Dexter: The Best Film Adaption Ever

This series is rather old, so I am sure that no one cares if I put any spoilers in here. But I am going to put a warning right here, right now, saying that if ever you plan on reading or watching the Dexter series, now is your chance to leave.

Dexter: New Blood has recently been released. In the process of it being advertised, I, as I often do, decided to check to see if Dexter was a book. In my research, I found it! Jeff Lindsay’s first novel, Darkly Dreaming Dexter was released in 2004, nine months after I was born. Oh, hey, that’s pretty cool. It’s as if… you know what, I won’t connect those dots. That is weird. But I will leave this here so that you clever ones will figure it out. It also won an award in 2005: the Dilys Award. No clue what that is, but, I mean, there ya go. On October 1, 2006, a day before my third birthday (dang, this book really revolves around me all of a sudden. I swear I didn’t know this when I sat down to write about this…), the first episode of its television adaptation was released.

The book was absolutely amazing. You sympathize with a serial killer, you see where he is coming from, and you feel what he feels. Jeff Lindsay did an incredible job writing Dexter. All of his thoughts are perfect. His biting sarcasm gives you a few laughs throughout the book. Reading about his attempts to blend in and to act normal, you almost begin to think the same way he does. You get attached to characters while hating characters as well. Jeff Lindsay offers an insight into police work, as Dexter is a blood analyst for the Miami Police Department.

Yes, he uses alliteration in the book in a few instances. It’s rather beautiful, isn’t it?

I remember when I was younger my father watching the series. We own most of the series because, in the words of my father, “It was cool to buy a TV series the moment it came out on DVD.” We own seasons one through six, so I have been thinking about watching it for a while. I was just waiting until I had permission to, and when I finally asked after not doing so for ten years, I was told that I could. I excitedly began the series after I finished the book, and I must say: this is the best film adaptation that I have ever seen.

I reached this conclusion relatively quickly into the first season. Not only did they do an incredible job bringing it to ‘the big screen,’ a phrase that does not work unless you are referring to a movie, but they did better than the book. You see that next to never. Actually, I don’t think you see that period. Feel free to let me know of any shows/movies better than the book it is based off of.

The sarcasm and internal dialogue of our dearly dreadful Dexter is kept, and they fit it into the show perfectly. His fascination with the ice truck killer’s work is perfectly presented by the thoughts and facial expressions of the actor, Michael C. Hall.

Not only this, but we spend more time with the characters. We learn more about them than we do in the book, and we grow a deeper connection to them. Along with this, we see more from the Dexter and Rita relationship, seeing them grow a little as a couple (or, at least, she grows. Dexter doesn’t because he is Dexter. Though there are small spurts of growth that he makes). We get to learn more about Paul and we get to meet him. The subplot with Paul is spectacular.

We meet the ice truck killer, which is something Lindsay couldn’t do in his book, as it was a first person perspective. Though this is that as well, TV shows have more freedom to leave their main characters behind and focus on someone new. We learn how his brain works, we see him getting his victims, and he has thrown himself into Dexter’s life in a way that just fits so perfectly into the show. The book did not have this. His identity was one hundred percent a secret until the very end of the novel.

Another thing that the show did better: Deb doesn’t know. At the end of the first book, Deb finds out who Dexter really is. She kind of just accepts it, and it is weird. Deborah doesn’t figure it out in the show, and that will make for more drama in the remaining seasons. It also fits her character better.

I wasn’t a big fan of the ending of the book. Dexter just barely keeps himself from killing his sister (which is a powerful moment that was incorporated into the show as well), then LaGuerta bursts into the shipping container, and he kills her with his brother, Brian, the ice truck killer. That is what the ice truck killer wanted the whole time: to get Dexter’s attention and kill someone with him like brothers again. This scene, the scene where Dexter and Brian kill LaGuerta, does not get brought up at all in the show, and I think it was wise for the producer to not include it. It stays truer to Dexter’s character, and Deb remains in the dark.

We get to see more victims, and we even get a small subplot with one of his victims (who, spoiler alert, wasn’t actually a victim, but committed suicide in prison later). Though this is a positive, it makes sense that Jeff didn’t jam his book full of Dexter’s kills.

More character growth, more victims, better ending: the first season of Dexter was incredible, and much better than the book. The only cons to this is that it is a Showtime series, which is basically synonymous to us calling something an HBO series today: there is nudity and sex in it. More than I would have thought there would be.

I have come to the conclusion that we have been handling books the wrong way. Rather than making movies out of them, we need to go the Dexter route and turn books into TV shows. There is more time to include character development, you can add and enhance things… all in all, it’s just a great idea. I mean, look at what Marvel is doing now on Disflix. We are getting well crafted stories that are more satisfying. Not because we are being put in suspense for a week, but because they have more time to build the story, develop characters, and go on side quests.

If you are below the age of seventeen, I suggest asking your parents prior to watching this series. If you are below the age of fifteen, don’t watch it.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have a book to read before I can move on to the second season, and I would like to watch the rest of this show, so… I’ll see you guys later. Probably write something on No Way Home before I go back to writing short stories. I will see you guys soon! Oh, and, Harry, I’m not trying to steal your thing. No Way Home will be the last time… I swear! Also, if you do find this, tag me in your No Way Home post. Thanks.

I should probably go. My burritos are probably burning.