Why Dexter is So Terrifying 

Really enjoyed your take on dexter. I'm a behavior analyst , so I look at it from a very different point of view than the psychoanalytical freud/jung philosophy. I have thought for years that dexter is mischaracterized as a psychopath. He is not a psychopath at all. Instead, I believe that dexter suffers from an extremely severe case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder wherein his fixation is on the act of killing. To be a psychopath, Dexter would need to be very lacking in his sense of morality and conscience. This isn't the case, however. Dexter's conscience is just different from ours. What a person views as "right and wrong" is heavily influenced by the culture they grow up in. Dexter, however, was taught from the time he was a child not that killing was wrong but rather that he would have to kill and there was nothing he could do about it. The "code" harry taught dexter is his conscience. Were dexter truly a psychopath, he would not experience nearly the degree of guilt that he does in situations that require him to violate the code. Example: the #1 rule of the code is "don't get caught" but even when caught by doakes, dexter couldn't bring himself to kill him. A psychopath would have easily reasoned that killing doakes would honor the first rule and done it without question. Obviously its a TV show and not a real person but if it were, I would consider Harry's constant "training" of Dexter to have been the true cause for what he became.

Dexter is by far the most interesting show I've ever watched

Dexter didn’t just watch his mom get cut up with a chainsaw which is why he cuts people up. The character had to sit in the container filled with body parts and blood for a decent amount of time

dexter does not disturb me, i’m fascinated by his psychology

If you liked Dexter I HIGHLY recommend Hannibal series that ran on NBC. That show was filled to the brim with beautiful imagery and wonderful character relationships.

When I watched the show, I couldn't help but feel Harry pushed Dexter into his life.

The only thing that held him back for 10 years was his love for Deb - and the guilt he feels for her death.

I urge you to watch the show Hannibal. If Dexter gives you glee from serving justice to those who have done evil. Hannibal shows you that you are equally able to commit such attrocities

Speaking of the show itself, and I can't stress it enough, Deb got a ridiculous amount of hatred. I like her character me personally, she's like an audience in a meta sort of way

I've seen what trauma can do to a person's mind for good and evil. On the evil side of things, my friend and at one time fireteam member left the military and a few years later after trying and failing to get help he, he killed himself and his kids, his wife, all of them. His trauma won, and we all suffered because we didn't help him. Others can't hurt a fly to save their own lives on the exact opposite side of things like myself. I've seen enough of my friends kill themselves and it had the butterfly effect where I've become overly protective over family and friends. Trauma and choices have lasting effects, all we can do is try to do the best we can with what we got and to love and cherish one another. Sorry to talk about such dark things, it's almost Remembrance Day and hearing you talk made me think deeply about my own experiences and, I thank you for giving me the idea to take the time and reflect on things. Cheers from Canada.

To those of you that haven’t seen Dexter yet, I advise that you watch it and get ready for one of the most mind boggling series that ever existed. When I mean mind boggling, I mean having to think about every single thing that Dexter does and the characters around him too. Dexter is a great series, and I am so glad that it has returned, because I wanted to see Dexter continue to evolve, as he did say in the current new season in the first episode. I’m glad that Max is stumbling upon a lot of the awesome TV shows, video games and movies that I love and became a fan of.

Dexter says that he chose his new location because there was no temptation. It's easier to control his urges when he isn't exposed to his triggers (aka, other killers). So, like an addict, free will does come into play, but there are a mountain of psychological and chemical processes to climb in order to exercise it. The fact that Dexter struggles (for the most part) to kill innocent people speaks a lot to how he can be conditioned to channel his darkness or lack of empathy. This means it was always possible for Harry to raise him in a manner that was just as honest, but steer him away from violence and toward other outlets. And therapy.

I've always seen free will as something like an animal in a pen, where free will (the animal) always has a certain "range" with which to express itself (the pen)--i.e. the circumstances of one's life. Of course, it's not absolute, as there certain exceptional individuals who can expand the boundaries of the pen, and there are others for which the pen can seem like a prison that shrinks with every passing year. As well, there are things like limiting beliefs and learned helplessness that can artificially limit the pen size, and those who assert that the pen does not exist at all, and that anything is possible through something like willpower, though those tend to be the aforementioned exceptional individuals. It's not a perfect theory, but I've found it a useful illustration to the phenomenon.

