Dexter (TV series)

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Television series
German title Dexter
Original title Dexter
Dexter Logo.svg
Country of production United States
original language English , Spanish
Year (s) 2006-2013
length approx. 45-57 minutes
Episodes 96 in 8 seasons ( list )
genre Crime , drama
Theme music Rolfe Kent
idea Jeff Lindsay ,
Lauren Gussis ,
Timothy Schlattmann
production Daniel Cerone ,
Arturs Rusis ,
Drew Z. Greenberg
music Daniel light
First broadcast October 1, 2006 (USA) on Showtime
German-language
first broadcast
February 28, 2008 on Series Premiere
occupation
synchronization
Dexter logo 2006

Dexter is an American crime or drama series with elements of black humor . Michael C. Hall plays the serial killer Dexter Morgan , of the Miami Metro Police Department as a forensic scientist works in the trail of blood analysis and in his spare time vigilante practices. The series is based on the books Darkly Dreaming Dexter (German title: Des Todes dunkler Bruder ), Dearly Devoted Dexter ( Dark Demon ), Dexter in the Dark ( Come back, my dark brother ), Dexter By Design ( The beautiful art of murder ) , Dexter is Delicious , Double Dexter, Dexter's Final Cut and Dexter is Dead by Jeff Lindsay .

Eight seasons were produced that aired in the United States from 2006 to 2013 and concluded with the series finale on September 22nd.

action

Benz , Zayas , Hall and Lee (from left)

season 1

Dexter has been traumatized since childhood , feels no emotions and has an insatiable urge to kill. This mental disorder forces him to lead a double life . In his everyday life, Dexter is very careful to appear normal and inconspicuous. He works as a forensic scientist in the homicide division of the Miami Metro Police Department , where he is responsible for blood trail analysis . His younger stepsister Debra, like her father before her, is a police officer in the same department. She's the only person Dexter has felt anything like affection for so far. At the beginning of the series, he is in a relationship with Rita, a mother of two who lives apart from her abusive husband and - like Dexter - has a relationship disorder.

Dexter's character and its background are largely conveyed and explained to the viewer in flashbacks . Dexter himself perceives certain memories more clearly for the first time and gains new insights from his past that help him to better understand himself. In addition, the relationship between Dexter and his foster father Harry is examined in more detail. This Dexter taught early on to fake emotions in order to be able to lead a normal life. Harry also had a solution for the lust for murder : Dexter should kill those who “deserve” it, that is, murderers who cannot be prosecuted by the judiciary . As a police officer, Harry is very familiar with this matter. From Harry Dexter learned how to kill without leaving a trace, but also countless rules that should prevent him from murdering indiscriminately or frivolously. So Dexter lives out his dark side at night and strictly follows "Harry's Code".

In the first season, Dexter, together with his colleagues and his sister, hunts the so-called "refrigerated truck killer", a serial killer who cleanly dismantles his victims and places them completely bloodless at their locations. Fascinated by the killer's technique, Dexter believes that he has found a soul mate, especially since he seems to know Dexter's secret and challenges him to "play". In the course of the investigation, Dexter's sister Debra is promoted and works with Sgt. Doakes to solve the case. This proves to be a difficult endeavor until another victim, Tony Tucci, is found alive and provides clues to the police. While he is in the hospital to receive prostheses , Dr. Rudy Cooper looks after. Debra meets Rudy and falls in love with him. At the end of the season it turns out that Rudy Cooper is the wanted refrigerated truck killer and also Dexter's brother. When he tries to murder Debra, Dexter kills him, making it look like suicide .

season 2

In the second season, the body bags dumped by Dexter in the sea are found by divers. The FBI sends Special Agent Lundy, one of their best investigators, to lead the investigation into the so-called "Bay Harbor Butcher" case. When it becomes known that the victims themselves were murderers who were not prosecuted by the judiciary, the as yet unknown serial killer is partly worshiped in public. Lundy, on the other hand, ensures detailed, systematic police work from the beginning, which quickly becomes dangerous for Dexter. The story is made even more complicated by the fact that Sgt. Doakes set himself the goal of finding out what is wrong with Dexter. He shadows him every free minute, which limits Dexter's freedom of movement considerably.

In order to let Lundy's investigation come to nothing, Dexter writes a manifesto that he sends to the Miami Tribune on behalf of the Bay Harbor butcher. But the shot backfires: Lundy recognizes the purpose of the document and suspects that the serial killer himself works for the police.

Paul, Rita's abusive husband who is back in prison for Dexter, dies in a prison brawl. Rita finds out that Paul's re-imprisonment was arranged by Dexter and confronts him. Dissatisfied with his poorly improvised answer, she now believes that Dexter is a drug addict and forces him to join a self-help group. There Dexter met Lila, who after a short time became his addiction supervisor. She encourages him to rely more on his feelings and conscience, which Dexter - according to his own assessment - has none. The connection with Lila has an increasingly negative impact on Dexter's life. He becomes careless and gradually puts Agent Lundy and Sgt. Doakes on his trail. In addition, the relationship with Rita suffers until it is finally ended by Rita. When Dexter realizes how important Rita and her children are to him, he tries to keep in touch with them. Lila reacts jealously and shows her true colors, whereupon Dexter avoids further contact with her. This is proving to be a difficult undertaking.

Sgt. Doakes is suspended from duty due to an attack on Dexter provoked by Dexter and shortly afterwards finds out that a perpetrator was once acquitted on the basis of Dexter's blood trail analysis. Doakes is now convinced that Dexter is the wanted killer. He searches his apartment and finds his murder trophies: slides with blood samples from all the victims. While he is having this examined, he himself comes under urgent suspicion - without any action from Dexter - and is henceforth the main suspect. Dexter then tries to use this twist to pull his own head out of the loop. Doakes confronts him with the evidence in a remote dealer shack. Although shot, Dexter locks him in a cage and holds him there for a while. Meanwhile, he begins to scatter bogus evidence that points to Doakes as a killer . Only LaGuerta, Doakes' former partner in the police force, believes in his innocence and tries to find evidence for it.

