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Aired from 2003-2016, Dexter is a tv show that tries to get viewers to empathize with the main character who is a serial killer. The show does this through several different ways that will be mentioned in this project. I have watched all eight seasons of the show and will also be using four annotated journalistic reviews to support my critique. The overall purpose of this critique is to show how tv shows can hook viewers through their emotions and a few other ways.

Dexter is a TV show based on the book written by Jeff Lindsay. The novel series consists of eight books. The first book of the series is Darkly Dreaming Dexter and it was published in 2004. The show has a lot of similarities to the book. Dexter is the main character who is a serial killer that only kills criminals. Throughout the series, pieces of his backstory is revealed. This is so viewers can understand what led him to become the man he is in present day. When he was a toddler, he witnessed his mother get murdered which completely changed his psyche. The way his lifestyle is set up is essentially because of his adoptive father. He was the one who noticed he would become a serial killer and taught him how to survive. His father also taught him about emotions, how to interact with others and overall just how to be human. The most important lesson he taught him was to only kill criminals. This was the most justifiable option to fulfil Dexter’s urges. The rest of Dexter’s family and even his friends aren’t aware of his lifestyle. His sister, his wife, and his coworkers are completely in the dark about his second life.

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An interesting part of the show is how Dexter’s father was also a cop and his sister is one too. What’s even more interesting is how Dexter works with law enforcement as well. He’s a blood splatter expert and this is what helps him clean up his crime scenes. This aspect of the show makes everything more realistic. It’s the reason for how he’s able to get away with countless murders and how he’s able to do it for a long time. He’s also able to access criminal files and figure out which criminals are next on his kill list. Dexter goes through a thorough process to justify if his next victim should be murdered. He goes after rapist, pedophiles and other serial killers that murder innocent civilians. His killing process is quite gruesome and showing scenes like these you would think viewers would be completely turned off. Except the opposite happens and it excites viewers to see how he handles the criminals. His usual killing ritual is restraining them to a table and waiting for them to wake up. Once they are awake he tells them why he’s going to kill them and shows proof of their crimes. It’s something new and exciting that viewers have never seen before.

Besides Dexter having the perfect job to help him with his killings, he has a perfect cover life. His father taught him to be everything opposite of the textbook serial killer. That is why Dexter dates a woman with children. It gives him a perfect cover life so people don’t think he’s an antisocial loner with no love life. This plays a big part in why viewers empathize with Dexter so much. It’s something that makes him human. Without his father’s guidance, he wouldn’t have lived a life that allowed him to be an active killer for very long.

An important element in the show is Dexter’s “dark passenger”. Dexter describes this as his need to kill. He states how the only way to control it is by channeling and not suppressing it. Thus, the reason why he picks who he kills from time to time as a way to get his fix. His dark passenger is almost like a drug addiction. Which in season two, he tricked his wife into believing he was a heroin addict to hide what he was really doing. There have been moments in the series where he kills people he didn’t originally plan to because of his dark passenger.

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Although the show emphasizes how Dexter goes after criminals, it doesn’t let viewers forget why he does it. His dad trains him to believe this because at first Dexter would have killed anyone just for fun. We see bits of this because like many serial killers, Dexter keeps “trophies”. These are things kept by serial killer’s victims to remember them by. What Dexter keeps is blood slides from each of his victims. He stores the slides in a box and keeps it hidden in his house. This aspect of the show definitely gives viewers a reality check that Dexter is still an insane criminal himself.  The show also reminds viewers that Dexter is a psychopath by mentioning his reasoning for dating his girlfriend. He was fine with dating her because she just got out of an abusive relationship and didn’t want any intimate interactions. This comforted Dexter because he didn’t have to pretend to be interested in his girlfriend intimately at the time.

Luckily the show stays pretty realistic and there are people who figure out Dexter is up to no good. One of the most important characters to do that was one of his co-workers. Throughout the entire series this coworker had a feeling that Dexter was doing something shady. This co-worker would always vocalize his hatred for Dexter but everyone else thought he was crazy. Eventually as the series goes on Dexter starts to slip up and isn’t as careful as he was in the beginning. He ends up killing his co-worker because he finds out his secret. His sister also catches him in the middle of another murder. He had to think quickly to make it not look like what it was. At the end of the series Dexter’s wife and sister dies because of his killings. Many bad things happen to Dexter. He ends up finding a new love interest and plans to flee the country with her and his son. What ends up happening is that he lets them flee first and never meets up with them. He makes it seem as if he died before meeting them. He ends up living by himself in the middle of nowhere with a depressing job and keeping to himself. This ending was the ultimate way to make viewers feel bad for him. Personally, I even got upset when he wasn’t able to live with his girlfriend and son at the end. Even after all the horrible things he had done throughout the eight seasons of the show.

