Analyzing Evil: Dexter Morgan 

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It makes me SO happy that you’re acknowledging how Harry plays a big part in why Dexter’s mental is the way it is and that he did more harm then good for Dexter no matter how you try and look at it. Harry’s his dark passenger for a reason

In short, Dexter Morgan is a shining example of, “If you treat ppl like animals, they’ll probably act like animals”.

Props to Michael C Hall to become one of the underrated actors in America

The true villain of Dexter are the writers who gave him TWO terrible endings.

Dexter is wild. Goes to show just how hard it is to come back when you were never given a chance to be normal.

I’ve seen this series more times than I can remember because it’s my number one favorite show. In one episode, Dexter tells a man on his table that “you’re all just unchecked versions of myself” and I think it sums up the character of Dexter Morgan perfectly. Killing bad people is what prevents/prevented him from killing true victims like innocent people. Without it, he would be just like all of the victims that laid on his table.

It's not a mystery that Harry Morgan is the real villain of the series, he pretty much groomed and raised the distressed and traumatized Dexter to be a serial killer by teaching him how to get away with it and only harming those who had ran away from the law(just to flex on his own unsatisfactions with the law), but like any unhealthy obsession it was a slipery slope and soon Dexter start enjoying this, and after realizing he created a monster, he cowardly took his own life leaving Dexter alone to harm more people to feed his obsession and to deal with all the conflicting emotions he started to feel with the dark passenger persona. If Harry looked for a second opinion instead of listening "a professional" who could be a sociopath herself, Dexter could have lived a normal life if his adoptive father wasn't irresponsible with his condition.

4:39 Harry was one of the series's biggest villains if you think about it. Got Laura killed because he couldn't keep it in his pants and kept cheating on his wife with his women CI'S, turned the traumatised Dexter into his weapon against criminals who got away, abandoned Brian because he was too old to brainwash with the Code and when he saw one of Dexter's kills up close it dawned on Harry what he'd done but the coward killed himself instead of trying to fix it.

Dexter is a greek tragedy the likes of which breaking bad perfected. Really the major flaw with Dexter was the end in my opinion. Which felt rushed. But it's arcs were so purposeful and good and unraveling that I still count Dexter as one of the best shows that have been made. And an excellent example of the unreliable narrator trope. Dexter insisting he has no feelings while plainly experiencing them will never not be hilarious to me.

One thing always stuck out to me was how badly Harry misread certain situations. Like when Dexter killed the neighbours dog because it was keeping his sick mom up at night. Harry saw it as Dexter finding an justification but really it was just a traumatized teenager trying to help his sick mom and thanks to Harry he seemed to only know one way to express feelings and/or help those he deeply cares about. You see it with Rita’s ex when Dexter framed him because he was causing problems

OH YESS I LOVED Dexter, that show was my jam, & Love hearing your input on Anti-heroes and Anti-villains too

Your point about him being misdiagnosed by his adoptive father actually fits perfectly with the biggest hole I saw in the series. Everyone who knew about the real Dexter went on and on about how he wasn't a normal person and he has to pretend because he can't actually connect with real people. However, we see so many instances of his actual connections with people. A great example is the dude that killed the priest that Dexter got close to. He drowned the dude in the ocean with what can only be described as rage. Had he done what he normally does, he would have waited for his moment and did his bay harbor butcher thing. Instead, he heard a man confess to murdering someone and reacted in the moment with anger driven violence. That doesn't happen unless Dexter has an emotional connection with the victim. Time and time again we are given examples that he isn't as far gone as everyone is telling us he is yet it is never actually addressed by the characters in any meaningful way.

in regards to "they could've been dealt with if dexter revealed his finding to his collegues" the issue with that is that alot of the evidence dexter finds is obtained illegally, and therefor can not be used in court, so those people would just end up getting away with it.

I loved the book version of Dexter. He was definitely more dark, he did not just stab and dismember like in the show, he liked to torture and experiment with new tools just like his brother Rudy. I also loved that Rudy was a recurring character in the books.

That moment when Dexter realized that Miguel was using him and went into a legitimate fucking rage was chilling. To see a guy who's normally so in control finally lose it was incredible.

