Deviously Different Dexter’s: The Books versus The Series
Warning: Spoilers abound.
Keep in mind, first, that I have not read the entire series of books. I am fresh off reading the first book now, and I finished the second season over two weeks ago (wow, has it really been that long?)
Keep in mind, also, though a novel is usually superior to its visual counterpart (extreme re: Harry Potter), there have been a few instances in the past I prefer the presentation of a movie or a television series over the original written word (re: Silence of the Lambs).
Such is the case with Dexter the Series versus Jeff Lindsay’s novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter(DDD).
Oh, I liked the book. I finished it in less than a day, didn’t I?
Perhaps my preference for the series comes from the same place as hearing a cover version of a classic song before the original song itself, and finding the cover superior to the disappointingly lacking original. “Sympathy for the Devil” is my ultimate example of this; the Rolling Stones may have written it, but having heard the Guns N Roses version first makes me feel like the latter made the song what it should be, amazing.
However, I don’t just think it’s because I saw the show first. Even though I’ve seen the first season twice now (and some episodes 3 times by “accident”), I still got a rush from reading DDD because
a) it’s a thrilling storyline with a truly original protagonist
b) about halfway through the book, it starts to share only minor similarities with the show. The big reveal about Brian is the same, but how it is reached and the events during are so different that the phrase “based on” becomes “very loosely based on the concept.” In essence, it was like reading an alternate ending to season one, except the “alternate” part starts at about episode two of the season.
Despite the fact that I enjoyed the book, I did not get the immense tension followed by satisfaction that I did from watching the series. This could be taken as “which is better,” but I’m approaching this from a “which one I preferred” standpoint.
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1. Dexter, the monster
Show: Dexter is cool, calculating and sardonic in his voice over. I said below that this is part of what makes the show. Also, he is such a personable guy with his coworkers, Deb, Rita and the kids that you can’t help but like the fakey-Dexter aswell.
Book: Dexter is all of those things above, but his narration seems more disjointed, more hyper, more (dare-I-say?) crazy.
Why the Show is Better: Michael C. Hall is fantastic as the lead roll. When Dex is being friendly, he looks it and I like him. But when Dex is thinking something malicious or doing something even more malicious, the camera angle moves up slightly, emphasizing his brow and I get the genuine creeps, but in a good way. I’m not sure I like the slightly hyper Dexter of the books; though deeply disturbed, Dexter doesn’t come off as a “psycho” on the show. As sane as a sociopath with homicidal tendencies can be, I much prefer the portrayal of Dexter as grounded in his own head as opposed to the jumble of phrases that pop into his head in the novel.
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2. Rita and the Kids
Show: Major part of the series. He uses her as a facade as part of his elaborate evading of the classic serial killer profile. Or at least, it starts out that way. But he begins to show affection, though never love, for her as the series progresses, and doesn’t like the idea of his life without her. He is also amazing with Astor and Cody, who he views as a bonus in dating Rita. He’s shown shying away from sex over the first 7 episodes, but during “Shrink Wrap,” he makes a major breakthrough in therapy and finally initiate the sex he’s been so afraid will expose his emotionless side to Rita. Her abusive ex-husband also becomes a minor character that Dexter deals with, but doesn’t kill. Rita develops confidence during her relationship with Dexter, and eventually is able to demand Dexter seek help for his addiction (though she thinks it’s heroin, not murder).
Book: Accessory in the novels; Rita’s not quite a minor character, but she’s certainly not second billing the way Julie Benz is in the series. Dexter really has no affection for her, viewing her completely as the part of the disguise she’s meant to be. He does genuinely like Astor and Cody far more than Rita herself, and really keeps the relationship going so he can spend time with them. Only passing mention of her ex-husband, and she seems even meeker than she comes off in the show.
Why the Show is Better: Character development is always superior to 2-D minor accessory characters; and I especially like Rita as a character. So naive, so innocent despite what she’s been through. Some people will prefer Dexter’s detachment from her in the books because it makes him a more believable sociopath; but since the origin of Dexter’s sociopathy may very well be nurture, not nature, I very much like this whole aspect of the show that gives Dexter many instances to connect emotionally when he thought he was incapable, because maybe he is human afterall.
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3. Dexter, the SERIAL killer
Show: Not every episode of the series, but for the first 2/3 of the season, we get to see Dexter hunt, meet, trap and kill his various villainous victims (alliteration is fun; just ask Dexter) on a weekly basis. Often, Dexter learns something about himself while having a one on one chat with the people plastic wrapped to his working table; dark humour is abound in these scenes. Also, other than the cut to the cheek, the brutal manner in which he kills is only suggested and not shown; it often cuts away to black and we only see the clean aftermath of the garbage bag disposal (ehem PTC, I’m looking at you for your bullshit complaint that its to violent to be shown on public tv).
