Dexter/Headscratchers


 * Blood. There's a fairly large amount of blood in the average human (1.25 gallons) and Dexter doesn't drain his victims (his inner monologue mentions it when he sees the Ice Truck Killer does). Even if he wrapped them head to toe in plastic wrap, there would still be alot of blood to deal with while he's cutting them up. Even without the heart pumping, blood flows freely for quite a while after death if there's any kind of hole in you. You don't see anything sloshing around the garbage bags, and he doesn't seal them up completely before leaving the kill room (he takes rocks when he gets to the marina, and in one episode near the end of the Trinity arc you can see an exposed arm while he's dumping), so why doesn't blood leak out? And if he doesn't drain them, how does he make sure none runs out when he's cleaning up the plastic?
 * Very, very carefully.
 * Why doesn't Dexter discreetly break into a crematorium and cremate his victims after cutting them into chump--that way he could then dump the ashes at sea, a lot less risky then pitching black bags of body parts. I guess the Doylian answer is probably that there wouldn't have been the Bay Harbor Butcher plot then, so Season 2 would've been a lot less awesome.
 * Also, how does Dexter dispose of the bloody plastic wrap and tape afterward?
 * He either throws it overboard with the body parts or (more likely) takes them to a secluded place in the middle of nowhere, builds a bonfire and burns them. If anyone asks he can just say he was camping or something.
 * But plastic doesn't burn, it melts. Plus a fire draws attention and getting to a remote burning ground takes even more time in his already packed hunting nights.
 * Whether burned or melted, the evidence is still destroyed and that's all that matters. If anyone finds it later they'd just assume someone was burning some trash. South Florida has plenty of no man's land-type places to choose from that aren't too far out of the way and are remote enough that Dexter won't be disturbed. How do you think drug dealers and the like can operate so freely in Florida in the first place?

Look, the point is, Dexter somehow figures out a way to destroy all the evidence of his killings. Doesn't matter how he does it, just that it gets done.
 * Thanks. I actually read on The Other Wiki that Dexter dumps the plastic in the ocean along with the dismembered bodies, so there you go.
 * How does he wash his shirt without leaving evidence, which clearly gets very bloody after he saws his victims' bodies up?
 * He has a special shirt that he only wears when he's stalking and killing a victim. And he always (or almost always) wears a full-body plastic covering when he's cutting up the bodies. Also, since the victim's heart is no longer pumping blood there wouldn't be a lot of spray when Dexter cuts them apart unless he uses something really messy like a chainsaw.
 * But his shirt clearly looks bloody. Washing it in his own machine might be dangerous and the stain might not even come out (like with Prado).
 * If you look closely you can see that it's actually some kind of overshirt or smock. I'm not sure what it is exactly (something slaughterhouse workers wear? I dunno) but the edge of Dexter's regular hunting shirt is visible around the collar. Also, I'm pretty sure that image is from when Dexter killed the guy who murdered his mom. IIRC he used a chainsaw to do it as a bit of poetic justice, which would account for the blood in that scene. As for what he does with it afterward, presumably Dexter takes the bloodstained smock and destroys it along with the rest of the evidence.
 * I always assumed that he just buys a bunch of those shirts and disposes of them (along with all the rest of the clothes and gear he's wearing) when he disposes of the body. It's not one shirt, just a certain type of shirt that's become part of the ritual.
 * That was always my thinking. The idea is its a cheap henley undershirt from a big bulk pack that he can throw out each time. That's why I find it a little sickening that IRL they sell the exact "Dexter kill shirt" for 30 bucks a pop >:(
 * Actually it's more risky since breaking into a crematorium (discreetly or otherwise) runs a much greater risk of contact with the outside world. All it would take is one late-working janitor or file clerk stumbling on Dex and he's instantly exposed. (Dexter even says as much during the Bay Harbor Butcher investigation when Masuka asks why the Butcher didn't just destroy the bodies.) On the other hand, the chances of a couple of divers stumbling on Dexter's ocean dump site was a million-to-one. And now Dexter's eliminated even that remote chance by dumping his victims into the Gulf Stream where they'll be carried out to sea. From a million-to-one chance to a billion-to-one chance.
 * Cremation doesn't burn the bones. The reason there's no skeleton in cremated remains is that they're ground up afterwards. Plus cremation takes quite a while, and Dexter would need regular access to a crematorium, sometimes on fairly short notice, for hours.
 * Why don't the police ever question how oddly attracted are to the Morgans?
 * Season 1 the police find Dexter, weird coincidence but okay.
 * Season 2 the police believe Dexter is being personally threatened by Doakes, that is kind of really weird with history considered.
 * Season 3 Deb's boyfriend is . Alright, Deb maybe you should stop dating for awhile.
 * Season 4 and   are both killed by, in relation to,.
 * The Morgan's are apparently serial killer magnets, and no one mentions it or seems to notice.
 * It is a bit odd, granted. The season 3 example doesn't really count, as Deb started seeing Anton after he was already involved in the Skinner case as a CI.
 * Dexter wasn't "fighting" the ITK. According to his story, he simply saw an ice cream truck and checke dit out on a hunch and got the head thrown at his windshield. One could assume that the ITK decided to follow Dex and get in a relationship with Deb as some sort of revenge or something. As mentioned, Deb's involvement with Anton had nothing to do with the Morgans, really. As for Doakes, he was always seen as bullying Dex and made it no secret that he didn't like him. While it was a surprise for them to learn that he was the Bay Harbor Butcher (which he wasn't obviously) it was not so odd to see that Dex was being targeted. A lot of this could be hand waved as pure dumb luck, although I do see how it could be a bit of a wall banger that no one says anything.
 * I think the OP was referring to Dexter's struggle with the Ice Truck Killer at the end of season one, which is interrupted by the police. As for that, I found Dexter's story to the police to be pretty believable, that Brian was unstable and having second thoughts about killing Deb, and had called Dexter, who he'd met and seemed to bond with, and had asked him to come alone. Dexter would have had no choice but to comply for fear for his sister's life.
 * Probably no one thinks it's odd because both the Morgans work in the police precinct, and indeed in the very unit that's investigating these serial killers. Them winding up having the serial killer involve himself in their life thus doesn't seem as incongruous... it only seems "odd" to we the viewers because we know what's up. The better question would be "Why the hell have we had so many serial killers within one decade in this one town?"
 * Also, why would anyone ever date Deb ever again, ever?
 * Considering her personality I'm pretty sure it's for the same reason anyone ever dated her in the first place. The reason starts with "first date" and ends with "sex".
 * Dexter puts his shoes on before his t-shirt. That's weird.
 * So you'll have the Title Sequence ending with Dexter tying his shoes rather than this odd stare after he puts his shirt on? Come on man, it's Rule of Cool at its best!
 * He also shaves without shaving cream. I'm not a guy so I'm not familiar with proper face-shaving technique, but this really bothers me.
 * This Troper shaves without shaving cream. It's a matter of taste, and what one feels comfortable with. I don't like the idea of a blade touching my skin if I can't see the skin the blade touches.
 * If you look closely you can see Dexter's neck is wet when he shaves. Wetting the skin is an easy substitute for shaving cream. It doesn't give the closest shave in the world (and it's easier to cut yourself) but it's a lot faster and a lot less messy.
 * And he does end up cutting himself. And as for putting his shoes on before his t-shirt, admittedly, Dexter is a little bit weird]].
 * This Troper shaves with only soap and water so it's not that odd.
 * I noticed that although he shaves at the beginning, through the rest of the opening sequence, it doesn't look like he's shaved.
 * He probably just shaved around his neck so it wouldn't itch.
 * You know, this might be an actual case of Fridge Logic being deliberately used for Fridge Brilliance. The opening features what seems like a normal morning routine (albeit one that looks suspiciously like something else), yet everything is slightly wrong - he puts his shoes on before his shirt. He makes and eats eggs and ham before coffee and juice. He (almost intentionally) cuts himself shaving. Just like Dexter, these are all things that appear normal, until you start to think about how something is really kinda off here, and you're not exactly sure what it is until someone points it out to you.
 * Anachronic Order.
 * I put my shoes on before my shirt...
 * Though the moment was hilarious, I have trouble believing that a cop who grew up in Miami doesn't know the Spanish words for bitch or shit ("Santa Mierda" anyone?)
 * It's been noted several times that Deb has a problem with Spanish, especially during season 5. It's likely that she just forgot the word, this troper has forgotten almost everything from high school Spanish.
 * In the books it's specifically stated that Deb (who grew up in Miami) oddly took French in school instead of Spanish.
 * Santa Mierda is actually Fridge Brilliance for me. The fact that is the first place Deb went was Mierda, which indicates that it's probably one of the few words that she's even vaguely familiar with (which makes sense, given her... vocabulary). She probably heard "muerte" and in her mind got it confused with the more familiar word "mierda."
 * In the season 1 finale, Dexter takes back to his apartment to kill him.  is a serial killer who just narrowly escaped the police. Why, pray tell, would his apartment be left completely unattended overnight? Wouldn't there be at least one security guard or rent-a-cop or something, in case he comes back to his apartment? It just seems like a huge plot hole to me.
 * It probably falls under Rule of Drama, but a possible explanation is that Deb is pretty independent and didn't want to seem "weak", and Dexter, knowing he'd show up, spun some story telling the cops not to worry he'd be miles away, but he'd look after Deb himself just in case. Considering he's both Deb's brother and part of the cop "family" that might have been enough.
 * Why doesn't Dexter store his blood slides someplace more secure? They're damning evidence (just ask Doakes) and behind an easily removed air conditioner cover doesn't seem like the best place. He doesn't need regular, or even particularly quick access to it, so why not hide it somewhere more obscure. Even when he builds his own shed at Rita's, he doesn't build in any hidden compartments, or nice little spot to hide it, he leaves it in the same air conditioner spot. He's got to get together with Michael Westen and pick up some of those spy tactics (imagine that crossover!).
 * Honestly, those Burn Notice tricks are more paranoid than useful. Well, I guess they would be useful for someone with Michael Westen's lifestyle, but Dexter doesn't have assassins, terrorists, or mercenaries coming after him. Better for Dexter to put his blood slides in a place where no one who isn't a shady cop with a grudge against him would think to look.
