Dexter (TV series)

Dexter
Dexter intertitle
Genre	Crime drama, Suspense, Mystery
Developed by	James Manos, Jr.
Starring	Michael C. Hall Julie Benz Jennifer Carpenter Desmond Harrington Erik King David Zayas C.S. Lee Lauren Vélez and James Remar Special Guest Stars: Keith Carradine Jimmy Smits John Lithgow Courtney Ford
Theme music composer	Rolfe Kent
Country of origin	United States
Original language
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	48 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Michael C. Hall Clyde Phillips Sara Colleton John Goldwyn Daniel Cerone (Season 2) Charles H. Eglee (Season 3)
Production locations	Miami, Florida, USA
Running time	approx. 50 min.
Original release
Network	Showtime
Release	October 1, 2006 (2006-10-01) – present

Dexter is an American television drama series that airs on the premium channel Showtime. Set in Miami, the series centers on Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a serial killer who works for the Miami Metro Police Department as a blood spatter analyst.

The show is based on characters created by Jeff Lindsay for his series of Dexter novels. It was adapted for television by Emmy Award-winning screenwriter James Manos, Jr., who wrote the pilot episode.

On October 21, 2008, Showtime renewed the series for a fourth and fifth season, each consisting of twelve episodes. Production began in early 2009, with season four premiering September 27, 2009.

Production

The series premiered on the premium cable network Showtime on October 1, 2006. Dexter received considerable critical acclaim and won two Emmys in technical categories, and also generated public controversies concerning its content and promotion. A reedited version of the series began airing on CBS on February 17, 2008 to make up for the shortage of new content caused by the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike. Canada's CTV simulcasts episodes along with CBS, and is also airing the edited version in order to follow Canadian cable simultaneous substitution rules. Currently however it is broadcast by HBO Canada.

Title sequence

Dexter's opening title sequence features an extended montage where ordinary day-to-day events such as shaving, flossing, dressing, preparing breakfast and eating are used visually to evoke Dexter's darker nature. Per television critic Jim Emerson, "The first time you see it... it tells you everything you need to know about the character."

The series won an Emmy Award in 2007 for "Outstanding Main Title Design", while the title music was also nominated for "Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music" in the same season. It was made by Digital Kitchen.

Cast

See also: List of Dexter characters

In addition to Michael C. Hall, the show's principal cast also includes Hall's real-life wife Jennifer Carpenter as Dexter's sister Detective Debra Morgan, Julie Benz was Dexter's girlfriend (and later wife) Rita Bennett for the first 4 seasons, and James Remar as Dexter's deceased father Harry. Dexter's co-workers include Lauren Vélez as Lt. Maria LaGuerta, Dexter and Debra's commanding officer, David Zayas as the friendly Detective and later Sergeant Angel Batista, and C.S. Lee as the perverted lab tech Vince Masuka (promoted to title credits as of Season 2). Rita's children Astor and Cody are played by Christina Robinson and Preston Bailey (who replaced Daniel Goldman after the first season). Erik King portrayed the troubled Sgt. James Doakes for the first two seasons of the show. Desmond Harrington joined the cast in Season 3 as Detective Joey Quinn; his name was promoted to the title credits as of Season 4. Keith Carradine, as Special FBI Agent Frank Lundy and Jimmy Smits, as ADA Miguel Prado, each appeared in season-long character arcs in seasons 2 and 3, respectively. John Lithgow joins the cast in season four as the notorious "Trinity Killer". Carradine returns in Season 4, reprising his role as now retired FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy, who is hunting the Trinity Killer.

Notable guest stars in Season 1 include Christian Camargo as Rudy Cooper, who woos Debra and has ties to Dexter's past; and Mark Pellegrino, as Rita's paroled, abusive ex-husband Paul. Brad William Henke had a role as amputee victim Tony Tucci in the first season as well. Margo Martindale has a recurring role as Camilla, a records office worker who was close friends with Dexter's foster parents. Geoff Pierson plays Captain Tom Matthews of Miami Metro Homicide. Jaime Murray portrayed Lyla Tournay in Season 2, a British artist and recovering drug addict who develops an infatuation for Dexter. Anne Ramsay portrayed defense attorney Ellen Wolf, Miguel's arch-nemesis. Valerie Cruz had a recurring role as Miguel's wife, Sylvia. David Ramsey, who plays confidential informant Anton Briggs in Season 3, returns in Season 4, now romantically involved with Debra. Courtney Ford guest stars as an ambitious reporter who mixes business with pleasure, getting romantically involved with Det. Quinn while simultaneously fishing for sources and stories. Also, Christina Cox from the Canadian television series Blood Ties notably guest-stars in episode 4 of Season 4, as a police officer, Zoey Kruger, who killed her family and therefore is in turn killed by Dexter.

Crew

The main creative forces behind the series (Head Writers/showrunners) are executive producers Daniel Cerone and Clyde Phillips; Cerone left the show after its second season.

• James Manos Jr. (35 episodes, 2006–2008)
• Melissa Rosenberg (8 episodes, 2006–2008)
• Marcos Siega (7 episodes, 2007–2008)
• Lauren Gussis (7 episodes, 2006-2008)
• Scott Reynolds (7 episodes, 2007–2008)
• Timothy Schlattmann (6 episodes, 2006–2008)
• Scott Buck (5 episodes, 2007–2008)
• Keith Gordon (5 episodes, 2006–2008)
• Michael Cuesta (5 episodes, 2006)
• Steve Shill (4 episodes, 2006–2008)
• Tony Goldwyn (4 episodes, 2006–2007)
• Kevin Maynard (3 episodes, 2006)
• Robert Lieberman (2 episodes, 2006)
• Drew Z. Greenberg (2 episodes, 2006)
• Nick Gomez (2 episodes, 2007)
• John Dahl (2 episodes, 2008)
• Charles H. Eglee (2 episodes, 2008)

Plot

Main article: List of Dexter episodes

Season 1

Main article: Dexter (season 1)

Season 1's plot was adapted from the first novel in Jeff Lindsay's "Dexter" series, Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Subsequent seasons have featured original storylines.

Orphaned at the age of three and harboring a traumatic secret, Dexter was adopted by a Miami police officer named Harry Morgan, who recognized Dexter's sociopathic tendencies and taught him to channel his gruesome passion for thrill killing by giving it a constructive direction: killing people who deserve it. Most have slipped through the justice system, due to loopholes and technicalities in the law or were never apprehended.

To hide in plain sight and to erase his own crimes, Dexter works as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department. Although his drive to kill is unflinching (otherwise overcome by a feeling of "emptiness") Dexter is, through extensive instruction from Harry, able to fake normal emotions and keep up his appearance as a socially-responsible human being. Flashbacks throughout the series show how Harry, who died several years before, instructed Dexter on the art of appearing normal, and he follows Harry's instructions as a sacred "Code of Harry". In accordance with this code, most of Dexter's victims must be killers themselves; people who have killed multiple times with no remorse. Dexter must also have proof that the criminals are definitely guilty before he takes action. In the episode "Return to Sender", Dexter is shown to have used the alias "Patrick Bateman" to procure powerful sedatives to use on victims. This is the same name used by Bret Easton Ellis for the serial killer in his 1991 novel American Psycho (as well as the 2000 film of the same name), who, like Dexter, is a seemingly normal person by day but a ruthless serial killer by night.

