Dexter is a great show, can't wait till it's back. John Lithgow will be an interesting addition.

I can't watch Dexter. I have a serial killer phobia. When I was a little girl, I saw footage of Ted Bundy in the courtroom, looking all charming and innocent. Even the judge said he had trouble believing Bundy was guilty. I also saw a TV movie about the Kitty Genovese murder - the woman whose murder by a serial killer was both heard and witnessed by people in her apartment complex. No one intervened.

As a young girl, this taught me that predators walk among us, and people allow it even when they know better. They do this because predators can be charming, or invisible everymen. Or because they believe the victim knows his/her attacker which makes it a personal family matter. No one wants to get involved, or believe that one of their nieghbors/peers could do such a thing.

So, I occassionally read about serial killers to try to understand what isn't understandable. I listen to radio interviews by law enforcement and psychologists who are experts in serial killers. It helps for a little while, but ultimately it makes me feel sick and helpless. The idea that Dexter is a hero, a man who enjoys killing, makes me sick. I should be happy that he's killing what scares me, but I don't. Why?

When you look at the list above, everyone but Dorothea was motivated by sex. It's an incredibly strong impulse - these men just could not get it going unless they were in control to the point of - or after - death occuring. So, when I think of Dexter, I can't help but think of him doing what most serial killers do after a kill. Yuck. Dexter the sad vigilante, I could sympathise with. Dexter the serial killer, I can't. Not at all.

Nell, you should try thinking of Dexter as a supernatural killer.  They only allude to the Dark Passenger in the show but in the books, Dexter is motivated by his bonafied inner demon.  So if you think of it like that, he's like Freddy, Jason or Mike Myers.  He's not motivated by human urges, just the need of his demon to kill.  Unlike these real life killers, who's behaviors always evolve and become ever sicker, Dexter seems to keep to Harry's code quite well with one or two slip ups here and there.  He's a vigilante with a sadistic twist.  In the end he's bringing justice to those who never would get it and most likely saving lives in the process.  That is why the audience can accept what he does and empathize with him.  Even though we know he's doing wrong, we all love to see him serve out his brand of justice.

Yeah, ddiaz28, I didn't mean to imply that people who enjoy Dexter are sick. I've heard it's a great show and I can relate to the justice aspect. It's just that I've read and heard too many details about real serial killers.

But, if there's a demonic aspect, and Dexter's not a real serial killer as we know them, but more vampiric because he's connected to a supernatural entity, then maybe I could let go of everything I know and enjoy it. I should give it a try. My sister gets the DVDs... I'll think about it.

Can't wait for Season 4, even though Season 3 was kind of lame.

In a way Nell, you bring up a good point where reality of real serial killer VS fantasy killer is sometime a line we forget in our fantasy world and the reality of a serial killer is to always be taken seriously.

Punisher, Dexter, Wolverine, they are fictional character that all have a dark past which includes killing and murder...yet we love them and admire them. Sure, it's fantasy and fiction but yet, we sometimes  forget that serial killers are out there and anyone who killes more then one person is usually by definition a serial killer, regardless of why they did it. In our world of comics, we try to justify what they do with morality and reasoning yet in real life, serial killer will often use those same excuses as their drive to act the way they did and as a society, we don't accept that....but we forget Wolverine and the Punisher.

Obviously the fantasy characters have not done anything close to what these mentioned killers have done but still, morality (or more specifically, my morality) defines that regardless if you kill someone for ''good'' reasons or not, it's still murder. We forget that when murderers are trying to justify their actions, serial killers act the same way. Some view those reasons as acceptable while others don't but it comes down to the same reflex: heroes, villains, murderers, serial killers, all act within their own mentality of reasoning which in their view, is justifyable and it's up to the society that we are to accept or not certain venues of their personalities and actions.

I studied spychology in my youth because I had a great interest in the minds of serial killers. I loved to learn what Ted Bundy or Charles Manson or any other killer had though and explained for their murders. Imagine my reaction when I saw a character called the Punisher who was killing almost everyday...I included that into my theasis and it was greatly appreciated to come up with a sense of reality VS fantasy.

And the strangest part...I saw Dexter once and never really got into it....he murders people.....that's it.....for me, it doesn't matter if he has ''good'' reasons to do it, he's still a killer. He's not fully portrait that way and that bugs me.

But hey, fun article.

 Actually, Charles Manson has never actually killed anyone himself.

Good job but where's Ed Gein?  He was viewed as pretty normal...until they found lamp shades made out of human skin and bowls made out of skulls....

Thorn, that's popularly accepted, but experts don't believe it. There are suspected murders besides the famous massacres and Manson himself alluded to murders he had personally committed. Some of the suspected victims were people who went to the ranch but were never seen again. I don't know if they were followers who were seen as unreliable or people who were just murdered for their money.

Good point Tim. Ed Gein should be listed because he was so inspirational, giving birth to both Psycho's Norman Bates and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. His story almost reads like fiction. A single man, a single house, a crazy controlling mother. Did you know that the neighbors liked to use Ed Gein as a babysitter?