 * I think he likes keeping them close and easily accessible. The blood slides have meaning for him, so it makes sense that he keep them somewhere that's semi out in the open where he would always be able to know they were there. They're very much a part of his psychosis. He seems to need to get them out every once in a while just to look at them and touch them to appease his Dark Passenger.
 * He's a blood spatter analyst for the police, the best, their go-to guy. The safest place he could have kept his blood slides would be in the open, on a workbench/shelf, next to a microscope. He's considered weird enough at work that no-one would question him doing it as a hobby too. The only suspicious thing about him having them is that they are hidden.
 * Dexter isn't considered "weird" at work. Only Doakes suspected something was wrong with him. The rest of the station thinks he's an exceedingly normal, slightly soft-spoken young man. Keeping a box full of blood slides right out in the open where anyone can see them strongly contradicts Dexter's "I'm a perfectly normal guy" act. Also, the only place Dexter could be collecting blood as a "hobby" would be from the cases he handles. I'm not a legal expert, but I'm pretty sure keeping criminal evidence for personal use is very illegal.
 * Towards the end of season 1, Dexter reflects that Harry always warned him not to get emotionally involved. This troper was too busy giggling at his facial expression to realise until later that, since Dexter is a sociopath, his getting emotionally involved with something should have been the last thing Harry was worried about.
 * The concept of sociopathy is re-interpreted over and over again throughout the whole series.
 * Besides, Harry is definitely not infallible. It's possible he was just covering his bases, as well. Also, Dexter is a sociopath...as written by a bunch of people who likely are not. It's also possible they just made a mistake. Speaking of mistakes...
 * There's also the strong implication throughout the series that Dexter is not a sociopath, but rather someone with a host of repressed issues who has been trained not to trust his emotions.
 * I'm not sure how the police work (I tend to avoid them like the goddamn plague,) but why is it that Deb responded to the domestic dispute call involving Rita? I thought she was working Vice, and I was under the impression that they dealt with hookers and such? Is that kind of call a "whoever gets there first" sort of deal, or what?
 * Deb might have been on patrol at the time, since there's a time gap between that introduction and the start of the first season (or book), which allows opportunity for her to be moved from one assignment to another.
 * Thank you kindly.
 * Doakes. I used to like him, but the more I think about his story, the more I think he's a fucking idiot. By the end of season 1, he knows that Dexter is linked to the Ice Truck Killer, somehow. Season 2 has him tracking Dexter all the time. By the time, he... walks away. When   Hell, if he had taken five seconds to say "That motherfucker just headbutted me" he could have saved himself a lot of grief! Thanks for nothing, dumbass!
 * Well, that's just Doakes' nature. He's a lonely rider and stubborn individualist. He doesn't like teamwork, he only wants to kick bad guys' butts. And the headbutt thing... It was already the stage when nobody would believe him. Dexter is friendly and cheerful everybody's buddy who never fights, never argues, and Doakes is agressive maniac known from being obsessed with Dexter... Who would rather be believed?
 * As a matter of fact, Dexter uses the fact that Doakes is a "lonely rider and stubborn individualist" as an additional justification for
 * Earlier on, Doakes only had his own suspicions about Dexter, he had no hard proof as to what was going on. He * did* tell people about his suspicions, but he never had anything more concrete than that and they waved him off. He had the blood slides, but he never learned what exactly they were, and he didn't learn that Dexter * himself* was the Bay Harbor Butcher until he caught him at the drug dealer's cabin. And shortly thereafter he was captured and never spoke to LaGuerta again.
 * In season 1, when Doakes, Dexter overpowers him. Overpowers a character revealed to   I call bullshit.
 * Dexter is no slouch either. As shown, he keeps in excellent shape and Doakes himself comments on Dexter's "advanced jiu-jitsu" training being out of character for a supposed lab nerd. It's not like the military teaches special hidden moves or anything, in any major city in the US you can get hand-to-hand combat training on par with anything Doakes would have received. Besides, they had fought only to a standstill before they were interrupted by the longshoreman.
 * Also, Doakes was in Special Forces YEARS ago, and probably hasnt killed anyone in hand to hand combat since then. Whereas Dexter not only practices constantly, he KILLS people constantly.
 * Exactly, Doakes was an assassin, but Dexter has spent his own life training to be an effective assassin in his own way. In that sense, they can totally go toe-to-toe and be believable, especially since Doakes has likely been deconditioned in some fashions. It's not like Doakes goes home each night and polishes a "world's best assassin" trophy.
 * The shipyard doesn't bother me since Doakes wasn't fully aware of who/what Dexter was and would be unprepared for a hold-reversal. When they fought again on the docks and Dexter disarmed Doakes, THAT bugged me. Doakes was a seasoned vet and at that point, knew exactly what Dex was capable of. Doakes has his gun trained on him and seems completely unable to do anything when Dexter simply walks forward, forcing Doakes to somehow back up until he falls into the lake, and then disarms him. It seemed way too contrived.
 * He was walking backwards (and had Dexter walk forward) to get Dexter off the dock back to Doakes' car, while keeping his gun trained on Dexter. Doakes' hesitation to shoot Dexter on the dock can be explained in the fact that if he kills Dexter, he's never getting out of the Bay Harbor Butcher deal. That was Dexter's saving grace, and he called Doakes out on it before handcuffing himself. Doakes' real problem was that he didn't shoot Dexter in the kneecap when he threatened to. Why he didn't while he was walking backwards and trying to keep himself from tripping on an old wooden dock is more explainable.
 * There is a thing that bugs me in Season 3. In the last few episodes, we learn that  and is even able to  . If he can do this, why does he have to  ? Is it a personal matter or what?
 * He doesn't know until the police bring him in for questioning later in the season. He didn't know who he was from the beginning.
 * Well, I think I have to watch that season again...
 * And yes, it clearly is a very personal matter. I mean, realistically speaking, there are a lot of lowlifes in Miami. He could have just contracted one of them to do the deed. Maybe promise that he'll keep them out of prison for it.
 * Also, he is shown intensely enjoying his
 * That's exactly what happened.
 * In Season 4, I find it really hard to believe that no one believed Lundy about the Trinity killer. Sure, maybe jumpers and bludgeoning victims are fairly common, but a young girl killed in a bathtub by a razor blade cut through the femoral artery? That alone sounds like a rather uncommon and distinctive MO, you would think that might raise somebody's suspicions...
 * The fact that the bathtub killings are separated by so many years is what keeps most people from making the connection. If they noticed it at all, they'd probably assume it was a copy-cat killer who was inspired by the first bathtub murder. Also a big part of Trinity's character is that he's unlike any other killer ever featured on the show, perhaps unlike any other killer in history. A killer with a totally unique pathology would be a lot harder to profile.
 * If they were solely investigated by local police, and never repeated in the same places, it would take quite a while before someone put it together. The bathtub girl and jumper would probably be ruled suicide more often than not, and beating someone to death one-on-one would point towards someone with personal rage against the victim, not a stranger passing through town. I'd be willing to bet that Lundy only happened across it after being in two different cities where the same sequence happened recently enough to hear about and having personal knowledge of another and it "clicked." It probably wouldn't even set off alarms as most serial killer get noticed because they operate in the same location and are investigated by the same departments.
 * How long does Season 1 span? It was starting to strain credibility IMO that the Ice Truck Killer was able to work a full-time job, commit his own murders, maintain a relationship with Deb, * and* keep perfect surveillance on Dexter and still somehow sleep and eat. Some of the things the Ice Truck Killer knew seemed to flow naturally from breaking into Dexter's house and being his brother, but there were others (like Dexter's offshore dump site, his preferred method of killing victims, etc) that he could only know from following Dexter and personally observing him.
 * Brian mentions at one point that he "spent years" planning all this. He's had a long time to really become familiar with Dexter, find his dump site, etc.
 * We know that episode 5/6 is around Holloween due to the decorations and trick/treat bits mentioned there. We also know that episode 10-12 are around Christmas time. We don't know exactly when the season starts, but I would presume August/September. If only because Astor and Cody are in school. While time is awfully short, it does give him 2 months of interactions. And there's nothing to dismiss that he didn't do surveillance prior to the first murder.
 * In Dearly Devoted Dexter, the whole Rita-finding-the-ring-and-assuming-it's-an-engagement-one. This troper is somewhat fond of sitcoms (expect for laugh tracks, ugh) but Dexter is fairly realistic in tone, possession by ancient evil aside. How exactly is Deb going to react when she sees Rita wearing Chutsky's ring? 'Yeah, sis, I decided to give my girlfriend the ring belonging to your boyfriend, even though he wasn't dead at the time and it certainly wasn't mine to give away.' This troper isn't sure if Rita and Chutsky have ever met, but how exactly would Chutsky react if he found out his girlfriend's brother gave his ring away? How exactly would Rita react if she found out the ring was sent to Dexter/Deb on Deb's boyfriend's severed finger? I mean, maybe Chutsky never has to meet Rita, but if Rita and Debs never meet again in the books and the whole ring thing is never discussed, that's just sloppy.
 * I haven't read all the books (the whole Moloch thing turned me off,) but is it a really distinctive ring? If it's not specifically mentioned as being super-unique, Dexter could just say he really liked it and bought one just like it. If not, then ignore me, I guess.
 * Rita doesn't really interact with Deborah that much and she has never even met Chutsky. Plus you have to remember that the ring went missing after Chutsky had been kidnapped. It would make sense for somebody going through that kind of grief to forget something like a pinky ring (or at least what the pinky ring looked like).
 * Dexter mentions that Chutsky gave Rita some reassurance when he and Dexter were getting ready to head out-of-country (Dexter lied and said that it was a forensics emergency, and Chutsky backed him and assured her that the on-duty cop would protect her and the kids.) It's possible that Dexter explained the ring situation to Debra, and she thought of something to explain it to Chutsky. Of course, it would have been nice if Dexter had had so much as a line mentioning that.
 * In Dexter By Design
 * Season 2, Episode 2. Rita asks Dexter how he knew how much heroin to give and how to prepare it during the 'Paul's shoe confrontation'. Couldn't he just answer 'I work in forensics'? Yes, I know he deals with blood specifically, but surely he'd be trained in this kind of stuff in general?
 * Dexter could have explained it away in tons of different ways ("I googled it" even), he just chose not to. It was a pretty good cover for his behavior.
 * Well yeah, though it was far from a convenient excuse at a time and only turned out beneficial later on.