Despite not having any "real" feelings, Dexter dates a woman named Rita Bennett, to appear normal. Rita is psychologically damaged from past rape and abuse by her former husband (a violent felon and drug addict) and is too distraught to want to be in an intimate relationship. This suits Dexter, who believes he is unable to fake intimate emotions. Dexter hopes to keep up his facade of normality by distancing himself from Rita. At the same time, he feels genuine affection for Rita and her two children, Astor and Cody. Dexter sets up Rita's ex-husband to look like he violated his parole. While back in prison proclaiming his innocence, he points Rita to a clue to the truth about Dexter.

The first season focuses mostly on "The Ice Truck Killer"—a serial killer eluding the Miami PD who is communicating with Dexter through his crime scenes. Dexter's adoptive sister (and Harry's biological daughter) Debra, throughout the series, makes known her jealousy of the perceived preferential treatment Harry gave Dexter, but is unaware of Harry's training or Dexter's tendencies.

Dexter uses his calculated charm to become well-liked by all of his colleagues, with the exception of Sgt. James Doakes (Erik King), who finds him odd (often calling him a "freak" or a "creep"), and openly accuses him of being up to something, as well as harboring vague suspicions that Dexter has some connection to the Ice Truck Killer and even keeping Dexter under some surveillance. The tension between the two is an ongoing plot motif.

Debra begins dating Rudy, who is later revealed to be the Ice Truck Killer at the end of the season. Rudy also reveals to Dexter that he is his biological brother, Brian Moser. He describes additional details of Dexter's early childhood to him, complementing Dexter's vague memories as well as details he has been piecing together over the length of the season. The formative event for the brothers was witnessing their mother and several other people being chainsaw-butchered by a drug dealer and being locked in a cargo container for two days with the dismembered corpses, the floor covered in blood. Both brothers were deeply affected by the experience and each eventually incorporated an element in their ritualized murders and professions, with Dexter becoming obsessed with blood while Brian focused on severed limbs. Dexter (then three years old) was adopted by Harry, who was the first police officer to enter the cargo container, while Brian (several years older) was more obviously traumatized and spent much of his childhood institutionalized. Harry deliberately hid the details about the crime from Dexter, as well as information about his biological family.

Brian kidnaps Debra, with the intention that he and Dexter would kill her together to cement their bond and sever the ties between Dexter and his adoptive family. Dexter instead turns against Brian and ultimately kills him, making the death look like a suicide. Everyone, including Debra, remains unaware of the exact connection between Dexter and Rudy/Brian. Dexter feels some regret over killing Brian, the one person who fully understood him, in order to save Debra, whom he knows would turn away from him if she ever learned his true nature.

The season ends with Dexter and his sister arriving at a crime scene, with Dexter imagining a ticker tape parade for himself, complete with confetti and an airplane pulling a congratulatory banner.

In the U.S., the complete first season of Dexter was released in a four-disc DVD package on August 21, 2007. On January 6, 2009, a three disc Blu-ray version was released.

Season 2

Main article: Dexter (season 2)

New cast members for this season include Jaime Murray as Lila, an artist who is a former meth addict and arsonist who becomes Dexter's sponsor (and later his lover), Keith Carradine as FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy and JoBeth Williams as Rita's mother Gail. The role of Rita's son Cody was re-cast, and in Season 2 was played by child actor Preston Bailey.

Dexter begins the season unable to satisfy his urges for over a month, due to the constant surveillance by Sgt. Doakes. When the opportunity to kill arises, he has problems executing his victims after having killed his brother.

To further complicate matters, treasure hunters discover Dexter's underwater dumping ground for his victims. As the police extract body part after body part from the ocean, the media dubs the killer the "Bay Harbor Butcher", and FBI Special Agent Lundy is brought in to catch the "Butcher."

Rita's relationship with Dexter becomes more tense as she and her children are dealing with the death of her ex-husband Paul, who was killed in a prison fight. Paul's repeated suggestion that Dexter was to blame for his imprisonment eats at Rita's conscience and eventually Rita accuses Dexter of setting up her ex-husband. Dexter admits to setting up Paul, but Rita refuses to believe that Dexter premeditated the crime and assumes that Dexter is a heroin addict. He acquiesces to "having an addiction", though he characteristically allows her misinterpretation to go without clarification; in return, she vows to stay with him while he goes through the Narcotics Anonymous program. In this way, Dexter avoids responsibility for Paul's death (though he set the process in motion) and consequently maintains the rationalization that he only (directly) kills people who are murderers. Doakes continues to pursue Dexter until he encounters Dexter leaving a NA meeting. Doakes seems satisfied that Dexter's odd behavior and apparent drug use can be explained by traumatic experiences from a career in law enforcement.

A cult following begins to form behind the "Butcher" when it is discovered that his victims were themselves responsible for deaths. Dexter even finds that a comic-book character was created called, "The Dark Defender".

Debra continues to struggle with the trauma of her experience with the Ice Truck Killer combined with everyone recognizing her as the "Ice Truck Killer's girl". For a sense of safety and comfort, she stays with her brother, another new source of stress in Dexter's life.

Throughout Season 2, Dexter is pursued by Special Agent Frank Lundy, while both Debra's affection for Lundy and her confidence in her own detective skills grow. Doakes' suspicions about Dexter are revived, and he ultimately discovers Dexter's collection of glass slides containing blood sample souvenirs from all of his victims. The possibility of matching the slides hidden in Dexter's air conditioner with the bodies of the Butcher's victims sets up a climactic showdown in which Doakes confronts Dexter at a drug dealer's remote cabin. Despite receiving a gunshot wound in the leg, Dexter overpowers Doakes and keeps him locked in the cage inside the cabin. He begins to frame Doakes as the Butcher after the police discover Dexter's slide collection in Doakes' car while searching for him, making Doakes the prime suspect. Lieutenant LaGuerta, Doakes' former partner, is the only one who believes in Doakes. She finds evidence of Doakes' innocence and takes it to Lundy, but he tells her that the evidence is tainted by her previous failure to report Doakes' telephone conversation to the investigation team. Lundy rejects LaGuerta's case files, though he believes she may be correct about Doakes.

Dexter struggles with his life as a serial killer, thanks to revelations throughout the season regarding Harry Morgan, his foster father. Dexter learns that Harry was sleeping with Dexter's biological mother, Laura Moser, before she died and that Harry took his own life after walking in on Dexter in the middle of a murder, unable to deal with the reality of the monster he had created. With his confidence in the Code of Harry and himself destroyed and exhausted from having to maintain his "mask" for so long, Dexter plays out the possible resulting scenarios in his head of turning himself in. Dexter's events on his last day of freedom include having Deb becoming the beneficiary of his will, having a final dinner with her, and taking Rita and the kids out on the boat. During the "last meal" with Deb, he realizes how much she depended on him to resolve her feelings about the murder attempt by the Ice Truck Killer and decides to continue with his original plan of framing Doakes as the "Bay Harbor Butcher."

