Dexter

"People fake a lot of human interactions, but I feel like I fake them all, and I fake them very well. That's my burden, I guess."            -Dexter Morgan

Recently, I have become really intrigued by the Showtime drama series, Dexter. It is set in Miami, Florida. The show follows Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department by day and a serial killer by night. Under the genre of psychological thriller, Dexter immediately displays his psychopathic qualities. He shares his background and his relationship with those around him. Dexter had lost his parents in a car accident at age three and  was taken in by Harry Morgan, a Miami police officer. It becomes quickly evident that Dexter is different from other children his age, being caught killing small animals and having such a dark attitude for a child. These actions have been known to be the first signs of psychopathy. Harry Morgan, his adoptive father, learned that there would be no avoiding Dexter's murderous tendencies. Harry trained Dexter to become an effective member of society by mimicking human emotions that Dexter would never truly be able to understand. Only selecting Miami's worst criminal that have slipped through the justice system as his victims, Dexter conducts a systematic plan: choosing, stalking, and eventually hunting down his prey. He calls his system "Harry's code," living exactly how he was trained.

Dexter Morgan is the perfect example of a successful psychopath. Throughout the show, we discover how the mind of a serial killer truly works. We follow in a journey to finding why Dexter is the way he is and how one can interact with others while feeling nothing. In the show, Dexter admits to having no remorse, wearing a mask in front of even the people that are closest to him. He thinks of relationships as types of camouflage, keeping up his image. Dexter Morgan: works for the Miami Metro Police Department, has a younger sister, is part of the police department's bowling league, has a girlfriend with two kids. To the untrained eye, Dexter is just another man walking in the crowd. He is faced with various situations that push him to his edge and he struggles to maintain his mirage of a lifestyle in order to maintain his true nature, or as he calls it, his "dark passenger." 

Of course, Dexter Morgan is just another fictional character created solely for our entertainment. Then again, thinking of how well Dexter continues to commit his crimes and live a supposed "normal life," it makes you wonder how well psychopaths are living among us in our lives today.