 * Maybe he thought Rita wouldn't believe it if he tried to deny it after the fact.
 * Dexter obviously had so many ways to get out of this but i think the writers needed a way to get Doakes off his back so more choppy choppy action could be done in discretion, enter the rehab storyline. The whole business with the shoe pissed this troper off too. Oh wow, your shoe was at the scene. Couldn't Rita, like so many people who watched this episode, have assumed that douchebag lawyer who turned up protesting Paul's innocence planted it?
 * Why couldn't he have just told Rita that the heroin was PAUL's? (It even actually was, wasn't it?) That never made any sense for Dexter to tell the lie he did when there's a much better explanation just sitting there.
 * Rita's exact question was "How did you know how much to give a big guy like Paul?" as in how did Dexter know how big a dose to give him. It would've had to be big enough to knock him out but small enough not to kill him. While this troper is not a heroin user and can only speculate on the habits of heroin users, I assume that they measure out the heroin and then put in in the syringe.
 * On the subject of Dexter lying about where he got the drugs, he probably thought it would look more suspicious if he admitted to Rita that he had broken into Paul's house and stolen the drugs. It would have gotten her closer to the real truth, which is not where Dexter wants her to be, so he thought up a lie on the spot which he thought would be more innocuous.
 * On the same note, since Rita's having sex with Dexter on a seemingly regular basis after Season 1, how in the world does she not notice that Dexter, who is apparently an intravenous drug user, doesn't have any tract marks?
 * Maybe she thought he was smoking it rather than mainlining it.
 * That's a really good point, but I don't know if he'd know how much to inject Paul with if he were smoking instead - different potency and whatnot. Admittedly, though, Rita may have just taken that at face value without thinking too much about it.
 * So how did Dexter know how to cook the heroin?
 * Ironically, he probably DID google it.
 * Am I the only one who found it harder and harder to sympathize with La Guerta in her struggles with the Captain as time went on? I mean, at the beginning he was just being a shithead/possible racist/sexist but later on? She gets her replacement fired by sleeping with her fiance, all the while pretending to be her friend, then she hid her phone call with Doakes, and her wounded lamb shtick started to wear a little thin. Finally, when he fairly reasonably asks her to end an unprofessional relationship, she agrees, and signs affidavits to that effect. Then when she gets caught for breaking them, she gets a quickie marriage to screw the Captain over politically if he tries to rightfully toss her for perjury, and rubs his face in it. Are we still supposed to view her sympathetically?
 * I don't think we are. I think we're supposed to see her as conflicted and troubled, not sympathetic.
 * Very first episode - Dexter actually digs up a bevy of boy's bodies that were buried by the guy he's going to kill. This is completely at odds with what we see throughout the rest of the series. Possibly Rule of Drama for the first episode, but it always got me.
 * This is explained by the fact that the guy was a child rapist/murderer. Dexter is shown to be particularly merciless towards people who harm children.
 * It's not so out of character. Showing his victim the bodies of the children he killed is just a slight variation on his usual method of showing his victims pictures of the people they killed. In both cases the purpose is to confront the killers with their sins. Physically digging up the bodies is the same thing, just taken to an extreme degree. It's also worth noting that for most of his other victims he didn't have any way to get a hold of the bodies of the people they killed. Those bodies were either destroyed, lost, or their burials were publicly witnessed. The children killed by the child molester in the first episode were presumably killed and buried in secret by the perpetrator. That allowed Dexter to go the extra mile this time.
 * Also remember that the bodies were quite small, it may have taken more time to arrange the normal setup, but simply picking them up from their burial sites rather than photographing them or looking for specific missing child reports...There is also the possibility they were too 'far gone' to make truly positive IDs.
 * Early Installment Weirdness. Like Dexter wearing a mask made of plastic wrap when he killed the guy who stole copper pipes. Although there is some Fridge Brilliance, as Dexter had more time at this point (no nemesis to deal with, relationship with Rita is much less taxing), so maybe he would do it more often if he had the time.
 * The complete lack of closure he given to people affected by Dexter's victims. Understood that he can't leave 140 some odd bodies lying around without being found, but the fact that the criminals he removes are considered still out there by everyone bugs me.
 * Dexter doesn't really seem to care about the victims of those he kills, except on a rare few occasions (such as child murderers, or how badly Arthur Mitchell treated his family). Even if he does, his desire to please his "Dark Passenger" is generally stronger. This is why, for Mitchell, he decides to sabotage the police effort to find him; his desire to satisfy his own need for revenge and murder is stronger then his desire to let Debra have closure and justice.
 * Keep in mind that the primary purpose of The Code is to allow Dexter to satisfy his urge to kill without getting caught. Moral and legal justice are a very distant second. In fact, in the first or second episode Dexter himself reflects on how impossible it is for him to understand the feelings of the people connected to his victims. He knows that what he does affects people deeply, he's just incapable of empathizing with them and therefore incapable of caring.
 * Also keep in mind that in the books Dexter makes it very clear that he doesn't give a crap about protecting the people of Miami (save for Deborah or his family). The show changed this somewhat because it would A.) make him easier to sympathise with and B.) if he didn't care about protecting people season three wouldn't have any tension between him and Miguel.
 * I may be one of the few people who feels this way but I frankly did not mind the plot of book 3. It was an interesting place to go and could have made a fascinating story if done correctly. Instead of massive exposition, the book should have left things ambiguous or open to interpretation, with Dexter wondering if the whole thing was real or if it was just a psychopath (or a group of psychopaths) mind screwing him. Instead, we had a bad book and the hope that the following books will not explore this otherwise interesting premise because the author is clearly not capable of handling it. What a shame.
 * Does anyone else fail to understand the logic behind "My god my son is a monster! The only logical thing can do is train him to become the perfect murderer. IT'S THE ONLY OPTION!!"
 * Harry's shown to be both really bitter about the abuse of the justice system and really misguided and unaware of how badly he's screwing up as evidenced . The series also implies that serial killers are irredeemable and Harry's only choice was to leave his son be a convicted psychopath while still in his teens or turn him into something more...useful. And as a matter of fact the series does focus on all the times Harry took young Dexter hunting in order to relieve the bloodlust and given that it failed, the Code always seemed more like a last ditch attempt.
 * That's a bit of an oversimplification. Harry's aim was to push Dexter's urges in a more productive direction. If he's going to be compelled to kill for the rest of his life, he might as well be compelled to kill evil people who actually deserve it. He also didn't want Dexter locked up in a mental institution for most of his life.
 * Yes. God forbid a misanthropic serial killer get the psychiatric help he needs.
 * You're assuming therapy would have even the slightest effect on Dexter. His brother Brian spent most of his life in and out of mental institutions and we all know how he turned out.
 * Whether or not being institutionalized would have helped Dexter any, the question is, if your son is homicidal, would you really want them to be free to practice their "hobby" on the assumption that they will follow your judgment and only kill those who, by the code, "deserve" to be killed? How would you know that they wouldn't just take what you say and then twist it to fit their own destructive whims? Would you really want this person around your daughter, your wife?
 * What do you want me to say here? Yes, what Harry did was a big gamble. But he loved Dexter very much and was strongly of the opinion that having Dexter locked up in a funny farm for the rest of his natural life would be a rather cruel fate. And it's pretty obvious that on some level he wanted to use Dexter as a weapon against all the murderers he's seen walk free due to misspelled search warrants. Harry isn't a saint and the show has never pretended otherwise.
 * It doesn't matter what would or would not have worked here, it's what was HARRY thinking. He was of the opinion that Dexter WOULD kill. Not might, would. So if this kid is 100% (in Harry's mind) GOING to become a killer, he might as well train him to kill a sort of person that is MORE acceptable than just your everyday folk. No, it was not the only option out there, but it was the only one he thought was viable.
 * I do not think Harry is either supposed to be a saint or a horrible human being, just very flawed. I think he was knowingly using Dexter as a Tyke Bomb for his own vigilante ideals as much as he was protecting him.
 * In Season 2 it is implied that Dexter sabotaged his own bloodwork so that he could kill someone. Isn't it part of Harry's code that he only kill people that the police can't convict? The murder of the car salesman earlier in the season bugs me for the same reason, because he should have at least looked for a way to lead the police to him first.
 * He might have thought the case would've been overturned on appeal or the killer would've received a reduced sentence, which could technically be considered "escaping justice".
 * The code says to kill only those who deserve to be killed. It is meant to filter out potential victims for Dexter. Remember, the code isn't about justice. It's about keeping him and his "addiction" in check and off the radar.
 * Deb, could you please keep you pants on for one episode? Not that I mind some sexy action, but if she keeps going like that she'll eventually end up with Masuka. For that matter, first episode of season five, Deb and Quinn have sex. Sure, its been half a year for the audience, but for them its two or three weeks after Lundy was shot and two days maximum since Quinn's girlfriend killed herself.
 * Two emotionally vulnerable people suddenly find themselves alone in an intimate situation with a person they already had unacknowledged feelings for. Them jumping into bed together is actually more realistic than the alternative. On the other hand their continuing relationship afterwards is somewhat less plausible. If the writers are smart they'll have Deb and Quinn start bumping heads a lot more in the future as they try to sort out their confused feelings. Either they'll decide to slow down and get to know each other better or they'll have a really messy break-up.
 * In the first season, the Ice Truck Killer pulls up one of Dexter's victims from his dumping spot and puts her on display. When the spot is found by divers at the start of season 2, how do the police not connect that victim with Dexter's other victims? Presumably, they'd all have the cut on the cheek and the same wounds.
 * They never found all the bodies of Dexter's kills. They only found 18. Dexter did DNA tests on his trophies when they were brought in from Doakes' trunk, but I would assume he either didn't get a hit in the database when it was brought in, or purposefully deleted the fact he got a hit to prevent such question from being asked.
 * I never brought up the DNA evidence. He presumably kills in the same way every time, and even the worst detective should have been able to notice the cuts to the throat and on either side of the neck, plus his signature cut on the cheek. Hell, even if Dex did manage to bury the report about the woman pulled up from the dump site, Masuka was so excited about being right about injection spot on the neck that I wouldn't put it past him to keep a copy of the report for himself.
