I didn’t think I could ever get so attached to a serial killer. I had a brief tryst with Hannibal a few years ago when the television series was popular, but, while other fans seemed to love the character Hannibal as though he was some tragic hero, I hated him. Eventually, I stopped watching. The gore became a little too much for me and my delicate sensibilities.
When my sister told me she though I would like Dexter, I scoffed. In fact, through the first season, I was doubtful. I could see why my sister, a psychology major interested in forensics, would like the show. Me, however? I couldn’t see myself getting attached to this particular story.
How very wrong I was.
I watched the last half of season 2 in a single afternoon, and after that have tried to squeeze in at least one episode a day, sometimes averaging at three or four episodes a day.
So. What’s up with Dexter? That’s the key question, the reason I keep watching. He is a self-professed monster. He hunts people as a hobby. He is one scary dude when he gets angry. I jump when he shows his “dark passenger.” But he is, strangely, the hero of the story. His sardonic humor certainly helps. Without his dry remarks to himself, the story would be a twisted one. Which, to be fair, it already kind of is.
There is something darkly pleasing in the way that crime scenes get steadily more creative. Despite the fact that most of the bad-guys are, in fact, disgusting monsters, it is interesting to get a peek into their head.
Right now, I am working my way through Season Six, the season of “the doomsday killers” probably the most gruesomely creative serial killer dynamic duo the show’s ever seen. So far, this is my second favorite season only behind the fast paced, heart-pounding season four; the season of the Trinity killer. This is because of the heart-pounding tableaus that DDK paints for his audience; namely Miami Metro Homicide. After a girl was killed with a trip wire and hung up on a cross to look like an angel, my housemate, who was in the room at the time said “Well, that was horrible, but actually kind of aesthetically pleasing.” I had to agree. “Yeah, they’re killing it,” was my response.
Gruesome, yet aesthetically pleasing is perhaps the best way to describe the show. Why is the audience not scared of Dexter when he raises his knife? Because they are rooting for Dexter to win. There is something pleasing in how he hurts those who have hurt others. They are the monsters, not him.
And no one cares about aesthetic more than Dexter, who sets up his “kill rooms” with care. This season, he killed a high school jock on a scoreboard. Just as the bad guy’s creativity grows, so does Dexter’s. It makes one want to continue watching with vigor. What will they come up with next? And how will Dexter take them down? Because if there is anything 5 seasons have taught me, it’s that somehow, he always wins. Or kind of wins.
Even though I didn’t think I’d love it, I am watching and will continue watching with vigor.
Yet Another Starving Artist 