Dexter Morgan, the serial killer with a code, had plenty of moments across both Dexter and the sequel series Dexter: New Blood that made audiences turn away from him. Dexter’s moral code allowed him to commit murders, but only against those he deemed deserved to die, which made him an oddly engaging anti-hero whose sinister acts he had found a way to justify to himself. While viewers had to accept Dexter’s Dark Passenger from the very first episode, he committed many other actions that rubbed viewers the wrong way and impeded their love of his character.
While the best episodes of Dexter showcased his meticulous planning and thoughtful murder tactics against sinister criminals, the times when Dexter broke the Code of Harry went against his established character and led viewers to judge his actions. Other instances saw Dexter do wrong by the loved ones in his life, such as his wife Rita, sister Debra, and son Harrison, who all faced the negative consequences of knowing and trusting Dexter. As a deeply troubled and complex psychopath, there were plenty of moments where viewers turned against Dexter Morgan.
10 Dexter’s Role In Doakes Death
Dexter: Season 2, Episode 12: “The British Invasion”
The second season finale of Dexter was the culmination of Sergeant James Doakes’ pursuit of Dexter Morgan, whose serial killer double life he always had a sneaking suspicion about. Doakes was an essential character in Dexter’s earliest seasons, as he was one of the few people to recognize the soullessness behind Dexter’s eyes and the fact that he held a sinister secret. Determined to bring Dexter down, the tragedy of his character was that he was doomed to be falsely remembered as a killer himself.
While Dexter didn’t explicitly break the Code of Harry to kill Doakes, it was Dexter’s actions that led to his demise. This included Dexter slipping blood slides into his car, making Doakes a prime suspect in the Bay Harbor Butcher case, and eventually dying from an explosion of igniting propane tanks near the cabin where Dexter had imprisoned him. This made Dexter indirectly responsible for Doakes death and a tragic end to a moral character whose only crime was wishing to see Dexter face justice.
9 Breaking The Code To Kill Oscar Prado
Dexter: Season 3, Episode 1: “Our Father”
The way that Dexter’s late father, Harry Morgan’s code, guided and subdued his Dark Passenger was a cornerstone of the killer’s character. As the moral framework by which Dexter lived his life and the only reason his serial killing impulses actually put some good into the world, the first time that Dexter truly broke the code for his own benefit was a moment that turned audiences away from him. As Dexter killed Oscar Prado in Season 3, this moment of self-defense represented a turning point in his character.
Dexter killed Oscar while attempting to track down Freebo, a drug dealer who killed two college girls, after he attacked him with a bayonet. The two’s physical alternation led to Dexter using lethal force and, for the very first time, breaking the Code of Harry. While Dexter clearly regretted his actions at this moment as he sorrowfully asked Oscar, “Who are you?” as he died, there was no going back, and this opened the door for many more non-Code-approved kills.
8 Sleeping With Lila
Dexter: Season 2, Episode 6: “Dex, Lies, and Videotape”
Dexter Morgan’s relationship with Rita Bennett was perhaps the most wholesome aspect of a very unwholesome series. While Dexter first began dating Rita as a means to look like a normal functioning member of society, the earliest seasons of Dexter showcased how their bond deepened, and he started to experience genuine feelings for Rita and became a father figure to her children. However, much to the viewers’ dismay, Dexter’s stable relationship was tested with the introduction of Lila West in Season 2.
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Every Dexter Love Interest, Ranked From Worst To Best
Dexter Morgan may have been a serial killer who wasn’t interested in romance but he certainly had a handful of ladies in his life.
Lila was a former addict who recognized the darkness within Dexter and acted as an intriguing alternative to the innocence of Rita’s character. As Dexter grew closer to Lila, Rita became uncomfortable with their relationship, and she discovered that Lila had accompanied Dexter on a road trip, so she broke up with him. This led to Dexter quickly sleeping with Lila, a move that felt unjust after such a long time with Rita. While Dexter and Rita did get back together, in that moment, Dexter’s shocking infidelity felt almost more immoral than his killings.
7 Underestimating The Trinity Killer
Dexter: Season 4, Episode 12: “The Getaway”
The Trinity Killer was Dexter’s main antagonist during the fourth season, whose ruthless method followed the horrific sequences of events of his own childhood. With a backstory not dissimilar to Dexter’s own blood-filled upbringing, the killer known as Arthur Mitchell also lived an unassuming life as a church deacon and a family man. Although Dexter became well aware of Trinity’s sinister potential, he underestimated him, which led to horrific results.
While Dexter did eventually capture The Trinity Killer and put an end to his horrific practices, this was not before Trinity had carried out a crime that would have major ripple effects. Before Trinity was murdered by Dexter in the same room he was kidnapped as a child, Trinity had already enacted his final crime as he murdered Dexter’s wife Rita and left their baby son Harrison sitting in the blood-filled room. While this was a tragic moment for Dexter that mirrored his own childhood trauma, it was impossible not to curse Dexter for not getting to Trinity sooner.
6 Dexter Morgan & Hannah McKay
Dexter: Season 7, Episode 6: “Do the Wrong Thing”
While Dexter’s code was the glue that held the show together in its earlier seasons, by the time the series progressed into its final years, the rigidity of Dexter’s rules felt less certain. This was perfectly encapsulated by Dexter’s relationship with Hannah McKay, a woman he would have had no qualms with killing in earlier seasons. Like Dexter, Hannah was a serial killer who, as a teenager, accompanied her boyfriend on a three-state killing spree and later poisoned her husband.
Despite Dexter initially investigating Hannah with plans to kill her, the two ended up having sex in the kill room, and actually got together. However, Dexter and Hannah’s relationship was contentious for viewers as her manipulative and untrustworthy nature made her a sharp contrast to Dexter’s murdered wife, Rita. As a hastily developed relationship, at times, it felt like Dexter ignored his own moral compass to be with Hannah, which led to mixed feelings from audiences.
5 Dexter’s Willingness To Kill LaGuerta
Dexter: Season 7, Episode 12: “Surprise, Motherf****r!”
Dexter Morgan lived a secretive life as a serial killer while working for the Miami Metro Police Department. This innate contradiction meant that Dexter existed right under the noses of those who were tasked with stopping his crimes and apprehending him for his wrongdoings. While this occasionally got dangerously close to occurring in the early seasons, such as Sergeant James Doake’s realization about Dexter’s true nature, it took Captain María LaGuerta significantly longer to catch onto Dexter’s life of crime, which sadly led to her untimely death.
Despite Dexter living by a strict moral code of killing only those he deemed deserved to die, in the case of LaGuerta, he was shockingly willing to make an exception to save his own skin. Although it was actually Dexter’s sister Deb who pulled the trigger in the end, Dexter’s simply willingness to ruthlessly murder his colleague was an out-of-character decision that turned viewers away from him. As a noble and passionate police captain, LaGuerta’s death felt like an unjust demise to a well-loved character.
4 Dumping Deb’s Body
Dexter: Season 8, Episode 12: “Remember the Monsters?”
The series finale of the final season of the original Dexter series was full of controversial moments that rubbed viewers the wrong way. One particular instance was Dexter’s role at the end of his sister Debra’s story. After being shot, Deb suffered a stroke and was left in a persistent vegetative state, which led to Dexter breaking his code, disconnecting her from her life support, and allowing her to die as he whispered, “I love you.”
While this was a powerfully emotive moment in Dexter, the following scene depicted Dexter taking Deb out in his boat and somberly dumping her body into the ocean. This heartbreaking scene meant that Deb ended up having the same fate as many of Dexter’s murderous victims and felt like a sad conclusion to the story of one of the show’s primary characters. As Dexter continued to go unpunished for his crimes, it was shocking that Deb would meet such a brutal and tragic fate in the end.
3 Dexter Abandoning Harrison
Dexter: Season 8, Episode 12: “Remember the Monsters?”
