Darkly Dreaming Dexter vs Showtime's Dexter

[Kurosaki Issen]

Wow, this is the first time that I have ever recommended a visual medium over it's literary counterpart.

Dexter is a serial killer with a conscience; charming, fascinating, and deadly for the bad people. The book is a little contrived, clichéd, and predictable, but, you can say that about nearly every book with a serial killer as the main character. The charm in Darkly Dreaming Dexter is Dexter himself. It's in a first person narrative which gives insight to our 'hero' but leaves out other story lines involving the other characters, which, depending on your point of view, is a good or bad thing; but makes for a short, albeit good, book.

So why the tv series over the book? Showtime has had time between the second and third book to flesh out the story and make some big changes which means you get two different, yet similar, experiences between the book and show. The tv series expands a little over the books and as a visual medium, taking in one episode at a time is much easier flowing than reading a chapter and stopping in the middle of a chapter of the book.

Take in both, the book is good and the show is excellent. So if you *had* to take one over the other, the show is a must watch, and the season ender is one of the best single tv episodes I've ever seen.[/code]
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A bene placito
*****
Precious few are those who care,
Even fewer that love.
Little things we wish to share,
From here to above.

[Parsifal]

I heard this was good from several people but up until /just/ recently I had no clue whatsoever what the show was about. I don't exactly have any normal "pay cable" channels and as such cannot catch this first run but DVD is certainly an option here. Still need to take a look at "Weeds" as well.

What exactly do you mean by "bad" people though? I figure it could be like Garth Ennis'es "Hitman" where he only killed criminals/super-villains, but what constitutes "bad" for Dexter?
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[Kurosaki Issen]

Bad as in what normal people would think of bad. A serial killer with a conscience is nothing new, what's new here is how much you like Dexter. More so in the show since Michael C. Hall does an exemplary job.
_________________
A bene placito
*****
Precious few are those who care,
Even fewer that love.
Little things we wish to share,
From here to above.