Dexter: Difference between revisions
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== Tropes Q-T ==
* [[Rage Against the Reflection]]: In the
* [[Rape and Revenge]]: Basically Lumen's whole plan in
* [[Rape as Backstory]]:
** Dexter mentions in the pilot episode that Rita's ex-husband repeatedly beat and raped her, presumably for years.
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** Emily Birch has a similar backstory to Lumen, but the future Barrel Gang's members didn't kill her.
* [[Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil]]: Dexter is ''appalled'' by the crimes of the Barrel Girl Gang.
* [[Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic]]: Generally averted. Characters stutter, pause to think,
* [[Really Gets Around]]: Debra becomes a serial monogamist after the first season, with roughly 5-6 bed buddies throughout the span of the series, in part due to the difficulty she has getting close to people and the demands of her job.
* [[Red Herring]]: Sonya the nanny from
* [[Reflective Eyes]]: Lumen in Season 5 when she's watching her own rape/torture video. It is mercifully discreet.
* [[Rescue Romance]]: Kind of with Dexter and Rita, since he's her refuge after her abusive relationship with Paul. Played straight with {{spoiler|Dexter and Lumen
* [[Retired Monster]]: Santos Jimenez. Trying to come out of retirement does not go well for him.
* [[Right Behind Me]]: Deb has a problem running her mouth.
* [[Rooftop Confrontation]]: With {{spoiler|Miguel}} in Season 3 and {{spoiler|Travis}} in Season 6.
* [[Room Full of Crazy]]: Lumen turns her motel room into a tragic version of one.
* [[Running Gag]]: Deb's [[El Spanish-O|total inability to speak Spanish]], despite being a homicide detective in ''Miami
** In
* [[Sarcasm Failure]]
* [[Sarcastic Confession]]: Dexter, of course.
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* [[Serial Killer]]: Miami is lousy with them.
* [[Serial Killer Killer]]: Dexter, the whole point of the show.
* [[Sex Equals Love]]: {{spoiler|Deb and Quinn}} in
* [[Shaggy Dog Story]]: The dirty cop Stan Liddy spends Season 5 covertly gathering evidence on Dexter's crimes only to {{spoiler|get killed rather anticlimactically by Dexter. It remains to be seen whether anything comes of this plotline in the following seasons
* [[She Is Not My Girlfriend]]: "Teenage Wasteland". Though to be fair, she really wasn't his girlfriend at the time.
* [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]: The entire
* [[Shout-Out]]:
** Dexter uses the name [[American Psycho|Patrick Bateman]] as an alias to procure tranquilizers. He states he chose it because it sounded "
** [[Opening Shout-Out]] on more than one occasion.
** There are a few references to the books in the season four finale: Dexter driving like crazy in Miami traffic and extra emphasis on the moon.
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** In Season 1, Rita shows up at Dexter's apartment on Halloween in a [[Tomb Raider|Lara Croft]] [[Fan Service|costume]].
** In Season 5, after concluding that the Barrel Girl Gang members are being killed by a pair vigilantes in love, Dexter and Lumen, Masuka compares them to Bonnie and Clyde. Considering how they ended up, Dexter finds the analogy worrisome.
** The title of Season 6 finale "This
* [[Single Tear]]: {{spoiler|Brian lets one out when Dexter makes up his mind to kill him to protect Debra
* [[Sir Swearsalot]]: Debra. While most of the cast swears pretty liberally, in one conversation with Dexter in the third season, she manages to use every single obscenity in the English language, excluding racial slurs.
* [[Sociopathic Hero]]: Pretty much the premise of the series.
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* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: Subverted, as Dexter beats up an abusive parent a cheerful sounding Spanish song plays. It's [[The Threepenny Opera|Mac The Knife in Spanish]].
* [[Spared by the Adaptation]]: LaGuerta.
* [[The Sponsor]]: Lila in
* [[Stepford Smiler]]:
** Dexter puts on a cheerful facade while internally lamenting his hollowness.
** Arthur Mitchell's family has elements of this. Despite being very messed up, they project an image of wholesomeness to the outside world that initially fools Dexter even when he's ''looking'' for signs of
* [[Stockholm Syndrome]]: Emily Birch for Jordan Chase in Season 5.
* [[Stuffed Into the Fridge]]: Subverted {{spoiler|since Dexter killed Arthur before he knows Rita is dead}}.
* [[Sure, Let's Go with That]]: When confronted about certain of his possible activities, Rita assumes Dexter is a drug addict rather than a serial killer. Dexter enthusiastically goes with the deception, and it turns out to be useful on several other fronts as well. Because his homicidal tendencies are very much an addiction, his NA speech is very convincing.
** Happens in the
{{quote|'''Dexter:''' It'd be good to catch up with some of the old friends
'''Debra:''' ..
'''Dexter:''' You got me.
*** No prizes for guessing why he's really going.
*** He does get a blowjob for his trouble, so really he gets the best of both worlds.
* [[Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist]]: Sergeant Doakes.
* [[Sympathetic Murderer]]: Dexter himself.
* [[Take That]]: In the episode "Let's Give
* [[Talking Through Technique]]
* [[Tap on the Head]]: Dexter whacks Paul over the head with a frying pan after he threatens Rita and the kids. Paul survives with only a slight skull fracture (a slight subversion) despite having had no medical attention and then being shot up with heroin.
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** Zig-zagged with Quinn, who sports tattoos, is a cop, and has stolen from a crime scene.
** And one of Dexter's victims early in the series - a valet who liked snuff films.
* [[That Came Out Wrong]]: To LaGuerta.
{{quote|'''Dexter''': "If you need something under the table, I'm your guy...That didn't come out right."}}
* [[Thirteen Is Unlucky]]: Lumen, meant to be the thirteenth Barrel Girl brought very bad luck indeed.
* [[Title Sequence]]: An [http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/04/14/dexter/ award winning] title sequence.
* [[Took a Level In Badass]]: Dexter, starting in the latter half of
* [[Took a Level in Jerkass]]: Quinn in the sixth season. He had already stolen from a crime scene earlier in the show, but he rapidly spirals out of control after Deb rejects his proposal and says that she never really loved him. He starts getting drunk, neglecting his job and acting like a total douche to everyone. His negligence almost gets his partner killed. The only reason he doesn't get fired is because he exploits a loophole intended for alcoholics.
* [[Total Eclipse of the Plot]]: Season 6 finale "This
* [[Trailers Always Lie]]:
** Trailers for the Season 5 ending showed Debra pointing a gun at what appears to be a bloodied Dexter. What they
** Another example was the trailer for an episode earlier in the season which showed Dexter chasing an escaped victim apparently followed by a shot of a surprised Deb in the same location saying, "Dexter?" While in the actual episode these two shots happened about five minutes apart, giving Dexter just enough time to kill the victim and quickly arrange the scene to look as if the man had killed Dan the Dentist.
* [[Tranquillizer Dart]]: Used in nearly every episode. Although in this case, they reveal the name of the sedative, which is an animal tranquilizer that really does work that fast. It also causes significant damage to the kidneys and frequently stops hearts, but given these people won't be alive for long
** The one time it takes the tranquilizer longer to work, the target is an animal control worker who is holding a tranquilizer gun loaded to take down an alligator. He has enough time to shoot Dexter with it before he collapses. Dexter also has a bit of time to pull the dart out before losing consciousness. They both wake up in an ambulance with some really worried EMTs.
* [[TV Telephone Etiquette]]: Debra does this a lot. In Season 6, she ended a phone call with Batista with just a "got it
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