 * Masuka wouldn't have kept the report because he agreed with Dexter that it was probably a bug bite. They never did a toxicology test on the body because it was assumed, and never dismissed, that the husband did it (the same husband Dexter killed). Two cuts on the throat are not the same thing as getting one's head cut off, and body chopped up (like all the bay harbor butcher victims). And a superficial cut on the cheek of a woman killed by her husband is a tad too minor to remember after 6 months. The only thing that would have connected Dexter to her death would have been his trophy of her husband. And that's why I brought up DNA. But it's explained away since Dexter did the DNA testing and likely fudged that report. Although, if one thinks about it, Doakes worked that case. So if it came back the husband was in the ocean, it would further the suspicion of Doakes being the Butcher...
 * Watch that episode again. Masuka didn't give up on the "bug bite" - he came back to it later and ran a toxicology screening that revealed the tranquilizer Dexter uses to immobilize his victims. They never mentioned running one on the Butcher victims, though; it's possible they were too far gone for one to turn up useful results.
 * Additionally, part of the reason they never connect that body with the Butcher's is that it wasn't Dexter's usual MO. Dexter was so rushed that he didn't even chop her up. So we have a seemingly non-criminal woman, her body left in a completely different way (not dismembered, not dumped but displayed), and it was a murder that they considered solved. If it had been the husband that Rudy pulled up it would have been different (He was connected to murders, he was dismembered in the same fashion, etc.).
 * How is Dexter able to function normally? While there have been some serial killers that have been able to "pass" as normal, most are creepy weirdos that when they are caught it isn't they were/are a killer to most who have encountered them. W/O living w/ a female relative (who would be nurturing to him and take of his messes), w/o taking any anti-psychotics and having a stressful job around people who could detect and catch him at any moment,how is he able to function?
 * When Ted Bundy was arrested, his republican party friends raised money for his defense. They simply could not believe that he would be capable of killing. He was a very charming, organized psychopath. Only some killers are disorganized (Richard Chase being the stereotypical example) but many are considered organized, and are fully capable of living a normal life alongside their killing.
 * Because it's not medical/brain, it's purely psychological with external reinforcing factors. He literally could turn it off, if he realised it, but since he's also hooked on the vigilante aspect it's that much harder. Not everything can be answered with pillpopping you loopy yanks!
 * Dexter isn't just a serial killer, he's a serial killer with psychosis (contrary to popular belief they aren't always the same thing). Psychotics often appear normal or even charming to outsiders. Dexter's case is special because not only is he a stereotypical charming psychotic, he's also trained himself to act extra normal in public and goes to great lengths to ensure that he doesn't stand out. He's an unusual example of a psychotic killer but arguably not an implausible one.
 * Do you mean "psychopathic?" Psychosis is defined as a disconnect from reality, such as hallucinations or delusions, and makes it very difficult to function normally. Psychopathy, however, more closely fits your description.
 * Dexter's also been specifically trained by a police officer on how to act to avoid suspicion.
 * He's a psychopath. A part of the concept of being a psychopath is that they imitate what they lack, manipulating people because in a lot of respects they don't know why or even how not to. After all, how can they be themselves if they don't have any real sense of self? So they put on an act to blend in because most of the time, life's easier and better when you seem normal.
 * In the books the Dark Passenger is treated more like a completely separate entity that coexists with Dexter in his mind and it's the part with the drive to kill, with The Code operating as a counterpoint to keep it balanced. In the show it's treated more like a compulsion to kill with The Code providing a framework to operate in. The fact that he's extremely intelligent, with an Inspector Gadget skill set, Harry training, highly educated (Doakes states that Dexter attended medical school when he does a background check while he's stalking Dexter and say "left medical school to be a blood spatter analyst", but nobody calls him "Doctor").
 * It bugs me that Trinity's ENTIRE family doesn't ever get help with his abuse. From freaking preschool to high school they teach kids to come to an authority figure if you are being beaten, but neither the wife or the kids ever get help, even though Arthur is gone for long periods of time. One look at the daughters room with the freaking locks everywhere and they would go "Yeah this guys an awful person", and put him in jail. Bam, stop the Trinity killings right there. I know there are unreported cases of abuse out there, but the fact that Arthur is gone for literally weeks at a time also raises the question of why they don't just get up and freaking leave.
 * Even worse is the Thanksgiving episode, where Dexter just saved Jonah's life, and has subdued Arthur. The daughter and wife both run to Arthur's safety, as if to say "NO! He's a horrible human being and almost killed Jonah and deserves to die a horrible, painful death, but he's still our father/husband!" what.
 * Sadly, it's not unheard of for victims of abuse to defend their abusers and refuse to seek help. Though admittedly this is a particularly extreme case.
 * Arthur's personality had more or less started work emotionally destroying his children from Day 1. As far as they were concerned, he was their "authority figure". One who caused them terror and fear, but still foremost in their mind. The wife was probably "eased into" his personality, and by the time she comprehended just what he was, it was too late to leave. As above mentioned, it's an extreme case run on Rule of Drama, but it's not just a simple case of "why don't they just leave?" If it were that easy, battered wives around the globe would be safe by now.
 * There's no Rule of Drama at all here. That's one of the most realistic things the show has ever shown. For the reasons stated, yes, but it's not an exaggeration in the slightest. The least realistic thing about the relationship is Jonah's telling Dexter about it.
 * Is it just me or is every single woman in this show unbearable. It's like they get free passes from everything and men just grovel. Especially Dexter. I have hard time he grew up to such a push-over considering how he grew up with Harry and Deb...
 * I have to say, it's mostly just you. Most fans have no problem with Deb, who is somewhat abrasive but not often to a wrongful extent. Rita, meanwhile, has every reason to be wary and the amount of faith she does put in Dexter and her marriage is heart warming. Remember, there isn't really any character in the show, female or otherwise, that is entirely sympathetic. They all have their flaws, especially Harry, Quinn, Masuka and Doakes.
 * Also remember that Dexter's cover is to be the exceedingly nondescript, passive nice guy who brings donuts to work and never says anything contrary to anyone. In the first few seasons especially Dexter seemed to think that doing anything that might draw negative attention to himself would automatically cause people to think he was a psycho, so that might be why he comes across as something of a push over.
 * It also helps that he is emotionally stunted so he genuinely does not get upset or offended by verbal taunts. It seems that Ellen Wolfe was the only person to annoy him, verbally.
 * Forgive me if this is a dumb question, I haven't seen the show very much. But Dexter only kills other killers, right? So, what did the couple that he asked relationship advice do? Because as far as I can recall they were just normal people.
 * You have to be a little more specific
 * The two who were involved bringing Cubans to Florida? They were killing Cubans who couldn't come up with the "release" fee. That's the only couple I know of that he killed...
 * Yep...them.
 * After re-watching Season 3 I realized I don't understand why Miguel gave Dexter that shirt with the cow's blood on it. Obviously he was trying to con Dexter into trusting him, but I don't understand why Miguel wanted Dexter's trust in the first place. Remember, this is before Dexter let Miguel in on his "hobby". As far as Miguel knew at that point, Dexter had only killed one person (Freebo) and it was in self-defense. So why would he bother going through with this elaborate charade with the shirt stained with cow's blood?
 * Dexter is thought to be smart enough to think ahead in situations. At least, this is what he likes to portray to others. Is it possible that Miguel saw the blood on his shirt, realized that Dexter transferred the blood from the Freebo crime-scene, and thought that it was Dexter who was testing Miguel to see if he could be trusted?
 * More likely that Miguel is suspicions of Dexter from the very beginning. He doesn't know what Dexter is but, like Doakes, can tell there's something "off" about him. So he decides, rather than making an enemy of Dexter, to gain his trust. After all, he believes that Dexter has just killed the man who killed his brother, and so wants to help and protect him. We find out by "About Last Night" that Miguel has been "using" Dexter from the start.
 * Pretty much this. He doesn't want to make an enemy and may even feel genuinely grateful but he doesn't want to risk himself either, should things go wrong. He is repeatedly shown to have a mind that avoids loose ends. So, he saw giving the shirt with cow's blood on it as a win-win.
 * So, whatever happened to that hanging thread in season 3 about Rita lying to Dexter about how many times she's been married? Is that ever going to come up again?
 * With the decision to kill Rita, several threads were left hanging, never to be returned to. That's why it came as such a shock. Perhaps it was deliberate.
 * Was it really a hanging thread? To me it that marriage-thing appeared as a random MacGuffin for Dexter experiencing him being the one Rita deliberately lies to. For a change. The point was him accepting her secrets and not confronting her because of all the lies he tells her.
 * Not once throughout the the entire relation between Dexter and Miguel is the Bay Harbour Butcher mentioned. Miguel notes that Dexter has done this before, but does not ask if Dexter really was the BHB or at least inspired by the BHB. You'd think it would be mentioned in passing at least.
 * Dexter never killed anyone in front of Miguel, never cut up their bodies in front of Miguel, and as far as Miguel knew, Dexter got rid of his bodies in graveyards. Miguel would have no reason to think Dexter got any inspiration from BHB without knowing how Dexter kills, and would have no reason to suspect because their methods of disposal are entirely different.
 * Dexter is a Karma Houdini. There I said it. And he's growing progressively worse as the series goes on. Getting his family involved in his problems, getting . . Teaching . I mean right in the beginning of season 5 he And we barely even hear about it after the fact. What the hell Dexter?
 * Isn't this the point of the series? Dexter is a serial killer...
 * Well, although Dexter himself may never be caught, I don't think you can say that he never feels any consequences as a result of his actions.  was a major blow to him, and has caused him to start to realize what I think the show has been portraying all along: even when Dexter is trying to be "good", he's a black hole that will suck in and bring down everyone around him, whether he wants to or not (remember how he echoed Deb's words, "It doesn't matter what I do, I'm what's wrong"?). So far the Lumen plot line seems to be moving away from that, although I doubt it will end happily, and I think this whole season has been setting him up for an even greater fall.
 * First, Second, okay fine,
 * It also might be important to note that
 * Dexter killing that innocent guy in the bathroom was a moment of awesome for me as I didn't expect the show to boldly go there. His world was falling apart, nothing (even the code) made sense to him anymore. So this kill felt natural for me. Yet that they didn't even bother to adress this murder just bugs me, too -- and I don't mean this Ghost-Harry-"I-am-so-proud-of-you-now"-kind of dealing. That was just WTF!?
 * Also, he was running away from his family because he realized how dangerous he was to them, but impulsively killing some random dude caused him to change his mind?