Dexter is one of the most fascinating and entertaining shows I've ever seen.

Fun fact: For some reason I could relate with Dexter when I was watching it years ago and his whole dark passenger . Turned out I have a split personality .Found it around 7 months ago.

I never truly believed dexter was as much of a psychopath as he , Harry and the psychologist believed. We slowly see his show a variety of emotions over the series , I had always assumed the show would end with him realizing he does feel real emotions and he wasn’t faking. I thought that’s what was being hunted with him knocking out ritas ex husband , sadness over Deborahs death , falling in love.

I am so glad that Dexter is back. I have started to watch the series again before I start the new season. Enjoy everyone!

He's the closest depiction of a sociopath I've come across. Personal experience with this, uh, disease. I thoroughly believe psychopaths are born, sociopaths are made. Loving the new season ❤ can't wait until Sunday.

Dexter doesn't scare me, he is by far the most lovable and relatable serial killer. He is not a psychopath, because he still feels emotions like empathy for his sister, his son, his wife and his girlfriends throughout the series. He despises child murderers/rapists and feels guilty when he kills the wrong person by accident. This makes me believe he is more of a sociopath than a psychopath. Don't forget he is a monster, but he could be a whole lot worse. Brilliant show.

What I found disturbing in the books was when Dexter accidentally killed the wrong person, was his ability to quickly do an, "oh well" like you do when you break a cup or plate.

Seeing the name Daniel Licht setting up the music, I gotta watch this. He scored Dishonored and I am in for it. Also, great video Max. As much as I want to support you on Patreon, I am poor as a rat.. so I will just keep on watching and liking your videos. Keep up the amazing videos!

I don't think Dexter is a psychopath at all. i think he was socialized into developing psychopathic tendencies by Harry and the Doctor. he was nurtured into it. I think that's why he developed the concept of the dark passenger, because it isn't innate to him. it's like an implanted organ you need to take medication to avoid rejecting. Dexter constantly rationalizes his darker impulses to both justify them but also to convince himself that they're entirely his.

I loved Dexter from start to finish. He has so many layers. He shows a lot of growth throughout the show too.

I have known a few people like Dexter and most of them either end up in prison or joining the army. Ultimately I think that while you don't get to choose your upbringing and your predispositions, you do get to choose how to react to them and how to move forward.

The terrifying thing about the show was he was doing all that killing while working with the police. People fail to realize that some of the most well-known serial killers lead normal lives.

What if dexter got a letter to silent hill regarding about his sister. How would he survive and how much mental torture would he go through.

I dunno. I enjoyed Dexter and I'm glad he's back! I'm a normal, average lady, who has never engaged in violence in my life, but thought this was a great show. Mainly because he's played by the amazing Michael C. Hall, who is super mega talented! This is the guy who sings and dances on Broadway! Not scary.

personally I don't think Dexter is scary but the show does an amazing job with their action scenes. like the scenes with lumen and that guy when he was chasing her, or when he tried to kill Arthur Mitchell. all of those were amazingly done scenes and just as nerve wracking like you were there irl with them too

Personally, I've always found the debate between Fatalism and free-will a little shallow. If the universe is non-deterministic, our will itself is still _heavily_ influenced by things outside its control. Things like: our genetics, our past, our emotions, our general disposition, the state of our environment, the actions of others, what information we have access to, the law/authority figures, our level of self-actualization and the broad chaos of the external world. Hell, when you think about it, rationality itself acts as a voluntary limitation of free will. At the same time though, if the universe is deterministic, then it's a kind of determinism that is utterly indistinguishable from total non-determinism. This is because of our inability to see the future and the fact that our choices (at least the ones we're capable of making) would inherently align with, and depend upon, our already predetermined history. In the end, I believe it's actually a mistake to even conceive of these things as being mutually exclusive opposites in the first place. There's no _functional_ difference between them. Functional truth is one of the most underrated concepts in the modern day.

I see what Max is trying to do here, but, from what I see, they just messed up the character in later seasons. Also, people would not be against someone like Dexter in real life. We saw it happening before, not in the same scale, of course.

