Dexter meta: Captivating Company
Dec. 22nd, 2006 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakA show whose main character is a serial killer (and not a metaphorical one in fantasy guise, either): sounds like a premise for something either glib and cynical or incredibly depressing. One of the strengths of Dexter is that it is anything but, not least because of the way the series uses its ensemble. Allow me to state my basic theory right at the beginning: the result is both human and humane, and amazingly has a basic optimism in humanity.
So, let's take a look at the cast of characters which manages to pull this off. Some of them: the Morgans (Deb and Harry, who might be dead but is still very present on the show via flashbacks and the way he formed, through presence or absence, both his kids) deserve their own essay.
The pilot introduces us not just to Dexter but to all of the other characters, safe, of course, the unseen Icetruck Killer. At first glance, the ensemble seems to be easily pegged: Dexter's sister Deb is the eager newbie, Lieutenant La Guerta the career-obsessed bitch, Sgt. Doakes the unsympathetic bully, and the fellow forensic experts Angel and Matsouka the comic relief. Rita, Dexter's cover-for-normalcy girlfriend, seems to be the shy housewife type who usually gets discarded early or half way through the story when the hero meets his more exciting soulmate. (For reverse gender, think of the good boy/bad boy clichés in regards to the heroine.) But no sooner does the second episode start that our easy assumptions begin to get challenged. Not least because of what I'm told is a major narrative departure from the novel on which the show, in parts, is based: we're not exclusively in Dexter's pov. This allows the characters to have their own lives when he's not around, and their issues which have nothing to do with him.
The two characters for whom this is most important are Doakes and La Guerta. The second episode introduces something of their backstory, the fact they used to be partners before La Guerta got promoted, and the easy give and take between them. It's obvious they still trust each other, aren't afraid to call each other on their bullshit (though Doakes never does it in front of the other cops; to use a Star Trek comparison, he's the perfect First Officer), and read each other better than anyone else. The first instance where this is true is La Guerta realising Doakes had an affair with the victim of a homicide they find; later examples will include Doakes confronting her with her motives regarding Tony Tucci's mother, or La Guerta getting as good as an admission from him when he has killed someone.
As the series moves on, we see them display regard for other characters, too; most importantly in a show that deals with consequences, they do take responsibility for their screw-ups. Early on, La Guerta makes the same kind of mistake Captain Matthews makes later in the series: she pegs a suspect who turns out to be innocent as the Icetruck Killer, and uses the media to benefit from it. But when Matthews - another character on whom expectations are reversed; he's introduced as an old chum of Dexter's and Deb's father, and promotes Deb - makes his mistake, his response is to use La Guerta as a scapegoat. Whereas La Guerta's reaction earlier is to accept responsibility and learn from her mistake. Her interaction with the wrongly suspected Tucci's mother is her penance. As opposed to Matthews' description of her as a mediocre cop, we see La Guerta display considerable intelligence, courage, and a way to use her own flaws - her susceptibility to media attention - to get inside the mind of Neil Perry, a Icetruck Killer copycat. Similarly, as the show goes on, we see that Dexter's sarcastic observation that Doakes, of all the people, is the only one in the police preccint suspecting him can be turned on its head: Doakes, who has an uneasy relationship with his own family, being unable to show his emotions to them, developes a gruff regard for Deb, is a talented detective and most importantly has it in him to commit murder on someone he knows to be a serial killer, isn't so utterly different from Dexter as Dexter thinks. Of course he'd be the one whose instinct makes for a (correct) suspicion.
Angel Battista, who together with Matsouka gets the majority of the comic relief moments, also early on evidences a rare abilty to empathize with everyone, getting along with La Guerta (they have their occasional casual exchanges in Spanish) as well as Deb. With the fourth episode, we see that his cheerful front also hides a separation from his beloved wife, which he's not handling too well. Angel, like the other characters, has his own story within the story, and later on he gets presented with the kind of harsh ethical dilemma and choice to make that is usually reserved for the leads. His basic decency, his struggle to be a good man and a good cop are as important as his occasional one liners.
Outside the police precincts, the character we see most of is Rita. Rewatching the show - I'm at episode 4 now - makes one appreciate all the more the subtle job they did with Rita, who is both a believable victim of domestic abuse and believable in regaining her strength, in a quiet, low-key way. Early on, when a confederate of Paul's drops by and demands her car in payment, she has a panic attack (in her bathroom), but doesn't resort to asking Dexter for protection. By the end of the season, she'll have faced down Paul himself, assorted social workers, and her first genuine fight with her seemingly perfect boyfriend. Instead of dissolving, her relationship with Dexter strengthens as he becomes less able to maintain his facade all the time. And we get the additional layer of Rita - and her situation with her two children - turning out to resemble Dexter's dead mother.