 * Actually that makes sense. He realized that without the anchors he'd built up he was losing control and eventually would start just killing whoever crossed his path, including innocent people, until he was caught. Remember, he didn't decide to kill that guy, it's just that the guy picked a seriously bad time to piss off someone who's actually a killer, and fell back on his killer's instincts in a fit of rage. Dexter believes himself a monster, but he wants to be a controlled monster, not a berserker one.
 * Remember that the visions that Dexter sees of Harry are not actually Harry, they come from Dexter's own (damaged) psyche, and it might not have been so much what Harry would have said at that moment as it was what Dexter wanted Harry to say. He might have just conjured up Harry to comfort him in that moment instead of thinking about what the real Harry would have thought.
 * Lumen's exit, which was like "Hey Dexter, you know I don't feel the darkness anymore, so well, thanks for fixing me but I'll just leave." Especially since not a few scenes ago they were all about Hopping a Freighter to stay away from the madness together. Anyway, I expected Dexter's breakdown to be more severe right then -- it wouldn't have surprised me if he outright killed her at that moment.
 * While it was a bit abrupt, I felt that it made sense. Although Lumen seemed to be okay with what Dexter was doing while he was helping her kill her rapists, she'd never really seemed to address the truth of what he was, and I think she was only willing to accept it because at that point in her life he was the only person that she felt attached to and that she could trust, he'd saved her from more torture and certain death, he was helping her get her revenge, and he was the only person who she felt could remotely understand her need to kill those who tortured her, and thus she could even understand his own need, a little, for the time being. But ultimately, that understanding was shallow. They were never the same. Her darkness was what bonded her to him, and once that was gone there was nothing there. As for Dexter's reaction, he seemed like he was too stunned/sad to feel angry at her, and he seemed to realize that he couldn't deny what she said, hence he could only throw the plate in frustration when she asked him to talk to her. He also seemed like he was trying hard not to flip out.
 * Pertaining to Lumen not facing the truth: There was a Missed Moment of Awesome when Lumen realized for the first time that Dexter is killing people for quite a while longer than she first thought. It would have been interesting to see how she would have coped figuring out that he is the Bay Habour Butcher. How likely is it that Lumen would not know about that case? And don't give me the excuse that she's from another town -- such a huge case of a serial-killer-killer would go global in no time in real life. And even so, just make Lumen watch a show about the Bay Harbor Butcher case portraying Doakes as the supposed-to-be killer and have Lumen do the math herself: "Miamy Police Department -- check, kills killer -- check, uses blood slides as trophies -- BLAM!" In the end, you even could have used Lumen not trusting Dexter about not having killed Doakes as her reason to leave him.
 * That depends on how much information about the BHB is publicly available. The authorities would have kept the majority of the information to themselves, and it's unlikely any tv studio would have gotten clearance to do a documentary about a serial killer so soon after the case was closed.
 * I agree. While I'm okay with Lumen leaving, I thought that she should have provided a better reason than what she did. She was very vague, and it annoyed me that the writers acted as if her problems were all over now that all her rapists had been murdered. I would have preferred a better reason - like if she said that she couldn't handle staying in Miami because of the memories associated with the place.
 * That would have left too many dangling threads. They needed to establish that Lumen isn't interested in killing anymore.
 * It would have been kinda neat to see how Lumen would react to Dexter killing someone who had nothing to do with her whatsoever, and this could have been a good catalyst for her leaving because she realized she didn't want to live her life with someone who felt compelled to commit murder. Murdering someone out of revenge is one thing, but the murder of someone she'd never even met might have brought it home to her in a disturbing way.
 * She'd been showing signs that she was unhappy with what she'd become both when she killed Alex and in her final conversation with Jordan, which showed that no matter how strong her desire for revenge, she really wasn't a killer at heart and didn't want that lifestyle. Maybe she had to leave in order to banish her own darkness, to make a clean disconnect with the killer in order to get her own identity back.
 * Personally, I was really hoping that Deb would track her down, and she'd agree to take the fall for the murders so Dexter wouldn't be implicated. She didn't even need to necessarily go to jail, she could write a confession and leave the country or something. The ending they went with felt far too contrived, she may as well have literally said "The writers are putting me on a bus."
 * ALL of the Season 5 finale, which was sloppy at best. There was some very poor police work (not doing a property records check on Jordan Chase's other name. Also, Quinn being released immediately after the blood work is cleared, even though there were many other things that made him look suspicious in connection to Liddy. For example, he was out of the office when Liddy's murder occurred, and when the police check with his phone company, they will find that all of Liddy's last calls are to Quinn.
 * No excuse for not checking the records for Chase's birth name, but the case against Quinn was circumstantial at best even before the blood work cleared. A lawyer just out of school could clear him. Hell, I'm not even a lawyer and I can clear him right now. Point 1: The fact that Quinn and Liddy knew each other and corresponded frequently proves nothing other than the fact that they knew each other and corresponded frequently, which is hardly proof of anything. Liddy's union rep probably had just as much contact with him. Shall we arrest him too? Point 2: Quinn's fingerprints in Liddy's van proves nothing other than the fact that he was present in the van at some time in the past, which their past relationship could easily account for. Point 3: A simple handwriting analysis would easily show that Quinn's signature on the equipment request form was forged, removing any possible motive. Which brings me to my next point. Point 4: No clear motive. At no point did anyone establish any reason for Quinn to want Liddy dead. Debra was the one who knew the most about Quinn and Liddy's relationship and as far as she knew that relationship was nothing but friendly. And of course, Point 5: The blood on Quinn's shoe could be anyone's blood. It could even be Quinn's for all they knew.
 * No excuse for not checking the records for Chase's birth name, but the case against Quinn was circumstantial at best even before the blood work cleared. A lawyer just out of school could clear him. Hell, I'm not even a lawyer and I can clear him right now. Point 1: The fact that Quinn and Liddy knew each other and corresponded frequently proves nothing other than the fact that they knew each other and corresponded frequently, which is hardly proof of anything. Liddy's union rep probably had just as much contact with him. Shall we arrest him too? Point 2: Quinn's fingerprints in Liddy's van proves nothing other than the fact that he was present in the van at some time in the past, which their past relationship could easily account for. Point 3: A simple handwriting analysis would easily show that Quinn's signature on the equipment request form was forged, removing any possible motive. Which brings me to my next point. Point 4: No clear motive. At no point did anyone establish any reason for Quinn to want Liddy dead. Debra was the one who knew the most about Quinn and Liddy's relationship and as far as she knew that relationship was nothing but friendly. And of course, Point 5: The blood on Quinn's shoe could be anyone's blood. It could even be Quinn's for all they knew.

Really, the majority of the damage was done by Quinn himself. His nervousness and the fact that he instantly asked for a lawyer was what cast the most suspicion on him, not the evidence. So, Dexter brings her a pie that's poisoned. She knows that it's poisoned. And she eats it. Therefore, by any reasonable definition, she kills herself. It doesn't make any difference that Dexter brought her the pie. It's the same as if he brought her sleeping pills and she swallowed the whole bottle. No matter how you slice it, she committed suicide by knowingly eating a poisoned pie. This bugs me. A lot. Can someone explain this to me?
 * No one at the police station is ever bothered by how much time Dexter spends not at work.
 * I'm not sure how much time a blood spatter expert normally spends at work, but he does seem to come and go at his convenience an awful lot, which Quinn actually did seem to notice at least once. That time when he confronted Dexter in the parking lot, if I recall he said something like "where are you going, half-day?" Still, it doesn't happen enough, and it does seem like it would have to beg the question of what exactly Dexter does in his off hours that demands his time, since he seems to have no other interests or hobbies.
 * Having performed some of these tests myself, many of them take hours to run even before the results can be analyzed, and since he doesn't seem to mind working at odd hours it stands to reason that he comes and goes when there's work to do. Also, given the level of his expertise in the field, it seems that no one really cares since he does good work and is pretty dependable.
 * Season 3. So, Camilla asks for Dexter to euthanise her because she's Catholic and therefore is afraid of the mortal sin of suicide. So far, so good, I suppose. Though I'm of the opinion that by asking someone to do that, you're committing suicide anyway - it's just that instead of a gun or pills, you use another person... But anyway...
 * It's been a while since I watched that episode, but I don't think Camilla realized the pie was poisoned until after she took the first bite. And that first bite might very well have contained a lethal dose, so there's no harm in eating the rest. That said, this one really depends on your personal definition of what constitutes a suicide. Suffice it to say, it was enough to satisfy Camilla's personal aversion to killing herself. Would it be enough to satisfy God? Well, that's up to the viewer to decide...
 * It kinda bugs me when people say that Rita was too demanding or naggy. I mean, the woman put up with a lot, even after she discovered how often Dexter hsd been lying to her about basically everything, continued to disappear at random hours of the day, and repeatedly shut her out when she'd tried to get him to express even the tiniest bit of what was going on with him. He was a terrible husband, and most of her complaints were pretty justified. The fact that she was willing to stick with him despite everything was a testament to how much she cared for him and how much she wanted the marriage to work. I mean, I know this is a show in which we're rooting for Dexter, but from Rita's perspective, there isn't really a good explanation for his behavior, and from the viewer's perspective, the explanation is that he's a serial murderer.
 * Plus... she GAVE DEXTER A BJ DRESSED AS LARA CROFT!
 * Above, someone mentioned the "Paul's Shoe Confrontation" as being something that could be easily avoided. Beyond that, the entire rehab subplot went nowhere and is practically an Aborted Arc. The story is just a setup for Dex to meet Lila, which ended up having little to do with the rehab story by its conclusion (and was much more interesting). There are many ways in which they could've met. Beyond that, what else did we get? Doakes left Dex alone for what, three episodes? Rita seemed to forget about everything once they got back together and she was quickly more concerned with Lila than she was with any percieved drug problem. There was a throwaway line in season three, otherwise, nada.
 * The rehab plot was basically a clever way for the writers to explore the "addiction" side of Dexter's Dark Passenger while simultaneously giving him a way to partially reveal himself (to the NA meeting, to Lila). What bugged me about it was that Rita would buy that he was an addict in the first place, but I guess we are supposed to assume that she wanted to believe that because that way she didn't have to think about whether he was hiding something even worse, and she could then blame his erratic behavior, including cheating on her with Lila, on his addiction.