Seeing his personality traits and relationships laid out like this, I can say Dexter shows the most signs of having CPTSD (complex post-traumatic stress disorder). That disorder manifests very differently from PTSD due to the differences in causes. CPTSD is the developmental and mental version of death by a thousand cuts, especially so if the ongoing trauma happens during childhood development. - Dexter is a Freeze/Fawn type. He dissociates when faced with a difficult situation, or emotions his brain is protecting him from. He's also a people-pleaser, only wanting to do what he believes or has been told is good for people or society, and he gets extremely attached to people that fulfill an emotional need. - He's socially awkward, but not quite in a universal way. He's awkward around people he doesn't know because it scares him, not because he doesn't know how to be. Severe social anxiety is a common symptom of CPTSD, because we learn at an early age and often have it reinforced throughout adulthood that people are unsafe, so it can take us a while to warm up to new people. - He's hypervigilant, which is what makes him so good at his professions. - He feels immense shame and guilt for his mistakes, far above what an average person might feel. - He has a very shaky self-image because he was never taught how to get to know himself. He was only ever allowed to follow how other people saw him.

I consider Dexter Morgan, Tony Soprano, and Walter White to be the big three antiheroes of television. There's plenty of them now, but these three set a high bar for interesting, compelling monsters. Edit: Seems like there's some disagreement, so I'll add this. By anti-hero, I mean the central character of a story having a darker side. The hero part is just a stand-in for protagonist. Yes, all three are terrible people and Tony and Walt do become the villains of their stories by their respective endings. They're not heroic, nor do any of them (Save for Dexter) have that many traditionally heroic moments.

I adored Rita and her death gutted me I don't think I've ever cried so hard for a character death before or since. The writing definitely peaked in season 4 and John Lithgow did an amazing performance as well I was blown away

Only the showrunners of Seasons 1-4 understood Dexter's character. A bad guy killing worse people not to save innocents but because he liked it, it satisfied his urges and it was more convenient for him than just picking victims randomly. He had no emotions but faked them to blend in and seem normal. Seasons 5-8 stupidly retconned him from a serial killer pretending to be normal to a normal guy and treated his killing as some "quirky side hobby" rather than the all consuming obsession it was. Changing him from an unfeeling psychopath to someone who could feel but had been convinced by Harry he couldn't was also dumb.

He does have conscience and seems to feel really bad when his actions cause innocent deaths. That alone is a redeeming quality that seperates him from truly evil characters and serial killers, he even isolates himself because he causes harm to those he loves. If there'd be a scale of evil he'd not be that high, but if you count the amount of pain he caused then he did terrible evil. So maybe not completely evil at heart, but still evil. Good take!

Strongly believe if Rita stayed alive Dexter would have eventually stopped killing. He was slowly becoming more human, social. Getting married, having a family and child himself showed a maturation process. As we saw at the beginning of New Blood he can go without killing for long periods of time if he has life going for him. Despite all the kills before and during his relationship with Rita he still showed signs of being “saved” or normal, once Rita died and the manner she died officially sent him off the deep end and to the point of no return.

I’ve never read the books but I’d like to hear your input on it. Also when The Boys gets finished, I’d absolutely love a Homelander video.

Awesome, Dexter Morgan as a character is so interesting and had so much potential that unfortunately the show didn’t fully use but he’s still a great character. Love seeing you make all these videos on TV shows as it allows these characters to be far better fleshed out and so more interesting than many movie villains. Love your videos, and effort with such depth, nobody does it like you! If you take suggestions I would love if you would check out the FX show, The Shield (2002-2008) as I think Vic Mackey from there, and maybe some other characters, would make a very awesome video though I get this show is not the most popular anymore so it’s probably not great for views. Another potential character would be Elliot Alderson from Mr. Robot though I’m not sure he’d be considered a villain for these videos. Regardless havent finished watching this since it just dropped obviously but if it’s like your other videos it’ll be another great one! Edit: Finished the video, and was great as always! I’m so glad you mentioned how Harry basically forced Dexter to be like this. I would’ve wished that the show would’ve had Dexter realize this himself and then try to change, and it would’ve been very interesting to explore, though personally I love tragic endings so I would’ve either have him fix himself but get caught due to his past actions or eventually regress and become what he feared.

Dexter is my all time favorite drama series! Thanks for covering this amazing character!

