Carpenter was phenomenal in that scene and when she first found out the whole truth...
I think the real Dex would have used the excuse of Doakes' history with Black Ops to try and justify killing him, and it would have made S3 better with him grappling with the knowledge that he is capable of bending the code in that way.
S4 is better than you rated it, they did an excellent job with the twists, cat and mouse of Dex vs Trinity, Dex's arrogance getting Rita killed etc.
I think if S6 and S5's main plots had been flipped, then people would be more forgiving of the Lumen storyline, but it came too close on the heels of Rita's death, which was a devastating blow to viewers, especially with the tragedy of Dex only realising he loved her when she was already gone. We needed more time to see him deal with that, before they introduced another love interest.
I also think the finale of S5 was another cop out: Deb faced her own moral dilemma which was great, but I think she should have actually seen them and then come to the same conclusion. Then we could have had Deb accept those particular kills, but still grapple with the idea of Dex going outside the law, slowly becoming more suspicious etc until she finds the blood slides and flips out. That would have made it much more believable than her buying Dex's bullshit about the DDK and helping him cover it up.
The less said about S8 & 9 the better.
Suchet brought such a cheerful optimistic nature to the character, that seeing him shook like that really gets to you.
Its like seeing Superman bleed
This was actually really cathartic. I remember watching it as it was first airing and while I didn't conceptualize their blunder to this degree at the time I remember thinking "They just bailed him out! What the Fuck?!". Season three was like the aftertaste of the end of season two and a pretty lousy reset of the stakes and I only stuck around for season four for John Lithgow. I jumped ship without even trying season five and wondered until I heard how they ended it whether I should give the rest a go.
I was wondering again today until I saw this video.
Thank you for your service o7
Love that you used the words "The Power of Chemistry", :D
Why is this video so good?!
I never got why season 4 was so well regarded. Yes, the Trinity Killer was well acted, but Dexter's motivations for not killing him as soon as he found out who he was always felt very forced to me. "Oh, I must learn from him". Nope, moral dilemmas aside you had very few people suspecting you, you knew he was guilty, and he should've just been another blood slide as soon as episode 1. Season 3 at least had a compelling reason to exist, Dexter was trying to create a protege. Everything after that existed through inertia and hope that it would recapture the magic of the first two seasons.
Still beats whatever the third book was trying to be. But at least the novels recovered after that.
Spot on
Same, after multiple rewatches I came to the opinion that the 4th season is among the show's worst, because the plot requires Dexter to act like an idiot the whole time. Even season 3 was better and season 5, which is so unfairly hated, actually has the second best villain in the show (after Brian). It's also a great point to end the show for me, everything after that sucked so hard.
@Omeria Season 3 was my favorite, because Jimmy Smits played a truly believable narcissistic sociopath. And his dynamic with Dexter was really compelling, for all the reasons bad friendships can be that way. And I think Seasons 1 and 2, with his estranged brother and then with Doakes, were similarly compelling and excellent. After that i think it all fell off a bit. I liked Johnny Lee Miller in season 5, and Ray Stevenson in 7, but overall the magnetic polar energy between Dexter and his antagonists got lost in the broader plot elements and convoluted writing for me.
YES! Thank you! I feel so vindicated because I hated the season so much bur everyone acts like it was the second coming.
I never really liked Dexter but I recognize he is the vehicle for the show's plot to keep going. James Doakes still remains my favorite character in Dexter, tied with Batista but no one after him really hit the same energy or presence for me. Erik King friggin' KILLED it (pun intended) as Sgt. Doakes.
Bautista was a great character. Masuka was funnier in the early seasons
Wait what why didn’t you like dexter Morgan? 🤔I think he’s one of the best tv characters ever. He’s actually my favorite character ever
Anti-White bigotry clouds your opinion
@@raymondsims7042He hates Dexter because Dexter is White. They just hate people over skin colour.
Batista was unremarkable
Poirot's self-violation is an underrated piece. Thank you for including that.
I love how you summarized this in 15 minutes
Great analysis. This was actually my exact criticism of New Blood. They had an opportunity to set up a moral dilemma with Dexter in jail between Harrison and Logan, yet they didn't execute it right at all.
Hello! Would you clarify what you mean? Dexter did have a moral dilemma in the jail - he killed Logan, not because he fit the code, but simply so that Dexter could escape.