Why does all of this lead to my earlier description of the show as "humane"? Because when your main character kills on a regular basis, and his big temptation - not just at the end, but made explicit as early as the fourth episode - is going to be killing in an unrestrained manner, with humanity seen as nothing as an expendable other - then you need to make a visual and emotional case to your audience that humanity is anything but, and not just in the finale. The show does this both via singular cases - such as Tony Tucci, the one victim of the Icetruck Killer who survives, and whom we get to know and like, as we get to see his mother's fear and grief before he's found - and via its regular cast. We care about these people, who form a microcosm of humanity, feuds, quirks, foibles, flaws, but above all, each in their own way, dedicated to a profession that is defined by its protection of others. And they, as much as Deb in the finale, are what is threatened by the temptation Rudy/Brian represents, the killing-without-any-restraint. If Dexter chose Brian and existence as nothing but a killer, he would turn his back on this world as well.
If your hero is a killer, violence often becomes nothing but attractive. Not here. Rarely has humanity looked so alluring as with this messed up but dedicated bunch. Long may they continue to live.
So, let's take a look at the cast of characters which manages to pull this off. Some of them: the Morgans (Deb and Harry, who might be dead but is still very present on the show via flashbacks and the way he formed, through presence or absence, both his kids) deserve their own essay.
The pilot introduces us not just to Dexter but to all of the other characters, safe, of course, the unseen Icetruck Killer. At first glance, the ensemble seems to be easily pegged: Dexter's sister Deb is the eager newbie, Lieutenant La Guerta the career-obsessed bitch, Sgt. Doakes the unsympathetic bully, and the fellow forensic experts Angel and Matsouka the comic relief. Rita, Dexter's cover-for-normalcy girlfriend, seems to be the shy housewife type who usually gets discarded early or half way through the story when the hero meets his more exciting soulmate. (For reverse gender, think of the good boy/bad boy clichés in regards to the heroine.) But no sooner does the second episode start that our easy assumptions begin to get challenged. Not least because of what I'm told is a major narrative departure from the novel on which the show, in parts, is based: we're not exclusively in Dexter's pov. This allows the characters to have their own lives when he's not around, and their issues which have nothing to do with him.
The two characters for whom this is most important are Doakes and La Guerta. The second episode introduces something of their backstory, the fact they used to be partners before La Guerta got promoted, and the easy give and take between them. It's obvious they still trust each other, aren't afraid to call each other on their bullshit (though Doakes never does it in front of the other cops; to use a Star Trek comparison, he's the perfect First Officer), and read each other better than anyone else. The first instance where this is true is La Guerta realising Doakes had an affair with the victim of a homicide they find; later examples will include Doakes confronting her with her motives regarding Tony Tucci's mother, or La Guerta getting as good as an admission from him when he has killed someone.
As the series moves on, we see them display regard for other characters, too; most importantly in a show that deals with consequences, they do take responsibility for their screw-ups. Early on, La Guerta makes the same kind of mistake Captain Matthews makes later in the series: she pegs a suspect who turns out to be innocent as the Icetruck Killer, and uses the media to benefit from it. But when Matthews - another character on whom expectations are reversed; he's introduced as an old chum of Dexter's and Deb's father, and promotes Deb - makes his mistake, his response is to use La Guerta as a scapegoat. Whereas La Guerta's reaction earlier is to accept responsibility and learn from her mistake. Her interaction with the wrongly suspected Tucci's mother is her penance. As opposed to Matthews' description of her as a mediocre cop, we see La Guerta display considerable intelligence, courage, and a way to use her own flaws - her susceptibility to media attention - to get inside the mind of Neil Perry, a Icetruck Killer copycat. Similarly, as the show goes on, we see that Dexter's sarcastic observation that Doakes, of all the people, is the only one in the police preccint suspecting him can be turned on its head: Doakes, who has an uneasy relationship with his own family, being unable to show his emotions to them, developes a gruff regard for Deb, is a talented detective and most importantly has it in him to commit murder on someone he knows to be a serial killer, isn't so utterly different from Dexter as Dexter thinks. Of course he'd be the one whose instinct makes for a (correct) suspicion.
Angel Battista, who together with Matsouka gets the majority of the comic relief moments, also early on evidences a rare abilty to empathize with everyone, getting along with La Guerta (they have their occasional casual exchanges in Spanish) as well as Deb. With the fourth episode, we see that his cheerful front also hides a separation from his beloved wife, which he's not handling too well. Angel, like the other characters, has his own story within the story, and later on he gets presented with the kind of harsh ethical dilemma and choice to make that is usually reserved for the leads. His basic decency, his struggle to be a good man and a good cop are as important as his occasional one liners.
