Dexter Season 6 Premiere: Religion Explored
The hit television series “Dexter” has premiered its sixth season on Showtime, and reveals the protagonist’s exploration of religion.
Dexter Morgan, a serial killer and Miami police officer, serves as the main character in the series. He battles his inner conflicts and explores issues of faith while he kills those who he fears would otherwise kill others in the show, living by “Harry’s Code.”
By killing only morally wrong people, Dexter is living up to his father’s code of ethics while maintaining a superficially “normal” life. His goodness is always under question, and the season is said to reveal a more emotional side to the sociopathic killer.
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The sixth season includes the tagline, “The avenging angel returns,” and sees Dexter entering his young son in a Catholic preschool. During the scene in the premiere episode, a nun at his son’s school asks Dexter, “What do you believe in?”
“Nothing. I don’t believe in anything,” Dexter responds with uncertainty.
Villains in the series this season quote the Book of Revelation, and the script includes a victim with a Jesus tattoo.
“If you let me go, God will give you life everlasting and whatever you want,” says the tattooed victim begging Dexter for his life in the season premiere.
Dexter and the victim have a heated discussion about God’s forgiveness, where the victim also says, “Everyone makes mistakes,” of his past crimes of murder. “They do things she shouldn’t do. They’re only humans, but God forgives us.”
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, “Dexter” director executive producer Sara Colleton said, “When we open the season, Dexter has thoroughly processed who he is and he knows very clearly what he doesn’t want to pass on to this son.”
Colleton explained how the idea for Dexter to explore religion came about this season, saying it had to do with parenting.
“It’s where he is in his life,” Colleton said. “Dexter realizes what all parents do: What kind of father am I? What do I pass on as a legacy to my child?”
The producer said the sixth season is “an exploration of the nature of faith and some avenues will have religious undertones, but it is more spiritual than religious.”
The end of the episode leaves the audience wondering if Dexter’s character is undergoing serious changes as he raises his son.
“Dexter” airs on Showtime Sundays at 9 p.m.