Yeah given how ridiculously smart and objective he is, he'd probably be the best detective in Florida.

Great analysis, this is one of my all time favorite fictional personalities. Dexter Morgan has to be hands down one of the most tragic, cunning and fascinating characters of all time. This was a stroke of creative genius on the part of Jeff Lindsay.

Such a unique character, I know ppl often compare him to others like Tony and Walter but I think he's in a different field than them, on his own just so unique. Not able to be done again I bet.

It’s worth noting that psychologists have difficulty separating many of the symptoms of PTSD and autism because almost all autistic people have some form of PTSD. But I totally think Dexter’s autistic. Being autistic myself, most people seem to think it’s a social disorder but I think it’s primarily an obsessive disorder. Our brains are wired to think hyper-linearly, meaning we focus in on a topic until our brains are satisfied. I think Dexter’s PTSD and repressed memory of his mothers murder drove him to develop a hyper fixation with death and blood. Because that’s what he remembered. From the two brothers’ behavior we can assume that they each had one thing stick out about that day. For Brian it was probably the body parts: watching them fall from his mothers body and then laying there along side them in a pool of blood. That’s why he dedicated his life to prosthetic limbs and amputation. For Dexter it was the blood: watching it spray all over the shipping container and then sitting in the warm sticky substance for days before they were found. Early in his childhood, this hyper fixation manifested through him killing small animals. This was likely so he could watch them die, try to understand it, and try to scratch that itch in his brain. Again, it’s autistic linear thinking. It wasn’t because he didn’t feel anything for these animals, he just had to know. He had to feel the exact moment their life left their bodies, what made it leave, how close to the edge it could go before it left. And there was likely also the blood. Being covered in it, feeling it on his skin, smelling it in the air, watching the way it flowed out of the animals veins. It would have been strangely familiar. This is what Harry mistook for psychopathy because he never talked to Dexter. He never let Dexter really explain why he killed. He just assumed he did it because he was messed up. It’s sad because if Dexter had gone to a real therapist, maybe one who specializes in childhood PTSD and even autism, Aspergers Syndrome as it would have been called, he could have grown up to live a healthy and normal life. He would still be messed up, he just wouldn’t be a serial killer. Hell, he probably would have still ended up marrying Rita and she’d probably still be alive!

Rewatched this just last month and it holds up so well on a second viewing. The first few seasons are amazing

Dexter looks a hell lot like Matpat in that thumbnail and I can't unsee it now

The first time I watched Dexter I thought he was a good man trapped in the trauma and conditioning he had to endure. An accidental monster, misunderstood and misguided but deep down a man who if led down a better path would've been genuinely good. I watched the show again though, and noticed a theme, his unrelenting selfishness. Dexter never gives up killing, despite repeated demonstrations of the damage it does to those he loves. He almost never accepts his fate when the chips are down, perfectly willing to let those around him bear the brunt of the consequences. He abandons his family because he can't trust himself not to give into his impulses. Dexter, for all his feelings of wanting to belong and be accepted, has no interest in doing the real work on himself that would be needed to attain these things. He is an addict on every level. And like all addicts, he pursues his pleasure while trying to please those around him, nevertheless making their lives incrementally worse by the day. He is not a monster. He is weak. A sad little creature who risks everything and everyone daily for that next rush.

It's not a popular opinion, but I've always maintained that his actions were horrible. But by the end of the series he really had earned/grown a soul. New Blood only confirms that by taking himself off the board so Harrison might have a shot at a normal life. His final selfless act to complete his redemption arc and die as something more than the monster. And while he couldn't properly identify it as an emotion, he did love Hannah and Harrison.

"Dexter isn't actually a psychopath, he's just autistic" is not the take I was expecting but now that you mention it, yeah that makes more sense tbh

What perfect timing this is. I just met Michael C. Hall at Fan Expo Dallas this past weekend. He was a pretty nice guy, and this will be a fascinating watch!

The growth of this channel is insane. I know the character only exists in one movie but i think O-Dog from Menace 2 Society would be a good person for the show. He's good to his friends but a horrifying person to everyone else around him.

A villian of villians. The perfect definition of an Anti Hero. Hope to see more Anti heroes on here. Vegeta comes to mind as I argue he's one of the best.

