This season of Dexter is going to dip into religion and what it means (or doesn’t mean) to Dexter. This is interesting to this blogger because, as a person with faith, Dexter made her brain go wild with these issues during the first season. It raised a lot of questions, such as: Where is the hope for people like Dexter? If you have no heart, how can you find God? Do people like Dexter have that ‘free will’ to choose God thing, or are they incapable, because they can’t feel remorse and can’t repent?
Of course, in answer to the last question, the show weirdly gave the sociopath some level of a conscience and more of a heart than most serial killers would have. But for the real-life killers, the question still stands. Religion doesn’t make this blogger uncomfortable at all. Not any single religion. Shoot, she will discuss and read about them all. But religion plus Dexter?
This blogger answered her own spiritual questions about people like Dexter a while ago (and if you want the detailed conclusions to that line of questioning, you can ask in the comments, if you are so inclined). But it will be very nice to see how the show broaches the topic, which is a ballsy move for this show. We love it. Let’s go there. If it all makes you uncomfortable, first, ask why. If the reason is solid, you might want to stay away from this show and these posts. If it's not reasonable for you to be uncomfortable, strap on a pair and dive in.
Dexter and Deb are trying to get Harrison in this exclusive Catholic school. Dexter tells a nun that he doesn’t believe in anything except a set of rules to keep him out of trouble, and Deb tells him that she thinks that’s kind of cold. Later, Dexter goes back and tells the nun that he wants Harrison to learn about faith, so the nun tells him that she will do her best to find a place for him. Dexter may think religion is all bull, and he has no fear of punishment in the afterlife (really, isn't being Dexter punishment enough?), but he wants Harrison to have the opportunity to be normal.
Dexter tries to talk to Angel about God and get some explanation. Angel tells Dexter that every person has a yearning for God and that there is a moral code inside everyone and that it all comes down to faith. Dexter decides this makes no sense. Knowing Dexter, a “the shadow proves the sunshine” approach might have resonated more with him. Dexter doesn’t know what it’s like to feel the good. But he knows the darkness and knows it is dark. He could focus on the contrast. (Speaking of that, this show is so good at showing the contrast between Dexter and regular, life-filled people. That's one of the reasons we like it.)
The main plot of the evening involved Dexter going to his 20-year high school reunion to kill one of his classmates who abused and killed his own wife, a girl who was nice to Dexter in high school. Dexter finds that his classmates remember him, like him, think he’s cute, and think he has a cool job. He’s surprised, because he thought he was invisible. A good-looking woman gives him a blow job. She was very aggressive. Dexter had to play touch football in order to nail his victim, and that was absolutely hilarious. It really IS amazing that Dexter didn’t kill anyone in high school.
Dexter noticed a Jesus tattoo on his victim, and his victim says something like, “Oh, as long as you ask for forgiveness, it’s fine.” Ok, show, you’re going to have to question religion a little better than that. Everyone with half a fair brain knows that sincerity/heart counts in that (assuming it’s real), and you can’t go through life with an “I’ve got a get-out-of-jail-free card” attitude. You have to actually love God and genuinely want to live in alignment with the way he saw things, or so we hear. If there's a God, he will know who is sincere and who is looking for loopholes in something as nice (and, arguably, fair) as grace. He's a hard guy to hoodwink.
Dexter and Deb are trying to get Harrison in this exclusive Catholic school. Dexter tells a nun that he doesn’t believe in anything except a set of rules to keep him out of trouble, and Deb tells him that she thinks that’s kind of cold. Later, Dexter goes back and tells the nun that he wants Harrison to learn about faith, so the nun tells him that she will do her best to find a place for him. Dexter may think religion is all bull, and he has no fear of punishment in the afterlife (really, isn't being Dexter punishment enough?), but he wants Harrison to have the opportunity to be normal.
Dexter tries to talk to Angel about God and get some explanation. Angel tells Dexter that every person has a yearning for God and that there is a moral code inside everyone and that it all comes down to faith. Dexter decides this makes no sense. Knowing Dexter, a “the shadow proves the sunshine” approach might have resonated more with him. Dexter doesn’t know what it’s like to feel the good. But he knows the darkness and knows it is dark. He could focus on the contrast. (Speaking of that, this show is so good at showing the contrast between Dexter and regular, life-filled people. That's one of the reasons we like it.)
The main plot of the evening involved Dexter going to his 20-year high school reunion to kill one of his classmates who abused and killed his own wife, a girl who was nice to Dexter in high school. Dexter finds that his classmates remember him, like him, think he’s cute, and think he has a cool job. He’s surprised, because he thought he was invisible. A good-looking woman gives him a blow job. She was very aggressive. Dexter had to play touch football in order to nail his victim, and that was absolutely hilarious. It really IS amazing that Dexter didn’t kill anyone in high school.
