MovieChat Forums > Dexter: New Blood (2021) Discussion > Missed oppoerunity. No, not what you're ...

Missed oppoerunity. No, not what you're thinking.

posted 3 years ago by kuatorises (7467)
2 replies | jump to latest

This show never really addressed the fact that some people would agree with what Dexter does. The Punisher, Death Wish, Boondock Saints, The Equalizer, Batman, and many more movies, shows, comics, and books over the years have dealt with vengeance, vigilantism, and other moral and ethical issues that go with the territory.

No, I'm not talking about a single episode about The Dark Defender, but it being an overarching theme in the series. Once word of The Bay Harbor Butcher got out, there would absolutely be support for him, but it's not a consistent or big theme in the show. They teased it at times - Miguel and Lumen - for example, but it wasn't as big a theme as it should have been. Hell, Doakes himself made some questionable kills in this show and he felt very justified in doing it.

It's not believable that every single cop or person that works in law enforcement would be against Dexter. Harry saw injustices every day. Lots of cops do and there are people who would absolutely support this. I'm just surprised they never fleshed this angle out more.

[–] careNsympathy (6) 3 years ago

Another thing is that Dexter lives in kind of a cartoon world where every city has multiple active serial killers who are seemingly at no risk of getting caught. I know the show doesn't want me to think he's batman, but when he's regularly taking out guys like Trinity and Kurt, is Dexter's activity really a net negative in terms of human suffering? That's not clear to me. So yeah, I think there would be real support for him.

[–] kuatorises (7467) 3 years ago

Everything is too convenient, yes. That's always been very true. From him getting away with this many murderers, to there being this many people at his disposal to murder. Even when the show was at it's peak, this was a glaring problem.

"I know the show doesn't want me to think he's batman, but when he's regularly taking out guys like Trinity and Kurt, is Dexter's activity really a net negative in terms of human suffering? That's not clear to me."

I don't know what the show wants us to think (or is trying to tell us) at this point. There appears to be no direction or purpose.

I don't completely agree they don't want us to think he's Batman, but only because the show truly went back and forth on it. Early on, he does it just to satisfy his urge to kill, but over the years you see he enjoys taking out bad people. He rubs their crimes in their faces and does not approve of killing innocents the way they do. He kills his own brother because he knows he's out of control. He definitely mourns Rita and Deb's deaths. He likes kids. Liked being a father.

Then he crosses the line a handful over times here and there and Logan was the latest example, but I'm getting off track.

My point - in this post - was the lack of real exploration into the net negative/vigilante angle. No one one investigating the Bay Harbor Butcher - whether it be a cop, FBI agent, or amateur sleuth - ever says, "You know, this guy is "only" killing killers..." Doakes certainly killed outside of the law. So did Deb.