Dexter/Fridge

General

Fridge Brilliance

• The title character of the Dexter novels (and subsequent TV series) seems to have a slightly dorky name for the protagonist of a thriller series, considering similarly-named contemporaries, until you consider that all through the series he publically pretends to be an ordinary nice guy, the opposite of his true nature as a Serial Killer. Now consider the Latin roots of his name. What is the opposite of dexter? Sinister. -Dante668
  • Tangentially related: His dorky name gets a lampshade in the television series. "Dexter? Who the fuck names their kid Dexter?" Robocop does not approve, apparently.

The Series

Fridge Brilliance

• Dexter: Dexter is afraid he might be completely without emotion, but he's obviously anything but. He's also afraid his friends and loved ones will figure out his true nature, but they never do, even though, due to not being completely emotionless as he fears, he has the world's worst poker face. It just hit me; those around him are completely oblivious to the emotions of others. That's why they all suck at interpersonal relationships; they're terrible judges of character, and that's why they don't notice they have a serial killer among them, even one who any remotely empathic person ( like Doakes) can tell is seriously disturbed.-- Goat Boy
  • At first, I thought that Dexter's affection for children was something that was a bit tacked onto the character in order to help the audience to like him. Then I came to this realization: not only do children connect Dexter to his own lost innocence and remind him of the part of him that is closest to his humanity, the child he once was; not only do they draw out protective instincts because of his inability to protect himself on that fateful day, and not only are they easier to understand emotionally than most adults, and thus easier for Dexter to relate to, but I think that a large part of it has to do with Harry's influence on Dexter as well. We know that Dexter had affection for his adoptive father and considered that Harry "saved him". Dexter obviously values this parent/child connection, and thus subconsciously feels certain Papa Wolf instincts, in particular for Astor, Cody, and Harrison.
  • With each season of the show, Dexter shows more capability of displaying emotions. At the same time, he gradually drifts from Harry's teachings and becomes his own person. All these displays of emotion are incongruous with Dexter's own belief that he is a sociopath. However, if you look carefully at the show, Dexter may have been disturbed as a child but wasn't incapable of getting better. It is Harry, in fact, who turns Dexter into a monster. This is because he's been so jaded by his life as a cop that he doesn't believe Dexter has the capacity to change, the same way he doesn't believe the system will ever work. This is why Harry kills himself - because he realises that he has taken a traumatised child, turned him into a weapon, and told him never to make any connection with people. Dexter is slowly but surely managing to break free of this. - Disappearing Act
  • Deb's failed relationships. One of the major themes of this show is inability to connect with other people, seen through Dexter's constant quest to be understood and his failure to relate to the people around him. The same can be applied to Deb, although their situations are quite different.
• Dexter's Afraid of Blood that isn't tidily contained, blood that is chaotic. His job requires looking at some quite messy crime scenes and figuring out hat happened by looking at the blood, which at first would seem odd. Then you realise that his job is to put the blood back into order, making it tidy and neat again by putting the logic back into it. This explains partly why he's so good at his job: For him, it's therapeutic. -Mr Morley
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: You know, if Dexter wasn't obsessed with killing the Trinity Killer personally in season 4, he might have been able to avert Rita's death simply by staying home.

Fridge Horror

• Dexter. As if Rita's death wasn't heartbreaking and horrific enough. When you start to think of what a sadistic freak Arthur Mitchell aka Trinity was, just imagine what he said to her. Poor girl had no clue why she was dying... and her baby had to watch.
  • While we know that Dexter's code keeps him from killing innocents, and he is able to control his Dark Passenger enough that he is not a danger to those around him, in season 2, he tells Lila that he keeps himself at a distance from the people he cares about for fear he might "hurt them... like I've hurt so many others." That line becomes a hell of a lot creepier when you consider the implication that Dexter has at least thought about the possibility that he might unleash his Dark Passenger on his sister, his girlfriend, or his coworkers.
    • At the end of series 2, Dexter holds Doakes captive and has long conversations trying to convince him there Not So Different, it sometimes comes across less as justifing himself for killing people and more like trying to justify killing Doakes and cutting him up. And as Dexter kills a drug dealer after very little research in his prefered manner right in front of Doakes, you can assume Dexter was feeling very stabby at the time.
    • In Series 5, One of the serial rapists has a tendency to stick three fingers in the mouths of his victims. Creepy enough even before you realise that this guy's other distinguishing feature is that he is a dentist. A children's dentist. He puts those fingers of the mouths of children on a regular basis.

Fridge Logic

• How come Doakes doesn't follow Dexter all the time like he used to? Sure he's now gone through a lot of shit since the second book but that shouldn't stop him.
  • Even a Badass can be worn down somewhat. Plus he had been following Dexter for a long time with literally no results.