BellaOnline Forums TV and Movies Drama TV Stopped Watching Dexter

I've always had mixed emotions about Dexter - but in a recent episode they had a father deliberately breaking his son's finger while the son tried to hide the screams so others wouldn't know about the abuse. I walked out of the room and couldn't watch any more.

What do others think about shows like this? I do enjoy police drama in general - like Law & Order and so on - but I like them for the ethics discussions and shades-of-grey takes on abortion and other issues. To watch people deliberately hurting children crosses the line between enjoying a discussion to inuring myself to something nasty. I don't want to be on that path.

Dexter has always troubled me too. I watched about half the first season and found that I felt profoundly depressed after each viewing. I had read the book it's based on, Dexter Darkly Dreaming, and found it profoundly disturbing, but at the distance a book affords.

It seems to me that a lot of shows have begun pushing the envelope with "dark elements" because they have very little to offer other than the gimmick of the unpleasant plotlines. I find I'm starting to appreciate Castle.

Dexter ROCKS!

I am just sorry the final episode had to end the way it did.

I am so looking forward to season FIVE.

I did like the acting a lot, and I liked a lot of the parts of the storylines. It's just the "deliberate sadistic abuse" parts that really bothered me. In the end, I think it comes down to that there are other shows I enjoy watching just as much and I only have X hours free in a given week to be in front of a TV. So I was already really pressed for time as it is.

But that being said, if Dexter toned back on their "people smiling while they deliberately hurt children" type of stuff, I would probably make time for it.