@@StefanSochinsky My take on that is he could have spared Logan. Dexter wanted out of the cell, but killing Logan went against the code of Harry. I wonder if Dexter still held to that code though. I didn't like the fresh blood season to be honest, I think it did more harm than good to the legacy of Dexter. He was sharp, smart and cunning in the 8 seasons based in Miami, but in that backwater hick-town, he was a derp! Miami Dexter would not have made the asinine mistakes Derp Dexter made. But then again, it's really the writers who wrote that trash. The finale of the 8th season with Deb being tossed in the ocean really pissed me off. She deserved better. My hope was that some reconciliation would be achieved with the revival of the series, but that proved false as well. I hold an imagined ending in my mind as to what happened, and no writer can match that.
@@Maderyne Hello! Killing Logan actually DIDN'T violate Harry's Code. Rule 1: Don't get caught. And as far as Dexter's mistakes and missteps, I kind of felt like that was part of the point in New Blood - Dexter's been out of the game, so to speak, for so long that he's rusty. Granted, I thought the pacing of it could have been a little better, but I actually don't have a problem with New Blood. Something I'd like to see (despite my opinion that Dexter is completely done) is Dexter be Harrison's dark passenger.
I loved New Blood but the last 30 minutes completely ruined it. What a waste.
@@StefanSochinskyBut that would be the case for Doakes as well. Being caught. He caught Dexter. So no, it does go against the code. As per the series' own rulesettubg,
What disappointed me the most was that he ran away and nothing he did was discovered. It would have been great if everything he did was discovered, like Breaking Bad when the whole world finds out who Walter White really was. It was very impactful, the big secret that was the whole reason for the series to exist was discovered. To me, Dexter would have had a great ending if he got more and more violent and used less of his code, only to be discovered and die.
I feel like a lot of this stuff happens in many shows and movies. Convenient writing to entertain.
Yeah pretty spot on breakdown and analysis. The way i wanted the show to end was for Dexter to come to realisation that what was best for his son was for him to turn himself in and take responsibility for his actions (all of them). I also really wanted a scene between Dexter and an Angel who finally knew the truth.
Really enjoyed the video. I agree with all points. But a secondary view (kinda backed up by the new series) of the show is that it explores how Dexter reacts to how his actions effects others. I think that point is made by deb in Dexter's head of "Everybody near you dies."
I've got to watch the new series! 🙏
@@davescripted3796and make a vid about it!!!!
Irish myth has a concept called "gaes" which is a code that grants power when held, and brings devastation when broken. Had Dexter been allowed to break his code and as a result become increasingly sloppy and grey, ultimately ending with killing his sister, it would have been a lot more compelling.
But really, doakes should have been around until trinity, then that could expose dex to doakes, and you could cut out a bunch of fluff as dexter spiraled down.
That's way too cool for this kind of show.
@@thispersonwriting1889 haha, its sad to think about how many good concepts get trashed by bad writers.
I watched dexter, then breaking bad, then got...and one out of three is a bad record. I don't even bother with these shows anymore because even if they start good they become trash.
@@daniel8181 I think the process is as follow:
Writer/Author: comes up with material.
Editor: removes clutter, flaws, and those good aspects with the potential to become ruinous.
Publisher: sees quality, publishes it.
Audience/Readers: sees quality, engages with it.
Everyone: Congratulates writer/author.
Continuation
Writer/author: comes up with more material.
Editor: Removes clutter and flaws.
Editor: Attempts to remove those good aspects with the potential to become ruinous.
Writer/author: Insists on including those elements because they are good elements.
Publisher: Sees quality, publishes it.
Audience/Readers: sees quality, engages with it.
Everyone: congratulates Writer/author, admonishes Editor.
Continuation
Writer/Author: comes up with material
Editor: removes flaws, attempts to remove clutter.
Writer/Author: insists on including clutter.
Publisher: sees amount of content, sees lack of flaws, publishes it.
Audience/Readers: sees amount of content, sees lack of flaws, engages with it.
Everyone: Congratulates writer/Author, chastises Editor.
Good elements with ruinous potential: start to take over and become bad (with clutter in the way, it’s hard to notice, and these elements are so integral to the story by now that it’s too late to remove them).
Continuation
Writer/Author: comes up with material
Editor: Attempts salvage and damage control.
Publisher: publishes it
Audience/Reader: engages with it, wonders where these flaws, clutter, and ruinous elements came from.
Everyone: Yells at Editor for lack of quality.