Dexter, i feel, is one of the greatest character studies ever. Its my all-time favorite show for a reason. I've been hoping you'd do a video on it since i've found your channel, andyou did not disappoint. I feel like you should've talked about his relationship with brother sam. He seemed to have been having a huge positive infulence on Dexter, and honestly had a good chance at redeeming him had he not been killed off.

The anti-hero/villain protagonist is my favorite genre of character, and love these videos. I'd really enjoy more of these types in particular for that reason. Characters who are simply good or evil are often-times kind of dull, but characters with far more depth to them like this are always the best for storytelling imo.

"Are you getting off on this? Seeing all this blood, Dexter Morgan? - "James Doakes Yes he was Doakes... Yes he was

I would love one done on Nina Myers from “24.” What makes her lethal is that so few believed she was the traitor in their ranks and as stated by the shows hero Jack Bauer she’s the worst traitor a traitor who believes in nothing.

I'm still sad he's dead, such a fascinating character, i think i never going to see a character like this one again.

These are the characters I hope you eventually do: Homelander - The Boys (2019-) John Milton - The Devil's Advocate (1997) Fast Black - Street Smart (1987) David - The Guest (2014) Jerry Blake - The Stepfather (1987) Lil Z - City of God (2002) Bane - The Dark Knight Rises Steve - Fresh (2022) I really hope you will do them someday!

The definition of a sympathetic villian that gives you chills at the same time. And I love Morning Brew!😍 I recommend them to anyone I'm close to.

The show was so great for the first 4 seasons. It makes me so sad that the quality took a major nosedive

This dude is beyond iconic this puts the biggest smile on my face plus anti heroes are my favorite type of heroes.

Excellently done. Dexter is evil. Dexter was cultivated out of cynicism. Harry was disenchanted by the criminal justice system. Ultimately I believe this is why Dexter feels hopeless and/or cynical that he can change. I’ve been hearing a phrase that goes ‘Evil does not create. It only corrupts and destroys.’ This opens the door to an interesting conversation. What is the distinction between hero and anti-hero?

Dexter is the only serial killer that wouldn't make me nervous. He does a service the law refuses to do.

Dexter, interesting and complex character that he was, still counts as evil. He understood that, on a basic level, what he was doing was “wrong” and that killing gave him personal satisfaction. He also knew those he cared for were at higher risk of harm (physical, emotional, psychological) but he continues anyway. That’s evil. But Harry is the worst (and the quack they added later) since his ongoing betrayal of Dexter was the source of all the other misery that followed.

Dexter is one of the more interesting sociopathic characters. He seems to very much accept that he is a sociopath. And he doesn’t seem to view himself as being superior to other people. Hence his victims aren’t “cattle” to harvested as he pleases. Dexter isn’t a narcissist like many other sociopathic characters. Dexter’s victims are usually murdered due him following Harry’s code of conduct when it comes to killing. I do wonder how much of Dexter’s behaviour is due to Harry’s programming, his childhood trauma, innate sociopathy or various other mental disorders. Excellent character analysis as always. Villain Profile suggestions. 1. Frank Underwood/ Francis Urquhart (House of Cards) 2. Petyr Baelish (A Song of Ice and Fire) 3. Light Yagami (Deathnote) 4. Frank Gallagher (Shameless US) 5. Marty and Wendy Byrd (Ozark)

Dexter is so far from evil. His every waking moment spent devoted to honing his mental illness for the sake of his individual humanity shows as much. His process is airtight and 100% more effective than the very homicide department he works in, he is aware and accepts his faults and refuses to let his addiction rule his life, and he does everything in his power to keep his loved ones safe. Including self-sacrifice. ALL of that speaks to the notion that he is not a psychopath. Being aware of his condition, having a firm grasp on the concept of right and wrong, feeling genuine affection in many capacities towards many people, he lacks the narcissism that would prevent him from feeling guilt or suicidal urges. Dexter was an apex predator culling the herd of monsters that plague his hometown. To condemn him is to condemn every special forces operator, every doctor, every soul that has ever refrained from doing *wrong* as "evil." In the eyes of many, Dexter isn't the villain of the story, he's the hero.