Books: He talks about being a serial killer; virtually everything he thinks is somehow based on it (like in the series), but we only see two of these justice killings (both in the first episode), and he doesn’t really talk to his victims about his problems before he cuts them up. He’s much more cold, completely about the ritual.
Why the Show is Better: Though he focuses a lot on the fact that he is a serial killer in the books, we are reminded each episode of the show with a subplot per week that he actually does track bad guys down and murder them. His focus on the Ice Truck killer’s crimes are disturbing, but make him seem much more like a twisted groupie than a “fellow traveler” in the books because we aren’t reminded that Dexter does this on a weekly basis too. The harshness of that is slightly reduced, though because we get to see in the show that his victims are slime, and its a nice dynamic to see Dexter struggling with admiring a guy who doesn’t follow his moral code about killing. Also, the ritual scenes, where Dexter has a heart to heart with his prey are always fun, endearing you to Dexter even more despite his hobby ; something sorely lacking in the books.
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4. The “Other” Killer
Show: Rudy aka Brian, prosthetic maker and also our serial killer, gets close to Deb early on in the season and manages to get her to accept his proposal. Also, since there are 12 episodes versus one novel, there are many more clues left for Dexter in forms of chopped up body parts. These are meant to lead Dexter to uncover his own history and discover what happened to him at the age of three that made him the way he was; Tony Tucci’s body parts left around town, digging up one of Dexter’s kills and making him get himself out of that situation, the hotel room full of blood. They are all used to make Dexter realize that he was left in a cargo box for days in a pool of his mother’s blood after watching her get chopped up by a chainsaw. The twist; Brian, Dexter’s brother, was also present and grew up to have an unstoppable need for killing in the same way Dex does. Unlike Dexter, Brian always remembered everything and had no code installed into him so he kills innocent people. He is unsuccessful at getting Dex to kill Deb, and after Dex stops Brian from doing it himself, Dex kills Brian ‘for the safety of his sister,” despite the fact that he truly wanted to set him free and be a remorseless killer with him.
Book: We do not meet Brian until the final confrontation with Deb, who is actually in the cargo box when Dex goes searching for her. Brian’s profession is unknown, but he did do all the Miami killings in an attempt to determine whether his brother is a killer too. Also, Dexter for a brief period thinks he himself is the killer because he keeps on having murder-filled dreams which resemble crime scenes that are found the next day, and when the killer is caught on a blurry photograph, both Deb and Dex think its Dexter they’re seeing. This is because Dex and Brian are a year apart and look very similar. Dexter comes a lot closer to killing Deb in the book, and instead watches Brian kill LaGuerta and helps him escape while Deb is spared. I’ve heard that we have yet to hear from Brian as of Book 3.
Why the Show was Better: Everything from the beginning to the end of the season was perfectly planned out to reveal enough information in an episode about the Ice Truck Killer; first his identity, then his motives and *real* identity. Nice touches like the painted fingernails and the killing of their father were at all in the book, and I liked the dynamic of the Ice Truck Killer hanging out with Dexter, while all Dexter wanted to do was be alone and think about who possibly the Ice Truck Killer could be. One episode I would have liked to have seen is Dexter playing with the idea that it could be him; but only an episode early on as the possibility of that is very unrealistic, even in the books, when the reader knows enough about the murders and Dexter himself. But overall I liked having Rudy there in the background; gave me the fucking creeps. I also prefer the fact that Dexter doesn’t even consider killing Deb (“but I’m…fond… of her”), and that he HAS to kill Brian in the end. I said it before and I’ll say it again; character development wins every time. Some people will view this as Dex going soft versus the messed up ending we get in the books, but hey, the guy is a serial killer. What more treading on the darkside does he have to do to impress you? He should have his moments of moral rightness; keeps him human enough to earn the title of protagonist.
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Those are the big 4. There were more, but minor observations; like Dexter’s body disposal method. In the series, nobody is ever to find the bodies until, whoops, season 2. But in the books, he talks about the paper’s review of his work; obviously he often leaves the body behind and doesn’t set up the room like an inside of a plastic bag. I like the show better too in this; if Dexter is such a neat monster, why would he leave such a mess?
Ultimately, the ending of the book and the season determine where the next installment takes the audience/reader; and its in two completely different directions. I loved season 1, I think I liked season 2 just a little bit more. But now its time for some uncharted waters and as I understand, there are few comparisons to make between the book and show, so I probably cant come back with a list like this; just a verdict of which story line I like better.
I bet its the show.
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