Nobody did anything unexpected, unreasonable, or with ill intent, and everybody did their jobs and reacted normally, and yet it ends up being what nobody wanted in the end.
Season 2 was fantastic. Dexter should have been 4 seasons long and Season 2 should have been the finale. Dexter should have been willing to have Doakes turn him in but then Doakes, at some point, tries to arrest Dexter (maybe he thinks Dexter's getting cold feet) and Dexter is forced to kill Doakes to save himself.
Basically, the spider-man dilemma. Bad guy knows protagonists' secret identity, so they are going to die, but it won't be the protagonists fault.
Thank you. I've been saying all of this for years. I was so disappointed at the lack of creative courage they showed in this series.
Season 4 was best IMHO. Trinity had me on the edge all season. Dexter could kill Doakes out of desperation, that's understandable. At the end of the day, he's still a serial killer. He can easily justify it by saying it preserves the code... More work to be done.
Trinity was my favorite season too. John Lithgow just nailed it, but yeah I have always thought like... Killing doakes is the only choice. There's a reason the first rule is don't get caught, that's how I could see him justifying it. Glad they kind of did that in the new blood series
Season 4 was when the homIcide department acted like dumbasses and we saw more of the personal relationship drama which was so so boring. The cat and mouse game between Trinity and Dexter however was handled beautifully.
@@Vivi_9 That's all I needed!
The way you pronunce episodic is crazy
episowdick
Thanks for putting into words the overall felling I had about the seasons of Dexter.
Really enjoy the analysis.
Great video.
🙏!!!
Immediately subscribing and liking based on everything you've said up to 2:26, because it is all exactly what I have always thought about every opinion given so far : )
Anyone who watched Dexter from the start and didn't recognize the vast change the show underwent immediately after Season 2... wasn't watching it well enough to begin with. It baffles me how many people didn't notice the vast disparity between Season 2 and Seasons 3&4, and think it was after that point it went downhill. I also grew up watching and loving Poirot. And, having already read the books, I couldn't stomach even what was cut out of Season 1 of Game of Thrones (ie the full events of the Tournament, and Sandor's feelings for, and initial relationship with, Sansa) to include very poorly written non-book sex scenes for no purpose other than to include them, and felt very validated that I did not continue watching the adaptation past Season 1 by how it turned out, 7 (?) years later. I feel like I'm listening to myself speak. Thank you for having taste, whoever you are.
edit: And yes, after watching till the end I still agree perfectly with everything you said, every emotion you expressed, every conclusion you reached, everything. The only difference is that I didn't watch Season 8 after Season 7 pulled that same nonsense, again, right after it spent the whole season seemingly genuinely attempting to redeem where it went astray in the first place. This could not be more spot-on.
I suppose the only thing I would disagree with you about, and only slightly, is involving the piece of plate in Breaking Bad. When I watched it, that seemed like a loophole given to WW to at least justify his actions to himself, despite agreeing that the following scene where he first deliberately murdered another person was handled appropriately well, and clearly had a huge effect on him. Perhaps your taste is even better than mine, because I didn't see him as an absolute villain until Season 2 made it screamingly obvious... and that was the whole point of that season, to really shove it in the audience's face for anyone (like me) who may have still been mentally on his side after Season 1. But we still have the same basic opinions and feeling about it. It's the people who were still rooting for him after the ending of Season 2 that I can't begin to fathom. The entire season, with the black-and-white mystery cuts in each episode, all showing the literal cosmic aftermath of his evil that the universe shoved in his own face, not merely that of the audience, was a masterpiece. Of course, so were Seasons 3 and 4, which was what made watching them so poignant. I had some serious issues with Season 5 however, because it seemed like the writers had fallen into their own trap, and had to give him a "happy ending" instead of the one he always deserved, after Jane.
The thing you have to understand, is that Dexter is a female fantasy about a man who is extremely dark triad, but still intelligent, sensitive, and redeemable. The writers couldn't jeapordize that fantasy with silly things like "narrative consistency" or "good storytelling"
This makes sense. Everybody who I know personally who’s watched this show is female. I don’t know a single dude who watched it lol
This was quite good, kind of shocked that you're such a small channel!
The scene in which Dexter kills with Doakes unable to do anything but watch was the most horrifying moment of the series.
That’s a great work youve created. Good for you! Great analysis and storytelling. Keep it up honestly!
A man gotta have a code - Omar Little, a man who understood moral dilemmas
I always liked his relationship with his sister in the show, I found it more relatable than any of the love interests
Nice to hear some love for Poirot :) David Suchet is so, so good in that role.
The idea of Dexter turning himself in (or being caught) reminds me a lot of how Barry handled its season 3 finale leading into the entire concept of season 4. Would've been interested to see the series continue with Doakes' presence and/or Dexter shifting his entire perspective after breaking the code. Great video!
He didn’t think the other cop was a good guy. He considered him a serial killer like him
he briefly tried to rationalize the option of murdering him by saying he was technically a murderer, but he knew that was obviously wrong
@@logandabruteyea for whatever reason Doax was put in a position by the powers that be left him no choice but to defend his country.
If Dexter was a wholy good guy he'd turn them in when he caught them.
Then again, when Harry is explaining the code, he says to Dexter that all the other rules are in service of the first one ‘Don’t get caught’ so killing Doakes to serve the ‘master’ rule seems like the best option in rationalising it. It would still cost Dexter for the other part of the code but that could have been one way his conscious could be resolved.
10:51 I always love how Doakes gets yeeted by the explosion. He's flying!
Yes I agree with your points. Dexter Season 1 though truly is the greatest season of Dexter, he wasn't let off scott free, he was forced to make hard desicions which were very conflicting and character changing. I wish Clyde and Scott would just revisit that seasom to recapture the magic of what made me truly fall im love with Dexter in the first place. S1's pacing was perfect, he pulled you in with intrigue, and the aide characters also had their own miniture arca that played well with the overall season conclusion.
Born Free to this day is my favourite episode of Television (save for Ozymandias from Breaking Bad) It had stakes, drama, and a conflicting character moments. Like when Dexter killed Brian to save Deb, it makes sense, and ita gutwrenching. I love the other seasons but if I just think of Dexter s1 as the only season. A good intriguing mystery when a perfect beginning and satisfying ens.
For those who know, and without spoiling anything... Season 4 finale hit me like a truck. I had to take some time to get over that before I could watch anymore of the show.
Am I the only one who thinks Season 4 is by far the greatest season of Dexter? I mean, I cried at a TV episode for the first time since I saw Ozymiandas when Rita died and the Trinity killer was absolutely chilling. He was everything you need for a cool character, he was cold, arrogant and intelligent.
Trin was a great villain no question
You're definitely not the only one
What's wrong with Season 5? l thought it had strong characters. Lumen is a love interest who understands Dexter's double life like Rita couldn't. She also gives up killing while killing is imbedded in Dexter's character, making her a strong foil. Also the villain is engaging. Jordan Chase is charismatic while Dexter is awkward. He is a celebrity while Dexter and other villains like Trinity hide in plain sight, showing that people of different backgrounds can still commit despicable crimes.
You make a good argument but I just didn't find it very exciting. Their relationship worked on paper but where's the passion? Where's the drama? Dexter loved Rita but had to hide who he was from her. He loved Hannah but couldn't trust her. Lumen was just someone he felt bad for and kept helping. As for Jordan, I never doubted Dexter would kill him, and Dexter never doubted it either.
@@davescripted3796 That's a good point about Jordan. I found him interesting while he was alive but there wasn't any doubt he'd die. There's no dilemma like with Doakes or Trinity. In terms of Lumen I really like her characterisation. lt would have been hard to build off season 4's powerful ending and I think they gave Dexter the sense of purpose he needed after losing Rita.
Your not wrong, but Lumen was an absolute gawd awful horrible character. Wouldn’t listen and annoying as hell. When I start over in the series I hate watching season 5 lol but I do it. But yea she’s just awful.
I thought season 5 was the second weakest season of all. Julia Styles' performance was trying too hard to live up to John Lithgow.
I wished her character would've ended up on Dexters' table in the end. After all, she fitted the profile.
It also seems to fit into the moral dilemma-theory. Would Dexter have killed her because of his code, or because he felt rejected by her?
I thought season 5 was dope but Debra letting them go was completely inexplicable. That's when Dexter should have been exposed and we should have headed towards the end game.
How would you expect a show to handle moral dilemmas when the main character doesn’t understand morality?
The code doesn’t really matter. He kills plenty of cops to escape being caught, because he’s a monster.
Not getting caught is part of the code. You can't make an omelet without murdering a few cops.