The Season 8 finale of Dexter saw Dexter Morgan faking his own death, as after police found the shattered remnants of his boat in the ocean, they concluded that he must have died. While this laid the groundwork for Dexter to rebuild his life under a new identity, it also meant he abandoned the one person in the world who he was required to love and protect. Dexter’s final acts in the original series resulted in his Harrison being left behind and were yet another brutal instance in the toddler’s harrowing early life.
Dexter left his son behind with Hannah McKay, who had relocated to Argentina, which felt like a disappointing end to Dexter’s growing empathy as a father. This abandonment would have negative effects on Harrison, who grew up determined to track down his father, and the pair were reunited in the sequel series Dexter: New Blood. Dexter’s abandonment of his only son was a truly heartbreaking end to the series, as it went against all his character growth that occurred over the previous eight seasons.
2 Lumberjack Dexter
Dexter: Season 8, Episode 12: “Remember the Monsters?”
The highly divisive series finale of the original run of Dexter has been remembered for its disappointing Lumberjack Dexter final scene. This sequence told viewers that Dexter did not really die in his boat and was instead living under a new identity away from Miami, his son Harrison, and all the characters who had populated the past eight seasons of Dexter. While this went against Dexter’s obligation to his child, it was also a moment that made the audience stop loving Dexter because he never faced justice in the original series.
Since as far back as the first episode of Dexter, one exciting potential scenario was his being caught and the true nature of his crimes being revealed. To see the fallout of a Miami Metro employee being revealed as one of the most prolific serial killers ever was a plot point that Dexter never fully explored, which was a wasted opportunity for some fascinating storylines. This lack in Dexter’s narrative and his never facing justice on a grand scale made viewers stop loving Dexter Morgan, as even a killer with a code needs to be caught eventually.
1 Cop Killer Dexter
Dexter: New Blood – Episode 10: “Sins of the Father”
The twist ending of the sequel series Dexter: New Blood featured a moment that forced viewers to fall out of love with Dexter Morgan. Although Dexter was revealed to be living a new life under the name Jeff Lindsay (a homage to the author of the original Dexter novels), the careful eco-system of his new life began to fall apart when his estranged son Harrison finally tracked him down. This series of events, like Dexter’s uncharacteristic killing of innocent Sergeant Logan in the series finale.
Dexter had been arrested and was backed into a corner as his past as the Bay Harbor Butcher was catching up with him. Rather than pay for his misdeeds, Dexter killed Logan to make his escape and proved he was not better than any of the killers who had wrapped up in his kill room over the years. When push came to shove, Dexter showcased time and time again that he would do what was required to evade justice, and it was ruthless murders like this that meant audiences had plenty of moments where they stopped loving Dexter Morgan.
Based on the character created by author Jeff Lindsay, Showtime’s Dexter follows Miami Metro Police Department’s most skilled blood spatter analyst, Dexter Morgan, as he attempts to satisfy his Dark Passenger’s need to kill by hunting down criminals who have escaped justice. However, using the rules his adoptive father taught him to remain undiscovered, Dexter must walk the fine line of seemingly blending into society while continuously feeding his dark urges. Dexter faces several serial killers as his facade slowly crumbles around him; with every problem solved by his Dark Passenger, another one arises for his suburban fatherly life. When Dexter takes things personally or feels that the law is failing, he takes matters into his own hands and even compromises the investigations of his co-workers. Dexter aired on Showtime for eight seasons before receiving a mini-sequel series called Dexter: New Blood, which picked up ten years after the show’s events. You can buy each season for just $9.99 for Prime Day.
- Release Date
- October 31, 2010
- Seasons
- 8
- Writers
- Jeff Lindsay , Scott Buck , Scott Reynolds , Tim Schlattmann , Karen Campbell , Melissa Rosenberg , Kevin Maynard , Wendy West , Manny Coto , Daniel Cerone , Jace Richdale , Drew Z. Greenberg , Chip Johannessen , Adam Fierro , Jim Leonard
- Directors
- Clyde Phillips
- Showrunner
- Clyde Phillips
