Quote: Curt @ April 5 2008, 5:27 PM BSTHe's a vigilante who takes out bad guys by night and is a stand up citizen by day. Like a messed up version of Batman.
Plus in season 1 he didn't kill because he thought he was doing a good deed. He was doing it because he needed to kill. A primal need that he his messed up background demanded of him. He really didn't even get any joy from it, it was more of a release then a joy (like a smoke after trying to quit for a month). And of course his 'code'. Because like Charlie pointed out as a kid he was ready to kill everyone and anyone...including kitties and puppies.
In season 2 he starts feeling a bit more like a human (plus personal preservation) and that's when we start to see him feeling as though his deeds were actually 'good'.
Yeah exactly. Dexter isn't trying to be some vigilante, he HAS to kill, it's built into his psych from what happened to him as a kid, he NEEDS to do it, he has no choice about the matter. His Dad realised this and gave Dexter the code when he was still young, his Dad knew he wouldn't be able to stop Dexter from killing people so instead made sure the people that he killed in a way 'deserved' it, so now he only kills 'bad people'.
I haven't read the books but I've heard from most people that the TV series is much better than the books, which is quite a rare case.