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. 

    

     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. 

     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). 

     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.