Dexter finds out that his foster father Harry had an affair with his birth mother and killed himself when he realized the monster he had created with Dexter. Burned out by the events and revelations, Dexter wants to end his life as a serial killer by facing the police and making preparations to leave. However, at his last dinner with Debra, he realizes how important he is to his sister. He decides to pursue his original plan to present Doakes as the Bay Harbor Butcher.

Lila still chases after Dexter and finds the caged Doakes and another victim in the dealer's hut. Instead of helping him, she blows up the hut with propane gas , preventing Dexter from being exposed as a killer. Lila hopes to take Dexter back, but quickly realizes that he wants to kill her too. In revenge, she tries to kill Rita's children, which Dexter can just prevent. He follows Lila to Paris, where he kills her.

season 3

Early this season, Dexter tries to kill a drug dealer and killer named Frederick "Freebo" Bowman. His plan fails; Freebo escapes, and Dexter instead kills Oscar Prado, who it turns out to be the brother of District Attorney Miguel Prado and Lieutenant of the Sheriff's Department, Ramon Prado, in self-defense . Dexter finds Freebo and murders him, but is surprised by Miguel, who has also been able to track down Freebo's hiding place, with a bloody dagger in his hand. Dexter convinces Miguel that he acted in self-defense and barely stops him from helping him remove the body. Miguel is grateful to Dexter for the - in his eyes - avenged death of his brother and covers him. There are, however, other murders that are initially attributed to Freebo. Miguel tries to direct the police work to the actual killer, later known as the "Skinner".

Dexter and Miguel develop a friendship that is rather unwanted by Dexter, in the context of which Miguel learns the truth about him and actively supports him in his "hobby". This culminates in a joint murder, through which Miguel finds pleasure in killing and henceforth tries to incite Dexter to further murders. Dexter tries in vain to suggest "Harry's Code". Instead of listening to him, Miguel independently murders the lawyer Ellen Wolf, who had been a thorn in his side for years. Dexter locates the lawyer’s body in a freshly dug grave and begins to doubt Miguel’s sincerity with him.

Meanwhile, Dexter learns that his girlfriend Rita is pregnant, which he doesn't know how to deal with at first. His main concern is the fear that his child might become like him: a monster. Only his sister Debra can Dexter convince them to face the pitfalls of fatherhood. When Dexter is sure of him, he makes a rather bumbling marriage proposal to Rita, which she consequently refuses. It takes all of Dexter's acting skills to finally convince Rita to marry him by means of a moving speech that has been copied elsewhere.

Debra focuses almost exclusively on her work during the course of the season, as she desperately wants to get a promotion to detective . Together with her new partner Quinn, she works on a series of gruesome murders that are at the expense of the skinner. She is shadowed by the murderer himself, who then chases after her contacts, cruelly tortures and murdered her. Quinn's informant Anton, with whom Debra is having an affair, is also kidnapped and tortured. It turns out that the perpetrator is looking for Freebo. Debra and Quinn manage to free Anton. Now that he is becoming an important witness in her case, Debra temporarily ends her affair with Anton, but eventually renounces the case in order to be with him. Regardless, she'll still be promoted to detective.

After the murder of Ellen Wolf, Dexter soon discovers that Miguel only used him to learn how to kill. He finds evidence that he was deceived in many ways by Miguel. Since Miguel seems incorrigible and even threatens him, Dexter kills him. The skinner, who is still looking for Freebo and has meanwhile been assigned to Dexter by Miguel, kidnaps him before his wedding day. Dexter manages to free himself and kill the skinner, making it look like a suicide. Dexter escapes from the scene and appears in time for his wedding. He marries Rita with an oath of allegiance to be the best husband and father he could be.

Season 4

Season four begins three months after the birth of Dexter and Rita's son Harrison. The family has since moved to a suburb of Miami. However, as an overtired father of a toddler, Dexter has great difficulties balancing his family life, his job and his murderous addiction.

During the investigation into the murder of a young woman who was found bleeding to death from a cut in her thigh in a bathtub, the now retired Special Agent Frank Lundy reappears. He has been working for years on the case of a mysterious serial killer , whom he calls the "Trinity killer" because each of his series of murders consists of three victims and each proceeds according to the same pattern: first, a young woman is murdered in a bathtub, second is one Mother forced to kill herself and thirdly, a family man is beaten to death with an object. Lundy discovers that the murders took place in many cities across the United States over a period of more than thirty years. Accordingly, the Trinity killer would be one of the most successful serial killers in crime history. Lundy works with Debra to track him down before he can complete the planned series of murders in Miami. One night, the two of them are shot by an unknown assassin on the way to Lundy's apartment. Debra is slightly injured, but Lundy dies, fatally wounded, before Debra's eyes. Debra believes that Trinity may be behind the fatal assassination attempt on Lundy and, much to Dexter's chagrin, begins an investigation. It later emerges that Lundy was shot by reporter Christine Hill, who was able to get secret police information through Detective Quinn. She also turns out to be Trinity's unknown daughter, who wanted to protect her father from the police through her actions.

From the documents Lundy has collected on the case, Dexter decides when and where Trinity will choose his third victim. He then succeeds in uncovering Trinity's identity, but cannot prevent the murder of another innocent man. He also learns that Trinity's real name is Arthur Mitchell and, like Dexter, lives a double life as a seemingly normal family man. Instead of killing Mitchell, Dexter befriends the killer under the false name "Kyle Butler". He hopes to learn from Mitchell how he reconciles his family life and the urge to kill, which Dexter wants to use for his marriage to Rita. However, Dexter soon realizes that appearances of the happy family are deceptive: Arthur Mitchell is tyrannizing and suppressing his family. Dexter accompanies him on a trip under a pretext, but although he wants to kill him there, he saves Mitchell's life in a suicide attempt. Shortly thereafter, Dexter finds out that Trinity's series of murders each claim four instead of the known three victims. The first victim is always a young boy who is cast in concrete and therefore never found. Dexter rescues a boy who has been kidnapped by Trinity, and in doing so draws his anger completely. Mitchell finally finds out Dexter's true identity, which is why he has to bring his family to safety immediately under a pretext. Dexter sends Rita alone on her long overdue honeymoon in advance, intending to follow her in the evening. He himself goes in search of Trinity, confronts and finally kills him.