Love that you did a video on Dexter. Definitely would love to see one on Arthur Mitchell, he's such a monster and is definitely the most compelling antagonist of the series

Dexter's biggest downfall was by far his pride. The box of blood slides and his chasing of the Trinity Killer really summed up his MO.

Please do an episode on Barry Berkman. His arc through the series as a hitman trying to abandon the life of crime for an acting career only to be held back by his past is such an amazing one.

25:40 I think one thing that disputes this point is that Dexter almost always gains evidence that his victims fit his code by going beyond the law, like a vigilante. He consistently ignores the legal process through proper warrants, and so even if he shared his evidence to his colleagues this would not work out in the long run. This is one of the points he makes to Deb in season 7 to justify his code, by saying that some people slip through the cracks of the legal system and that he needs to take things into his own hands.

one of the biggest mistakes was teaching dexter how to fake emotions, most of the time he was cold but when he lost his temper shi hit the fan real quick

A important thing is that he is not a psychopath He is a sociopath who just have murderous tendencies or bloodlust from his early traumatic childhood experience Truly an awesome show

Awesome video, Mr Vile!! Peter Parker: a good person who feels guilt about not being a better person. Dexter Morgan: a good person who feels guilt about doing horrible things for right reasons. With great power, comes great responsibility. Dexter never stood a chance. Between Harry & the Doctor, he was sabotaged into becoming the very monster they feared he had the potential to become. I do believe that Dexter has a core of inner-light that is surrounded by an insane amount of cultivated evil & mental scars but he tries ( & to some extent succeeded) to conceal them with learned behavior & a Knightly Moral Code. He should have been attempting to understand & channel his Cause (extreme Generational Trauma from the loss of his family) instead of mitigating the Symptoms. (Murdering 'criminals who slip through cracks & who deserve it')

Finding out about his brother and his mother and his trauma is truly the peak of the entire show.

I was addicted to this show the when it first came out, after a few seasons it kind of went of the rails, I never really finished it, but I LOVED the idea of dexter as a character. I want to watch this, but I don't remember a lot of the nuance that this show had as it is literally 15 years old. I'm going to "properly buy Dexter and not torrent it, like at all" and then watch the first 3 or 4 seasons and I'll return to this video. Thank you Mr Vile

He killed serial killers. He was a hero for sure

I think a comparison between show and novel Dexter would be really interesting to hear

Sure dexter unintentionally hurt innocent people, but how many hundreds or thousands did he save by doing his thing?

I would love to see a video based on Jax Teller or The Punisher. This one was fantastic.

It is a crime how underrated this tv-show is. Really one of the best tv-shows of all time in my opinion and one of the best characters

I’m sorry but that thumbnail is so goofy, mans just like 🙂

I think what’s interesting about this analysis is that it reminds me of some actual historical serial killers. The one that comes to mind as coming close to resembling Dexter is the Frontiersman Lewis Wetzel who lived in the Ohio/West Virginia border region in the late 18th/early 19th century. Wetzel, like Dexter, experienced horrific trauma as a child on the Frontier of what was then called The North West Territory. Family members, including his father, were killed by Native Americans. Wetzel and his brother were also kidnapped by Native Americans as a child in which they didn’t know if they would be killed or adopted which were the two most likely scenarios. He and his brother then made a truly remarkable and courageous escape. Wetzel then grew up on the border frontier where conflict between the American settlers and the Native Americans was brutally savage. Wetzel then grew up into an incredibly talented frontier scout, guide and guerrilla a fighter. Wetzel exhibited some of the same mental health issues Dexter portrays. His action in defense of settlers in the frontier was often incredibly courageous and heroic. Often showing up at the nick of time through incredible dangers and warning communities of eminent attacks and saving many lives. He was also famous for saving settlers who had been kidnapped by Native Americans many who would have been horribly tortured and murdered. Then their was his not so heroic activities in which Wetzel would track down and murder Native Americans who, as far as anyone knew, had done no one any harm. It is estimated that his murders of innocent native Americans was in excess of a hundred. He was so feared by the Native Americans they called him Death Wind. Only the Cutahotha (Simon Kenton) was more feared than Wetzel but Kenton was by no means a serial killer. Kenton was just an incredibly gifted frontiersman and fighter but he didn’t do crazy things like hunting them down and killing them for pleasure or sport as Wetzel did. Wetztel was also uncomfortable and awkward in social interactions, had difficulty speaking properly, was uncomfortable in social interactions, except with children and other characteristics that appear to be similar to Dexter. So was Lewis Wetzel evil or a product of his environment or both. He was both but I do not find this an acceptable reason to not condemn Wetzel for the many evil acts he committed.