Near the end of the season, Doakes escapes from the cage temporarily and is recaptured by Dexter. In the season finale, Lila finds the cabin where Doakes is imprisoned and causes a propane tank explosion, blowing up both Doakes and the corpse of one of Dexter's victims, preventing Dexter from being caught. Lila then meets with Dexter, expecting him to accept her love now that she knows his 'dark secret'. She catches him preparing to kill her and seeks revenge by trying to kill Rita's children and Dexter. Dexter manages to save the children and escape and then exacts his own revenge on her after she has fled to Paris. In the closing scenes, Doakes' memorial service goes largely unattended, with the exception of LaGuerta, Dexter, and Doakes' immediate family. Expressing the logic of Dexter's mental world, the final words in the series are a voice-over of his thoughts on the recent events. We hear that he now considers himself the master of the techniques his father taught him. Dexter believes this combined with the fact that Harry knew himself to be wrong about the code gives Dexter the right to rewrite that code and to live his life the way he wishes. He also states that he now needs those relationships that he originally cultivated as disguises to fit into society, even though they make him vulnerable. He considers himself, "An idea transcended into life."

Season 2 premiered on September 30, 2007. On July 17, the first two episodes of the season were leaked on the internet, and on December 4, the last two episodes were also leaked. On November 4, 2007, the Writer's Guild of America started a strike, but writer Daniel Cerone stated in the L.A. Times that Season 2 had already been completed in anticipation of the WGA's action.

The complete second season of Dexter was released in the USA and Canada on August 19, 2008. It was released in Australia and New Zealand on August 21, 2008. The season 2 Blu Ray was on May 5, 2009.

Season 3

Main article: Dexter (season 3)

Rita discovers she is pregnant and Dexter finds it hard to choose when she asks whether she should keep the baby or not. After some consideration, Rita informs Dexter that she will keep the baby and raise him either with or without his help. It also takes some time for Dexter himself to cope with the idea of actually having a child (an acceptance helped by the fact that he now sees Astor and Cody as his children and therefore to be protected), and he ends up proposing marriage to Rita, which, after a couple of initial refusals due to Dexter's early ineptness, she happily accepts.

While stalking a murderous drug dealer nicknamed "Freebo", Dexter stumbles upon a fight between Freebo and another man, whom he is forced to kill in self defense. This victim turns out to be Oscar Prado, brother of ADA Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits) a prominent assistant district attorney and old flame of Lt. LaGuerta. Dexter assists on the case, and Miguel confides in him and grows to trust him. Dexter is able to track down Freebo and kills him, but as he leaves he encounters Miguel, who has followed a lead to the Drug Dealer's location. Dexter tells Miguel he had discovered Freebo and killed him in self defense, but instead of reprimanding him, Miguel thanks him and offers to help him cover up the crime. However, Dexter refuses, knowing that his "kill room" would betray his story of self defense.

As Dexter and Miguel cooperate to conceal Freebo's true demise from everyone else, the duo end up becoming close friends, as do Rita and Miguel's wife Sylvia. While the Prados assist Rita during a medical emergency, Miguel searches for Dexter, who was on a cruise ship killing a murderer Miguel has complained about. Miguel realizes that Dexter committed the murder and praises Dexter for killing another murderer and offers his aid in the future. Trying to discourage Miguel, Dexter proposes a risky operation to free an infamous Aryan Brotherhood leader, who continues to commit crimes while inside prison, to kill him. Miguel agrees with the idea and the plan succeeds (despite the alarm sounding during the escape), and Dexter starts to recognize Miguel as his first and only true friend, to the point of inviting him to be his best man at his wedding.

Throughout Season 3, Debra starts working more seriously to earn her detective shield, but due to her untimely comment about Oscar she is cut off from the Freebo case. She starts working with a new partner, Joey Quinn, to investigate a serial killer with the habit of skinning his victims while alive (labeled "The Skinner"). She also starts a relationship with Anton, one of Quinn's confidential informants who starts working with her. However, Yuki Amado, a female Internal Affairs officer, starts pressuring Debra to give her information on Quinn, promising to help her become a detective in return, but Debra refuses to cooperate, despite Yuki's claims that Quinn cannot be trusted.

A notable change from previous seasons is that instead of flashbacks involving Dexter's foster father, Harry, fantasy scenes are used. Harry instead offers guidance, ideas, and guilt; leading to revelations on Dexter's future.

Camilla Figg, an old friend of Dexter and his family, is dying of terminal lung cancer and asks him to end her suffering, which he (who had never purposely killed an innocent before) reluctantly agrees to do. On the occasion, Camilla reveals to Dexter that she knew that his brother was the Ice Truck Killer and as she expires, congratulates him when he confesses to her that it was he who killed Brian.

Miguel and Dexter's partnership takes a new step when Miguel offers to be the one to kill their next target, a former football player turned gambler who to pay his bookie commits murders on the bookie's behalf. With some reluctance, Dexter accepts, and after preparing the trap and teaching him the basics of his "code", he witnesses Miguel killing the victim without hesitation. However, the next day, Ellen Wolf, a ruthless defense attorney and old courtroom adversary of Miguel's, goes missing, and Dexter, suspicious, discovers that Miguel has killed her. After some investigation, Dexter also discovers that Miguel has been manipulating him since the beginning and never trusted him at all.

While the relationship between Dexter and Miguel begins to unravel, so does Miguel's marriage when Sylvia begins to suspect that Miguel is having an affair and confides her fears to Rita, who in turn confides in Dexter.

Dexter and Miguel then begin to dance around in a game of who has leverage over whom, whilst the police investigate the death of Ellen Wolf. This game of leverage ends with Dexter realizing that Miguel cannot be allowed to run loose any longer (at which point Dexter decides to kill him using the Skinner's Modus Operandi) and with Sylvia, convinced that Miguel is having an affair with Lt. LaGuerta after seeing them leaving LaGuerta's house together, ordering him out of the house. Miguel uses his position to help the Skinner escape and evade police custody in return for his agreeing to kill Dexter.

Striving to discover the truth about Ellen Wolf's death, LaGuerta ends up obtaining evidence linking Miguel to the crime, while Miguel himself discovers that LaGuerta was investigating him and decides to kill her, but Dexter discovers Miguel's plot beforehand and captures him when Miguel comes to LaGuerta's house looking for her. Before killing Miguel, Dexter confesses to him that he was the one who killed his younger brother Oscar (in self-defense when intending to murder Freebo instead).

After Miguel's body is discovered, he is immediately identified as a victim of the Skinner, just as Dexter planned. But Miguel's other brother Ramon is still suspicious of him. After pointing a gun on Dexter during a dinner with Rita, he is captured by Angel and Debra. During a visit to him in jail, Dexter helps Ramon put his demons to rest offering advice and personal relation to Ramon's life.

However, on the night before his wedding, Dexter is captured by the Skinner and manages to break free by taking advantage of a moment when the Skinner is distracted, intentionally breaking his hand in the process to escape. After a short but vicious fight, Dexter manages to snap the Skinner's neck and make it look like suicide by throwing his body before a running police car. Dexter gets his broken hand put in a cast and attends his wedding. He admits to himself that his wedding vows, "to be the best husband and father [he could] be", were absolutely true. The season ends as a drop of blood from Dexter's cast falls upon Rita's wedding dress as they dance.

The complete third season of Dexter was released in the USA and Canada on DVD and Blu-ray on August 18, 2009.

Season 4

Main article: Dexter (season 4)

Dexter is now a married family man. Rita has given birth to a baby boy named Harrison and Dexter and the family have moved to the suburbs, where he struggles to reconcile his new life as a family man with his killing urges. Angel and LaGuerta are revealed to have begun a romantic relationship. Special Agent Frank Lundy returns, having recently retired from the FBI, and meets Dexter at a crime scene where a young girl is found dead in a bathtub. Later, Lundy reveals that he believes the death to be an actual murder, and possibly the work of a serial killer he has tracked for years whom he dubbed the "Trinity Killer" (John Lithgow). The killer has a tendency to always kill three people in a very specific sequence: a young woman in a bathtub, an older mother of two falling to her death, and a father of two bludgeoned to death. Lundy also states that Trinity's pattern has been repeated in various cities across the country dating back over decades. We are also introduced to reporter Christine Hill (Courtney Ford), eager to get a major story from this and relentless enough to seduce Debra's partner, Detective Quinn to 'pump' him for information.

Lundy's theories begin to seem accurate when Dexter discovers that another girl was killed in the bathtub in the same house 30 years prior, making Trinity the most consistently active serial killer to have eluded capture. Lundy begins working with Debra to capture Trinity before he completes his cycle. However, Anton, who now lives with Debra at his apartment, is uneasy about her working with Lundy given their past relationship. His fears are justified though, as Debra ends up having sex with Lundy. Afterwards, both are shot by an unseen assailant. Debra survives but Lundy is killed.

While investigating Lundy's data about Trinity, Dexter not only determines Lundy was killed because he was getting close to Trinity, but that Lundy had determined when and where Trinity would claim his third victim. Dexter is unable stop Trinity before he makes his kill, but he does follow Trinity to his home. To his surprise, he finds Trinity is much like him: a seemingly normal family man living a double life as a serial killer. Cpt. Matthews decides that to protect the district, Angel should be transferred from homicide, but LaGuerta volunteers for transfer instead. In the end, both report to Matthews that they have ended the relationship. Neither is transferred, and Matthews states that if they are lying it will dearly cost their careers.

Introducing himself under the alias Kyle Butler, Dexter attends the same church as Trinity (whose real name is Arthur Mitchell) and eventually befriends him. While investigating the reasons behind Arthur's crimes, Dexter learns how he manages to consolidate his family life with his killing urges and utilizes that knowledge to deal with issues in his marriage with Rita. However, Debra deduces that Trinity may be the one responsible for Lundy's death after all and decides to investigate him, much to Dexter's displeasure.

Dexter also mistakenly kills an innocent man and violates the "Code of Harry", rather than follow Harry's wish that he kill Arthur. Debra explains the idea of the Trinity Killer to the department, but she isn't allowed to work the case since she was supposedly shot by Trinity. Dexter visits Arthur at his home and discovers that Trinity will be traveling to Tampa on another building project, which could be the start of another cycle. Dexter decides to make the trip with Trinity to ensure this doesn't happen. While Dexter is away, Rita and the neighbor, Elliot, have dinner with the kids. On the way Dexter tells Trinity that he killed an innocent man in a hunting accident. The Miami Homicide department decides to block some roads for DNA collection in hopes of finding a match with the saliva left by Trinity. With Masuka's help, Debra discovers that Trinity wasn't the person who shot her and Lundy; the shooter was Masuka's height. With Debra no longer considered a Trinity victim, she is put in charge of the case.

In Tampa, Dexter and Arthur visit Trinity's childhood home. Arthur reveals that at the age of 10, he spied on his older sister in the shower out of innocent curiosity. His sister, who is startled when she sees him, falls and slips. The fall provokes the glass door around the bath to shatter and cut open her femoral artery, causing her to bleed out and die before the ambulance arrive. Arthur's parents blame him for his sister's death, also frequently insulting him with words like "pervert." His mother, unable to live after this tragedy, committed suicide (because Trinity kills his victims in the same fashion that his family members died, it is known that she killed herself by jumping off a warehouse roof). Arthur also reveals that his father, a bad-tempered alcoholic who beat him after his mother died, died soon after his mother; Dexter assumes Arthur murdered him since one of Trinity victims is a father of two whom he bludgeons to death. On the night Dexter is to kill Arthur, he discovers that Trinity has left their hotel early and is at the build site, atop the building, contemplating suicide. Arthur pours a small portion of sister's ashes off the building, and steps off the edge. Dexter grabs him saying that this isn't the way he will die (meaning that he should die by his hand). Arthur orders Dexter to let him go and Dexter feels that if he does, it will count as him killing Trinity. Just when he is about to, two foreman come to help and pull Arthur to safety. Trinity sees this as God sending Dexter to help him just as Trinity had helped Dexter. On the way home from Tampa, Trinity and Dexter come to a traffic jam caused by a police road block who are conducting the DNA sweeps. Dexter, who wants Trinity for himself, mentions that he heard that the police are looking for some big time serial killer. Arthur accepts the information like it means nothing but then does a u-turn saying he doesn't want to wait in traffic.

During Thanksgiving, Dexter learns that Arthur has been terrorizing his family in their own home, locking his daughter away in her bedroom and physically abusing his son. Dexter spends the holiday with them while Rita prepares her own dinner with Elliot, who reveals that he is interested in Rita, taking advantage of Dexter's absence; Masuka was invited to the dinner and witnesses their kiss. Meanwhile, back at Arthur's home, his son snaps and begins destroying Arthur's trophies, finally destroying the urn containing Trinity's sister's ashes, which provokes Trinity to nearly strangle his son. Dexter garrote Trinity with a belt and drags him to the kitchen, intending to finish the job with a kitchen knife, confessing that he should have killed him when he had the chance. Dexter is interrupted by Arthur's wife and daughter who, when they see the knife, huddle around Trinity to protect him. Dexter is forced to retreat. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that the father of reporter Christine Hill is, in fact, Trinity.

Later Arthur kidnaps a boy while being pursued by Dexter. He manages to escape with the boy, warning Dexter that he will preserve the boy's "innocence." Dexter does some research and finds out that Trinity's pattern begins with an abduction first; the boys disappear days before the first bathtub death, which also means that his patterns are of four kills, not three. Dexter asks Arthur's son for help and goes looking through vacant properties to narrow down where he might be. While Debra's suspicion about Christine mount further when she is interviewed by her for an exclusive piece, she decides to bring in Batista who also suspects something. When they decide to run her DNA from a toothbrush retrieved from Quinn, they find that she is directly related to the Trinity Killer. Debra's actions during the "interview" cause Christine to frantically call her father, begging him to meet with her. When they finally meet, it is revealed that they rarely see each other and that Christine witnessed her father murdering a woman in a bathtub when she was young. Christine tells Arthur that she shot Debra and killed Lundy to protect him. Dexter manages to locate where Arthur is holding the boy but arrives late to confront him, he finds out from some residue that Trinity is planning to bury the boy alive at the Four-Walls build site as a way of preserving his innocence (the boy representing Arthur in his cycle of killings). Dexter manages to arrive just in time, however, Arthur escapes by the time Dexter rescues the boy from the cement pool. The episode concludes with Christine's arrest and Dexter arriving home to look in on his own son promising him that he won’t let his killing put his family in danger like Trinity's.