When he sinks Trinity's body parts in the sea, Dexter considers, for the good of his family, to forego killing in the future. Happy to have made this decision, he goes home to get his things for the trip with Rita. He listens to Rita's message on the answering machine, in which she informs him that she has returned to the house to get her forgotten passport. When Dexter calls his wife, he hears her cell phone ringing in his own house. He finally finds Rita dead in the bathtub and his son Harrison sitting in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor crying (a parallel to Dexter's childhood experience). Rita is apparently the last victim of Trinity, who took revenge on Dexter. Shocked by this realization, Dexter picks up his crying son and leaves the bathroom with him.

Season 5

The plot of the fifth season picks up where the fourth left off. Dexter feels guilty about Rita's death because he didn't kill her killer, the Trinity killer, in time. The FBI takes over the investigation into the murder of Rita. After Rita's funeral, the two stepchildren move to live with their grandparents in Orlando , while Dexter and his son Harrison move to Debra for the time being.

Dexter is watched by a woman during a planned murder of a rapist named Boyd Fowler. Lumen is the thirteenth victim of a gang of kidnappers who torture, rape and then kill women. He brings the completely confused, tortured woman to safety, cares for her wounds, but initially holds her against her will - for fear that she would betray him. Over time, they gain trust in one another and eventually develop a plan of revenge against the rest of the tormentors of Lumens. So, one after the other, they kill the rapists, who are all under the leadership of the celebrity Jordan Chase and who got together in their youth. In doing so, a relationship develops between Dexter and Lumen. Dexter realizes that he has finally found someone who, despite knowing that he will have a double life, will not judge him.

During the investigation into the Trinity killer, Detective Quinn comes closer and closer to the real identity of Kyle Butler (Dexter) and also suspects Dexter to be involved in the murder of his wife Rita. He hires Liddy, a former Miami Metro Police officer, to investigate Dexter when his department refuses to investigate. Liddy then collects clear evidence against Dexter and Lumen, which he wants to use for his reinstatement with the police. Dexter in turn discovers Quinn and Liddy, tracks down the latter and kills him in his surveillance van. Since Jordan has now lured Chase Lumen into a trap and Dexter must rush to her rescue, he does not take the time to clean up Liddy's body. He destroys his tracks and follows Lumen to the house of the first victim of Jordan Chase. He finds the woman dead, but Lumen appears to be still alive. Liddy's body is found and Quinn is arrested because of a trail of blood on his shoe. This is from Liddy, whose blood was dripping from his car when Quinn came to the agreed meeting, but Liddy had already been stabbed by Dexter. Dexter later forges the results of the blood sample from Quinn's shoe, so that the latter is exonerated.

Dexter finds out that the original name of Jordan Chase is Eugene Greer and that he owns an old youth camp, to which he has now apparently taken Lumen. Dexter has a car accident on the premises. When he frees himself from the car, Chase is already waiting for him with a gun in hand. He ties Dexter and brings him to Lumen. The two manage to free themselves and kill Chase. Meanwhile, Debra appears - following a hint - also in the camp. She discovers Jordan's corpse and the two perpetrators (covered by a semi-transparent tarpaulin, behind which they can be seen in the dark), who are busy cleaning up the crime scene. Debra, who particularly sympathizes with the victims of the rapist gang in this case, lets them escape without recognizing Dexter and Lumen. She hides this encounter in the police station and claims to have only discovered the location of the torture and rape. Jordan Chase is therefore officially only missing and not dead.

After Jordan's corpse is sunk in the sea, Lumen feels as if she has been healed and leaves Dexter, knowing that he will continue killing, but she no longer wants to. However, she does not try to dissuade him, as she considers this to be hopeless. Lumen gives Dexter the hope that one day his "dark companion" can also disappear, just as he wishes.

Season 6

The Miami Police Department finds a body that appears to have been killed in a ritual murder . The homicide squad hunts the unknown killer, an elderly gentleman and his young protégé , who apparently murder for religious reasons. LaGuerta is promoted to captain after blackmailing the chief with compromising photos. LaGuerta suggests her (now ex-) husband Sergeant Batista as the successor to her previous position as Lieutenant and Head of the Revier. But when Dexter's sister Debra overpowers an armed killer in a bar and thus becomes a YouTube star, the chief promotes her to the new lieutenant.

While Dexter is on the hunt for new victims, he has various reasons to grapple with religiosity. On the one hand, his son Harrison should be admitted to a Catholic kindergarten in order to have a normal life as possible. On the other hand, a potential victim, "Brother Sam", of his "dark companion" is evidently converted, preaches and patronizes other former criminals and becomes a good friend and role model for Dexter. In addition, the religious serial killer makes Miami unsafe. Thanks to his role model Sam, Dexter wants to give up killing for his son. But when the man is killed by one of the men he looks after, Dexter falls back into his old behavior.

Debra, who felt caught off guard by a marriage proposal from Quinn, which also led to the separation, makes the stress of the new job difficult to create. Quinn completely loses control, gets drunk every evening, sleeps with various women and is always late for work. He also shows up completely drunk at Debra's housewarming for her new apartment and blows up the party. Towards the end of the season, Angel threatens him with a transfer if his behavior does not improve because he is a danger to himself and others.

Dexter introduces the younger of the two new serial killers, Travis. The latter explains to Dexter that he actually doesn't want to kill and that his former professor dragged him into the ritual murders. Dexter then lets him go. But on the hunt for the culprit, Dexter realizes that Travis killed his professor a long time ago and developed a split personality , which he was often unaware of his actions. Travis kidnaps Harrison to sacrifice him to his god, which Dexter prevents at the last moment. Debra has now dealt with her problems in therapy and has come to the conclusion that she does not only harbor fraternal feelings for her adoptive brother. When she tries to visit Dexter to confess her love to him, she watches in shock as Dexter kills Travis. The season ends with this scene.

Season 7

After Dexter tries to portray Travis' murder as suicide, Debra helps him start a fire in the church to cover up the events. However, she does not tell her adoptive brother that she wanted to confess her love to Dexter. The policewoman, who has become suspicious, then finds Dexter's knife and the microscope slide with the blood drops from his victims. When Debra confronts him, Dexter finally reveals his whole secret to her. She then tries to get him to suppress his urges and stop committing murders. When the woman killer Ray Speltzer is released because his rights were incorrectly read to him during his arrest, she begins to view Dexter's murders as a necessary evil. She confesses to Dexter that she is happy that Speltzer was killed by him.