Finally, a good video essay on the series in my recommended! I must admit that indeed it has moments that disturbed me more than most of the horror movies (despite being a superfan of the show). The most crucial example is Dexter's first full flashback to murder of his mother in the container in the episode Seeing Red. I was okay watching that in my early 20's, but since then there was a shift with my PTSD that actually suggests I happen to remember some trauma from very early childhood (the most likely suspect is surgical intervention I had when I was days old, which is unusual but since I happen to have memories from being 2 years old, I might have subconscious memories from earlier) that was very similar. Because in my current state that scene hit me like a freight train and effectively derailed the rewatch, stalling me for weeks. I had an experience like this, too. Dexter is not a psychopath, per se, he has a psychopathic-like deformation from that initial PTSD that just left him a wreck (that happens from time to time; emotions are there, but are put into a box where they're reduced to subconsciousness). I can recognize that with immense relatability due to having a few PTSD's myself from different ages, despite I'm on the opposite side of spectrum and have more empathy than many people. Some symptoms just hit too close to home when you see this series. The tragedy is that Vogel and Harry were dead wrong about Dexter, so now the more emotion he regains the more he has to fight with whatever they've constructed out of him. If you want something like this, but a more hopeful version, I can't recommend The Pretender from 1996-2001 enough. Main protagonists of Dexter and this show enter a very similar state of mind through polar opposites because Jarrod in The Pretender is like a near-perfect empath, but they both have urges they satisfy by dealing with crimes that fell through the cracks. Jarrod is mostly non-lethal though, which is amazing.

Debra could have just walked away and let Dexter do his thing with Lagerta lol. There was zero need for her to traumatize herself by killing Lagerta.

Into this new season I think that there were a lot of things that came with his 10 year hiatus. It wasn’t just Hanna but his love for Deb and her loss, his realizing Harrison was better off without him and that his entire life was uprooted because of his actions. So that’s enough but if you think about it from his point of view he knew he had to hide and he realized the gamble wasn’t worth it but it was going to eventually catch up to him.

The only terrifying thing about Dexter is that Vince Masuka didnt get his own spin off.

Great video! Would love more Dexter content to devour. Especially in regards to the later seasons, I'm very glad to see someone who can appreciate what those seasons brought to the table. The myriad of ways they mirrored Dexter and presented him with familial opportunities definitely played a part in keeping my interest. Watching new blood now and I just want more dexter.

Dexter is one of kind show. Just like Twin Peaks. If you try to understand it, If you try to feel the whole thing... You gonna enjoy it. If you are watching to pass some time... Go for the 100, Lucifer, Game of thrones(it was garbage) whatever... Dexter is just a masterpiece, just like this video. Thank you for making this!

That enjoyment I get every time Dexter kills a murderer is similar to the enjoyment I get from Supernatural each time they kill a diffrent monster.

I’m not the only one who think Dexter constantly lies to himself, right? It’s like Harry has convinced him that he can’t ever feel anything so Dexter accepted that. But he clearly does feel cause he’s expressed emotions on multiple occasions

Amazing video, it even gave me a few more ideas about something I'm working on, thank you

Dexter was one one the best and twisted shows I ever watched, thank you Max Derrat for covering Dexter and explaining it 👍

I'd rather have a guy out there like Dexter taking out the bad guys who got away with it

I just finished dexter myself and I saw a lot of emotion in the character. There was a lot of growth too mentally. there was no stagnation in his mentality, there were some limitations that seemed child like but overall, they wanted to humanize him. I heard that this last season may change this concept, pull us away from him and I hope so.

I never thought Dexter was scary. Messed up, yeah. But you made me rethink it, and boy did it give me chills. It is pretty damn scary!! Great video. Really made me think.

season 7 is mad underrated, there just wasn't a major big bad

Dexter is essentially Alex from "A Clockwork Orange"; tamed by the system (or in his case, the father) to serve the system (in his case, the good).

Dexter was an excellent show up until Hannah showed up. I feel that's when the show completely died. It had been steadily declining since season 5, but it still retained what made is special, and that was the commentary. Loved Dexter's monologues throughout the seasons. I feel like near the end they were less and less compelling (and even less quantity too, I feel) and it's all around the time Hannah appears. New Blood was amazing again, and then the final episode... I have conflicted feelings. Will you make a video about New Blood?