Christine is interrogated at the station about her involvement in Lundy's murder. They let her go for lack of evidence, but after they find postcards from Arthur's past kill sites, she eventually confesses to Debra. After Debra refuses to forgive her, Christine pulls a gun and commits suicide. Trinity searches for where "Kyle Butler" lives and kills a man whose true identity that is. LaGuerta and Batista get married to avoid getting fired. Dexter tries to pin the Trinity murders on one of Lundy's suspects, an over the road trucker who killed a prostitute but was acquitted due to tainted evidence (who Dexter first kills), by placing objects with Arthur's DNA at the trucker's house. Trinity lures Dexter to the arcade, making him think he's about to kidnap another boy. Dexter doesn't find him there and heads to work to console Debra, who is stressed from seeing the suicide and discovering Lundy's killer. Trinity tails him and sneaks into the station and finds Dexter there, discovering his true identity.

After Arthur and Dexter converse at the station, Dexter follows Arthur to a bank where he closes all his accounts and takes out his life savings. On the way Dexter hits another car and knocks the mirror off, then the owner goes to the police. When Arthur comes out of the bank Dexter sneaks up on him and injects him to knock him out, then he puts him in the back of his own van but before Dexter can do anything the police and the man who's car Dexter hit show up. Dexter leaves Arthur in his trunk and goes to talk to the police, after freaking out and attacking one of the cops Dexter is put in jail where Rita picks him up. Deborah finds out everything about Dexter's past and learns that the Ice Truck Killer is Dexter's brother (Brian Moser). Dexter goes to Arthur's house and while he's there the police come because they have learned Trinity's true identity, Dexter hides and the comes back out as one of the forensics guys so the police don't ask why he's there. Dexter then sees Arthur's Mustang is gone so he goes to a body shop and hides in the trunk, when the car breaks down later that night after Arthur has picked it up (thanks to Dexter) Dexter jumps out and attacks him, choking him until he's unconscious. Arthur wakes up in a kill room with Dexter waiting. They converse and Arthur says it is a sign from God that Dexter is killing him. Dexter kills him with a framing hammer. When he returns home he finds Rita (who had returned home from the airport because she forgot her ID and they would not let her on the plane) in the bathtub... murdered by Trinity, and Dexter's son, Harrison, is sitting in a pool of Rita's blood on the bathroom floor.

Early Cuts

Dexter: Early Cuts, a twelve-part animated web series, premiered on October 25, 2009. Michael C. Hall reprises his role as the voice of Dexter.

The web series revolves around Dexter hunting down the 3 victims that he mentions in season one, episode 6, "Return to Sender". Each victim has their own story and each one is split into 4 chapters with each one becoming available to watch on the Showtime website every subsequent Sunday (the same day as the show).

Alex Timmons, October 2003

Chapter 1

The chapter starts with Dexter preparing a killroom by covering it with plastic sheets. The room has many mounted animal heads on the wall. Dexter then starts his internal monologue in which he says that when he hunted as a kid, Harry never let him bring home any trophies and that even with animals he was taught to always dispose of the evidence. Even now with Harry gone he still follows the "code" and doesn't bring back any trophies. The only things he kept from his hunting trips were the memories, etched in his damaged brain like a slide-show of photos in his blood stained life. But no matter how many lives he takes "the need" never dies, it runs in his veins just like his blood which is why he can't separate his hobby from his job; so he takes his work home with him. At his apartment he opens a police file with a man's photo in it and says "Alex Timmons, my next prey".

Chapter 2

This chapter opens with a young Alex Timmons hunting deer with his dad. Dexter's voice-over says that Timmons started as a hunter just like him, but with dark desires he joined the Marines so that he could kill openly under the cover of law. Dexter proclaims that he would usually respect this tactic except that Timmons took advantage. The image moves to Timmons as a Marine sniper killing many enemy soldiers. Timmons then turns his rifle at a fleeing mother and child and deliberately kills the child, which he smiles about when a fellow soldier stares at him shocked. Dexter says that Timmons killed 3 civilian children and got off with a slap on the wrist, but also adds, as he reads a newspaper clipping of Timmons with the headline "Marine sniper acquitted of murder in Iraq", that he couldn't escape his judgment. Timmons is seen in the prone position in his garden with his sniper rifle, taking aim with the scope at two tins cans on a nearby fence. He than moves the rifle to a playground to the right where a bunch of kids are playing. Dexter, as he watches Timmons with a pair of binoculars from a nearby wood, says that Timmons is looking for his next target but now he's in his cross-hairs.

Chapter 3

Timmons is firing a gun at a target in a shooting range, Dexter, who is in the cubicle beside him loads a gun and says that even though he is a hunter himself, the guns are not really his, and that in wrong hands they are just too dangerous. Dexter notices the U.S.M.C (United States Marine Corps) and its symbol on Timmons biceps. He approaches him and asks in a fake southern accent "Marines, right?". When Timmons ignores him he continues to tell him that his "Daddy" had U.S.M.C ink too and that he was in the first force recon out of Pendleton. When he asks Timmons if he's seen any action he replies that he just came back from Iraq. Dexter continues his lie and says that he'd love to shoot a raghead, and then adds that he used to hunt as a kid but they were just animals. Timmons tells him the people over there are animals and Dexter agrees saying that you should take out the kids first since there just going to grow into terrorists. Timmons says to tell that to his commanding officer who gave him a one way ticket back home. Dexter simply says "fuck that guy" and repeats it as he fires angrily at his target. Dexter then contemplates that if Timmons wasn't following orders he was killing for sport, and as Timmons' target moves toward the front of the cubicle showing the child hostage in the picture on it has all the bullet holes, Dexter says that he deserves more than a slap on the wrist, he deserves a knife in the chest. It's nighttime outside the range when Dexter says that now that he's stalked his prey it's time to set a trap. He opens the hood of the car and waits. When Timmons comes outside he calls out asking for help with the engine saying that he's as good with cars as he is with guns. As Timmons checks the engine Dexter takes out his needle and sticks it into Timmons' neck. As Timmons collapses onto the engine Dexter says "Needles I can do".

