Major spoilers ahead.

So this came out eleven years ago…can you say late to the party?

Dexter is a TV show that followed Dexter Morgan a forensic expert who has a double life as a serial killer. But it’s ok. He only kills people who deserve it…kind of like Jigsaw but a lot less brutal. In the first series we are, of course, thrust into Dexter’s life and introduced to his friends, family and co-workers who all have their own lives going on too. Deb is Dexter’s sister, a girl a bit down on her luck and always in the shadow of Dexter. Rita, Dexter’s sort of girlfriend who is having issues with her ex-partner who is the father of her children and an abusive drug user. The last two characters who stood out for me were Doakes, a co-worker who suspects Dexter of not being quite right and Angel, another co-worker who is Dexter’s friend and is having issues with his wife at home.

The storyline of season one is the ice truck killer. A serial killer who bleeds out his victims and then cuts them into smaller pieces. He starts leaving clues about for Dexter to find and Dexter soon realises that the murders are aimed at him. Being placed in areas he visited within his childhood or holding secret clues to his life before he was adopted by Deb’s family.

Dexter learns over time that his real mother was murdered by a drugs gang when she supposedly stole their cocaine. Dexter was there when she was murdered and that’s where his adopted father, Harry, found him. He knew Dexter wasn’t normal and tried to help him learn right from wrong and how to show the people around him that he was just like everybody else.

But there was a secret hidden from Dexter that starts to tear down the world he thought he knew, especially around Harry. Dexter had an older brother, Brian. Brian had been posing as a prosthetic doctor who starts a relationship with Dexter’s foster sister, Deb. In their coming together Brian understands Dexter and says he’s the only one who ever will. He says he can live in their mother’s old home as a happy family but first he must kill Deb. Dexter, of course, cannot do it and instead kills Brian a choice he is not happy with as he thinks he has finally found a person he can really connect with.

And then life goes on….into series two.

This series was a blast to watch. There were so many interesting little bits that added into the full picture and the game of cat and mouse Dexter and Brian were playing was very fun to watch. As each piece of evidence was uncovered you just wanted to know more and more until you realise who the killer was – a surprise I hardly put together two minutes before Brian was revealed.

I put off watching Dexter for a long time because, honestly, I hate the actor but the storyline and premise is too good not to watch.

What do you think of the first series of Dexter?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Film and TV critic. View all posts by shonaharding