 * In season 5, it bugged me whenever Dexter referred to Lumen as having a "Dark Passenger". What Dexter refers to as the Dark Passenger is clearly a psychosis, whereas Lumen's bloodlust was based on her desire for revenge and was focused solely on her rapists. No matter how damaged she was by what happened to her, I never got the sense that her darkness was a permanent thing or that it was all that similar to Dexter's, so I wasn't really surprised when she left. I guess you could say that Dexter only thought they were the same because he wanted to think that, the same way he does with everyone on the show who he thinks is "like him", so he could think that he'd finally found a friend who could understand him, but you'd think he would learn by now.
 * Dex's not a psychologist, nor psychiatrist, so he may just be referring to the "Dark Passenger" as an erroneous assumption brought on by his observing her situation and comparing it his.
 * What was Doakes planning on doing with the blood slides? It seems unlikely that he would have found them and immediately come to the conclusion that they were a serial killer's trophies, when an easier explanation would have been that Dexter was just a weirdo who liked to keep mementos from crime scenes he'd worked.
 * He already suspected Dexter was mentally deranged, and he was certain (but had no proof) that Dexter had a connection to the Ice Truck Killer. It's not such a huge leap for him to conclude the slides were trophies. As for what he was doing with them, he was obviously planning to run tests on them to prove they were blood samples from the BHB victims, which would be nigh-incontrovertible proof that Dexter was the BHB.
 * The name Lumen. It really, really, bugs me.
 * Eh, I don't see what's so bad about it. Sure, it's unusual, but it sounds enough like a name that I can buy it as one, and it's actually kinda pretty. It was a bit too obvious on the symbolism front, though. At least they didn't name her "Light".
 * Plus it receives a lampshade when Liddy asks "'the fuck kinda name is that?"
 * She is the world's top 3 detectives.
 * Did Lumen watch Dexter chop up the bodies? This seems like something season five failed to address. While stabbing rapists is fine and dandy, it seems like she might have been less enthusiastic about hanging around with a guy who she saw dismember corpses in such a ritual, methodical way in order to satisfy a compulsion, much less do the horizontal tango with him. Remember when Dexter wouldn't let Miguel watch that part of the ritual, even after he'd done his own kill? On the other hand, Lumen might have wanted to watch the people who tortured her get turned into mincemeat. She was obviously aware of his method of disposal, but I keep wondering if she ever actually saw him do it.
 * She may not have actually watched him do it but she was definitely aware that he had done it since she was there on the boat when they dumped the pieces into the ocean. And if she did watch him chop them up she could have easily rationalized it as a practical necessity. They need to get rid of the body and that's easier to do if the body is in pieces. She'd already come to terms with the idea of hunting people down and murdering them. Coming to terms with dismembering the bodies afterward isn't that much of a stretch.
 * Lila. I can't be the only person who absolutely despised her. The character was decent in concept, but she wasn't given much personality beyond being a sociopath and Ms. Fanservice, and she was such a failure of a Magnificent Bitch it was occasionally painful to watch. I had to agree completely with Deb's assessment of her, and I was so glad when . The fact that her attempts at manipulation were so obvious and self-absorbed were what really grated; while there are few people Dexter actually cares for, he at least pretends to be friendly and polite.
 * Well to be fair Lila did try to be friendly and polite most of the time. She was manipulative, yes, but off the top of my head I can't think of any time she was an out-and-out bitch to anyone (though it has been a while since I watched season 2). My problem with Lila is that I thought she was completely unbelievable as a sociopath. One of the reasons Dexter is such a great character is because Michael C. Hall is really good at portraying that "disturbing lack of emotion" thing that Dexter does. It gives him an aura of vague menace and really helps sell the idea that Dexter is faking human emotions because he doesn't have real ones.

Lila doesn't do that. Like, ever. I don't know if it's a failing of the actress or the writing but her emotions are right out there on her sleeve at all times. I can't remember even one time when she seemed like a typical unemotional sociopath. She just comes off like a stereotypical psycho ex-girlfriend.
 * All her emotions are pretty shallow and self-centered, though. Her "love" for Dexter was based on obsession and a desire to control him, rather than any real feelings for him, to the point where she was willing to kill him if she couldn't get what she wanted. Anyway, she was probably borderline rather than a sociopath.
 * Well whatever she was, it was specifically stated that she's only "pantomiming" emotions because she doesn't feel real emotions. Really? If that's the case then she's the most awesome actress in human history, because she seems like one of the most emotional women I have ever seen in my life. My God, she could have given Dexter lessons on pretending to be normal.
 * What I want to know is how Dexter pulled off a trip to Paris to kill her!
 * Personally, my problem with Lila was her terrible accent. Listening to her talk was like nails on a chalkboard. This is kind of a personal thing, because I'm from England, but her English accent is horrifically irritating, exaggerated and upper class. It's difficult to believe that someone with such an upper class accent is a drug-addled sociopath with an expired visa. All the others Brits I know who've watched the series found her voice equally annoying. What really clinches this, though, is that she appears on British show Hustle with a much less exaggerated accent. This means that either she or some random American producer thought her genuine English accent wasn't convincing enough.
 * I watched an interview with her and the actress is British, although being the ignorant American that I am I didn't really see much difference in her normal accent compared to the one she used on Dexter. Interestingly, though, she did say in the interview that she was doing something that wasn't Dexter where the voice coach instructed her to ramp up the accent because she didn't sound "British enough".
 * Lila is probably borderline/histrionic; people with these personality disorders have related syndromes to sociopaths, but not quite the same. They tend to be overly emotional in a grandstanding way, chewing the scenery in real life, and also will lie abotu their history to make better impressions (i.e. faking an accent in order to be more impressive, or something). Also her behavior with Dexter is straight out of the classic borderline relationship; they tend to get involved with psychopaths/sociopaths/narcissists and strive for their attention.
 * A few things from the end of The Big One:
 * The car
 * Closing the case
 * What about Emily's murder?
 * Quinn's innocence
 * Quinn thanked Dexter and said he owed him so presumably he knew that Dexter fudged the report to save him. Although the idea that Quinn owes Dexter is ridiculous, since Quinn was prepared to go to jail for Liddy's murder instead of implicate Dexter. Fudging the report was the least Dexter could do, because Quinn didn't kill Liddy and they both know it. Quinn should still be suspicious, but he might back off anyway if he thinks they're even.
 * The whole thing started because Quinn wanted dirt on Dexter after Dexter wouldn't take anything for his silence on Quinn's shady dealings, and Quinn wanted something on Dexter in case he ever changed his mind. Oddly enough, Quinn now has dirt. Dexter edited a report to say that Liddy's blood wasn't on his shoe, when they both know it was. Quinn will likely not press the matter, more for Deb's sake, than anything else.
 * Quinn doesn't have any usable dirt on Dexter! He can't use that he fudged up the report because it was done to prove HIS innocence. What's he gonna say "Hey you remember when you all suspected me of murder? Well DEXTER changes the report so you'd let me go!!!" ... Yeah, I don't see that working.
 * Actually no, Quinn doesn't know it was Liddy's blood on his shoe. He knew it was someone's blood but he had no way of knowing it was Liddy's blood. Dexter could have fudged the report to say it was Quinn's own blood and Quinn would have assumed he cut himself and dripped blood on his own shoe without realizing it.
 * That one episode where Dexter has a flashback to a psychiatric interview as a teenager, where Harry tells him to lie on every question. A real psychologist would easily detect that - they have scales for things almost everyone would answer one thing but someone faking good would answer differently, such as 'I lie on occasion.' Dexter would totally fail that part of the test, and the psychologist would realize he was lying through his teeth the whole time. It would have been more convincing if Harry had researched the test the psychologist was planning to use and taught Dexter how to fool it, rather than the show acting like psychologists are idiots.
 * Or not. It depends on what you think Dexter's honest response to that question would be. Dexter doesn't lie "on occasion" he lies all the time. Answering "no" would technically be an honest answer for Dexter, which means he would answer "yes" to that question.
 * That was just an example. There are many other such questions, and even if he was being very Exact Words about lying, he'd give the wrong answer to several of them.
 * He also answers "no" way too quickly when the therapist asks him if he's ever hurt an animal.
 * No, you just don't get it. Dexter is THAT good, even at that age.
 * Just finished watching Season 2 and one thing really bugged me. So Masuka has called in the biochemist buddy to look at the rock algae to work out which  the BHB was using, and then they work out later that the BHB must've been in the  . What bugs me was that   fits both of these, and I'm amazed no-one (especially  ) made the connection.
 * Once they figured out that the BHB was on the police force, the dock clue became redundant; as they mentioned when it first came up, most police officers with boats use that dock because it's the most affordable.
 * Dexter's in forensics, and a niche part too. Maybe they don't consider him a real cop.
 * How many years apart are Dexter and Deb? The characters seem like they're only about 2-5 years apart, and in the flashbacks of them as children they look like they're fairly close in age, yet Micheal C Hall is almost ten years older than Jennifer Carpenter. Do the books say anything about the characters' ages? This isn't something that really bugs me, I've just always wondered.
 * I've read the books, but somehow I can't remember if it ever got specific about their age difference. Deb's Wikipedia page mentions her being 16 when her mother died, but Dexter's article mentions him being 16 at the time as well. So if Wikipedia is to be believed, they're less than a year apart. Doesn't say anything about who's older, though.
 * In the show, at least, Dexter is stated to be older, although they don't say by how much.
 * One flashback in the books puts Dexter at 19 when Deb is 17.
 * Debra in general. It seems like the woman has the emotional range of a toaster, going from slightly angry to angry. It also seems like the only requirements to sleep with her is to know to her for a few hours. I guess the biggest problem I have with her character is that she's pretty much a whore. In the course of the show she's slept with like 6 people right after starting to date them and cheated on one boyfriend with Lundy (the FBI agent from Season 2 who she met and slept with nearly right off the bat) and Quinn just out of the blue.
 * I count five (Quinn, Anton, Lundy, Rudy, Gabriel) unless you count the mechanic from one episode in season one. That's five or six people she's slept with in five years, which isn't really that much. And she was in a relationship with all of them, it's not like she goes around having random one night stands. And as for her emotional range, I just don't see that at all. She seems like a pretty emotional person to me.
 * Considering the sheer volume of traumas she goes through over the course of the series, I'm not the least bit surprised that she's hostile. Having your longterm boyfriend kidnap you and strap you naked to a table to murder you usually leaves some emotional scars.