I have been following this series WAITING for this episode. And once it came up I swore I would subscribe. So here's that and thank you for all the amazing content!

I would watch an entire show with Doakes as the main character

Fantastic video. Would love you to also cover The trinity killer from s4. He was definitely Dexter's most interesting rival across the series. And I also found the s5 antagonist, Jordan Chase, to be somewhat interesting as well. He definitely had an interest in power dynamics and having power over others. So, selfishly, I love to see a video on him as well. Really, you could do a whole mini series of videos on some of the villians from the show as there are plenty to choose from. Miguel Prado, The Ice truck killer, Lyla, etc.

One of my favorite shows. Thank you for posting this I’m so excited for this 30 minutes

Dude. Real talk, you're the first youtuber to put out merch that actually looks cool. That's an awesome shirt design for your channel. Love your stuff and I hope to keep seeing you... soon.

Bruh this deserved a 2 hour episode. Dexter the best protagonist ever

I’m normally not in favor of blaming the crimes of adults entirely on their parents and upbringing (at least, the individual ultimately has responsibility for their actions.) However… this video should probably be called Analyzing Evil: Harry Morgan.

Do an analyzing evil for Lots-o-huggin bear, Johan Liebert, Lord Shen, Angel Eyes, Xenomorph, and Koba.

This was a masterpiece. Thank you. Been waiting for this analysis of Dexter

I can't believe The Vile Eye was the Bay Harbor Butcher!

I did NOT expect this omg. This is probably my favorite episode now. Would you cover the other character of the series or just keeping it at dexter himself?

