Tag Archives: Michael C. Hall

Comedy, Crime, Dexter, Drama, FRONT, Sci-Fi, TV

My Love/Hate Relationships With Flawed Characters.

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Dexter Morgan, Jackie Peyton and Walter White

Having only just recently finished watching the entire run of Breaking Bad, a friend asked me what my thoughts were on the show and in particular the finale.  My first immediate response was “I hated Walt”.  Apparently that was a pretty natural response as my friend replied “You’re supposed to by the end”.  It got me thinking how I could become so involved and enamored with a show in which you literally despise the lead character for all the bad he or she does.

That said, this does this not apply to every character that expresses dark behavior.   Take for instance Dexter Morgan (Michael C Hall).  The guy is a serial killer (who only kills bad people) whose actions led to the death of his wife Rita (Julie Benz) and several other innocent people along the way (Doakes, his sister Deb and LaGuerta to name a few) yet we are rooting for him to evade the law and continue on his merry killing way while, watching Breaking Bad, all I wanted was for Hank to get his man and put Walter White (Bryan Cranston) away for good.

Nurse Jackie’s Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco) is another prime example of a love/hate relationship.  The pill popping superstar nurse all but ruined her marriage, her career and treated friends and co-workers like trash all while downing copious amounts of pills and having an illicit affair and all I wanted was for her to get what she had coming.  I disliked Jackie Peyton for all the horrible she brought to peoples lives.

Melrose Place's Sydney Andrews and Kimberly Shaw
Melrose Place’s Sydney Andrews and Kimberly Shaw

Yet going as far back as the 90’s with the Aaron Spelling soap Melrose Place.  Two of the show’s most devious characters Sydney Andrews (Laura Leighton) and Dr. Kimberly Shaw (Marcia Cross) both slept and blackmailed and even bombed their way through a decent run of the series, but in true form, all I wanted for these crazy ladies was to come out on top.

What I can’t get my head around is what is the difference between Walter White and Dexter Morgan and Jackie Peyton and Sydney Andrews? Each are flawed, each have done inexplicable acts and yet i’m divided as to who I root for and whom I want to receive their comeuppance.

Part of it, I think, is because we go into a show, say like Dexter, knowing he is a serial killer.  There’s no surprise shock act that makes us question our feelings towards him.  Same applied to Kimberly and Sydney on Melrose Place.  The two made a splash on their entrance, letting us all know they were here to cause trouble, while on the other hand, when we meet Walter White, he’s a married science teacher who’s discovered he has cancer.  We want to resonate with his less than perfect life situations and we do….but then we witness his actions of atrocity (including poisoning a little boy) and suddenly we begin to question.

It’s this tickle on our emotions that makes characters like Walter White and Jackie Peyton so different from those like the Melrose duo, Dexter Morgan even American Horror Story Coven’s Fiona Goode (Jessica Lange) or Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and Mad Men’s Don Draper (Jon Hamm).

Crime, Dexter, Drama, FRONT, TV

A Dexter Spin-Off Theory to Consider.

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Jennifer Carpenter as Debra Morgan

As the final season of Dexter begins it’s final decent into saying goodbye, the speculation about a possible spin-off continues to garner talk, mainly about who will the show continue on with.

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Sam Underwood as Zach Hamilton

With this final season introducing a new protege for Dexter (Michael C Hall) in the form of Zach Hamilton (Sam Underwood), many began assuming the new series could feature Zach continuing on, in his new path Dexter has provided for him, but those rumors were quickly quashed when it was announced that Underwood has just joined the cast of The Following for it’s second season.

So it brings us back to the original question.  If there is going to be a spin-off, will it focus on Dexter’s sister Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter)?  Carpenter was recently quoted as saying that “she hopes Deb will die at the closure of the series” as it will enable her to “shed the skin of the character and move on as an actor”.  I thought I’d throw out a plausible option for a spin-off that a co-worker and I tossed around with today.

The final 20 minutes of Dexter would see Deb and Dexter having a quiet moment (all seen from Dexter’s perspective) before he leaves to an undisclosed location.  It’s time for him to move on and away, allowing Deb to live her life the way she is supposed to.  After a final drink, she says goodbye, hops in her car and leaves.  A short time later, she receives a call from Dexter, it’s a distress call, he’s frantic, not making sense then suddenly, the call goes dead. – scene end.

We pick up in this new show, 20 minutes before the finale of Dexter, this time from Deb’s perspective, saying goodbye to her brother, getting in her car and driving off.  She receives the call from Dexter, it goes dead, she rushes back to find him dead.  Who killed him?

The new show, season one, follows Deb on splitting her time and resources between both Miami Metro and with Jacob Elway in the hunt for Dexter’s killer while also taking on the day-to-day tasks and crimes of her job.

I think this could be a perfect direction into a spin-off that allows characters and locations we know and love to continue on and also have a direct link to the original show – that being the hunt for Dexter’s killer.

Either way, there’s only three episodes left of Dexter.  How will it end?  Will Dexter die or will he ride off into the sunset with Hannah and son Harrison?  Guess we’ll find out soon enough!

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Dexter Season 8 – Teaser Trailer Revealed

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Michael C Hall as Dexter Morgan

It’s here!  The first teaser trailer for the highly anticipated final season of Dexter has been released online by Showtime, and, in true Showtime fashion, they ain’t giving much away!

Season 8 looks set to continue on from the massive cliff-hanger of season 7 which saw Deborah making a life changing decision – shoot Dexter or shoot Maria LaGuerta.  What many are wanting to know is how will the show say goodbye?  Will Dexter, the serial killer who kills bad people continue with his dark path?  Will he be caught out?

We’re not going to know until that final episode, but, Michael C. Hall has himself said that “I imagine Dexter is going to get caught one way or the other. And by that I mean, can we really expect him, at this point, to walk into the sunset? Or get off without a blemish on his conscience or character? In a way, he is already caught. Once Rita dies he is caught. Once Deb is in on the secret he is caught. And what he’s caught by is the undeniable fact that how he conducts himself has an effect on more than just him and his victims. As far as whether he goes to jail, or gets put to death, or gets hit by a bus or whatever it might be, I can’t say. But I think, in a way, we are watching someone slowly but surely get caught.”

Dexter season 8, premieres on June 30th on Showtime in the US.

Watch the season 8 trailer below: