Dexter. Why I love it and why you should too.

I remember my first glimpse of Dexter. I rushed home from work in order to watch my Syracuse Orange lacrosse team take on Cornell, a historical and geographical rival. I ran stop signs and cut corners, flying up the long and winding lane to my house. I leapt up the stairs, burst through the door, and…
My mom and sister were in the living room, sprawled out on their perspective furniture, fully hypnotized by the TV. I paced back and forth, stomping my feet, sighing conspicuously.
“Stupid TV show. They can watch it whenever they want, a show about a serial killer? How dumb is that?!”
Oh… How little I knew.
One evening, after relentless prodding from my family, I turned off Justified (A show which I plan to write a similar hub about), and popped in disc one, season one of Dexter.
For those of you without Showtime, or just completely out of the loop, Dexter is loosely based on Jeff Lindsay's "Darkly Dreaming Dexter" (Side note, Lindsay is my the author who's style I emulate, so if you enjoy my writing... Check out his stuff).
The Showtime rendition of Dexter introduces us to Dexter Morgan, a forensic blood splatter analyst for the Miami-Metro Police Department, with a strange hobby.
And by strange hobby, I mean he's a serial killer.
Now, if you aren't already a Dexter fanatic, I can understand why you would be hesitant. A murderer as a protagonist? How bizarre!
Actually, not as rare as you would think. Movies like Christian Bale's "American Psycho" or Kevin Costner's "Mr. Brooks" have incredibly similar plots and cult followings.
Well here's the twist. Dexter was raised by adoptive father, Detective Harry Morgan.
Harry, sick and tired of murderers going free because of holes in the legal system, recognizes the darkness inside of young Dexter, and like Timon and Pumba before him, decides to use his addiction, or his "Dark Passenger" for good.
He creates a code for Dexter. That when the need to kill becomes too much, he can do away with murderers that dodged the legal system and plan to kill again.
The plot becomes easier to swallow when you realize that all of Dexter's victims are monsters... Not unlike him.
Despite being mostly emotionally vacant, and... well... a serial killer, there is a charming naivety to Dexter. Despite imitating the sane and innocent perfectly, he has no real understanding of human emotion. Watching him struggle with his potty-mouthed adopted sister, Deb, emotionally scarred girlfriend Rita, and his loveable co-workers, is similar to watching your child awkwardly explore the playground for the first time.
Dexter is an adorably vunerable serial killer.
The cast is great. When I read the Dexter books, I see Michael C. Hall as the hero, and I have no problem with it. His sister, Deb, ironically played by Hall's ex wife, Jennifer Carpenter is very charming for a gal who drops colorful phrases every few minutes for no apparent reason. And the ghostly hallucinations of Harry are portrayed wonderfully by James Remar.
The plot starts a little slow, so if you aren't immediately hooked, hold your breath because it doesn't take long. The plot is fun and you find yourself falling in love with delightfully disturbed Dexter.
The best part is that we are just moving on through season 7 right now, so if you haven't started, you have plenty of material to catch up on. You should be able to find Dexter at your local Wal Mart or shopping mall. If not, it is available on iTunes and Netflix.
Warning- You're gonna wanna buy this show. Do Not Rent. I'll bet all my hubberpoints that you fall in love.