When Dexter tries to eliminate serial killer Hannah McKay, he sleeps with her instead. He also enters into a relationship with her, which he defends with persistent determination in front of Debra, who fears for his safety. Because Hannah later tries to poison Debra, Dexter finally sees to it that she goes to jail for murder. A little later she managed to escape under the pretense of a medical emergency, and she went into hiding.

Meanwhile, Captain LaGuerta tracks down Dexter and tries to lure him into a trap with the release of Hector Estrada, who once commissioned the murder of Dexter's mother. However, Dexter gets behind this plan and therefore decides to eliminate not only Estrada but also LaGuerta, and is surprised by Debra. LaGuerta, who is still alive, tells Debra to shoot Dexter. He puts down his knife and tells Debra that it is okay if she does what she has to do. Completely overwhelmed by the situation, Debra finally decides for Dexter, shoots LaGuerta instead of Dexter and breaks down crying.

Season 8

Angel Batista rose to lieutenant six months after LaGuerta's death . Debra has left her post with Miami Metro and is now a private investigator. She stays away from Dexter and at times sinks into alcohol and other drugs . Finally, Dexter manages to bring Debra back to her senses and induce therapy, which initially does not work. Debra, who apparently can no longer handle Dexter's secret, provokes an accident with him while driving. She can save herself, but Dexter threatens to drown in the lake into which she drove the car. After a moment's hesitation, Debra saves her brother. The relationship between Debra and Dexter then normalizes. Debra begins to miss her old job and considers returning to the police.

This season in Miami, a new serial killer the "brain surgeon" (Brain Surgeon-killer), which opens the skulls of his victims and suggests to them a part of the insular cortex ( anterior insular cortex ) away in the brain, the emotional feelings of People is responsible. Then Dr. Evelyn Vogel, a well-known neuropsychologist , went to town to work on the case. It turns out that Dr. Vogel was once visited by Dexter's foster father Harry shortly after he learned of Dexter's lust for murder. Harry developed together with Dr. Vogel found the code of killing, which he then taught Dexter. Dexter is initially stunned, sees Dr. Vogel soon became a kind of surrogate mother. She also reveals to Dexter the suspicion that the Brain Surgeon Killer is one of her ex-patients who is after her. She hopes to be protected by Dexter.

Meanwhile, Hannah McKay suddenly reappears. She has since married a wealthy casino chain owner who protects her true identity but treats her badly. She asks Dexter to kill him for her, which he initially refuses. Shortly afterwards, Hannah kills her husband in self-defense and receives help from Dexter in removing the body. Since Dexter and Hannah are still in love, the two decide to leave Miami and move to Argentina with Dexter's son Harrison.

Meanwhile, Dexter and Dr. Vogel found out that her son Daniel (alias: Oliver Saxon), who was believed to be dead, is the brain surgeon killer. Dr. Vogel, overwhelmed by her feelings, contacts Saxon. However, Dexter is able to persuade her to use her help to lure her son into a trap in order to kill him. When Saxon sees through it, he kills his mother. Dexter then tracks him down, but leaves him alive. Instead, he calls Debra, who is supposed to arrest Saxon, to use this as a career boost when she rejoins the Miami Metro. Saxon manages to escape, however, where he seriously injured Debra by a shot.

Meanwhile, Dexter meets with Hannah and Harrison at the airport to fly to Argentina . You'll have to reschedule though, as a bounty hunter Hannah is now hot on the heels. In addition, Dexter receives the message that Debra has been admitted to the hospital and is in mortal danger. Hannah and Harrison then take a bus to Tallahassee , Florida, while Dexter goes in search of Saxon again in order to kill him for good. With the help of the Miami Metro, Saxon is arrested. Dexter manages to murder Daniel in prison under the pretext of self-defense .

Debra suffers irreparable brain damage as a result of her injuries and falls into a coma . While the hospital is being evacuated due to an approaching hurricane , Dexter disconnects Debra from the life support equipment, takes her out to sea in his boat and sinks her dead body in the ocean. In doing so, he comes to the conviction that he only harms all people who have ever loved him and meant something to him. So he decides to protect his surroundings from himself and sets course with his boat for the approaching storm. Later only parts of his destroyed boat are found.

Hannah and Harrison are now in Argentina, where Hannah learns via the Internet that Dexter is believed to have died. She then takes Harrison's hand and seems to accept her role as future mother.

Indefinitely later, a bearded truck driver delivers logs to a storage area and ends his working day. He returns to his hut, sits down at a table and looks at the camera. It's about Dexter who faked his own death.

characters

main characters

Dexter Morgan

At the age of three, Dexter was severely traumatized by the gruesome murder of his biological mother, which he and his older brother Brian had to witness. As a result, Dexter has had an insatiable urge to kill since childhood. He was adopted by Harry Morgan, a police officer, and grew up in his family. Harry recognized Dexter's problem early on and taught him how to lead a normal life and still satisfy his urge to kill. Thanks to Harry, Dexter only kills murderers who could not be prosecuted by the judiciary without leaving any traces.
Dexter studied medicine and works at the beginning of the series as a blood trail analyst for the homicide department of the Miami Metro Police Department, where his younger adoptive sister Debra also works as a police officer. In the first season, Dexter meets his brother Brian, who is also a serial killer, but murdered and dismembered innocent women. To save Debra, Dexter kills him at the end of the season, making it look like suicide. Although Brian was a serial killer like many he killed before him, he can barely remember his brother and only knew him vaguely as an adult, Brian's murder troubles Dexter for a long time.
Although Dexter strictly follows "Harry's Code" in the selection of his victims, it very often happens that he himself ensures that his target persons cannot be legally prosecuted by deliberately carrying out false blood tests to his department's investigations sabotaged. Every time he sneaks the chance to get the murderer under his own knife later. In order not to leave any traces behind his murders, Dexter uses square meters of plastic sheeting with which he covers his killing rooms. His killing ritual, from which he seldom deviates, includes confronting his victim with his actions, for example through hanging pictures of his victim. It is important to Dexter that the killers he kills know why he is doing this. He also collects murder trophies in the form of drops of blood on microscope slides, which he keeps in a wooden box in his apartment. After the killing, Dexter sinks the sacks with the remains of his victims in the open sea.
Dexter claims that he is incapable of feeling emotions. The assessment is mainly based on how Dexter sees himself: a monster. Over the course of the series, this thesis is often refuted by Dexter's behavior. He quickly tends to act impulsively and irrationally when his sister Debra or Rita and their children are in danger. He knocks down Rita's ex-husband Paul out of anger and has him imprisoned. He kills a pedophile who has his eye on Rita's little daughter Astor and, to save Debra, his brother Brian, the "refrigerated truck killer". During his relationship with Hannah, he first realized that he felt something like love for her. He confesses this to her several times later. Among other things, the fact that he defends Hannah, a poisoner, before Debra and only handed over to the police when Hannah tries to murder Debra, suggests the authenticity of his statements. Dexter has a deep, emotional connection with his son Harrison, towards whom he - like Debra - has developed a strong protective instinct.
In season eight, Dexter decides to leave his old life in Miami behind and start a new life with Hannah and Harrison in Argentina. When Debra is in a coma, he decides to turn off her machines and bury her in the sea. After her death, for which he blames himself, Dexter realizes that he always seems to destroy the lives of the people who are important to him. Since this should not happen to him with Hannah and his son, he then fakes his own death and goes into hermit in a secluded, unknown place. Harrison is previously in Hannah's care, who manages to escape to Argentina together with the boy.

Debra Morgan

Debra is Dexter's adoptive sister and one of the most important people in his life. She is a cop on the homicide division of the Miami Metro Police Department. In her work there, she often relies on Dexter's expertise. However, she gains more and more self-confidence in the course of the series, so that Dexter even has to fear that one day his own sister will reveal her. In the course of the series, Debra rises to lieutenant.
Debra stands out because of her very direct manner. Her language is often characterized by strong expressions, which is in stark contrast to her otherwise attractive youthful appearance. As a result, she is often perceived as immature and uncultivated, especially by her superiors.
In the sixth season, Debra begins to understand through her therapist that she is in love with Dexter. When she tries to confess this to him, she catches him murdering and finally finds out that Dexter is the "Bay Harbor butcher". She covers him on the condition that Dexter stop killing; a requirement that he can hardly meet. At the end of the seventh season, LaGuerta tries to expose Dexter as a murderer. To protect him, Debra shoots her. In the run-up to the eighth season, Debra gives up the coveted job as a lieutenant in the homicide department and switches to a private detective agency. She also breaks off contact with Dexter for months.
Debra takes a long time to process the revelations about Dexter and her guilt for LaGuerta's death. In addition, she struggles for a long time with the decision whether or not to hand Dexter over to the police. When she tries to kill Dexter in a provoked car accident, but finally saves him, she realizes that she needs him in her life and begins to accept his dark side.
At the end of the eighth season, Debra is shot by the "Brain Surgeon" killer and shortly afterwards falls into a coma due to a stroke . Dexter, who does not want to endure this fate for his sister, separates Debra from the devices that keep her alive and sinks her corpse in the ocean.
In the books, Dexter's sister is called Deborah .

Harry Morgan

Dexter's late adoptive father was a respected policeman with the Miami-Dade Police Department and recognized early that Dexter would not go through normal development into a cheerful person through traumatic experiences before his adoption. With many helpful tips on “normal” dealings with other people, he helps Dexter to maintain the facade and only direct his urges against those who, in his opinion, deserve it. Harry has already died at the time of the series' plot and only appears in flashbacks and Dexter's introduction.
Harry committed suicide when he caught Dexter cutting up a corpse. He chose this route because he realized he had created a monster with Dexter. It is only at the end of the series that it turns out that before Harry began teaching Dexter the Code, he was told by a psychologist, Dr. Evelyn Vogel, advised. "Harry's Code" was ultimately her idea, which Harry was able to implement on Dexter.

Angelo "Angel" Batista

Angel works with Debra and Dexter on Homicide. Even if he doesn't share Dexter's enthusiasm for blood, he still considers him one of his best colleagues and friends. He has a daughter with whom he rarely has contact after the divorce from his wife. Towards the end of the fourth season he married LaGuerta after a short relationship. The marriage fails in the run-up to the sixth season. In the eighth season, Batista rises to lieutenant.

Maria LaGuerta

Lauren Velez (2013)
LaGuerta is the ambitious homicide department head. She makes no secret of her dislike for Debra or her affection for Dexter in the first few seasons. She was the former friend and partner of Sgt. Doakes in the police force and despite his alleged conviction as a Bay Harbor butcher, she is always convinced of his innocence.
Meanwhile degraded, she is shown from her more human side and marries Angel Batista. The marriage did not last long and divorced ahead of the sixth season.
LaGuerta is promoted to captain early in season six after blackmailing her former boss with compromising photos. As a captain, she sabotages Debra's work as a lieutenant, hoping to replace her with Batista, with whom she is still friends. During this time she secretly begins again with the processing of the Bay Harbor butcher cases, as she still wants to prove Sgt. Doakes' innocence. Through her investigation, she uncovered Dexter's secret and was shot by Debra at the end of the seventh season after she tried to lure Dexter into a trap and unmask him as a murderer.

Vincent "Vince" Masuka

Vince Masuka is the Miami Metro Police's chief forensic scientist, who mostly attracts attention because of his crude jokes and strange sense of humor. He is considered a pervert, has few friends and a disturbed relationship with women. His conscientious and thorough work, however, is not affected. In season eight he learns that he has a grown daughter.

Joseph Quinn

Joseph Quinn is reassigned to Homicide in season three and is now Debra Morgan's partner in police investigations. He appears to be a rich heir, as evidenced by his car and house. At the beginning of the season he is being investigated internally, allegedly for corruption and embezzlement. He begins a relationship with Debra, which fails after Debra's marriage proposal is rejected. In the fifth season, Quinn suspects Dexter to have something to do with the murder of his wife Rita and is secretly investigating him. Eventually he stops doing this after himself being linked to a murder case and exonerated by Dexter's fake blood trail analysis.
When he learns that Debra will no longer recover from her injury from the "Brain Surgeon" killer, Quinn is devastated. Although Batista and Quinn can clearly see from the surveillance video of Dexter's supposedly self-defense murder of Daniel Vogel that there could be more hidden behind the targeted brutality with which Dexter proceeded, they protect him from the public and the judiciary.

