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Today, I watched the rest of Dexter S1. Rather than dissect individual episodes, I'm just going to post my thoughts on the characters as they stand by S1's end:
Dexter: All along, Dexter has insisted that he's incapable of human connection, but I don't agree. I think he can and does connect with those around him, albeit the connections are oblique, non-Euclidean geometry of the first water. He doesn't love as we understand the term, and he's devoid of empathy, but he can feel "fond" of people. He says as much about Deb in "Born Free". He also seems protective of Rita and her children.
I suspect this fondness is less about love and more about control, i.e., the discussions he had with Dr. Meridian in "Shrink Wrap". To let any of them be harmed would be a loss of control, and loss of control in Dexter's world can be dangerous, even fatal. So he protects Rita and the kids from her skeevilicious husband to preserve the carefully constructed illusion of his world, and because they are his.
I think Dexter hungers for a normal life, which for him would be a life wherein he could kill with impunity and contemporaneously engage with the world around him. If the Miami PD ever started an assassins' guild, Dexter would happily volunteer. But since murder is verboten, Dexter is still locked in the proverbial closet, or the cargo container, if you prefer, afraid and repressed.
Dexter has come close to forging an intimate bond with someone twice; once with the serial killer in training, and again with Brian Moseler. Both men ended up dead, the latter by Dexter's own hand; Dexter is clearly starving for a genuine sense of kinship, but each of his attempts has failed.
Rita: Rita has become a surprisingly strong character after her inauspicious debut. She's gotten much-needed assurance from Dexter, whose indifference she's mistaken for laissez faire stability. I applauded her steel spine in dealing with her shady husband, Paul, and I was thrilled when the writers refused to fall into the trap of having her fall for the creep all over again. I whooped when she forestalled his rape attempt by clouting him in the head with a baseball bat, and I fangirled Dexter's solution to the Paul problem.
Deb: I just have to get this off my chest: OMG, CAN THERE POSSIBLY BE A MORE INEPT COP IN THE HISTORY OF TELEVISED LAW ENFORCEMENT? Jesus Christ, what a moron. Dropping a butt at a crime scene? What fucking tinpot academy did she attend? How did she graduate when I suspect she can barely put on her bra without risk of strangulation?
James Dean Jesus. I know we're supposed to interpret her as spunky and Jane Everywoman, but she's a simpering, vacant-eyed imbecile who needs to keep her legs closed and her mouth even more so. Yeah, she's a young up and comer in the department, all right, except for the fact that she's got the instinct of a tin can and behaves like an emo tween. Her constant pouting and flouncing is exhausting, and I'd like her to die messily.
Her complete lack of instinct was exemplified by the fact that she was boning the Ice Truck Killer. Even he pointed out her gross incompetence at the big reveal(and might I say, she acquitted herself and her academy training rather shoddily there; she must've missed Self-Defense Month. A critically injured Angel managed a shot on his attacker, for fuck's sake.). A police officer should have good instincts and basic people skills, and she has neither.
I know we were supposed to feel sorry for her that the man of her dreams was a killer, but her juvenile schemes throughout the relationship were a huge turnoff, and the scene where Dexter lets it drop that Rudy might propose is just embarrassing. What woman acts that way about a nebulous possibility of proposal? It was like watching a twelve-year-old girl win Backstreet Boys tickets and backstage passes. Just...go away.
Dokes: Does anyone know why he has such a hard-on against Dexter, especially since he's into vigilante justice himself? At least Dexter's retribution harms none. Dokes' rough justice nearly hung Angel out to dry with him. I want to like him, but he's dreadfully obnoxious.
Lt. LaGuerta: The woman has no shortage of self-esteem, but she's not all bad, either. Her puffery is annoying, but she sets it aside in times of crisis. It was devious of her to poach Dokes' big drug bust and the consequent promotion to lieutenant, but she's a good cop when she gets her head out of the media spotlight, and certainly not "just another spic detective" as Captain Matthews called her.
Captain Matthews: You can't avoid all the tired cop-show cliches, I guess, and Matthews is the Bad Old Racist Cop. ~sigh~ If this were CSI:NY, where the aptitude of the writers is commensurate with poo-flinging monkeys on toxic levels of Dilaudid, this facet of his character would suck like Dexter's sister on the Ice Truck Killer's throbbing knob, but thusfar, the show has demonstrated remarkable depth and nuance, so I'm going to wait and see.
Angel: Angel is awesome. The flawed Everyman that Debbie Does Dipshit wants to be. I adore him.
Lt. Isme: Since she only been in one episode, the jury is still out, but she showed flashes of brilliance.