No Dexter has a moral understanding. He saves innocent people even though he doesn't have to. He saved the immigrants after he killed the murderous couple. He saved the teenager who was about to get kill by Jeremy Downs. He saved the child who was kidnapped by Trinity. He saved Lumen. And I'm sure there are other examples.
If Dexter didn't have a moral understanding, why would he have saved all theses people ?
Dexter isn't the monster he thinks he is. Since the episode 1 of season 1, Dexter showed feelings. Don't believe everything Dexter says, he's a unreliable narrator.
@@KyoryaZ because he was given the code. Dexter doesnt follow harrys code because of morals , he follows it because he has the knowledge that its the only way for someone like him to survive.
That's a pretty boring way to approach a story like this. Just because the character's morals are skewed doesn't mean the narrative's has to be? In fact, all the more interesting to explore! Like what do you mean you can't explore moral dilemmas with a morally bankrupt character, that's the fun part lol??
@@KyoryaZI get the impression most people in these comments and the creator of this video didn’t watch the entire series and also didn’t watch New Blood.
the doakes and dexter dynamic was fantastic and what really made season two. Doakes was unapologetic and basically gave up trying to hide who he is and his past troubles because he found a role in society that was fulfilling and in his mind needed, which helped him find his purpose and peace. Dexter also found meaning and peace did but he did it basically the opposite way. By hiding what he was and working outside the law but still justifying his work and the thing he does. Perhaps that is why Doakes sees through him so easily/gets creeped out by his reactions. He doesn't see someone coping in their own unique way to their particularly bloody line of work he just sees the same facade he would be using if he was trying to hide something. Or to put it simply game recognizes game even if doakes wont admit it or doesn't understand how similar that are or could have been if life was just a little different he still sees dexter as a threat.
Great video! One thing I would disagree with is the idea that season 7 making Debra shoot LaGuerta was a cop out. I don't value season 7 as highly as you do, but I think that decision was on point. As for the follow up... Oh brother!
But yeah, Debra is the most important character next to Dexter and the heart of the show. His way of life coupled with the close relationship with his sister he refused to compromise on lead to her getting forced into an impossible situation and ultimately her moral compass, her life and her entire worldview. Not unlike everyone around Walter White, where the downward spiral he tries to present as him sacrificing himself for the good of others gradually makes everyone around him worse of, corrupted and damaged. In a sense it's a much more hard hitting consequencethan anything you presented for the case where the resolution of the Laguerta dilemma was left entirely up to Dexter.
Just think of the Dexter season 8's Ozymandias that could have been if only the showrunners had enough creative momentum to finish the story along the lines of its natural conclusion, at least the way they set it up in season 7. There's plenty of ways it could have gone still, but I'm pretty sure none of it ended up with a kind cutting his jaw on a treadmill...
I think the comparison with Breaking Bad is funny, because I think they actually do give Walter White an "out". The fact that he knows that the second he lets the guy free he'll try and kill him, leaves Walter White with no other choice than to kill him first. One might even say it's self defense (though I think that could very much be argued).
Yeah I agree. As soon as he realised that he was going to try to kill him, it gave him the "justification" of a preemptive attack and removed most of the moral dilemma. To me the first truly serious moral dilemma Walt faces that significantly changes his character is Jane's death.
You hit the nail on the head with this one.
One of the things I really wanted to happen at the end of season 2, again at the end of season 4 / beginning of season 5 and of course at the end of season 7 was for a Dexter to break his code. He kind of does do it a few times in the series but it's always left vague. My ideal ending for this character was always with him running from the police as a serial killer without remorse.
Imagine if he killed doakes and then season 3 and season 4 go on relatively the same except with the character grappling with his ultimate choice. Slowly the facade of his code slips away as he become more and more erratic, picking more reckless targets which only loosely fit into the code. And then you have Trinity kill Rita which sets dexter over the edge because he realizes that the code can't protect the people he cares about (It makes more sense to let Trinity get away). We have the next season being about Dexter grappling with this inner turmoil until deb finally realizes who he is; meanwhile, laguerta starts to follow the evidence that points towards dexter being the bay harbor butcher. This culminates in a scene where Deb walks in on Dexter murdering laguerta. She tries to stop her brother and he ultimately ends up killing her as well in an attempt to not get caught. In this process, Dexter has finally slipped up and other people come to see who he really is, causing him to flee from Miami. The final few episodes of the show should have Dexter killing indiscriminately over and over again, reveling in the violence and murder showing his true nature as a psychopathic murder as he attempts to evade capture. The show ends with the character either dying in a deserved hale of gunfire or turning himself in.
There are so many compelling ways that they could have subverted the character and the formula of the show. Murder after all is very gruesome and many serial killers are much more brutal than Dexter ever was. If you want to make a show about a serial killer, then you should depict the true consequences of such a horrific profession. Also, people with borderline personality disorder don't suddenly develop consciences. You can have Dexter believe that he is somehow building this moral framework in his mind, but if the writers were clever, they could set it up so that it is just a twisted logic which he uses to justify his actions. In the cold light of reality, Dexter should have been nothing more than a killer at the end. He could have gone the way of Walter White, become somebody who embraced their inner personality as the series went on. In season 1 and 2, they make it very clear that the only reason why Dexter is able to function in society is because of the code... The logical conclusion is to erode the code over time and have the character break down completely.
The irony of Dexter is that while it was a serialized show, it was also very episodic from season to season. The character wasn't allowed to change in any meaningful way because the producers seemed somewhat gun shy about making him into a proper villain. They also didn't want to drop the procedural cop drama that underpinned the show. Every season needed some kind of big bad guy that Dexter had to take down which really kind of destroyed any tension that the show could have created. It also led to the writers writing some of the most convoluted logic to further keep the character safe and friendly. It is absurd that Dexter had basically murdered 2 to 300 people by the end of the show but was still considered an anti-hero.
A lot of times I click into video essays mindlessly and click away five seconds in because I realize that I don't care at all. This was great the whole way through.
Dexter ends with his sister finding out and choosing her brother, killing their boss instead. That’s it, that’s the end.
I fucking hate what they did to Debra
Yeah watching all those seasons just for it to divulge into.. "that" YIKES!!!
Season 4 was phenomenal. The only seasons I didn't like were season 6 & 8. Still one of my favorite series.
Yes, the cat and mouse between the two serial killers was exciting. This guy thinks there has to be permanent moral dilemmas to have any positive effect, but they don't.
I love Keith :( Every time I see him playing the part in a new movie I get so excited!
looking back on this dexter, i’m realizing how much the show YOU is inspired by it
There was a pattern of trying to get close to the villain of the season and failing. He ahould have brought his victims to Dokes to flip him the same as Poirot and take his dad's place, at least until the next season.
Season 1 & 2 are SUCH fantastic seasons of a show...there was an energy and macabre and beautiful art to it all and while the cop-out of Doakea being killed by someone other than Dexter, it's still imo, the top end of the show.
I actually fell in love with Dexter from a video clip of one of Season 1's episode...less than a minute long. Where Dexter is called in to another victim of the Ice Truck Killer, where the body parts wete on a ice rink...Dexter sliding across the ice in pure wonder at the macabre display of the body snd describing that beauty...it was so wonderful & unlike any other show itself. Sure the show wasn't nearly as clever as it thought it was, but stellar performances by everyone, the macabre angle and a anti-hero main character, with a fun soundtrack, commentary on society & fitting in, the fun setting of Miami? It all worked....until Season 3 began, and I just immediately started to lose all the love I had. Season 3 wasn't awful, but it felt...a bit bland and kinda soulless and while Season 4 is really damn good, I think it's too contrived and nonsensical making it work...but still fun.
Season 5 Immediately lost me and I stopped watching the show one they gave him a new love interest and how the show never wanted to develop or evolve Dexter. I followed the show, just didn't watch it intently and my best friend (whom I got into the show when it was still Seasons 1 & 2) filled me in and just...wow...for me, the show just never recouped the magic of S1 & S2, nor even hit the fun of S4. Maybe some moments or pieces were fun or well done (the 4 Horsemen galloping scene) but when they had given him ANOTHER love interest I was laughing in pain at how awful the writing was.
I dunno how the return to Dexter really was with New Blood, but that only lasted for 1 Season and they apparently want to do a prequel show now? Let it die already...good grief.
I always wished Dexter had been a 3-5 Season show snd st thst very moment of the dilemma of Doakes...he gave into his Dark Passenger. That Dexter would throwaway the Code of Harry and make his own Code...and that the show would culminated into a Nation-wide manhunt. Constantly trying to keep Dexter as purely a good guy without true & meaningful consequences that fulfill the narrative & entertain us, give us real drama is why the show had such a nosedive imo...the fact they kept redoing the same beats got old SO fast.