I have started my series of posts about the shows I’ve been catching up on, and I have to admit, I am sort of feeling my way into this series thematically. I’ve talked about great TV writing a bit, and I started talking about Dexter season one in generalities. But I realized when I was writing my last post that most of the characters on Dexter deserve their own posts. Or at least, Debra Morgan does.
It’s kind of a contest between Rita and Deb as to which woman has changed and grown the most since the show started. But watching Jennifer Carpenter (whom I had never seen before) portray Deb has been a revelation. I spend a lot of time by myself these days, or with my father who is dying and mostly wants to talk about basketball or funeral arrangements. So, right now, TV characters are becoming my best friends. High on the list is Deb Morgan. (I have to confess that after watching Fringe, I sometimes lie awake at night worrying about Olivia Dunham. Okay, that’s pathetic, but I’m willing to cop to it).
When we first met Deb, I didn’t think she was a good cop at all. She was nervous and had no self-confidence. What’s more is she depended on Dexter’s “hunches” to help her get onto the homicide team, rather than developing her own theories. Dexter sometimes describes her as a great cop because she is like a dog with a bone, but in reality, she’s not very smart. She does become a good detective as the series develops, but it’s more because of her dogged determination than any really great instincts as a cop.
Keith McDuffee wrote: “Deb Morgan continues to show some incredibly impressive deduction skills, easily piecing together facts that we, the viewer, already know. The thing is, I can’t help but feel like it’s all too convenient in her case, and she’s only coming across as a brilliant detective just because the writers have fed it to her. She’s not necessarily very observant, she just has a good gut about her that seems to be right a lot. It’s feeling overly convenient to me at times.”
But I love her anyway. Deb has unflinching loyalty and she is a really good person. She has a huge heart. It is one of her failings as a cop though. As Rudy/Brian taunts her at the end of season one: How could you be in the presence of a serial killer for all that time and never suspect anything? You can apply that statement both to Rudy/Brian AND Dexter. I think her loyalty blinds her, but it’s okay, because she isn’t loyal to many serial killers. Just two. Three if you count when she lets Dexter and Lumen go in season five because she has developed a kinship with what she considers a vigilante out for legitimate revenge.
Even though her career is her life, Deb also wants a real, romantic relationship. Of course, though, this being television, she can never quite get what she wants. Carpenter plays her with great sensitivity and pathos. It’s possible to tell through her posture and her face how she is feeling at any given moment. As an actress and a character, she is the opposite of Dexter, because she is completely transparent. And part of that causes her to think Dexter is transparent too, because we tend to project our own personalities, good or bad, onto other people. This, combined with her tremendous sense of loyalty, causes her never to question Dexter too closely. He is the only family she has, so you can understand how she might not want to point her laser at the foundational relationship of her life.
Deb still has a lot to learn, though, especially after the first season. She clearly craves male love and attention because a) Harry spent all of his time with Dexter trying to make sure Dexter knew how not to get caught; and b) because Dexter does not truly love her. On some level, she is probably aware of this and blames herself for being unable to capture her male family’s love, because she is a common denominator. You see her playing this out first by dating Rudy (he is a lot like Dexter (brothers!) , whom she loves, and he seems to like her — why would she want to ruin this by suspecting he is a serial killer?) and then in seasons two and four with her relationship with FBI agent Frank Lundy, who is old enough to be her father. I wonder what Deb would have been like if Harry had focused all of his attentions on her. Not half as interesting, I’d bet.
Finally, one of my favorite things about Debra Morgan is her filthy mouth. It’s a fun quirk, and certainly doesn’t interfere with her career. I am curious to know whether Carpenter (who has a horror movie behind her, but not a lot of other stuff to compare with Deb) is a fantastically nuanced actor, playing herself, or both. Deb is that good.
Clacked by Jen Creer
on Mar 30, 2011 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
