...Dexter Season 2 on DVD

It sucked me in from the very first line.

"I do not blame my foster parents...." I don't remember the rest, but decided it would be good training material. For those of you unfamiliar, Dexter is a CSI/Serial killer. He is a blood splatter technician for Miami Dade Police.

The opening scene shows Dexter on his boat called "Slice of Life" going out to sea. Later, it shows him throwing trash bags overboard, filled with bodies that he has killed. He is portrayed as a good guy who takes care of bad guys that the law can't touch due to loopholes and legal maneuvering.

Normally I'm not a blood and guts type, but it is the social psychological aspects of Dexter that have me fascinated as a foster parent. Dexter was found in the middle of a bloody crime scene when he was three years old. He was taken home and raised by the first detective on scene. His foster father taught him how to "act" normal while training him to "take out the trash". His father decided that Dexter was abnormally fascinated with blood and guts and taught him to channel his fascination for good, if you think killing bad guys is good.

When we are introduced to the sister, who was the biological daughter of his foster parents, he narrates that if he were to ever feel love, he would love her. Again, that fascinated me. He cared for her, he liked her, he was with her from the age of three and yet he felt nothing for her.

Dexter spends his days doing what normal people do. He has a girl friend. He hand picked her because she was a victim of domestic abuse and had trouble with intimacy. He thought he could appear normal, while not having to get in too deep with her. Again, he likes her, he cares for her and her children, and yet there is no feeling for them.

During the entire first season, which is the only season I've seen and only on CBS so it was edited for graphic content, the entire city is under the grips of the "Ice Truck Killer" a serial killer who drains the blood from his victims in some scientifically impossible way that fascinates Dexter. Dexter who is notorious for being able to handle even the most grotesque of scenes is one day called to a scene with all of the blood from those ice truck victims. For the first time ever we see Dexter freak. He later realizes that the scene was identical to the one he was found in at the age of three.

Dexter and the Ice Truck Killer begin communicating through personal ads and one day Dexter returns home and finds a Barbie doll in his fridge displayed in the same fashion as the Ice Truck victims. The Ice Truck Killer has been in his house, he knows his secrets, who is this man?

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
The Ice Truck Killer turns out to be the older biological brother of Dexter. Dexter's father had surmised that at the age of six, the older boy was too far gone to be taught to be normal. The older brother had spent his life in the foster system, being shuttled from one home to the next, in and out of treatment centers and mental hospitals. All the while tracking the life of his younger brother. What's more is Dexter has true, genuine feelings for this man.

At the end of the first season the Ice Truck Killer is dating Dexter's sister. One night the sister disappears and Dexter goes to save her. He is torn between the love he has for his "real" brother and the respect he has for his "fake" sister. His brother knows all about him and loves him anyway, and his sister, if she knew who he really was, would disown him. He had longed his whole life to feel. And for the first time in his life, there was hesitation and regret when he killed his brother to save his sister.

The whole show just fascinates me. I want to read the book, I think, that this show is based on. I'm sure it delves more into the psychological aspects. I've already hinted (commanded) my husband to get me the 2nd season on DVD for my birthday.

We as foster parents are not bending our kiddos towards "taking out the trash" we are pointing them directly at God and praying for a good outcome. The twins were never traumatized so aside from the issues of biology that are bound to come up I think we're going to have a positive outcome. We are unsure of what Lil Middle went through, but he sure does get God. Maybe I'll write a book on what happens when foster kids go good.