Rita Bennett

Rita Bennett is first the girlfriend, from the end of the third season the wife of Dexter. Rita has two children, Astor and Cody, from her violent ex-husband Paul. It takes her a long time to process Paul’s abuse . The relationship with Rita is initially only part of Dexter's disguise as a "normal" person. Later it develops beyond that; when Rita becomes pregnant with their son Harrison, the two marry. At the end of the fourth season, Rita is murdered by the serial killer "Trinity" who takes revenge on Dexter.

Hannah McKay

Hannah McKay is a serial killer who Dexter falls in love with in season seven. After trying to poison Debra, Dexter sees that she goes to prison for murder. She manages to escape by pretending to be a medical emergency and goes into hiding. In the eighth season she suddenly appears again. She has since married a wealthy casino chain owner who protects her true identity. Hannah kills him shortly afterwards, and Dexter helps her clean up the body. Since Dexter and Hannah are still in love, the two decide to leave Miami and move to Argentina with Dexter's son Harrison. She and Harrison later travel there, waiting for Dexter, who still has something to do in Miami, to join them soon. However, Dexter decides against it at the last moment and instead fakes his own death. Because he is convinced that sooner or later he would destroy the lives of Hannah and Harrison just like Debra's.

James Doakes

James Doakes is the only one in the department who can't stand Dexter. His carefree manner gets on his nerves; Dexter's fascination with blood sends chills down Doake's spine. For Dexter, this becomes more and more of a problem, as Doakes receives more concrete suspicions and trusts him less and less. During the course of the second season, Doakes finds out Dexter's secret and tries to convict him as the "Bay Harbor butcher". However, he underestimates Dexter by confronting him alone near a completely secluded hut. Dexter then arrests him and begins to scatter evidence against him. At the end of the second season, Doakes is found and murdered by Dexter's addiction counselor and pyromaniac Lila, who is morbidly in love with Dexter. In this way she prevents Dexter from being exposed as the Bay Harbor butcher. Because of this, and because of the false evidence that Dexter lays against Doakes in advance, the police declare him a murderer and the investigation into the murder of the Bay Harbor butcher is closed.

Short-term main characters

In addition to the permanent characters of the series, other, usually newly introduced, people play an important role in each season. In contrast to the characters listed for the main characters, these are only important in the respective season in which they act as protagonists. Nevertheless, they have a great influence on the progress of the series and the development of all other characters, which is why they are also listed here.

Lumen Pierce - Season 5

Julia Stiles (2007)
In the fifth season, Lumen is being held by a group that rape, abuse and kill their victims. After Dexter kills one of her tormentors, he finds her and initially also holds her captive until she gains confidence in him. Through her traumatic experiences, she wishes to kill her tormentors in revenge. Dexter tries unsuccessfully to dissuade her from this thought and finally decides to help her. He lets her move into his old house, where Rita was murdered, and begins a relationship with her. Dexter keeps this completely secret from his sister and his acquaintances or "camouflages" Lumen as a tenant. Together they kill Lumen's tormentors one after the other. After the murders, Lumen leaves Dexter as she has found her peace and wants to continue her life normally, while Dexter probably really loved her. With Dexter, who will continue to kill because of his urge, she still sees no future. Lumen is one of the few people in Dexter's life who know his secret and are at large.

Dr. Evelyn Vogel - Season 8

Dr. Vogel appears in season eight. As a well-known neuro-psychiatrist who specializes in serial killers, her job is to work on the "Brain Surgeon" killer case. In doing so, she reveals to Dexter that it was she who developed "Harry's Code" together with his foster father. Dexter sees Dr. Vogel soon as a kind of (surrogate) mother. When it turns out that the brain surgeon killer is her son Daniel, who was believed to be dead, she is torn between him and Dexter. After much hesitation, she and Dexter develop a plan to kill Daniel. However, he notices the trap and kills his mother.

Cast and dubbing

The series was set to music by RRP Media in Berlin . The dialogue books were written by Sabine Sebastian , Andreas Hinz and Thomas Maria Lehmann. Hinz, Stefan Fredrich , Julien Haggége and Rainer Raschewski directed the dialogue .

actor role Voice actor image Main role
(episodes)
Supporting role
(episodes)
Guest role
(episodes)
Michael C. Hall Dexter Morgan / Moser Dennis Schmidt-Foss Michael C. Hall (2012) 1.01-8.12
Jennifer Carpenter Ofcr./Det./Lt. Debra Morgan Ilona Brokowski Jennifer Carpenter (2012) 1.01-8.12
David Zayas Det./Sgt./Lt. Angel Batista Sebastian Christoph Jacob David Zayas (2013) 1.01-8.12
Lauren Velez Lt./Capt. Maria LaGuerta Iris Artajo Lauren Velez (2013) 1.01-7.12
James Remar Det. Harry Morgan Jan Spitzer James Remar (2010) 1.01-8.12
Julie Benz Rita Bennett Uschi Hugo Julie Benz (2012) 1.01-4.12 5.01
Erik King Sgt. James Doakes Oliver Siebeck Erik King (2013) 1.01-2.12 7.12
CS Lee Vince Masuka Rainer Fritzsche CS Lee (2010) 2.01-8.12 1.01–1.12
Jaime Murray Purple Tournay / West Claudia Urbschat-Mingues Jaime Murray (2012) 2.03-2.12
Jimmy Smits Miguel Prado Detlef Bierstedt Jimmy Smits (2016) 3.01-3.12
Desmond Harrington Det. Joseph "Joey" Quinn David Nathan Desmond Harrington (2013) 4.01-8.12 3.01-3.12
Ray Stevenson Isaac Sirko Torsten Michaelis Ray Stevenson (2014) 7.01-7.09
Yvonne Strahovski Hannah McKay Sonja Spuhl Yvonne Strahovski (2014) 7.03-7.12; June 8 - December 8
Christina Robinson Astor Bennett Emma Raschewski 1.01-3.12
Lilly Sumner 4.01-5.12 7.08
Daniel Goldman Cody Bennett Jonas Frenz 1.01–1.12
Preston Bailey 2.01-5.12 7.08
Christian Camargo Rudy Cooper / Brian Moser / Refrigerated Truck Killer Timmo Niesner Christian Camargo (2008) 1.05-2.02; 6.06–6.07
Keith Carradine Frank Lundy Erich Rauker Keith Carradine (2007) 2.01-2.12; 4.01-4.04
Courtney Ford Christine Hill, reporter and daughter of the Trinity killer Tanja Schmitz 4.01-4.12
Aimee Garcia Jamie Batista Luisa Wietzorek Aimee Garcia (2014) 6.01–8.12
John Lithgow Arthur Mitchell / Trinity Killer Bodo Wolf John Lithgow.jpg 4.01-4.12
Julia Stiles Lumen Pierce Ranja Bonalana Julia Stiles (2007) 5.03-5.12
Jonny Lee Miller Jordan Chase / Eugene Greer Jaron Lowenberg Jonny Lee Miller (2017) 5.02-5.03; 5.07-5.12
Peter Weller Stan Liddy Frank Glaubrecht Peter Weller (2016) 5.05-5.12
Mos Def Brother Sam Jan-David Rönfeldt Mos Def (2008) 6.02–6.06
Colin Hanks Travis Marshall / Doomsday Killer Julien Haggége Colin Hanks (2015) 6.01–7.01
Edward James Olmos Professor James Gellar / supposed doomsday killer Uli Krohm Edward James Olmos (2009) 6.01-6.10
Billy Brown Mike Anderson 6.03–7.01
Charlotte Rampling Dr. Evelyn Vogel Karin Buchholz Charlotte Rampling (2011) 8.01-8.10
Geoff Pierson Deputy Chief / Captain Tom Matthews Ernst Meincke 1.01-4.12; 6.01–6.12
Reinhard Kuhnert 5.01-5.12; 7.01-8.12

