Dexter: From Hero to Disappointment

Brittney Jeshani

October 24, 2013

036:065

Blog Post 2

Dexter: From Hero to Disappointment

            Dexter is a show that requires its viewers to think outside the box and go against the norm by creating a character that you can’t help but root for, even though he is a serial killer. Throughout this blog I will discuss how and why Dexter is portrayed as hero in this television series and go on to explain how the focus of the series then shifted to the frustration felt by fans about the series finale. Dexter is an unlikely character for fans to fall in love with considering the “dark passenger” that lives inside of him, but yet fans support his every move and admire him for what he does. Dexter did a flawless job of attracting a loyal fan base that lived for the next episode from week to week, and didn’t know what to do when a season ended. The show was the topic of conversation across the country and those who didn’t watch the show were shamefully made aware that they were completely missing out. Despite the fact that he is a killer, Dexter’s character possesses traits that not only make him attractive, but most of all accepted by viewers, which provides a new element into television that had not been seen prior to this. This is discussed in Victoria L. Smith’s review of the series; “Dexter allows us to identify with the ‘best’ sides of a serial killer: a trickster figure, an outlaw artist, an alienated outsider, a frontier outlaw, a dark avenger, a superb mind hunter who is hyper intelligent, with a macabre, but undeniable sense of humor, and who, despite his ‘illegitimate’ violence, adheres to a strict code,” (Smith).

            A large part of fans’ support of Dexter’s “dark passenger” can be attributed to the yearning that viewers possess for violence in television. Without violence, we would all be bored and television would not be a successful medium. As viewers we crave that drama when we sit down to watch TV, and Dexter provides us with just that and then some. The intensity of Dexter keeps us on the edge of our seats without having a dull moment for the entire hour that it airs, and the cliffhangers at the end of each episode making us anxious for the next. With these two elements combined, Dexter’s commendable qualities and our desire for violence in television, this makes for Dexter being portrayed as the perfect “hero.” Smith presents this idea about Dexter’s character; “Dexter represents a kind of mythic American hero; problematically, however, he is one who pathologically enjoys murdering his victims, exposing America's deep desire for, and ambivalence about, violence,” (Smith). We accept Dexter as a serial killer because he abides by “the code,” which allows for him to kill only those who deserve it by gathering concrete evidence that they have murdered before, but most importantly he must do this in a particular manner that ensures he won’t get caught. Dexter is saving the world, well at least the city of Miami, by killing one guilty person at a time and sparing the lives of innocent victims while doing so.

Now that the series finale of Dexter has aired and is officially over for good it has left some fans satisfied, while leaving the majority of fans in complete and utter disappointment. This switches our focus from Dexter as a hero, to the dissatisfaction fans felt after the series finale. With Dexter personally being my favorite show to date, I had high expectations for the series finale which unfortunately were not fulfilled.  The final episode left me with many unanswered questions that I believed should have been the main focus of the last episode of all time. The storylines that were highlighted throughout the season were almost ignored and left open for interpretation by viewers. Because of this I was very unsatisfied and almost angry that after such a remarkably brilliant series it had to end that way. Going into the final episode, viewers did not know what the fate of the “Bay Harbor Butcher” would be, but what we were given did not do the show or Dexter’s character any justice.

Apparently I am not the only Dexter fan that feels that they were cheated by the finale. Entertainment Weekly named the “10 biggest fan gripes” of Dexter’s final season with “The final season didn’t tell the story fans expected and wanted,” being the first on their list; “…fans have naturally assumed the final season would address that central tension and focus on Dex’s secret unraveling and the hunter becoming the hunted… Instead, season 8 felt like a typical season with Dexter battling new external threats instead of a final season that felt like it was building towards an epic conclusion,” (Entertainment Weekly). Another area where the final season lacked was by creating subplots that were irrelevant to the overall text and took up valuable time that could have been used to contribute to a better narrative; “Fans wondered: Why? Why, in the final season, are we watching low-stakes side-stories? These characters should ideally be involved somehow in the central storyline, but they were shoved aside to appear in their own USA Network-style mini-dramedies,” (Entertainment Weekly). Dexter’s heroic but monstrous ways were extremely downplayed in this last season when he becomes somewhat of a “normal” person and is unnaturally “too happy” for our liking. Dexter’s bad romance with the notorious Hannah McKay, who is a known killer being hunted by a U.S. Marshal and also poisoned him and Deb earlier in the season, is nothing but a disaster. These examples emphasize the central complaints that fans have about the end of this epic series.

With storylines that followed the Ice Truck Killer to the Trinity Killer to the Doomsday Killer, Dexter has always produced texts that delivered, but with the final season falling short of this, it has caused the series to end on a bad note. Dexter will always be considered that same hero that fans have come to love since the beginning, but the way things ended will not be forgotten by the true fans that expected so much more from this brilliant series.

Works Cited

Hibberd, James. "'Dexter' Final Season: 10 Biggest Fan Gripes." Entertainment Weekly. 20 Sep

            2013: n. page. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.

Smith, Victoria L. "Our Serial Killers, Our Superheroes, and Ourselves: Showtime's

            Dexter." Quarterly Review of Film and Video. 28.5 (2011): 390-400. Web.