This one was a really interesting one from a psychological, but also moral point of view. I'd like to point out a few things. Mind, that I'm not a psychologist, but I've read a bit and met some people that should be qualified as sociopaths and psychopaths (but also narcissists). First off, I disagree with psychopaths having a harder time blending in. Both psychopaths and sociopaths can come with varying levels of impulse control and intelligence. I'd like to define what I mean by those terms. I know that they have become pretty much interchangeable and AFAIK, sociopaths are no longer an official term. Psychopaths: they are born that way. They have intrinsically fewer emotions. This includes fear, disgust, shame, guilt, and obviously empathy. From what I know, they are extremely hard to find, unless they are low-functioning (incapable of living in a society, more like a feral beast and thus ending up either dead or in prison). The one thing that can give them away easily, however, is something I envy them for: superhuman emotional stability. They are immune to burn-out, depression, and PTSD and are unlikely to break down even under torture! They are however pretty much passionless. and utterly incapable of loving anyone but themselves (thus, inherently narcissistic, but not delusional, and they won't throw tantrums when their perfectly crafted image gets destroyed). They are thus very emotionally detached from pretty much everything. They don't seem to react near as much emotionally to music, art, or other abstract pleasures. My grandfather was probably a great example. I loved him for not judging me like my other relatives and for his weird brand of honesty (he was a soldier of the Wehrmacht and he saw no need to paint himself as a hero, or victim of circumstances, but spoke in a matter of fact way). In short, he was unapologetically himself. Now, the other thing I found impressive was that he saw the horrors of the eastern front, and yet, he never held any grudges and even showed some admiration for Russian culture! After the war, he went back to his old life as if nothing had happened, which is something no one else among my relatives was capable of doing and he visited Russia a few times after the war. He cheated on his wife and banged Russian girls whose fathers had been killed by German soldiers. He had no shame and yet, his way of thinking was better than keeping a grudge alive for generations... Sociopaths: they are an adaptation to a hostile environment. They were born as regular humans and even after being damaged, they may fall in love or care about things other than themselves, but they have a twisted moral compass and have become moral pragmatists, Machiavellian, cynical, and callous. The irony is that many may care more about other people but are too damaged to blend in. Again, some are much better than others at blending in and becoming a functional part of society, However, the trend is that they struggle to fight their inner demons and get over past trauma (PTSD, addictions, self-loathing...). It's not uncommon that they got a strong friend-foe image in their head. They can be r@cists, or fancy themselves as men of honor following the codex of the mafia. Either way, they find ways to justify their darker sides and seek things to hold on to an image as being not that bad. Today, they are just referred to as people with antisocial personality disorder spectrum, whereas psychopaths would score highest on the scale (if they answered honestly) and thus keep a specific name. It is noteworthy that far fewer women are classified as psychopaths, but that may be because mostly only criminals become diagnosed as such and in particular those that commit murder. However, women are far less likely to rely on violence, either as a means of an end or as an expression of anger. BTW, psychopaths are unlikely to get angry, especially at things we tend to get angry about. The one thing they however hate is not being in control of a situation. However, I'm pretty sure that I found a female psychopath and she left a big impression on me. Her immense emotional stability was what tipped me off. The next thing I noticed was how she turned lying into an art form. I do think that I'm rather good at spotting liars, but I wouldn't be able to tell when she was lying. I just happened to know the truth already. Another thing that tipped me off were the moments when she dropped her mask. Unlike my grandfather who was unapologetically himself, she was a social chameleon who always adopted a role that should be well-received by her target. Obviously, reacting to the same situation differently is a big sign of incongruency. Then, there were minor slip-ups, such as trampling over other people's emotions without intending to do so. She could also push someone to work overtime by threatening to fire him, and in the very next moment get back to a flirtatious tone with him and invite him to a party. What really shocked me is how oblivious others were to her ASPD. I did warn a few and pointed to moments where she lied, showed a lack of empathy, or manipulated people into doing her bidding against their better interest, but most of these situations were chalked up to her having a bad day... (despite her always being a sunshine). I did make a joking remark about her psychopathy and the thing I didn't expect was that she didn't even deny it! Normal people would be offended at the accusation, but she didn't care! Not much changed. Only, when we were alone, she stopped the act of caring about others. It was seriously creepy seeing her flip like this. The depressing part was that she was certain that I was no threat to her, because they would rather believe her than me... AFAIK, there's no cure for either of the conditions! However, since it manifests in early childhood, people can learn to live with it during that face and thus it is very important to give them in a environment that doesn't allow their bad urges and rewards them for playing along. Both can be productive members of society and at times be better at a job than normal humans! For instance, a certain degree of emotional detachment is required for working in ER, or working as soldiers or law enforcement. Otherwise they are likely to get worn out and eventually break down! However, it is a given that lying, disregarding rules, or trying to cheat for personal gain can be a huge problem. However, bad behavior is always only an option to get what they want and not something they feel compelled to do, like a sadist, or someone who is drawn to kids in an unhealthy way... Thus, when they can make a good life within legal means, why risk everything for a little extra? (this is where their degree of impulsivity makes or breaks it). Lastly, I find it an interesting topic to talk about ASPD among parents. Abuse and neglect are often passed along through generations. This doesn't mean that a sociopath will raise new sociopaths. I find it thus interesting to ask how good as parents can they be, if they really want to? Sociopaths may care, but psychopaths will be better at teaching social interactions.

Am I the only one who actually enjoyed the ending of the original Dexter? Dexter loved his sister. Taking her from the hospital, burial at sea, driving off into the eye of the hurricane. I found it rather poetic and quite fitting.

Never clicked so fast, really interesting how the show convinces u that these people who were killed indirectly or as an innocent deserves it. It’s Credit to the writing for conveying these people through dexters eyes

This comment section is funny. People seem to think evil only exists in some cartoonish villain or some extreme version of a human. Evil people can do good things and good people can do evil things. The world would be much simpler if that were not true, but it is. Dexter is an evil person we want to be good, because there is good in him. What can we point to as a definitive line which people can cross that makes them evil if not murdering dozens of people, regardless of those people's crimes? How about letting other, actual good people die to hide your crimes? The reason we root for Dexter is simple bias. We are presented everything from his point of view, he is the narrator and main character, we are invested in his story. If his sister Deb, or anyone dealing with the fall out of Dexter's actions, were the main character whose eyes through which we view the story, we would most likely fee different about Dexter. If you think Dexter is a good person, you might have some issues of your own.

