Showtime Hit 'Dexter' to Air on CBS
3 min readBy JOEY MERKEL
A show unlike anything that has come before it, the Showtime original series “Dexter” is not for the faint of heart. Michael C. Hall portrays the sociopathic forensic expert Dexter Morgan, who cleans up the city of Miami in his own way.
Dexter’s method of killing is unlike any that has been shown on TV. He subdues his victims with a tranquilizer-filled syringe that he sticks in their necks. When they come to, they find themselves in what can only be described as a plastic bubble.
His ritual starts with a tradition of his own; after his victims wake up, he cuts their cheeks and takes a small blood sample, which he puts on a slide and adds to his extensive collection. He then proceeds to dismember his sufferers with power drills, table saws and the sharpest of knives.
Amidst blood spatter and a cast of talented, eclectic performances and characters, Dexter rarely finds himself at odds with the law he publicly upholds—privately, he sticks to his own “code.”
At a very young age, Dexter witnesses the murder of his mother—a gruesome scene in which she is dismembered with a chainsaw inside of a cargo holder, after which Dexter is left for days sitting, crying and covered in multiple layers of his own mother’s blood.
This significant event in Dexter’s life turns him into a sociopath, a mental illness that causes its victims to become antisocial and lack a sense of wrong and right. His illness is discovered by police officer Harry Morgan, the person that pulled Dexter out of the blood days after his mother’s murder.
Harry notices Dexter’s unusual behavior at a young age, which included killing young animals. Throughout the season, multiple flashbacks show us that Harry was able to teach Dexter how to act normal enough to blend into society.
Harry teaches Dexter how to control his emotions and that he should never kill an innocent person. Through Harry’s lessons, Dexter learns who it is OK to kill, and kill he does. In a way, Dexter is a serial killer that murders serial killers, many that are never convicted.
While working for the Miami Metro Police Department, Dexter’s expertise is blood spattering. Analyzing blood spatters can tell a forensics expert where the point of attack was and what type of weapon was used to do so. Luckily this comes easily to Dexter, who savors blood with morbid fascination.
Season one of “Dexter” focuses on the Ice Truck Killer, a serial killer that drains his victim’s blood after murdering them, sticks them in a freezer, then removes and dissects their limbs with surgical precision.
Upon seeing the first crime scene, Dexter becomes mesmerized by the killer’s methods of blood draining. The Showtime version of “Dexter” is not for the squeamish, however CBS has picked up season one and will begin airing Sundays at 10 p.m..
The episodes have been shortened due to commercials and could possibly be edited for graphic content, but let’s be honest—it’ll still star Michael C. Hall as the most endearing, complex serial killer TV has ever seen.