You just reminded me about just how much I need to rewatch this show

Hahaha i just started watching the newest episode and your video popped up! gotta watch it after

Honestly I have always felt the same thing that you quoted his Dr stating, at least in regard to that "anomalies" in certain psyche's of humanity are moreso gifts that go against the perceived societal norm and cause great waves in that society, for better or for worse. I don't romanticize mental disease and abnormalities especially as one with a few diagnosed myself, but I just haven't ever seen certain stigmas and such as warranted. Sure, you can have a case of a schizophrenic going ballistic under a psychotic episode and hurting people, but this doesn't mean that someone else dealing with the same thing is going to have the same outcome. It's all as complex as the human mind itself and generalizing just further alienates and demonizes. Like you conclude about the overall shift in the ideas behind the show, we do indeed all encounter forks in the road where we are able to make a choice. Though one may make the "wrong" one, another well inevitably choose otherwise.

Maybe it is all free will ultimately. But I'd say that some are more desperate than others to feel balanced.

The only thing terrifying about dexter is the capacity in which producers can take a great story and completely destroy it

Very interesting. Finally you managed to make a video about down to earth topics that actually involve real people and real life. Well done. Keep it up.

Dexter is an amazing series, but I couldn't help but wonder why we seem to be content with Dexter being the moral authority of taking ones life over another as being good. I believe it does stem from the internal evil(as Jung said) we have in all of us. Some of us know we have it and are able to control our inhibitions. Others arent capable of even "going there" because they are either too naive or lack critical thinking. Dexter is fascinating to us because he is neither of these people, but yet we are willing to accept his actions as a moral executioner for the good of society. The reality is many of the murderers Dexter killed may have had the same terrifying childhoods as him, did but they chose a different moral path.

If you haven't yet tried it, I think you'd really like Lost in Vivo. It's like Cry of Fear, but with a harder Silent Hill bent.

Dexter might be neurodivergent in other ways but I think it’s pretty clear by now he’s not a psychopath. He suffered from early and severe PTSD. He held that trauma that his preadolescent brain couldn’t come to grips with. Probably he just wanted to understand death so he killed animals. This worried Harry so he got in touch with Vogel. Vogel convinced Harry that Dexter was a psychopath because something about hammer and nails and so they developed the code. Dexter then learned to cope with his trauma by killing people.

Wonderfully thought out analysis of the titular character and the underlying issues of the show, although I have yet to see any horror film or show, nor play any horror based game that has disturbed me psychologically speaking.

Dexter is a great show. Barry is another great show.

My dad put me onto Dexter and I love it great show and it feels so real and relatable

Without Harry Dexter would be no better than ordinary serial killer. Brian didnt have Harrys guiding hand and look what happened to him.

Have you read the novels? He's not that scary. He's a good hearted guy. He means well. He just feels insensitive towards his surroundings. That clearly fades once he has a child. Then, the new show, has him chasing after Harrison, to make sure he doesn't leave town.

The most horror I've felt in a piece of media as of late has been watching the UK version of the Utopia TV series, zoo wee momma the implications in that show are good.

An interesting video, especially when talking about the Id. I am curious about if this lack of control is a delusion or just some kind of excuse from how he is a serial killer.

I lost a sister at the hands of a psychopath. Because of it i never welcomed tv series such as Dexter. But i've seen parts of it, enough to understand that this character can serve very well as a metaphor that introduces the questions you pose. I got abused myself by people suffering such disorders, or if they weren't diagnosed they were a walking sworm of tendencies toward... I'm beyond thinking that all of them are monsters. There are those with normal intentions and those who are truly sick, the spectrum is wide but they ARE damaging to others because of their harmful personality construct... atleast that's how i experienced them. Also, i think our kind of society makes people vulnerable for their person to get 'hacked' by a disorder because we like to think we are people with good intentions... well, that's not enough i think.We should become more aware of toxic behavior and reactions if we don't want to be hacked by them and conditioned by them.

Awesome video, I would like to know if you plan to make a similar analysis when the new season of Dexter ends?