 * Most people are just that promiscuous. You can call 'em whatever you want, whore, etc, but the fact is, most women (no sexism intended, I just don't know that many guys) do sleep with people fairly often. And cheat on a boyfriend or two. In this troper's opinion, there's nothing unrealistic about Deb's character.
 * Um, no. "Most people" are not that promiscuous. Try to avoid projecting your personal experiences on the rest of the world. Back on topic, Deb's behavior is understandable given her life experiences. She's been through a boatload of psychological trauma and as a troper below points out she grew up starved for affection from her father. As a result she looks for affection in the arms (and the beds) of numerous other men and indulges in a lot of attention-seeking behavior. No doubt all of this is completely intentional on the part of the writers.
 * The median number of sexual partners for straight women is four (there is suspicion that women under-report their sexual partners, while men exaggerate, otherwise it is difficult to reconcile the male median number of seven sexual partners.) 9% of women have had over FIFTEEN sexual partners. That may not be "most women," but Deb's character's is not particularly promiscuous, and is certainly not a "whore." (She doesn't accept money!)
 * It's been repeatedly shown that Deb is the way she is because of the lack of affection and praise that she received from Harry as a child. She grew up in the shadow of her legendary father, feeling that she could never be good enough for him to notice her, whereas she saw her brother as the perfect child who got all the attention. It's clear that both her personality and behavior stems from deep-seated emotional issues, as people who had this kind of childhood often end up with anger issues and constantly seeking affection and approval from others, which Deb does both in her job and in her romantic life.
 * Why did Dexter never upgrade his front door lock? after the Ice truck killer breaks into his house several times this seems the most sensible thing to do.
 * Well, he wasn't exactly interested in keeping the ITK out. On the contrary, when the guy broke into his apartment, he treated it like it was a game they were playing, and great fun, so why bother changing the lock? Or are you asking why he didn't change the lock after the whole thing boiled over? He could have done so after season one, off-screen, just to make sure no one else breaks in and stumbles onto his secrets.
 * Trinity lifts a visitor badge from an elderly woman and gets complete free reign of the police station, including access to the big board of the Trinity killer case filled with sensitive information and private photographs?
 * You'd be surprised how freely you can move inside a police station or other supposedly "secure" location if you just act like you know what you're doing and where you're going. And if anyone had gotten on his case he could have just acted confused and pretended he wandered in there by accident.
 * The Cell phone displays, at least in season 4. "CALL FROM ANTOINE" *Deb hits button* "IGNORE." I mean, they couldn't just show her putting the phone away instead of flashing an inexplicable giant IGNORE when she hits the button?
 * I guess they could have done that, but they wanted it to be absolutely clear to viewers that she was ignoring his call. Otherwise they might have assumed it was a missed call message.
 * In season 5 they get a bit better... still the uncomfortably conspicuous "CALL FROM SOMEONE" screen, but at least when they hit a button and didn't answer they didn't flash a giant IGNORE on the screen. So... yay.
 * So, season 3. Rita's pregnant, suffering morning sickness and stressed out at her job at the hotel because she's...hiding her pregnancy from her manager or something? So she talks back to a guest who's being a bitch and the manager chews her out for it and then comps the guest. Thing is, the manager brings up the fact that Rita's been taking a lot of bathroom breaks (which, understandable with the pregnancy) and Rita says nothing, even though it's pretty clear the manager is prepared to fire her. And afterwards, Rita says to Dexter that she's going to have trouble finding a new job because no one will hire someone who'll have to go on maternity leave so soon. The whole thing implies that Rita never told her manager that she'd gotten pregnant (and this is after she decided to keep the baby, remember) but it's never explained why - because she's afraid of getting fired for asking for maternity leave? Her manager isn't stupid - firing Rita for being pregnant would open the hotel to a lawsuit that Rita could win.
 * Yeah, that bugged me to. I mean, I guess it's possible that her job didn't allow for maternity leave, but she probably could have saved herself a lot of grief by just telling her boss she was pregnant. I'm sure her boss would have put her on a lighter shift or something.
 * Maybe she couldn't afford to be put on a lighter shift. She's a single mother with two kids to support, so she probably needs all the money she can get.
 * Well she could at least give Rita some less strenuous duties. Something where she could sit down for God's sake.
 * The boss didn't seem to know she was pregnant, though. As speculated above, I think what happened was that Rita did not tell her boss she was pregnant because the job didn't offer maternity leave and she didn't want to be put on a lighter shift because it would mean less money, so she just tried to pretend that everything was totally normal. As we saw, it wasn't the best idea.
 * I don't know about that. There have to be some sort of duties at the hotel that pay the same amount but aren't as stressful as what Rita was already doing. Maybe some kind of a backroom desk job or something. Also, judging by the few seconds of screentime she had, Rita's manager seemed pretty understanding (she said she put up with Rita's frequent sick days and bathroom breaks without complaint). She probably would have been willing to make some temporary accommodations if Rita had told her about the pregnancy. Which brings us back to the original troper's question of why Rita chose to hide the pregnancy from her manager.
 * I'm pretty sure it's illegal to pay a woman less because she's pregnant. They don't have to pay her maternity leave, but they would be required to give her duties that were more in keeping with her "disability" level, but they can't demote her because of a pregnancy. Also, they would have to keep her position open for her to return to at the same pay level for 12 weeks according to the Family and Medical Leave Act. Which is just more reason to wonder why she didn't tell her boss.
 * In season one at the shipping yard, Dexter shows he is more than capable of beating Doakes in hand to hand combat- this is Doakes who has a massive weight advantage and special forces training. However, in season five when Dexter discovers the identity of the vandal in his neighbourhood, he actually struggles to subdue him, and this is just a guy of average build and no previous martial arts training. Surely Dex should have put him down in a second?
 * Chalk it up to plain 'ole Rule of Drama.
 * Alternatively, chalk it up to the concussion and other injuries Dexter got after he fell asleep at the wheel and flipped his car. Not to mention how tired he is from raising a child.
 * It's also possible he was holding back. After all, he wouldn't want to accidentally do serious harm to one of his neighbours and make people suspicious.
 * Doakes' training may have worked to Dexter's advantage. Experienced fighters can sometimes be more predictable than panicked, flailing amateurs.
 * The ending to Get Geller massive spoilers away:
 * So Travis and Geller let's talk about the timeline needed for this to happen shall we?
 * After they split Travis takes all of the things that remind him of Geller and drops them off at the church before going to bed back at his sister's place.
 * [Switch to Geller]
 * Geller then wakes up in the middle of the night, doesn't question why he woke up in Travis sister's house, dives to the church, completes a new panting, grabs all of the items left by Travis and plays a game of scavenger hunt around Travis's new home. Then Geller, for whatever reason, decides not to drive back to the church to sleep but crashes at Travis sister's place.
 * [Switch to Travis]
 * Travis wakes up and discovers the items without wondering how he's functioning on four hours of sleep. It's a good thing his sister didn't wake up in the middle of the night to ask what he was doing and that she's completely in the dark about her brother's mental breakdown. Travis is then knocked unconscious by Geller but not really so I guess Geller takes over Travis' body but whacks himself in the head with a shovel for completions sake or something.
 * [Switch to Geller]
 * While Travis is unconscious Geller chains Travis (and himself?) to the floor while heating up an iron thing and painting a gigantic room sized painting. Travis then wakes up and burns himself as Geller. It is of note that the iron pot is too far way for Travis to reach while still being chained so I guess he isn't really chained at this point which begs the question as to why he is when Dexter arrives an hour later
 * [Switch to Travis]
 * Dexter rescues Travis and deposits him off at a hotel.
 * [Switch to Geller]
 * Geller continues planning out the murders while updating his blog (It's a good thing Geller has the foresight to clear his browser history on the computer they share) and driving around Miami in the car he doesn't have. At the very least, Geller spends this time to go to the university and set up a needlessly complicated trap for his next victim before going back to Travis' hotel room to sleep instead of the church he lives at.
 * [Switch to Travis]
 * Travis doesn't bother to wonder why he blacked out the last 8 or so hours an 8 hours in which Dexter apparently never checked up on him and the police, who are out in full force, never spot him. Dexter finds out who Geller's next victim is and takes Travis to stop his murder.
 * [Switch to Geller]
 * The second Dexter leaves him Travis becomes Geller (how convenient) and in the less than two minutes that Dexter is trapped Geller manages to Grab an axe, run up the stairs, kill the next victim and drop the body in the lecture hall.
 * [Switch to Travis]
 * Travis doesn't question how he moved up three flights of stairs and why he's holding an axe but doubles back around to save Dexter. None of which works if Dexter takes the stairs and zero explanation is given as to how Geller rigged the elevators to fail. Anyway Dexter drops Travis off at the hotel.
 * [Switch to Geller]
 * Geller promptly goes to the church to pick up the equipment needed for the next killing, heads back to the lecture hall and spends who knows how long setting the murder scene. Several hours later Geller heads back to the hotel and leaves his messages on Travis' wall after which he goes to bed not in the church he lives at (again!) but in the hotel Travis stays
 * [Switch to Travis]
 * After waking up Travis doesn't bother to wonder what happened to the several hours needed to drive around Miami and kill a man during his most recent blackout. Dexter arrives later, Picks Travis up and takes him to the church where Travis, again, becomes Geller and, again, knocks himself out. Travis then wakes up as Geller
 * Meanwhile none of the people that interact with either of them suspect anything. The girl Travis lets go says there were two of them so apparently when Geller takes over he gets a new voice box which is used every time Geller talks or the kidnapped girl's explanation about an older and younger man makes no sense. Travis also never questions why no one ever talks to or acknowledges Geller which brings up questions as to how they even eat out. Does Travis order drinks and food, change his voice, and then order a second set? Meanwhile he places the food where his invisible friend sits but makes sure to eat and drink both of their meals simultaneously to which no bar tender or waitress says anything, ever. This entire plot falls apart the second Dexter catches Travis as Geller which never happens because every time Dexter checks up on Travis he's back at the hotel.
 * Most likely, Travis' case is some kind of schizofrenia. Gellar isn't his alternate personality, because this disease doesn't work that way. Instead, the brain just makes neural connections where it really shouldn't. Travis does all of this as himself, but he still associates the ritual with his professor, so he creates false memories and hallucinations with him inserted in a meaningful way. After confrontation with Dexter, his mind at last takes the hint and corrects the error, but this only worsens the situation - the murderer still is determined to cause the end of the world, after all.