Dexter noticed a Jesus tattoo on his victim, and his victim says something like, “Oh, as long as you ask for forgiveness, it’s fine.” Ok, show, you’re going to have to question religion a little better than that. Everyone with half a fair brain knows that sincerity/heart counts in that (assuming it’s real), and you can’t go through life with an “I’ve got a get-out-of-jail-free card” attitude. You have to actually love God and genuinely want to live in alignment with the way he saw things, or so we hear. If there's a God, he will know who is sincere and who is looking for loopholes in something as nice (and, arguably, fair) as grace. He's a hard guy to hoodwink.
If the show continues to skew more against religion making sense, we are going to defend religion this season. If the show goes against atheists and paints them as immoral or arrogant, we will defend the atheists. We've roomed with atheists and have them as friends. They were moral people. We are nothing if not devil's advocates, so we will take the side not represented by the show or comments.
So if you want to debate, discuss, agree, ream us, question, call us idiots, ask what we mean or think about something, or share your thoughts, this season, this show, and the comments of these posts are a great place to do it.
The best, and nastiest, part of the episode was probably when Colin Hanks sewed baby snakes into his victim’s body. Colin Hanks is so creepy, and he always has been. It’s about time he realized that and took this part. Harrison has a new nanny before we even got to figure out why his old one was so weird. Her name is Jamie and she is Angel’s little sister.
The best, and nastiest, part of the episode was probably when Colin Hanks sewed baby snakes into his victim’s body. Colin Hanks is so creepy, and he always has been. It’s about time he realized that and took this part. Harrison has a new nanny before we even got to figure out why his old one was so weird. Her name is Jamie and she is Angel’s little sister.
Laguerta and Angel have divorced (thank God), and Laguerta was promoted to Captain. She recommended Angel to take her old job. The two seem friendly. Quinn is about to propose to Deb, but a shooter in the restaurant stops him. Sorry Quinn haters. It looks like he and Deb might get more serious. But does anyone else think Deb will say no?
Episode Grade: B+
No way Deb says yes.
ReplyDeleteAngel is a terrible apologist.
I believe Nietzsche has the best idea when he says that true atheists can have no morals, because morals come from an idea of right and wrong and without a singular standard by which to compare, anyone's crimes can be fine with their own morals. I don't think atheists can logically defend having morals (not that I'm unhappy your friends have them).
We see your point (and we love Nietzsche because of a lot of what he says about power), but lots of atheists would say that it's just more practical to have morals. With or without God, the way the world works, some morals are necessary for society to survive, thrive, and advance in technology and culture. It's just common sense to them. They do it for the greater good of advancement.
ReplyDeleteAnd atheists can still love, even "true atheists." Love can cause people to treat the people they care about in a moral way. They believe it's right because it feels right.
Logically though, you're right, morality will always be subjective for them. Morality is what YOU think is right or what is acceptable in society. There are no overarching, universal rules. But just because the morality isn't standard doesn't mean atheists don't have morals. They just vary. All people have some morals. Even murderers have some sort of code...just look at Dexter, haha.
We think that, whether they have a logical reason for doing so or not, people will have the morals they were raised with and are used to. If an atheist raises their child with a certain list of rules, they are going to sink into that kid's head. Most people don't think about WHY they live a certain way; they just do it.
Agree that Deb won't say yes.
Thanks for commenting!
Also, we think the following C.S. Lewis quote would be applicable to Dexter, from the standpoint of "there is a God."
ReplyDelete"Human beings judge one another by their external actions. God judges them by their moral choices. When a neurotic who has a pathological horror of cats forces himself to pick up a cat for some good reason, it is quite possible that in God's eyes he has shown more courage than a healthy man may have shown in winning the V.C. When a man who has been perverted from his youth and taught that cruelty is the right thing, does some tiny little kindness, or refrains from some cruelty he might have committed, and thereby, perhaps, risks being sneered at by his companions, he may, in God's eyes, be doing more than you and I would do if we gave up life itself for a friend.
It is as well to put this the other way round. Some of us who seem quite nice people may, in fact, have made so little use of a good heredity and a good upbringing that we are really worse than those whom we regard as friends. Can we be quite certain how we should have behaved if we had been saddled with the psychological outfit, and then with the bad upbringing, and then with the power, say, of Himmler? That is why Christians are told not to judge. We see only the results which a man's choices make out of his raw material. But god does not judge him on the raw material at all, but on what he has done with it. Most of the man's psychological make-up is probably due to his body: when his body dies all that will fall off him, and the real central man, the thing that chose, that made the best or worst of this material, will stand naked. All sorts of nice things which we thought our own, but which were really due to good digestion, will fall off some of us: all sorts of nasty things which were due to complexes or bad health will fall off others. We shall then, for the first time, see every one as he really was. There will be surprises."