Remarks:

  1. Some characters have several official titles in the course of the series.
  2. Actor is listed as "Special Guest Star" in the opening credits , but is not part of the main cast . The actor accompanies the characters in the series for one season.

Charisma

United States

The first season was broadcast in the US from October 1 to December 17, 2006 on the cable channel Showtime . The second season aired from September 30 to December 16, 2007. The third season started on September 28th and ended on December 14th, 2008. The fourth season ran from September 27th to December 13th, 2009 on Showtime. A fifth season aired between September 26 and December 12, 2010. On December 2, 2010, E! Online that Showtime has renewed Dexter for a sixth season, which was shot in the spring of 2011. The sixth season aired on October 2 and ended on December 18, 2011.

After lengthy but successful contract negotiations between the broadcaster and lead actor Hall, the series was extended in mid-November 2011 for a seventh and eighth season with twelve episodes each. Filming for the seventh season began in spring 2012 for a premiere on September 30, 2012. The eighth and final season of the series started - earlier than the previous seasons - on June 30 and ended on September 22, 2013.

Showtime's parent company CBS acquired the rights to the series for a FreeTV broadcast in spring 2008, but these episodes were shown in cut versions.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, the broadcaster SRF Zwei showed the first season from September 1 to November 17, 2008 as a free TV premiere. The second season was also broadcast as a free TV premiere between October 4 and December 20, 2009. The third aired on December 5, 2010 as a free TV premiere. The fourth season aired from December 5, 2011 to February 27, 2012.

Germany

The pilot episode ran exclusively on Pay TV on February 24, 2008 on Premiere 1 (now Sky ). The regular broadcast of the first three seasons has also been there since February 28, 2008. Sky broadcast the fourth season from October 18, 2010 and the fifth from September 12, 2011 as a German premiere. The sixth season began broadcasting on Sky Atlantic HD on August 22, 2012. The station showed the seventh season from June 20, 2013. The eighth and final season started on June 19, 2014 on Sky Atlantic HD.

The first season ran on free TV between September 29 and December 15, 2008 on RTL II . The second season ran there between February 28 and April 4, 2010. The third season was broadcast from May 15, 2011 to July 31, 2011, also there in the late evening program. The broadcaster RTL II showed all 12 episodes of the fourth season from 23 to 25 August 2013 on one weekend. The fifth season ran between May 18 and June 9, 2014 on RTL II.

Tele 5 has been repeating the five seasons already shown on RTL II since September 18, 2015 and then plans to broadcast the remaining three seasons for the first time.

Both Sky, RTL II and Tele 5 broadcast Dexter optionally in HDTV .

Austria

ORF Eins broadcast the first season between September 29 and December 8, 2008 in two-channel audio technology. The second season ran there between November 2, 2009 and January 18, 2010, the third between January 3 and March 21, 2011. The start of the fourth season was January 30, 2012. The free TV The ORF premiered the fifth season on March 11, 2013, and the sixth season on September 15, 2014.

Availability via video on demand

All eight seasons are available on Amazon Instant Video via video-on-demand . Maxdome removed the series 2015, Netflix on December 22, 2017 from the program. All eight seasons are currently also available from the streaming provider Sky Ticket.