Chapter 4

Dexter is in the kill room seen in part 1. He stares at a stuffed deer head on the wall and asked "kind of cruel isn't it". Timmons is shown to behind him, gagged, naked, and lying strapped down to a table with plastic wrap. Dexter asked did he take a keepsake from the kids he killed in the Iraq before adding, sarcastically, "what you didn't want get them stuffed and hanged on the wall". He tells Timmons that he usually would provide a reminder of the killers victims but because, in this case, the victims were anonymous and the animal heads will work. He then un-gags Timmons who tries to plead with Dexter, saying that he's a marine just like his father. Dexter counters saying that his father wasn't really a marine but he did teach him his rules of combat: you can't go around killing innocent people even if you want to. When Timmons tries to say that he was under orders he is cut off mid sentence by Dexter who tells him that he didn't kill those kids because he was under orders but that he did it because he thought he could get away with it. Timmons then panics, apologizes and asks what does he want. When Dexter said he wants him to take responsibility, Timmons confesses and asks Dexter is that what he wants to hear. Dexter replies " actually, not really" and then re-gags him. He tells Timmons that he should shoot him but he finds knife's more intimate. He then unsheathes a U.S.M.C knife and says in the fake southern accent in relation to the knife "United States Marine Corps, genuine issue, from my daddy" then returns to his normal voice when he says he really got it at a swap meet. He then uses the knife to cut Timmons right cheek. He stares as the blood flows down the knife and is struck with an idea. He reaches into his back and takes out two glass slides. He lets a drop of blood from the knife fall onto one slide and then puts the other slide over it, sealing the two together the blood stain clearly visible. He announces to Timmons "a trophy, my first, Harry wouldn't approve but you inspired me". He then raises the knife and stabs him in the chest, killing him. The chapter ends with Dexter putting his very first blood slide into the slide box and hiding it behind the air conditioner in his apartment.

Gene Marshall, June 1993

Chapter 1

The chapter opens with a young Dexter striking a match and then lighting the candles in a dark burnt out room he's in. In his mind he says that Harry always thought him to have a plan and to be prepared. So he makes sure he has candles, a flashlight, and a project to keep him busy in the dark. He approaches a open police file on the table which contains information on a man named Gene Marshall. Dexter starts to explain that Marshall is a millionaire real estate mogul and arsonist who purposely burned down one of his own apartment complexes. He says that it didn't matter if he had no insurance or that there were 12 tenants inside and in the end Marshall lost $6,000,000 and 7 innocent people lost their lives.

Chapter 2

As Marshall looks up at the burning building with loving satisfaction, Dexter said that Marshall's psychiatrist deemed him too mentally unfit to stand trial and was instead sent to an institution for 3 months before returning to the lap of luxury. Dexter is suspicious that Marshall paid off the psychiatrist, Dr. Greenstein, and decides to check it out. Dexter goes to the dock where the doctor is selling his boat named " Slice of Heaven". Dexter under the alias Hank Millcin reminds the doctor that he called earlier about buying the boat and he invites him on board to look around. When on board Greenstein notes all of the boats features and says that he just got "her". When Dexter asks why he's selling, Greenstein replies that he came into some money recently and that he thought that he should upgrade and get that yacht he's always wanted. When Dexter jokingly asked if he one the lottery or something Greenstein replies mysteriously "No, I make my own luck". Dexter said he checked the obituaries and since he didn't find any dead family members he concludes that "Marshall got off and doctor got rich". Dexter, now sure of Marshall guilt announces that "he may have played the system but he's about to get burned. At Marshall's mansion all the lights go out and when he lights a candle with a match Dexter appears behind him and jams a needle into the side of his neck.

Chapter 3

Dexter is holding a match in the dark burnt out room of the apartment complex that Marshall set fire to that's also the same room that Dexter's in in chapter 1. There are framed portraits of each of the 7 people that died in the fire, each with a lit candle underneath it and there is no plastic wrapping on the wall and floor like in Dexter's future kill rooms. Marshall is naked, unconscious, strapped down to a table with plastic wrap with duct tape over his mouth. Dexter approaches him and blows the match out into his face and says " holy smokes right". The blown smoke wakes him up and Dexter asks if he's scared. He continues saying that he bets Marshall's victims were scared and that burning to death is a horrible way to die. Although he adds, as he takes out a Swiss army knife, that he's going to kill him with its fireman's knife so that will suck too and that the Swiss army knife is like a whole set of kills tools right in his pocket. When Dexter pulls off the duct tape off Marshall's mouth he tries to explain that he didn't mean to kill anybody. Dexter taps him on the forehead with the fireman's knife saying " come on, you're a smart guy. What did you expect would happen? Marshall replies that he doesn't care, that all he knows he has to set that fire and he can't control he's urges. Dexter tells him that he could have and that "he's managed to control his impulses and that he always has a plan". Like now for instance, I'm going to slit your throat, chop you up into little pieces and burn whats left. Marshall asks him has he ever seen someone burn alive, and Dexter ends the conversation by saying that now he's just creeping him out and then slitting his throat, which covers him in Marshall's blood. Just after he's done he gets a calls from Debra asking where he's been and that she just got her driver's license. Dexter congratulates her but says he's in the middle of something. Deb says fuck you, its her god damn birthday, that shes never asks him for anything, that she wants to take him for a drive and to get over here or she'll kick him in the nut sack. Dexter puts the naked and still intact body of Marshall into the trunk of his car along with his toolbox of tools he uses for the killing and dismemberment of his victims. He tries to tries to get a hold of things saying that its just a change of plans and is no problem. but as he closes the trunk and drives off Marshall is shown to be alive as he opens his eyes.

Chapter 4

As Dexter stops at a red traffic light he thinks to himself that if he misses Deb's "sweet 16th" it will sour their relationship and that she's all the family he's got. He then reassures himself saying that he'll go for a quick drive and then get back to his business, saying that it just a detour and no big deal. When the light goes green Dexter continues to drive on but shortly comes to another stop in traffic. He calls Debra to say that he's stuck in traffic. During the phone call he starts to hear a faint banging noise. He tells Debra that he'll be there A.S.A.P and then hangs up. He hears the banging noise getting louder and when realizing that its coming from the trunk he decides to pull over in a dark alley. When he stops he takes out a flashlight from the glove box, gets out and walks to the rear of the car. He turns on the flashlight and as soon as he opens the trunk Marshall lunges toward him with the same fireman's knife that Dexter used to slit his throat. Dexter proves to quick for him however and kicks the knife out of his hand before knocking him out by smashing the flashlight over his head. As Marshall lies naked and unconscious on the ground Dexter internally says to Marshall that he can't put him back in the car and that he's a real pain in the ass. He leaves Marshall on the ground and gets back into the car saying that he hates killing by the seat of his pants. He then, as a way to dismembering Marshall, drives over parts of his body although the images only show Dexter driving over his head. After he's finished he put the pieces of Marshall in a barrel and covers them with gasoline siphoned from his car. But after he throws a match a match on the pile in an attempt to burn the remains, it causes an explosion that scatters the body parts around the ground of the alley which prompts Dexter to say that he has to find a better way of doing this. The images then cut to Dexter at the docks, shaking hands with Dr. Greenstein and buying his boat. As Dexter drives the boat, which name he has changed to "Slice of Life", out to sea, his voice over comments on how Harry's code frowns on snap decision and impetuous behavior but that buying this boat was a great idea. He then stops and drops the garbage bags full of Marshall's remains into the ocean and finishes his comment about the boat saying " as long as I can control my other impulses".

Critical reception

The initial response to Dexter was positive. The website Metacritic calculated a score of 77 from a possible 100 based on 27 reviews, making it the third-best reviewed show of the 2006 fall season. This score includes four 100% scores from the New York Daily News, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Sun-Times and People Weekly. Brian Lowry, who had written one of the three poor reviews Metacritic tallied for the show, recanted his negative review in a year-end column for the trade magazine Variety after watching the full season. On the CNET Networks website TV.com, Dexter has an overall rating of 9.2/10.

On December 14, 2006, Michael C. Hall was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the category Best Actor in a Television Drama Series for playing Dexter.

The show was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series for its second season (Showtime's first ever drama to be nominated for the award), and its star for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. It won neither, losing to Mad Men and Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston.

The third season finale on December 14, 2008 was watched by 1.51 million viewers, giving Showtime its highest ratings for any of its original series since 2004, when Nielsen started including original shows on premium channels in its ratings.

In 2008, it won a Scream Award For Best TV Show.

U.S. broadcast controversy

When CBS announced in December 2007 it was considering Dexter for broadcast over the public airwaves, Parents Television Council (PTC) publicly protested the decision.

In preparation for the broadcast premiere of Dexter on CBS, on January 29, 2008 the network posted promotional videos on YouTube. The next day, the PTC for a second time called upon CBS to withdraw plans to broadcast the show. PTC President Timothy F. Winter issued a news release stating "We are formally asking CBS to cancel its plan to air the first season of Dexter on its television network. This show is not suitable for airing on broadcast television; it should remain on a premium subscription cable network. The biggest problem with the series is something that no amount of editing can get around: the series compels viewers to empathize with a serial killer, to root for him to prevail, to hope he doesn't get discovered." Winter went on to quote CBS President Leslie Moonves' post-Columbine comment: 'Anyone who thinks the media has nothing to do with [increasing violence in society] is an idiot.' Winter called on the public to demand local affiliates preempt Dexter, and warned advertisers the PTC would take action against any that sponsored the show.

Following Winter's release, CBS added Parental Discretion advisories to its broadcast promotions. CBS rated Dexter TV-14 for broadcast. The show premiered on February 17, 2008 with minor edits, primarily for language, and with scenes involving dismemberment of live victims cut away. Scenes involving sex were also taken out of the broadcasts. The PTC also objected to CBS broadcasting the final two episodes of the season in a two-hour block starting as early as 8 p.m. in some time zones.

Viral marketing controversy

In preparation for the UK launch of the series, FX experimented with an SMS-based viral marketing campaign. Created by digital advertising agency Ralph & Co, unsuspecting mobile phone owners received unsolicited SMS messages identified as being from "Dexter", with no other identification or originating phone number. The SMS messages contain the following text, referring to the phone owner by name:

"Hello (name). I'm heading to the UK sooner than you might think. Dexter."

Some time later, an email is received directing the user to an online video "news report" about a recent spree of killings. Using on-the-fly video manipulation, the user's name and a personalized message are worked into the report – the former written in blood on a wall by the crime scene, the latter added to a note in an evidence bag carried past the camera.

While the marketing campaign had succeeded in raising the profile of the show, it proved unpopular with many mobile owners who saw this as spam advertising aimed at mobile phones. In response to complaints about the SMS element of the campaign, FX issued the following statement:

"The text message you received was part of an internet viral campaign for our newest show Dexter. However it was not us who sent you the text but one of your friends. We do not have a database of viewer phone numbers. The text message went along with a piece on the net that you can then send on to other people you know. If you go to www.icetruck.tv you will see the page that one of your friends has filled in to send you that message. Therefore I suggest you have a word with anyone who knows your mobile number and see who sent you this message. For the record we did not make a record of any phone numbers used in this campaign."

Missing person case

Connections have been suggested between the TV show Dexter and an ongoing murder charge against filmmaker Mark Twitchell in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. On December 3, 2008 he pled not guilty to the charge of first degree murder of 38-year-old John Altinger, whose body is still missing. Twitchell was writing a film script that included plot lines similar to Dexter's clandestine murders. Det. Mark Anstey of the Edmonton Police Service was quoted as saying "We have a lot of information to suggest he definitely idolizes Dexter." Three months prior to the alleged murder of Altinger, Twitchell had posted on his Facebook status that he believed he had a lot in common with Dexter Morgan. On July 24, 2009, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Michell Crighton refused to grant Twitchell bail. He is represented by veteran Edmonton defence lawyer David Cunningham. Crown prosecutors Avril Herron and Lawrence Van Dyke are prosecuting him.

Conner Conley murder

In November 2009, Andrew Conley, 17, was arrested in Rising Sun, Indiana, in connection with the death of his 10-year-old brother, Conner. In an affidavit filed in Ohio County court, police said that Andrew told investigators that he identified with the character. "Andrew stated that he watches a show called 'Dexter' on Showtime, about a serial killer," prosecutors said in an affidavit. "He stated, 'I feel just like him.'"

Differences from novel

The first season of Dexter is based on the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. However, there are numerous differences, ranging from extra subplots to rearrangements and modifications of elements from the source material. The biggest change is the lead-up to and revelation of the identity of the "Ice Truck Killer", called the "Tamiami Butcher" in the novel. In the novel, Dexter is led to believe that he might be the one committing the murders, due to a series of strange dreams that connect him to the murder. The final clue is a blurry photo, taken from surveillance footage, of a man who resembles Dexter at a crime scene. After the "Tamiami Butcher" kidnaps Debra, Dexter finds and confronts him. It is subsequently revealed that the killer is actually Dexter's nearly identical long-lost brother, Brian, who, like Dexter, witnessed their mother's brutal murder. In the television series, Brian is introduced under the fake name Rudy, a prosthetist who becomes Debra's boyfriend. Dexter hesitantly kills Brian instead of letting him escape, Debra does not discover her brother's secret, and LaGuerta is not present at all in the confrontation. In the novel, Brian escapes, Debra discovers her brother's secret (and in future novels does not expose him), and LaGuerta is killed in the climactic confrontation.

In the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Dexter references his urge to kill as being controlled by a "Dark Passenger", and when in his killer trances he tends to refer to himself as "we" or "us". In the first season, only one reference is made to the "Passenger", as Dexter stands at the scene of Angel's stabbing by Brian, an event absent in the book. In the second season, the writers explain Dexter's urge to kill as his "Dark Passenger", and make multiple references to it throughout the season, the first reference being in episode three.
The third novel of Dexter almost entirely focuses on the "Dark Passenger" as a separate entity living inside Dexter and all other killers, it is likened to demonic possession.

Much of the second season had little to do with the second novel, Dearly Devoted Dexter, although they both shared a subplot concerning a suspicious Doakes following Dexter, both concluding in Doakes being "taken care of" by another killer to prevent Dexter from breaking his moral code. In Dearly Devoted Dexter, Doakes is tortured and dismembered (his hands, feet and tongue are removed) by Dr. Danco, an ex-military interrogator/torturer, and returns in the third novel albeit in a much different state; he is unable to speak coherently and is fitted with prosthetic limbs. The Showtime series has Doakes being blown up by Lila, Dexter's psychopathic ex-girlfriend. She appears in none of the books.
Agent Lundy is not in the books, however "Chutsky" plays the same role and Debra and he form a relationship which goes beyond the first book (partly because Chutsky has a similar fate to Doakes and is not fit for work).