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This crime drama mystery was developed by James Manos Jr. The episodes aired on the networks Showtime and CBS. With 8 seasons and 96 episodes, the series is rated TV-MA. The finale for the fourth season had 2.6 million views. At the time this was the most-watched original series episode ever on Showtime. The actual series finale had 2.8 viewers which is the largest overall audience in Showtime's history. These statistics show just how popular this show was. Some awards the show won was People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Obsession and a Satellite Award for Best Drama TV Series. The series definitely had a good run during the 7 years it aired.

The casting of this show played a big part in its success. I definitely believe that Michael C. Hall did a great job playing Dexter. I couldn’t see anyone else playing the role. Hall even won a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series. He fits the character perfectly and made everything feel realistic. Other actors apart of the series definitely helped with that as well. His sister Debra is played by Jennifer Carpenter and his father Harry is played by James Remar. Dexter’s relationship in the show with these characters are shown throughout the series. It definitely plays a part in viewers empathizing with him. He begins to build a relationship with people, even if it's not something he actually wants.

Even though the show had positive feedback, there were a few unhappy viewers. As the seasons when on fans became a little disappointed with how the storyline took a turn though. An article talks about some of the things viewers didn’t like. The article states “It began with a lethal formula of black comedy and revenge-killing procedural, but bad twists and incest put Dexter on death row” (Donaghy). This is referring to when in the later seasons Dexter’s adoptive sister Debra, realized she liked him. The series always showed her relationships failing and not being satisfied with the men in her life. Since Dexter has been a male figure in her life for awhile, she begins to think she’s in love with him. It interesting how fans draw the line at certain topics when the main taboo thing in the show is murder. This definitely shows America’s interest in serial killers. Learning the reasoning behind serial killers has been a fascination by many for quite sometime now. Another review said “The saddest thing about Dexter is that it once had so much potential” (Heritage). This was because some parts of the show weren’t making sense and becoming less realistic. Some storylines were rushed or didn’t need to be in the show at all. It was becoming rushed to the season finale.

Overall, the show had a lot of positive criticism. According to an article, “Fans made “America’s Favorite Serial Killer” T-shirts. Stores sold Dexter action figures and bobbleheads” (Yahr). This just shows how into the series viewers really were. This article also goes into how “For a show to be that popular, the audience has to relate; for the audience to relate, there has to be some emotional connection” (Yahr). I definitely realized this as I was watching the series. That’s why for my critique i’ll be analyzing what emotional appeals are present and how they are conveyed. I’ll also speak about the shared substances I’ve detected that may lead the audience to identify with the program’s characters, ideas and lessons. Like I stated before, Dexter life wasn’t one of a textbook serial killer. All thanks to his father he had a life viewers could connect to. Viewers saw parts of him connecting with his wife and even with her children. Up until his wife was murdered we were able to see his relationship with his step children. We even get to see his relationship with his own child. When there’s children involved, viewers become more emotionally connected.
Another way the series lets the audience connect with Dexter is by his childhood. Although viewers may not relate to him getting his mother brutally murdered in front of him, they might relate to losing a family member tragically. The show also shows the complexities of his family which also helps viewers empathize with him. The most surprising thing of them all is how Dexter knows what he’s doing wrong but admits he can’t help himself. Usually serial killers are aware of what they’re doing but murder simply because its fun for them. As stated before, Dexter only kills those that have done a crime to suppress killing innocent people. A quote from an article perfectly sums this up, “All Dexter wanted was to be normal, but that chance was stolen from him as a child. So he had to pretend. He watched, as an outsider, carefully learning to imitate how “regular” people acted, which led to the show’s darkly comic moments, narrated by Dexter’s monotone voice-over” (Yahr). Throughout the series, more of Dexter’s past was revealed. It helped him understand why he is who he is. Digging through his past helped him become more human. This same article stated how the writers purposely tried to have viewers relate to a psychopath. The article stated ““Every step along the way, we’ve tried our best to always root where Dexter is in first asking ourselves, ‘What are the normal questions, or the normal wants or desires of a human being?’ ” executive producer Sara Colleton recently explained during a segment on Sundance Channel’s “The Writers’ Room.” “Then, you refract that through a prism of Dexter Morgan. It gives the audience a way in a very safe environment to explore their own nature” (Yahr).

