"People fake a lot of human interactions, but I feel like I fake them all."

Dexter Morgan is an acutely self-aware forensics blood-spatter-analyst for the Miami-Dade Police Department by day, vigilante serial killer by night, and star of the Showtime series Dexter. He's a serial killer with a conscience. An extremely choosy predator, Dexter, played by Michael C. Hall, channels his desire to kill by targeting a very specific population, only hunting those who have committed senselessly heinous crimes and somehow slipped through the justice system. Make no mistake, Dexter Morgan is a serial killer through and through, though every one of his violent acts is somewhat justifiable. His consistently gives his audience the impression that these acts are a reasonable suspension of the ethical -- that violence can be used to combat violence. Dexter is a brilliant critique of violence as a means of peacekeeping.

Dexter Morgan is an extremely amiable, though frightening, paradox. He is a creature who can bring destruction or life, he is savage and unmerciful and at the same time nurturing. He confides in us, his audience, a proclivity for inflicting pain and yet directs this overwhelming desire in a nominally socially responsible manner. For fans of Six Feet Under, the first few episodes of Dexter necessitate serious readjustment. David Fisher as serial killer is a bit startling, if not flummoxing. We are so used to David's passive-aggressive, innocuous, and self-deprecating antics that Dexter's gruesome acts are mostly absorbed with disbelief, not disgust.

As the series progresses, it exploits the fact that it is easy to identify with this likable monster. Dexter earns our trust through his articulate narration and strangely appealing moral compass. He is our quirky tour guide, narrating a journey through the Miami underworld -- a place where the worst of the worst roam free and we are along for the ride. His honesty is overwhelming -- he so convincingly describes his reasons for killing that as an audience, excusing Dexter's violent acts is effortless. At the end of the day, it is oddly reassuring to know that someone like Dexter is out on the front lines proactively addressing the violence he sees in his community.

Shot under this umbrella of violence, the series posits that violence is the uniting force in our world. By gratuitously depicting carnage in specifically cadenced manners, the series spoon-feeds some of the most brutal and gruesome scenes on television. We quickly realize that no one is safe from violence. Children, adults, the police, public officials, country club members, trophy wives, short order cooks, prostitutes, hockey players, nosy old neighbors, housewives, physicians, office managers, felons, and serial killers are prey and predator alike. We are reminded that humans are extremely frightening and that violence is a reality, not a tool. Dexter sees the world as an incubator of violence and himself an active participant.

Dexter is a victim of his past: a crumby early childhood saturated in violence incites him to embrace violence as a means of productivity and identity. Whether or not Dexter's actions are morally reprehensible becomes less important. He convinces us. The further we journey, the more apparent it becomes that a human can very well do what he wants but cannot will what he wants. Dexter Morgan exposes us to a different world -- one in which violence is a given -- but reminds us that it is how one deals with it that is important. Dexter chooses to embrace violence. Thus, the series self-consciously tackles the very complicated issue of explaining evil without condoning it.

Dexter is a fairy tale of sorts for adults. The side of mankind seen through violence is harrowing. Dexter Morgan's attempt to translate the horrors of the world into something he can comprehend and do something about reveals a beautiful, albeit scary, sense of anarchy. In Dexter's world, evil is manmade, the only monsters are human and Dexter is a loveable one.

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