In Dearly Devoted Dexter, Dexter discovers that Cody and Astor share Dexter's need to kill and he helps them by teaching them the code of Harry. Their need to kill was brought on by their abusive father, Paul Bennett. Paul Bennet himself isn't featured much and in the books gave his children a lot of psychological abuse as well as beating them which causes him to end up in prison (he doesn't die as he doesn't come to Dexter's attention). In the TV show he is shown to be a doting dad but a sexually and physically abusive husband. In the show he is knocked out and then framed for drug use by Dexter after Paul threatens him and tries to get custody of Cody and Astor by suing Rita - who had previously attacked him in self defense. He is then sent back to jail on his third strike where, due to his anger of being framed by Dexter and the fact that no one believes him, he gets into a fight with another inmate and is killed.

Dexter is also a lot darker in the books, although he is still very "fond" of Debra, Cody and Astor. He does not seem to have any real affection for Rita other than her being his "disguise". He also proposes by accident.

Angel does not feature much in the books either and does not have his own subplots. Dexter only seems to be friends with Masuka at work, who has a much more important role in books than in the show. Although mainly because of their shared job of bringing donuts to work and because Dexter recognizes that Masuka is another "fake human" (although not a killer). Masuka also becomes Dexter's best man for the wedding.

Other media

DVD/Blu-ray releases

DVD Name	Release Date	Ep #	Additional Content
The Complete First Season	Region 1: August 21, 2007 Region 2: May 19, 2008 Region 4: Feb 14, 2008	12	2 Audio Commentaries by the Cast The Academy of Blood: A Killer Course! Witnessed in Blood: A True Murder Investigation N Technology 2 episodes of Showtime's Brotherhood
The Complete Second Season	Region 1: August 19, 2008 Region 2: March 30, 2009 Region 4: August 21, 2008	12	2 episodes of Showtime's Brotherhood (second season) Via E-Bridge Technology 2 episodes from The Tudors (second season) & Californication
The Complete Third Season	Region 1: August 18, 2009 Region 2: Unknown Region 4: August 20, 2009	12	Cast Interviews with Michael C. Hall, Lauren Velez, C.S Lee, David Zayas, Jennifer Carpenter, Julie Benz Victims Match Inside the Writers Room Bringing Miami to LA Miami's Finest Photo Gallery
Blu-ray Name	Release Date	Ep #	Additional Content
The Complete First Season	Region A: January 6, 2009	12	The Academy of Blood: A Killer Course! Witnessed in Blood: A True Murder Investigation One free HD episode download of Dexter season 2 The first 2 episodes of the new Showtime series United States of Tara
The Complete Second Season	Region A: May 5, 2009	12	Podcasts Featurette: "Blood Fountains" Featurette: "Dark Defender" One episode of the upcoming Showtime series Nurse Jackie One episode of the new Showtime series United States of Tara
The Complete Third Season	Region A: August 18, 2009	12	Unknown

Video game

A video game based on Dexter was announced on March 4, 2008, to be developed by Marc Ecko's game development company, which previously developed the controversial urban graffiti game Getting Up. "Dexter is the extremely rare TV show with enough layers of action and tension to translate perfectly into a compelling video game," said Marc Fernandez, Vice President of Marc Ecko Entertainment.

More info was released at the San Diego Comic-Con, revealing that the games would be released exclusively on the iPhone OS, via iTunes, and that the games would be episodic. The first game, based on the events of Season One, was released on September 18, 2009.

Later on, it was revealed that the game would also be released on PC, and that if the game was successful, a console release was possible.

Soundtrack

Main article: Dexter: Music from the Showtime Original Series

The music from the Dexter TV series was released August 28, 2007 on the album Dexter: Music from the Showtime Original Series. It is produced by Showtime, and distributed by Milan Records. The album is also available online on the iTunes store. The iTunes release includes five additional bonus tracks from Seasons 1 and 2. Most notable is the recurring theme from the end credits, which features artificial harmonics on bowed string instruments (violins, violas and cellos), reminiscent of Bernard Hermann's pivotal "black and white", strings-only score for Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece, "Psycho". Hermann utilized artificial harmonics for the music to the famous shower scene, where the staccato harmonic glissandos, in Stravinsky-like dissonant tonalities, represent the knife stabbings of that film's title serial killer. Also notable is the fact that the score[s] seem to use live instruments, not synthesized sounds, as is common in most of today's television programs.

Merchandise

Michael C. Hall produced plastic figures to the series.

Awards

Main article: List of Dexter awards and nominations

Wins

2006

• AFI Awards: TV Program of the Year—Official Selection
• IGN: Best New Show
• IGN: Best Actor—Michael C. Hall
• IGN: Best Villain—The Ice Truck Killer
• IGN: Best Character—Dexter Morgan
• Satellite Awards: Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series—Julie Benz

2007

• Emmy: Outstanding Main Title Design
• Emmy: Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series
• IGN: Best Storyline
• IGN: Best Television Program
• Satellite Awards: Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series—David Zayas
• Satellite Awards: Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama—Michael C. Hall
• Satellite Awards: Outstanding Television Series, Drama
• Saturn Awards: Best Actor in a Television Program—Michael C. Hall
• Television Critics Association: Individual Achievement in Drama—Michael C. Hall

2008

• Saturn Awards: Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series
• Scream Awards: Best TV Show

Nominations

2006

• Golden Globe: Nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series: Drama—Michael C. Hall
• IGN: Best Television Program
• Satellite Awards: Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama—Michael C. Hall
• Satellite Awards: Outstanding Television Series, Drama

2007

• Emmy: Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing, Drama
• Emmy: Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
• Golden Globe: Nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series—Drama—Michael C. Hall
• Saturn Awards: Best Supporting Actor in a Television Program—James Remar
• Saturn Awards: Best Supporting Actress in a Television Program—Jennifer Carpenter
• Saturn Awards: Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series
• SAG: Male Actor in a Drama Series—Michael C. Hall
• Television Critics Association: New Program of the Year
• WGA: Episodic Drama—any length—one airing time Dark Defender
• WGA: Best Dramatic Series
• Peabody Award: Announced April 2, 2008

2008

• Emmy: Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series—Michael C. Hall
• Emmy: Outstanding Drama Series
• Emmy: Outstanding Art Direction—Tony Cowley, Linda Spheeris
• Emmy: Outstanding Cinematography—Romeo Tirone
• Golden Globe: Best Television Series—Drama
• Golden Globe: Nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series—Drama—Michael C. Hall
• WGA: Best Dramatic Series

2009

• Emmy: Outstanding Drama Series
• Emmy: Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series—Michael C. Hall
• Emmy: Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series—Jimmy Smits
• Crime Thriller Awards: The International TV Dagger

External links

• Official website
• Dexter at Metacritic
• Dexter at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com
• Slate.com December 12, 2008 - Killer Serial: It's really time you started watching Dexter.