Blog Challenge Day 21: Favorite TV series

This one is going to be so obvious if you’re following me on Twitter:  It’s Dexter. I’ve literally been raving about this show for weeks. It’s funny, smart, and enticing. I’ve had my share of favorite TV shows over the past years. My first solid obsession developing around reruns of Dukes of Hazzard when I was 10. Not kidding! I didn’t watch many TV shows when I was in my teens. I mainly focused on MTV, when it was still about the music and not those annoying reality TV series they seem so adamant to broadcasting nowadays. I fell in love with BBC day time television as a student. I would religiously watch Ready Steady Cook, Flog It and Escape to the Country. Needless to say, almost all my vocab knowledge on cooking, housing and antiques comes from these shows. I then discovered crime series, in the shape of CSI (incl. the 2 spin offs) and Criminal Minds. I also used to watch a great deal of Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Cold Case. It was only natural that I would fall in love with Dexter.

Blood spatter analyst by day, serial killer by night. The series depicts how Dexter Morgan deals with putting up a perfect facade to hide his true nature. To maintain this mask, as Dexter calls it, he fakes emotions and feelings (he claims he doesn’t have any), relationships and generosity (because that’s how you appear normal). Yet, at night, after work and when his girlfriend is asleep, Dexter goes on his own after hours mission: killing those who have killed others, but have somehow managed to escape the system. This moral code is Dexter’s holy grail, taught to him by his foster father Harry. Part of this code is that he has to be absolutely sure of the criminal’s mistakes, the person has to be guilty, and they must have hurt someone who is innocent.

As you can tell, this leads to some interesting confrontations, difficulties as well as frustrations. It is also very funny, for instance when Dexter has to analyze a crime scene he created, or when his sister thinks his abnormalities mean he’s just being a guy. Dexter is selfish, yet selfless at the same time and is great with his girlfriend’s kids. To top it all off, he is extremely smart as well. He uses his intellect to not get caught, but it also impairs him from understanding others. He has plenty of IQ, but his EQ is certainly lacking. The best part of it all: he knows this. He describes himself as a monster, a sociopath, as different. This realization also make for some tight spots. There are times when he (almost) gets caught, is thinking of turning himself in or telling everybody what it is he does in his spare time.

It is this two-sided medal that makes the series interesting, but it also features some brilliant acting by Michael C. Hall, as Dexter. It’s exciting, dark, and a little risky at times, but I guess that’s what comes with being a serial killer. (Not like I would know of course 😉 )

Watch the series trailer below: