Re: Dexter's storyline for Season 5 **BEWARE OF MAJOR SEASON 4 SPOILER
^I have a different impression of the character. Sure he uses all those relationships as a cover, especially given that many of them started out that way, but I have seen evidence that he genuinely cares about his family. He helps Rita with her ex-husband. He runs off a pedophile stalker. He protects his sister from knowing what her dad was really like. He might have had personal reasons for some of that, but not all of it, & he does express concerns that aren't solely self-interest based
He didn't kill Lila, Miguel, or his brother because they posed a threat to him. That was just a perk. Ultimately, he killed them because they were murderers of innocent people, and that alone made them acceptable prey, by Harry's code. Their posing a threat to him just meant they got to jump to the head of the line
He knows that he is motivated exactly the way that all his victims are motivated. He is a cold blooded, psychopathically driven murderer, & the only difference between him & them is that he walks a fine line of tailoring his impulses to fit someone else's idea of justice or righteousness, and that line has dissolved a time or two
He realizes that it wasn't him that created that line, & that without it, he'd be exactly like his brother was, or at least he was raised to believe so. When death comes to him, Dexter knows that it will be as just as the deaths of most of his victims, because he too has killed innocent people, Miquel's brother, & the photographer guy
I can't see him completely wanting to be like that, a slave to those dark impulses. Sure, he says he wants it and needs it, but his actions indicate a man in conflict. He may ultimately not "Go sane" & meet his end another way, but that doesn't negate the conflict within him, that the show explores, imo
^I have a different impression of the character. Sure he uses all those relationships as a cover, especially given that many of them started out that way, but I have seen evidence that he genuinely cares about his family. He helps Rita with her ex-husband. He runs off a pedophile stalker. He protects his sister from knowing what her dad was really like. He might have had personal reasons for some of that, but not all of it, & he does express concerns that aren't solely self-interest based
He didn't kill Lila, Miguel, or his brother because they posed a threat to him. That was just a perk. Ultimately, he killed them because they were murderers of innocent people, and that alone made them acceptable prey, by Harry's code. Their posing a threat to him just meant they got to jump to the head of the line
I believe that is a misunderstanding of the whole character. He in no way thinks of himself as righteous. The vigilante Dexter? That's what everybody else sees. The Dark Avenger is a nickname that he was given, when his "Bayside Butcher" murders became public. He didn't conjure that. Dexter knows better than that.
He knows that he is motivated exactly the way that all his victims are motivated. He is a cold blooded, psychopathically driven murderer, & the only difference between him & them is that he walks a fine line of tailoring his impulses to fit someone else's idea of justice or righteousness, and that line has dissolved a time or two
He realizes that it wasn't him that created that line, & that without it, he'd be exactly like his brother was, or at least he was raised to believe so. When death comes to him, Dexter knows that it will be as just as the deaths of most of his victims, because he too has killed innocent people, Miquel's brother, & the photographer guy
I can't see him completely wanting to be like that, a slave to those dark impulses. Sure, he says he wants it and needs it, but his actions indicate a man in conflict. He may ultimately not "Go sane" & meet his end another way, but that doesn't negate the conflict within him, that the show explores, imo
