Dexter

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I just picked up the first season, and I just watched the first episode; it appears good.

He's a sadistic sociopath (killing animals as a child for his own pleasure is the sign, and his lack of remorse/guilt for those he kills is another, but this latter part does seem to skirt on "normality" considering who it is he kills), but he also seems to have Schizoid PD or mild AS in addition. His inability to understand social relations, his superficial social interaction, his loathing of sexual/intimate relations, etcetera.

there has been a lot of thought put into his character, watch the whole first season and if you like it, watch the rest. The development is good. You will see that he doesn't quite fit into categories perfectly and thats the beauty of Dexter Morgan. He's a unique sociopathic killer the show tends to give the viewer much more credit than most shows on television these days.

I don't find him to be sadistic. Sure, he murders. But, he doesn't do it for pleasure (as a sadist would). He does it make the world "right". He does it to fulfill a more primitive form of justice, "an eye for an eye". He is cold, calculating, and mechanical in his process, but he is fiercely emotional in his delivery of swift justice. A sadist would torture his victim. Dexter does not. He reminds the criminal what he has done wrong (usually the murder of innocents) and quickly kills him.

Many people who are disturbed by the act when watching it, would nevertheless agree with what Dexter does. I think the popularity of the show speaks to an underlying attitude of the many people who wished there did exist someone (or many) like Dexter who could quickly dispose of the most nefarious of criminals in our midst.

That said, I think those same people would also be grateful not to have the same compulsion that Dexter has.

I've now seen the first season. He's a typical sociopath (or antisocial personality disorder as it's called today); no AS, just a lack of feeling most human emotions.

Yeah, he's a serial killer, and most of them probably do have sociopathy, but the majority of individuals with antisocial personality disorder aren't serial killers.

He's just like his brother (who was said to have antisocial personality disorder in the hospital), with the only difference being the "nurture" of his father, whereas his brother wasn't guided into the life of "normal". There's the whole nature versus nurture thingy going on within the story, and how nurture can affect the outcome to some extent, but it still doesn't change who people fundamentally are.

O, and people with AS will lack empathy and may have difficulty in defining the emotions they feel (or even lack many of them), but they feel the emotions of guilt and remorse (traits of sympathy). Those with psychopathy don't have guilt or remorse, which is why they can do the things that they do with seamless ease (from constant lying and aggression in most cases, up to killing without remorse and guilt in the minority of cases).

I just finished watching the first three seasons of Dexter. Interesting plot, if a bit disturbing. I didn't sleep very well on the nights I watched it. Probably didn't help that I was marathon watching for 6 hours or more at a time.

First season was good but not very action oriented. It was more about introducing Dexter and his character. For example how Dexter would visit a crime scene and get that goofy psychopath look when recreating the crime. Both funny and disturbing.

Second season was more action oriented but they forgot about some of the interesting things from the first season. It's like they took focus away from Dexter the (current) character and put all their effort in Dexter's life around him and his past. That's OK but they could have done a better job of keeping his character traits from the first season visible.

I think the first and second seasons would have been better if they blended some of the aspects from each.

Third season was basically a wash. It was the same as the second season. Kinda boring, same old, same old with a few new tidbits of information. I have no idea what their plan is for the fourth season but they need to come up with something different.

I find the Dexter character interesting in that he has to fake interpersonal stuff similar to Aspies. I also find his lack of emotion interesting. I don't know what most people with AS are like my own emotions are often just like my sensory problems. That is, I often don't understand them and they can be random and overpowering. I would like to be more like Dexter and have less emotions.

Wouldn't his blood slides get ruined in the air conditioner? I think all that heating and cooling plus moisture would destroy them. Why wouldn't he fix the front of the A/C so it is harder to remove? And why wouldn't he cover or hide his box so it isn't so visible? I know, I know, it makes the show interesting because it gives them something to work with. If I wrote the show then I would either make his hiding place better or have him keep the slides in plain view (ie. hiding right under their noses). You know, like put the slides visible in the pictures on his wall.

Real serial killers have always given me the creeps. I can generally read people pretty well even though I don't always understand what I see. I can sort of get a basic feeling from them. I don't get that with serial killers. When I watch interviews with Ted Bundy and similar people I can see their fake mask but it doesn't look any different than the same fake stuff normal people do. That really bothers me. Probably why I don't like normal people in general.

I love Dexter, but i got pretty tired of the Laila twist in Season 2. Season 3 got better (not going to spoil it for those who havent seen/read anything about it). Dexter is like "Mr Data" meets "American Psycho"

There are some differences from the book vs the series, like that Jamie Jarowski guy in season one who was a serial rapist/snuff movie maker, was in fact (in the original book) a wifebeater with an inferiority complex, and in the book when Dexter was about to slice him up, a security guard got too close and Dexter had to abandon the body. You didnt see any of that in the TV Series.

Still a very refreshing TV show in the current state of TV that i think is a big cesspool of turds. The only other series i watch right now is "House" and "CSI".