Outside the police precincts, the character we see most of is Rita. Rewatching the show - I'm at episode 4 now - makes one appreciate all the more the subtle job they did with Rita, who is both a believable victim of domestic abuse and believable in regaining her strength, in a quiet, low-key way. Early on, when a confederate of Paul's drops by and demands her car in payment, she has a panic attack (in her bathroom), but doesn't resort to asking Dexter for protection. By the end of the season, she'll have faced down Paul himself, assorted social workers, and her first genuine fight with her seemingly perfect boyfriend. Instead of dissolving, her relationship with Dexter strengthens as he becomes less able to maintain his facade all the time. And we get the additional layer of Rita - and her situation with her two children - turning out to resemble Dexter's dead mother.
Why does all of this lead to my earlier description of the show as "humane"? Because when your main character kills on a regular basis, and his big temptation - not just at the end, but made explicit as early as the fourth episode - is going to be killing in an unrestrained manner, with humanity seen as nothing as an expendable other - then you need to make a visual and emotional case to your audience that humanity is anything but, and not just in the finale. The show does this both via singular cases - such as Tony Tucci, the one victim of the Icetruck Killer who survives, and whom we get to know and like, as we get to see his mother's fear and grief before he's found - and via its regular cast. We care about these people, who form a microcosm of humanity, feuds, quirks, foibles, flaws, but above all, each in their own way, dedicated to a profession that is defined by its protection of others. And they, as much as Deb in the finale, are what is threatened by the temptation Rudy/Brian represents, the killing-without-any-restraint. If Dexter chose Brian and existence as nothing but a killer, he would turn his back on this world as well.
If your hero is a killer, violence often becomes nothing but attractive. Not here. Rarely has humanity looked so alluring as with this messed up but dedicated bunch. Long may they continue to live.
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-22 02:17 pm (UTC)I also really enjoyed the ensemble and was pleased that the characters always surprised me. That they weren't preditable stereotypes and that the way they surprised me was that they were better people than I originally thought.
Best Wishes to you and yours in 2007.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-22 03:07 pm (UTC)A happy 2007 to you, too. Hopefully with more classy tv like this...
no subject
Date: 2006-12-22 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-22 03:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-22 03:36 pm (UTC)Rita/Darla:
no subject
Date: 2006-12-22 04:15 pm (UTC)The whole cast is really talented, in addition to having really excellently written dialog to relate. I particularly am interested in the La Guerta/Doakes relationship, because they have such a ... I don't know, realistic? portrayal of close, platonic male/female working relationship. I like they they are both so flawed and so human. Doakes' intimidation of Dexter and his general gruffness are accented so well with the tenderness of his family and his interaction with La Guerta. And La Guerta, during the time when she had the little refugee kid and was considering adoption -- that was heartwrenching. I look forward to seeing a little more of her personal life, as we've seen Doakes' and Angel's.
I love Matsouka's humor and place in the show -- he's a little bit Marshall, a little bit Xander. His reversal when Dexter tried to engage him in banter after Angel had been stabbed was shocking to Dexter, but possibly more to me, since I'm ostensibly more comfortable with human emotion than Dexter is, and it surprised me and made me feel embarrassed for Dexter.
Anyhoo, this was great morning reading. Thanks again. I look forward to the treatise on the Morgans. Seriously, what ABOUT the mom??
no subject
Date: 2006-12-22 04:57 pm (UTC)Yes, exactly. And how often do we get that on tv sans UST and not as a set-up for later romance? Between m/f, I mean. And neither of them are looking too young to have that experience and rank, either, which is another rare thing I love.
I like they they are both so flawed and so human.
Yes. You can see where Dexter's take on Doakes comes from, and why Deb can't stand La Guerta, but at the same time, we the audience are seeing their other sides as well, and see them in their entireness.
La Guerta & Cuban kid: it also made me wonder whether, if she's a kid from the boats herself, she has anly living relations at all. Or if she has, whether they might not be still in Cuba.
His reversal when Dexter tried to engage him in banter after Angel had been stabbed was shocking to Dexter, but possibly more to me, since I'm ostensibly more comfortable with human emotion than Dexter is, and it surprised me and made me feel embarrassed for Dexter.
Yes, and that's another example of how script and acting keep the deaths and danger from feeling unreal and cartoonish. If any other character had said something, it wouldn't have felt the same way, but non-bantering Matsouka drove the point home.
Morgans: stay tuned!
P.S.
Date: 2006-12-24 11:54 am (UTC)http://selenak.livejournal.com/262077.html
P.S.
Date: 2006-12-24 11:55 am (UTC)http://selenak.livejournal.com/262077.html