In honor of Dexter now being available on Netflix and the recent announcements of both a new sequel AND prequel series, I want to recommend the ORIGINAL series to you, even if you know exactly what it is and have refused to watch it in the 18 years since it debuted in 2006.
I was one of you. I had heard all my friends raving about this show back in the day, everyone telling me how great it was, but I absolutely stood my ground, saying I was NOT INTERESTED in watching something so dark, so violent, so upsetting.
See, Dexter is a VERY dark show about a really messed up guy who feels a compulsion to kill. BUT his policeman father taught him at an early age to channel that need for good, so….Dexter only kills bad guys. That makes it ok! So weird….so upsetting…right?
Well, that’s the thing about Dexter, the series, which stars Michael C. Hall, who you may remember from the brilliant HBO series Six Feet Under. Dexter is nowhere near the dark and depressing journey you think it would be. While the plot is undeniable and there is a lot of blood and really bad people that need disposing of, the rest of 
the show is as mainstream as it gets. It’s a standard police procedural, with a collection of charming characters who banter and tease each other, and a central character who is so normal by day, most consider him to be a totally boring dork. It’s kind of like Superman, if Clark Kent were a forensic blood spatter analyst by day, and one-man-humanity-cleanser-by-night.
I refused to watch Dexter for so long because I happened upon one episode when over at a friend’s house one night….one of those classic, “you HAVE to watch this show!” moments. And I saw a scene so disturbing, it literally gave me nightmares. I have since been told that scene is the worst of the whole series, which is not much comfort, but at least I knew it couldn’t get worse.
But what got me to try it was the truly overwhelming insistence from all areas that the show really WAS that good, that enjoyable, and that worth it. So I started it, reluctantly, ready to stop the moment I felt upset. Well, I didn’t stop. And by the time I got to THAT scene, which is in season 4, I was prepared. And I was already hooked.
There are 8 seasons of Dexter, plus 10 episodes of a single-season follow-up series, Dexter: New Blood, which aired in 2021, eight years after the original series’ finale aired. Please, consider yourself duly warned about the graphic content in this show, the darkness contained within, and the twisted, bloody mess that it is, BUT, if you can psych yourself up for that, as I did, you will be rewarded with a massively entertaining series with stories and characters that are great fun to be around. I’m bummed I waited so long to get on the Dexter train, I encourage you to take advantage of it now being available on Netflix to punch your card to the most twisted show on TV.