Personally, after reading a shit ton of the top comments so far I am sad to see no one mention Sgt Dokes (sp? he's the black dude that was killed off) and Dexter and his relationship in the early seasons. He was a thorn in Dexter's side for the longest time but it was almost like he was a necessary annoyance for Dexter to deal with to keep him from going too far off the rails. I think they were Partners at one point and I think Dexter truly respected Sgt Dokes since they were both really similar in many ways, especially when you compare both characters' hidden and repressed persona's to each other. That dumb bitch just had to kill Dokes though... One of the most significant flaws in this show, in general, was how they killed off certain vital characters (Likes Deb which still blows my mind how the writers thought a freak surgical accident or w/e was the way to go with her death liked srsly wtf that's the biggest cop-out for a death I've ever seen). Also Dexter was good at his craft but not perfect, that one dude that was 7 feet tall and freak strength broke out of his duct tape and almost got away.

Perfect timing! I just got done re-watching the series and watching New Blood for the first time. Ended up enjoying it more on the second watch. It's hard not to sympathize with him given his trauma and his desire to be normal and have genuine human connection.

Aside from the killing and urges he has, I find Dexter incredibly relatable as a character with troubles getting close with other people :D I think it's my most re-watched series and the first four seasons are excellent

Is Dexter from the books that much different from him? Would like to see the difference if you could make the video

Oscar did attack Dexter with a combat knife, like Norm and Alberto threatened him with a gun.

“What is better, to be born good or overcome your evil nature through great effort” - Mario

Thank you soo much what a character selection. Didn't think you could up yourself but you did. Keep it up.

Your video popped up on my recommended. Gave the video a watch and man was I missing out. Going to binge all your videos. Great work!

I'm interested in hearing about book Dexter. I don't have the time to read through the books so hearing about him summarized in one of your videos would be great.

Now, this is a very interesting choice Because it's evil killing evil.

I love the "did I miss anything" at the end. NO! You are ridiculously thorough and accurate with what you portray and analyze. And that, my friend, is why you are the best at this.

The first four seasons of this show are gold, everything afterwards begins to steadily decline in quality Great video as always, I know I'm super late to watching

This analysis made me realize one thing: people who are tortured and tormented by others and life automatically have to do more work than people who get to live cause that torment. to be honest if we had a Dexter Morgan in this world, I would not be too mad. A lot of people don’t deserve the life that they’ve been given.

I believe a analysis of Netflix's Frank Castle/The Punisher would be great to look into. Jon Bernthal's performance is stellar. But absolutely loved this Dexter Morgan breakdown. One of my favorite shows of all time and I literally just discovered your channel yesterday and been binging ever since. Right on time!

He isnt evil , he isnt good neither. He is just struggling with life

The most fascinating part of the show, to me, is the difference in inner monologues from season to season. The Dexter we first meet is nothing like the Dexter we come to know. I believe Michael C. Hall (Dexter) has a hidden talent for voice acting. The way the lines are delivered, the lines themselves don't match what's actually happening in the show. I'm specifically talking about Dexter's feelings and thoughts about himself here. For instance, he'll say, 'I'm a monster who doesn't feel emotion. I'm empty,' and blatantly feel emotion but brush it off as acting. 'I'm really good at faking,' he says. The best part, I guess, is that Dexter believes the Dexter he presents to the world isn't real and is just a facade. The real him is the one tagging alongside the dark passenger. In reality, it's the opposite. The Dexter that loves his friends and family is the real Dexter. It might not be traditional love-the love normally felt by most people-but it is definitely love; slightly mutated love from a lizard that glides on ice.

I believe Hannah really did love dexter and understood him completely his light and dark side

One thing I can relate to Dexter is his ability to truly experience certain emotions. Most people take 'happiness' for granted and can readily explain it due to experience. As a person with severe chronic endogenous depression, I do not know what 'happiness' is beyond an intellectual exercises. So I see that with Dexter; at the core of him is his addiction for killing, but that obviously brings in the need for a façade. He doesn't understand on the experiential level what 'normal' is, so he observes and imitates. And the first few seasons is that exploration of Dexter's struggles with adapting to faking it, and when he opens up to Rita and allows himself to believe he will be 'respected in the morning' and she will stay, then it question other aspects of his persona.