Presenting it as though the only two options that are/were available were to institutionalise someone for life at the first sign of sociopathic/psychopathic tendencies or to allow them to kill with a code is such an obvious false dichotomy. Harry not only chose to remain a police officer and to be around crime and criminals for his career (which obviously was alluring to Dexter), but his "guidance" was to try to impart a code, which only reinforced the idea that some people "deserve" to die. These were both incredibly irresponsible. What kind of therapy options, changes of environment, medical treatments, or other alternative were available to Harry, but which he either chose to ignore, or remained ignorant of?

I Love Dexter

Who’s watching this after the new blood finale ?

The dark passenger is exactly that; a passenger. Dexter is behind the wheel.

One thing i think people dont talk about enough is that he had to Sit for three days in his mothers blood without food or water extremely dehidrated many start to go crazy when dehidrated being só young forced to look at all this blood for só long should have made him crazy and delirious at least until he eats and drinks

Dexter never really disturbed me. The Hannibal show on the other hand...

A great way to look at Dexter’s condition, is through the addiction scope. Any addict can relate to Dexters actions. The sign of release during his first kill in Dexter new blood. The first kill was abrupt. Vs the later killings - he picked up his syringes and drugs beforehand. it’s ultimately up to you to fight your addiction. But it’s also a disease

Intense video man thanks a lot.

Doing something good with bad behavior. This is my life. So he is completely relatable and never is he scary. One of the best character builds in all of TV shows.

I know people acknowledge it but I think it is really under stated how much good Dexter did in his "career". Yes killing and mutilating humans for your own wants and needs is not what you'd call an optimal citizen but he found and eliminated over a hundred murderers, pedophiles, and other horrible offenders that almost all were likely to commit more crimes themselves. Not to mention he actively saved good people when the opportunity presented itself. Maybe a few good people died indirectly but how many would have if he hadn't done what he did?

Our life events determine who we are in so much as we internalize those events and adapt or fail to.

The terrifying part is it is realistic, plus he could be your next-door neighbor and you wouldn't even know.

Some of my favorite dilemmas in this show stem from Dexter's either (very rare) accidental killing of innocents, endangering of innocents through his actions, and intentional killing of innocents out of self-preservation. I think the question of "Is a killer serial-killer morally distinguishable from a serial killer?" (especially when at least some of their reasoning for their vigilantism is selfish and obsessive) is really intriguing and (mostly) well portrayed here. Unfortunate it had a similar quality track record to game of thrones though...

First off it’s just a show.. an Amazing well written and great actors to portray the characters .. but it’s a show. Second the story alludes to Dexter being they way he is because of what happened to him and his mother, the reason Harry tried Sri safe Dexter not only through adopting him, but also through not institutionalizing him, but through helping him channel his tendencies and Not Het Caught is because Harry was Directly responsible for putting Dexter’s mother and him in the situation to begin with. Dexters Mother Was Harry’s CI and he was having an affair with her, and he used her to get close with the drug cartel to get information on them to bust them. She was found out so they brutally murdered her. This is also why we get Harry a cop , someone with a code of his own going against that code and teaching Dexter how to use it for something good. Because he carried the guilt of turning Dexter This way to begin with .

I was under the impression that the reason he stopped killing for so long was because he felt responsible for Deb's death (which I think is supported by how Ghost Deb acts in his conscience when she's trying to stop him from killing...showing her bullet wound and talking about her death often and how it was his fault, etc). He feels that due to his actions and the fact he was/is a serial killer, that led to her being killed, also the fact that he throws her body into the ocean demonstrates that he sees her as one of his victims (although he wraps her in a white sheet instead of the black garbage bags to show her innocence which I thought was a great touch, maybe the only thing I liked about the finale)! So b/c of all that he now feels like he's got to suppress his urges to kill people. Just my 2 cents!

I have watched this series about 20 times….it’s probably my favorite show that isn’t animated

If you like this TV show you need to go see the tv show called you

Nice video!

As I got older I became afraid of less things ,or more brave as the time went by .

i love dexter! im watching season 9 but we must wait for a WEEK for a new episode 😂😂

Answer: It's not. What's wrong with you?