And yes, Dexter's sociopathy was explained. It opened up a fascinating nature versus nurture debate in my opinion.
Five stars.
Dexter: All along, Dexter has insisted that he's incapable of human connection, but I don't agree. I think he can and does connect with those around him, albeit the connections are oblique, non-Euclidean geometry of the first water. He doesn't love as we understand the term, and he's devoid of empathy, but he can feel "fond" of people. He says as much about Deb in "Born Free". He also seems protective of Rita and her children.
I suspect this fondness is less about love and more about control, i.e., the discussions he had with Dr. Meridian in "Shrink Wrap". To let any of them be harmed would be a loss of control, and loss of control in Dexter's world can be dangerous, even fatal. So he protects Rita and the kids from her skeevilicious husband to preserve the carefully constructed illusion of his world, and because they are his.
I think Dexter hungers for a normal life, which for him would be a life wherein he could kill with impunity and contemporaneously engage with the world around him. If the Miami PD ever started an assassins' guild, Dexter would happily volunteer. But since murder is verboten, Dexter is still locked in the proverbial closet, or the cargo container, if you prefer, afraid and repressed.
Dexter has come close to forging an intimate bond with someone twice; once with the serial killer in training, and again with Brian Moseler. Both men ended up dead, the latter by Dexter's own hand; Dexter is clearly starving for a genuine sense of kinship, but each of his attempts has failed.
Rita: Rita has become a surprisingly strong character after her inauspicious debut. She's gotten much-needed assurance from Dexter, whose indifference she's mistaken for laissez faire stability. I applauded her steel spine in dealing with her shady husband, Paul, and I was thrilled when the writers refused to fall into the trap of having her fall for the creep all over again. I whooped when she forestalled his rape attempt by clouting him in the head with a baseball bat, and I fangirled Dexter's solution to the Paul problem.
Deb: I just have to get this off my chest: OMG, CAN THERE POSSIBLY BE A MORE INEPT COP IN THE HISTORY OF TELEVISED LAW ENFORCEMENT? Jesus Christ, what a moron. Dropping a butt at a crime scene? What fucking tinpot academy did she attend? How did she graduate when I suspect she can barely put on her bra without risk of strangulation?
James Dean Jesus. I know we're supposed to interpret her as spunky and Jane Everywoman, but she's a simpering, vacant-eyed imbecile who needs to keep her legs closed and her mouth even more so. Yeah, she's a young up and comer in the department, all right, except for the fact that she's got the instinct of a tin can and behaves like an emo tween. Her constant pouting and flouncing is exhausting, and I'd like her to die messily.
Her complete lack of instinct was exemplified by the fact that she was boning the Ice Truck Killer. Even he pointed out her gross incompetence at the big reveal(and might I say, she acquitted herself and her academy training rather shoddily there; she must've missed Self-Defense Month. A critically injured Angel managed a shot on his attacker, for fuck's sake.). A police officer should have good instincts and basic people skills, and she has neither.
I know we were supposed to feel sorry for her that the man of her dreams was a killer, but her juvenile schemes throughout the relationship were a huge turnoff, and the scene where Dexter lets it drop that Rudy might propose is just embarrassing. What woman acts that way about a nebulous possibility of proposal? It was like watching a twelve-year-old girl win Backstreet Boys tickets and backstage passes. Just...go away.
Dokes: Does anyone know why he has such a hard-on against Dexter, especially since he's into vigilante justice himself? At least Dexter's retribution harms none. Dokes' rough justice nearly hung Angel out to dry with him. I want to like him, but he's dreadfully obnoxious.
Lt. LaGuerta: The woman has no shortage of self-esteem, but she's not all bad, either. Her puffery is annoying, but she sets it aside in times of crisis. It was devious of her to poach Dokes' big drug bust and the consequent promotion to lieutenant, but she's a good cop when she gets her head out of the media spotlight, and certainly not "just another spic detective" as Captain Matthews called her.
Captain Matthews: You can't avoid all the tired cop-show cliches, I guess, and Matthews is the Bad Old Racist Cop. ~sigh~ If this were CSI:NY, where the aptitude of the writers is commensurate with poo-flinging monkeys on toxic levels of Dilaudid, this facet of his character would suck like Dexter's sister on the Ice Truck Killer's throbbing knob, but thusfar, the show has demonstrated remarkable depth and nuance, so I'm going to wait and see.
Angel: Angel is awesome. The flawed Everyman that Debbie Does Dipshit wants to be. I adore him.
Lt. Isme: Since she only been in one episode, the jury is still out, but she showed flashes of brilliance.
And yes, Dexter's sociopathy was explained. It opened up a fascinating nature versus nurture debate in my opinion.
Five stars.