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Another part of Dexter I'll be talking about is the look of the program and its codes. The first question is how does the physical actions of the characters reveal their personalities and/or motives. This one is a bit hard to answer since Dexter lives a double life. He makes sure to hide his actual personality and motives in front of people. When he’s not around people he’s demeanor changes. He’s emotionless and his voice is monotone. It’s almost like he doesn’t care about anyone. Through voiceovers and his interaction with his victims, more of his personality is revealed. The second question is do the actors who were cast for the parts seem right for the characters they play? I definitely think so. The cast isn’t entirely diverse but that are a few characters who aren’t caucacasian. The actor who plays Dexter just fits his aesthetic so well. Especially since famous real life serial killers are typically adult Caucasian men.
The context of the show is another important part to analyze. Viewers are able to recognize their own fallibility in Dexter. Not even just from Dexter himself but through other characters too. Although the show is centered around him it does show the life of those around him. Viewers are able to connect with the downfalls characters have such as stress at work, failed relationships and trouble at home. As I mentioned before Dexter’s sister has had a lot of failed relationships. Her worst one was when she was dating a serial killer that was actually Dexter’s biological brother. This serial killer pretend to fall in love with her to get closer to Dexter. Dexter ends up digging into his past and finding out about who he really was. In the end, he ends up killing him and his sister finds out who her boyfriend really was. Although this storyline is crazy and isn’t something that normally happens, I definitely expect the audience to be able to relate to all of these characters. Probably not in the exact same way but be reminded of a similar situation in their own lives.
The last part of the show I will mention is its structure. There are connectives between the scenes and acts in the show. If you miss one scene in the beginning of the episode the ending of it may not make sense. Missing an episodes obviously is the same as well. This leads me into discussing when an episode ends. Usually episodes end in a cliffhanger and the plot is left opened until next time. There have been some episodes where it doesn’t end like that but not many. This definitely helps leaving viewers wanting more or going back to binge watch the series.
Overall, the writers of Dexter really did a great job drawing in viewers. Although the series was based on a book, the actual show could have gone wrong and not be successful. Viewers could have had a hard time finding interest if the casting and storyline was different. A show about serial killers was risky but being able to play on viewers emotions worked out really well. The casting also really helped as well which made viewers connect with the characters. Adding other people around him with problems of their own definitely made things more relatable. The context and the structure of each episode played a big role in the series success as well. Knowing when to introduce things at a certain time is extremely important. Also being able to play around with the lighting and mood of each scene gets viewers drawn in unconsciously. The show being about a vigilante with a twist was something that I thought made it very special. Before even watching the show I knew it what it was going to be about that. What I didn’t know was how complex it was going to be. Dexter really dived deep into wants, needs, motives and behaviors. Although it wasn’t similar to the average person, it was quite similar in different ways. Without a doubt, Dexter is a show that’s something different from everything else. I don’t normally watch the entire series of a show and definitely not eight of them. Dexter changed that for me and is something different from the rest that I would have to recommend everyone to watch.

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Dexter (2006) Official Trailer | Michael C. Hall SHOWTIME Series

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Donaghy, James. “When Good TV Goes Bad: How Bad Twists and Incest
Fantasies Put Dexter on Death Row.” The Guardian,
Guardian News and Media, 11 Dec. 2017,
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/dec/11/when-good-tv-goes-bad-how-bad-twists-incest-fantasies-put-dexter-death-row.
Yahr, Emily. “As 'Dexter' Signs off, a Look Back at Why People
Fell for Such a Gruesome Show.” The Washington Post, WP Company,
20 Sept. 2013,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/as-dexter-signs-off-a-look-back-at-why-people-fell-for-such-a-gruesome-show/2013/09/20/c4612e1c-2161-11e3-b73c-aab60bf735d0_story.html.
Stanley, Alessandra. “He Kills People and Cuts Them Up. But They
Deserve It. Besides, He's Neat.” The New York Times, The New York Times,
29 Sept. 2006,
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/arts/television/29dext.html.
Heritage, Stuart. “Dexter: Where Did It All Go Wrong?” The Guardian,
Guardian News and Media, 27 Aug. 2013,
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2013/aug/27/dexter-series-finale.