I took an intro to crimeology class in my final quarter of college. There were three "reasons" why criminals committed crimes. I forgot the other two I think one had to do with genetics and the other environment/society, but the third choice was free will. We had to write two essays in that class about why I criminal would commit a crime. One a violent crime and the other was a cyber crime. In both essays I wrote that the criminal actively chose to commit that crime. Everyone has free will. Nobody ever forces someone else to do something. Yes, even if you have a gun to your head (or your family's head) you can choose to die, just like the gunman can choose not to pull the trigger. We always have a choice. We always have free will.

I'd be the parent my kid can talk to me about anything .. without feeling misunderstood or outcasted

Fascinating review!

I disagree, I don't think Dexter would be so hated in real life. He literally kills people who harm innocent people. Are we gonna sit here and act like we wouldn't all be behind a Vigilante going after Pedophiles?

Good video. One of the issues with saying 'psychopathy is incurable' (which is the view of Hare and others) is that it effectively removes any incentive for the patient to seek (or participate in) clinical or behavioral assistance. As others have said, it may even provide a convenient hand-wave away for them to deny all responsibility.

I thought my favourite ever was Breaking Bad . But since I started watching Dexter, I found myself watching it more repeatedly.

Is there any chance you upload your cry of fear stream? I couldnt watch it cuz of time difference but was super curious EDIT: Sry I just checked now its there ^^ Great video!

If Dexter were my child, I would have done the same as Harry did. Protect the innocent, kill the guilty, and channel the murderous urges for a better society. It makes sense to me. And Dexter's first rule, was do not get caught. All else followed that first rule. Serial Killers are different than regular killers. Most kill for passionate reasons. Loyalty to their gangs, Love turned to murder, etc. Serial Killers, do it because they have a deep need to kill, some do not kill due to the reality of facing life in a prison, and it isn't so much prison that is the deterrent there, it is loss of Control over themselves. But ultimately Serial Killers are fulfilling a need inside themselves. They are universally selfish. And typically blend into society very well, due to practicing their emotions the way Dexter learned to "express" emotions. And, often like the Trinity Killer in Dexter, they will have "cover" families. Those with the highest body counts have been found to have families. Like the Green River Killer, wife and kids. The Iceman, also had wife and kids, he channeled his killer needs to be a mob hitman. And some think he has a body count over 100 in his job as a mob assassin. We in society teach thousands per year how to kill, Standing Armies are all taught how to kill someone. At some point, channeling the killer inside, needs to be sent into the army, and given free reign in a country they are already at war with. That makes more sense to me, than putting killers in prison. Lets form a killer army, and reduce the ptsd behind those that do not have a killer inside them. Once that war is over, lets send those killers to a new war. If they die over there, oh well, no loss to our country's innocent people.

What a coincidence. I just finished watching Redo of healer. It's an anime very similar to Dexter. The main character of this anime is being raped, tortured and treated like complete garbage by those who were supposed to be his allies and the whole show revolves around him getting revenge on them in the most sick and brutal ways possible. And yet his just for revenge is justified at least in part. Those people who he kills or incapacitates were all murderers themselves.

I would say a Belgian movie called Raw (2017) was the most a movie ever scared me. Most just startle like It Follows (2014) or disturb, like I Saw the Devil (2010). I probably would have been scared by The Shining (1980) if I didn’t already know what happened.

This show is like multiple psychological case studies displayed by actors over and over.

In law enforcement, and some other fields, you have to remind yourself the oath you took, the promises you made to yourself and others. Deb's moral quandary is understandable, but at the end of the day, sometimes you must make the hard choice to do what is needed to be done to protect the people as a whole, rather than get caught up in personal relationships. It sucks, it's horrible, but ignoring it is how we get mutually complicit military, police, and the like.

I wouldn’t turn away from him in horror if he existed in real life. I think the world needs a few hundred Dexters these days.

I like the series dexter and the fact that it's inspired by similar events is all the more terrifying

The show started great, season 1 was a perfect 10/10. But after that it started getting silly. - Sometimes he follows his own code, sometimes he doesn't. - Annoying family drama with Rita. - Doesn't make the though calls like in the end of season 2 & 7, but gets "saved" by other people instead.