Embracing The Concept of Free Will

“The Dark Passenger has been with me ever since I can remember, pulling the strings, running the show. But, has it turns out, I’m not the puppet.” – Dexter Morgan, "Dexter"

This has been one of the most interesting seasons of "Dexter" yet, primarily because it's sought to explore who Dexter Morgan is. His secret being revealed to the person closest to him — Deb — as well as the introduction of someone who accepts all facets of him — Hannah — has afforded more time for introspection.

What is Dexter capable of? What is he responsible for? Can he control his urges, or do they control him? These are all the issues that have been vexing TV's most unconventional protagonist through 10 episodes, with Sunday's episode "The Dark...Whatever" bring him to a new place.

I have long been fascinated — even during uneven seasons like the one last year — by the ways the show has tried to expand Dexter as a character. Last season he grappled with religion and the idea of God, and what that would mean — if true — for someone like him.

This season, the question has been about his own nature. Deb tried, unsuccessfully, at the outset of the season to suggest Dexter could learn to control his impulses and lead a normal life. He rebuffed that idea, believing instead that his Dark Passenger was something that was uncontrollable.

After spending weeks grappling with the concept of love and acceptance — something he didn't initially believe he was capable of feeling and/or receiving — the question again spun to his ability to take responsibility for his actions and not pawn them off on a chemical defect of the brain. This time it was Hannah calling b.s. on his Dark Passenger.

After, Dexter again dismissed her notion, much as he had with Deb. But as he wrestled with the idea, and as he offered a sanctimonious speech to an arsonist who tried to use a similar excuse to justify his crimes, Dexter realized the truth. Though he might have a proclivity toward an unhealthy expression of emotion, he is responsible for his own actions.

The moment was a fascinating one. It marked both the evolution of the character, and his awareness of who he is, and the devolving of Dexter as a sympathetic, albeit flawed, anti-hero. At the end of the episode, he abandoned his code and his ideology to embrace the idea he likes killing, he wants to kill, and he can kill whoever he wants whenever he wants.

The question is how that revelation will play out for Dexter — and audiences — as the seventh season draws to a conclusion.