 * In season 2, Deb's boyfriend Gabe is writing a children's book called the Ice Princess... Deb is shocked because she thinks from the title that the book is about her. They hadn't been together long, admittedly, but did they REALLY never even discuss his job at any point in the relationship up to then?
 * Maybe writing children's books wasn't his actual job, but something he did on the side.
 * Or maybe she asked him what he did for a living, he said "I'm a writer", and she thought "That sounds boring. Better change the subject."
 * So what was the deal with Emily? Was she Jordan's lover or something? She sounded suprised that he was ready to kill Lumen- did she forget the fact that he tortured a dozen other women?
 * She was Jordan's first victim (or the first victim of the Rape Gang of Jordan's friends to be exact). And it's pretty clear she has major issues. Some bizarre combination of stockholm syndrome and battered wife syndrome. Jordan is such a Manipulative Bastard he somehow convinced her that he could do no wrong, but there's only so far that kind of manipulation can go. Jordan told Emily he wasn't going to hurt Lumen, then he said right in front of her that he had to kill Lumen to protect himself. Hence her surprise.
 * Dexter: Lawful Evil or Chaotic Good? Go!
 * I'd say he's somewhere between Lawful Evil and Chaotic Evil, but one that prefers to keep its evilness secret from the world at large so its evil can continue unopposed. Really though I think this is an example of why Dungeons and Dragons alignments don't really work in the real world.
 * Well that would be neutral evil (in between) which could fit season 2 onward (I just finished it) because he said he was going to leave the "Code of Harry" (the reason I considered him lawful evil) behind and evolve. If he just kills people how he wants, because he wants to, he is neutral evil.
 * The thing is though, Dexter doesn't want to be evil. It's clear, especially in the flashbacks to his childhood, that Dex hates what he is, wishes he could change, and hates himself even more because he knows he can't. Hell, the whole reason Rita made him so happy is he thought she was starting to change him into a normal person. From the Neutral Evil trope description, it seems to me that one has to want to be evil and revel in one's evilness in order to qualify. A normal serial killer would qualify, but not Dexter IMO.
 * I dunno, I'm just not seeing the remorse. Dexter really does seem to like what he does: torturing and killing people. He was thrilled by the Ice Truck Killer's crimes and the prospect of working with him ("yes, I do want to play.") among other things. Are we discussing Dexter from the novels or Dexter from the TV show?
 * TV!Dexter. And TV!Dexter does show on numerous occasions that he doesn't like being what he is. He doesn't feel remorse for the people he kills any more than a soldier would feel remorse for the enemies he kills, but it's made clear at several points that if he could snap his fingers and make himself normal he would. See for instance the flashback to his teen years when he comes within a gnat's wing of killing himself just so he can "feel alive" for a few moments. He's described his condition as feeling "empty" inside and he feigns normality so it won't feel so "bottomless". During the Lyla arc his urges were even likened to an addiction, and addictions are pretty much bad by definition. No one wants to be addicted to anything. We also saw when he was with Rita how surprised he was that he actually cared about another human being. The fact that he felt an emotional connection with someone for the first time in his life overjoyed him because he thought maybe he was turning normal. Regarding the Ice Truck Killer, I think the thing he was "thrilled" by wasn't the thought of working with him but more the cat and mouse game of trying to catch the ITK and add him to his kill list. Also I think he was eager to meet someone who understands what it's like to be a sociopathic serial killer.
 * Then I agree, TV Dexter has emotions unlike the Dexter from the novels. The suicide attempt was to try and feel fear (and have his heart race), which he did later when the bodies were discovered on the news, he felt rage at Paul and sadness when . So yeah, he is a far cry from the total sociopath in the books. I disliked the addiction arc, it didn't really go anywhere, wasn't explained enough (you needed fridge brilliance to make sense of it) and detracted from the Dark Passenger as an alter ego. I hadn't considered that Dexter immediately wanted the pleasure of killing ITK, I thought he wanted to learn the ITK's techniques because they satisfied his needs better than his own ritual ("No blood!").
 * He figured out what techniques the ITK used on his own (he's a forensic scientist, remember?) it just never occurred to him to drain the blood from the bodies in that specific way. And the cat-and-mouse thing was pretty obvious. The game Dexter wanted to "play" with the ITK was the game of finding him and catching him as the ITK tries to dodge him at every turn. The addiction arc is YMMV I suppose, since I rather enjoyed it. Regardless, the Dark Passenger has never been as much of an alter-ego in the tv show. I'm told that in the book the DP even talks to Dex at some points.
 * Lawful can be ruled out straight away. He's a serial killer. Chaotic can be ruled out too, because he aims to blend in to society as much as possible, and lives by his own (quite specific) Code. So that leaves either Neutral Good, Neutral or Neutral Evil - depending on how you see the morality of a Serial Killer Killer. Personally I'd stick him in the odd sock draw that is True Neutral.
 * It's a misconception that the Lawful alignment in D&D refers to literal "laws of the land". Lawful merely refers to having a code of conduct that you are bound to, sworn to, or otherwise will not break, or to being bound to Order overall. Despite what most people think I don't think the system itself has ever said that a Lawful character has to obey all laws, or the Paladin wouldn't be able to challenge the evil overlord who's installed themselves as King... after all, if they're the King, they make the laws, and I'm pretty sure one of those laws would be "you can't overthrow King Babyeater". Like the commenter below says, Dexter's adherence to Harry's Code would arguably qualify him for Lawful status. Lawful Neutral is probably a decent guess because he adheres to the Code out of pragmatic reasons rather than moral ones, and because the immorality of his killings is arguably balanced out by the evil nature of his victims. If he were killing them to do some greater evil or out of a sense of substantial personal gain, that would put him more firmly towards a blatantly Evil alignment, but since the most personal gain he gets out of it is a sense of satisfaction at killing (and arguably killing bad people), he's not really that different than your average D&D adventurer.
 * I say Lawful Neutral. Lawful because, while he is a serial killer and thus shuns societies laws, he operates by Harry's Code pretty strictly and it defines almost everything he does. Neutral because he shows genuine love for Lumen and his family, but is pretty uncaring about most people. Plus he kills a couple guys for some pretty flimsy reasons.
 * I realize this is super nit-picky, but how did the Ice Truck Killer get the fingertips so perfectly placed in such a clear block of ice? I'm not questioning if it's possible, I'd just like to know how it's done.
 * Freeze tips of fingers while still attached to hand, cut fingers off, dispose of hand, freeze the rest of it in a big cube.
 * It's the "freeze the rest of it in a big cube" that I'd like explained, actually.
 * I suppose he could have put the hand down on top of a half-cube of ice, marked off where the fingertips would go (maybe dug out a little divot for each one), then cut off the tips, placed them in the proper place, and poured in the rest of the water to freeze over it.
 * I thought about that, but wouldn't that leaves lines or marks in the ice?
 * Probably. The camera may have just never been at an angle to see them.
 * Probably. The camera may have just never been at an angle to see them.


 * Couldn't Rita have taken more legal action against Paul in the first season? She still has a standing restraining order. Plus, I can't imagine that it's not a parole violation for a man arrested for a domestic disturbance to go back to his wife's place repeatedly and against her will. Even if it wasn't, for some reason, there is the fact he did kipnap their kids (leaving a message saying he's going to do it doesn't make it not kidnapping). All this sort of seems to trump his logic that "they're my kids, therefore I have the right to see them whenever I want." She spends two episodes doing nothing but saying "he can't do that!" before compromising when she should hold more of the chips than she seems to.
 * She could have legally, but she couldn't character-wise. Rita was way to scared of him and always on the edge of falling back into the old pattern of their relationship. It took her a while to break out of it.
 * Why the heck did Dexter decide to interfere with the DDK investigation? Always before, he's had a reason to interfere. The Bay Harbor Butcher was him, he thought he could learn something important from Trinity, he was already involved with Lumen and her kidnappers when the police investigation started, but DDK? Apparently, "I want to kill this guy myself" is enough to take major risks. His entire shtick is to go after people who have slipped through the system. DDK would already be caught if not for Dexter's interference.
 * Because killing is how he gets his high. Killing someone of DDK's calibre is just too satisfying to pass up.
 * This is correct, but this troper was disappointed at how weakly that was emphasized this season. After drawing out the Trinity case long enough to get Rita killed, you'd think he'd have learned his lesson. But no - he keeps Travis uncaught longer and longer while the body count piles up and nearly ends up including Debra, himself and everybody in the police station. His "drive to kill" hasn't been emphasized enough in the last few seasons for this to feel normal, and either way, takes a lot of the fun and satisfaction out of the "killer who kills those who went unpunished" concept, especially since he wasn't after anybody else after the first couple episodes of the season.
 * He's mentally ill on quite a few levels including being a form of addict. Learning from past behavior is not done without help when your in as bad of a condition as he is. Also even with help people relapse. If you could always control your stresses, mental state and preferred addiction no one would ever need mental institutions or rehab. Until he hits rock bottom (and considering Rita's death wasn't rock bottom who knows what will be) he will do what he does until stopped by death.
 * In season 6, how the hell did the DDK get the four horses from the church to the intersection without being spotted? He couldn't have just walked them there, they would have been seen, and using a trailer (do they even have ones for 4 horses?) would have meant a license plate.
 * I made the assumption that he just opened the church door and spurred them somehow. I didn't think he actually released them on the street.
 * It bugs me that - at least in the books - everybody and their brother become a serial killer from some traumatic event. Yes, most serial killers have had bad childhood, but not everybody with a bad childhood becomes a serial killer. It's already kind of a stretch that Dexter and his brother would both independently become killers. Then you have Astor and Cody in the books, who seem to be on their best way to becoming Dexter's apprentices.
 * Out of all of them, Brian seems to be the mostly likely to be a killer since he meets all the criteria: traumatic/desensitizing event, (implied) emotionally abusive childhood, Anti-Personality Disorder...Dexter is a little more hard to buy (his urge to kill seems to be some form of anxiety that is calmed and killing and dismembering) but I can swallow it...Astor and Cody make no sense though. Honestly, the books are pretty badly written (though this might be justified since they're narrated from an emotionally dead sociopath's perspective) and the series made the right call to go its own course