Episode list

Trivia

  • Dexter's code name in the Drug Enforcement Administration's database for the procurement of the narcotic etorphine , which he uses to paralyze his victims, is Dr. Patrick Bateman, the name of the title character in the novel American Psycho .
  • The book The Ice Princess , which Debra considers her biography until she is shown the author to write children's books, is actually a Disney movie. Erik King aka Sgt. James Doakes plays in it.
  • Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter, who played siblings on the show, became a couple during filming in 2007 and were married on December 31, 2008. In December 2011, the two were divorced.
  • Keith Carradine , who portrays Special Agent Frank Lundy in seasons 2 and 4, played a serial killer in the series Criminal Minds and was also called Frank there.
  • The season finale of the fourth season broke Showtime's ratings record with 2.6 million viewers. Dexter topped the 1999 record when Showtime showed a boxing match with Mike Tyson . The series finale also set a new record for Showtime with 2.8 million viewers.
  • In Germany, most episodes were released from the age of 16. However, several were only released for adults (no youth rating).
  • Dexter was parodied in the "Treehouse of Horror XXII", in the second story "Dial D for Diddly" with the Simpsons and in episode 2x15 ("The Stalking Dead") by Ugly Americans .
  • In episode 1x09, Dexter learns that his biological father was still alive and mentioned him in his will. Rita urges Dexter to come and accompany him while Dr. Rudy Cooper influences Debra so that she follows Dexter and Rita to be there for her brother and takes Rudy with her to support her. When the four of them are packing the household items together, one can observe that Dexter and Rudy pack the things in their own characteristic way, namely just like their body parts: Dexter puts things in garbage bags and uses duct tape, while Rudy uses brown packing paper and ropes.
  • In the eighth season, the role of Angel Batista was not always played by actor David Zayas , in some takes his son David Zayas Jr. played the role.
  • Before shooting the fifth season, Hall fell ill with Hodgkin's lymphoma , but was still in front of the camera for the shooting.
  • Julie Benz , who plays Rita Bennett , originally auditioned for the role of Debra Morgan .
  • David Zayas , like his series role, was a cop before he became an actor.
  • The actors Erik King , David Zayas and Lauren Vélez have already stood together in front of the camera for the series Oz - Hell Behind Bars .
  • In July 2015, the game developer and publisher published BlooBuzz the Wimmelspiel Dexter: Hidden Darkness for Android and iOS , which is based on the series.
  • Jennifer Carpenter and Desmond Harrington were in front of the camera for several episodes together for the series Limitless (2015).

reception

Rotten Tomatoes (blue) and Metacritic (red) review
barometer in percent

Dexter was received largely positively in the United States; However, there were strong fluctuations between the various scales (see graphic on the right). Seasons 2 and 5 each achieved a review barometer of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes , while Seasons 2 (with 85%) and 7 (with 81%) were rated the best on Metacritic .

In Germany, the critics were also largely positive. On the occasion of the broadcast of the first season on RTL II, Thomas Hoffmann wrote in the world that Dexter was a morbid mirror for anyone who thought they knew themselves. The viewer devours one episode after another. Florian Zettel said in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that the plot of the series was implemented in such an excellent way that Dexter stood out from the usual US series. He also wrote: "[...] it is the mixture of images and music that gives the series a mood that lifts Dexter to the Olympus of the crime genre" . And Nina Rehfeld was of the opinion in the FAZ that the series had started as a black tragicomedy, but had become darker over time. The narrative constellation of Dexter is complicated.

Awards

Dexter won a total of 45 awards and received 182 other nominations. Among other things, two Golden Globes , four Emmy Awards and seven Satellite Awards were won .

DVD release

Germany
  • Season 1 was released on October 23, 2009
  • Season 2 was released on April 22, 2010
  • Season 3 was released on April 7, 2011
  • Season 4 was released on February 9, 2012
  • Season 5 was released on October 4, 2012
  • Season 6 was released on June 6, 2013
  • Season 7 was released on December 5, 2013
  • Season 8 was released on June 5, 2014
United States
  • Season 1 was released on August 21, 2007
  • Season 2 was released on August 19, 2008
  • Season 3 was released on August 18, 2009
  • Season 4 was released on August 17, 2010
  • Season 5 was released on August 16, 2011
  • Season 6 was released on August 14, 2012
  • Season 7 was released on May 14, 2013
  • Season 8 was released on November 12, 2013
Great Britain
  • Season 1 was released on May 19, 2008
  • Season 2 was released on March 30, 2009
  • Season 3 was released on August 16, 2010
  • Season 4 was released on November 29, 2010
  • Season 5 was released on September 5, 2011
  • Season 6 was released on June 18, 2012
  • Season 7 was released on June 3, 2013
  • Season 8 was released on December 2, 2013

Web links

Commons : Dexter  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Dexter  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. Book review of Darkly Dreaming Dexter ( Memento from November 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  2. Dexter. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on July 3, 2013 .
  3. Kristin Dos Santos: Dexter Picked Up for a Sixth Season! . E! Online . December 2, 2010. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
  4. ^ Showtime slices into a sixth season of Dexter . Showtime . December 6, 2010. Archived from the original on August 30, 2011. Retrieved on December 6, 2010.
  5. ^ Rainer Idesheim: Showtime publishes start dates for Dexter and Homeland . Serial junkies . July 22, 2011. Retrieved July 22, 2011.
  6. ^ Christian Junklewitz: Dexter: Showtime extends series by two seasons . Serienjunkies.de . November 18, 2011. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
  7. Amanda Kondolojy: Showtime Stakes Claim To Sundays This Fall With The Returns Of 'Homeland' And 'Dexter' . TV by the Numbers . March 12, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  8. insidetv.ew.com - 'Dexter' returning early for 8th season (English) January 21, 2013
  9. ^ Official homepage of the television channel CBS . Retrieved March 8, 2009.
  10. Bernd Krannich: Sky shows season 4 of "Dexter" from October . Serial junkies . September 6, 2010. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
  11. Bernd Michael Krannich: Dexter: Sky shows season 5 from September . Serial junkies . August 1, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2011.
  12. Axel Schmitt: Dexter: Sky Atlantic HD shows the 7th season from June . Serienjunkies.de . May 2, 2013. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  13. ^ Mario Giglio: Dexter: German TV premiere of the last series . In: Serienjunkies.de . April 30, 2014. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  14. Rainer Idesheim: Dexter: RTL II shows the 3rd season as a German free TV premiere . Serial junkies . April 4, 2011. Retrieved April 4, 2011.
  15. Bernd Michael Krannich: Dexter: RTL II shows season 4 as event programming in August . In: Serienjunkies.de . July 10, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  16. Tele 5 secures "Dexter" and "Californication" . In: DWDL.de . August 7, 2015. Accessed August 7, 2015.
  17. Dexter: Divorce from Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter sealed . December 7, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
  18. David Hinckley: 'Dexter' series finale draws in record 2.8 million viewers. Retrieved May 26, 2020 .
  19. ^ Dexter: Hidden Darkness Review - Murderer of Time. Retrieved May 10, 2016 .
  20. Dexter . In: Metacritic . Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  21. Dexter . In: Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  22. Thomas Hoffman: Dexter, the nice serial killer from next door . In: The world . August 29, 2008. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  23. Florian Zettel: Genius of Evil . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . October 7, 2010. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  24. Nina Rehfeld: He acts according to his own code . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . May 22, 2011. Retrieved October 19, 2013.