Deborah Morgan

I just have to take some extra time to talk about my absolute favorite series of all time, Dexter. Now, I must tell you that I am a series junkie! I've watched way too many but I love getting attached to the characters and watching them evolve with the show. Deb took a long time to become a favorite of mine but now she is in my heart forever. I think she is by far the strongest female (fictional) character I have ever seen on TV. If you haven't seen Dexter, this post may be irrelevant, or a spoiler, but I have to give her some attention. I've been reading through some other students' blogs tonight and I've seen a lot about the image of women and the lack of the "empowering" image on TV. Well here is my response to that, you need to watch Dexter.

 

In the beginning of the series I thought she was annoying, her excessive bad language got old and I didn't think she was very pretty. That is the thing about watching a series start to finish, you see the character in their entirety; you get to see why she is the way she is.
Starting with the simple fact that Deb has lost both of her parents should just show you how strong she is. I personally have no idea how I would deal with that, and that is just a miniscule start to her incredible strength.
She wants to be the best cop she can be, that is her ultimate goal. She loves her job and she is 100% dedicated. She starts at the very bottom when the series begins and winds up all the way Lieutenant several seasons in. Deb repeatedly falls for men that either try to murder her or get murdered themselves, yet she takes it in and keeps going.
Starting season one, she falls for Rudy, unaware that he is the Icetruck Killer, winds up engaged to him and then kidnapped and almost killed. This is the first case where we see Deb being taken
advatange of and she is truly hurt afterwards, but guess what? She gets back up and continues to advance in Homicide.
She then falls for Frank Lundy, who is the age of her father. This really made me dislike her at the time, but it lets you see how hurt she is by the loss of her father, Harry Morgan. She struggles with this and falls for a man like him, trying to find a replacement for her father. This could be seen as a sign of weakness, but I think that it just shows how strong she is that she is so hurt, yet she continues to work towards becoming a better detective and keeps on even when Lundy is killed and she is shot along with him. She continuously suffers losses and lets it make her stronger every time.

Eventually Deb is promoted to lieutenant and she is hesitant to take the job over Angel Batista. Around the same time her former partner, Quinn, proposes to her. She denies his proposal because she isn't ready for marriage and she wants to focus on her career. I think that this is an awesome situation to show on TV because there are plenty of women that aren't in a huge rush to get married like many women are made out to be. Women value their careers, and they don't all want to drop their aspirations to become a wife and mother. Quinn's reaction is obviously not a happy one, he is certainly not very understanding. I think that this is also realistic. I feel like many women, if put in that situation, would just say yes, simply because they feel bad for the guy. Deb is stronger than that and she sets an awesome example by doing so. She channels all of her energy into becoming a good Lieutenant, and she turns into an amazing one!

 

Eventually, Deb sees a therapist because she has been shot more than once, and has been through several traumatizing experiences. Through her therapist, she begins to rethink her relationship with her brother, Dexter. She becomes fed up with the way Dexter lies to her and hides things from her, and she refuses to deal with it. Deb is awesome because she never lets people get away with treating her the wrong way.

Deb Morgan continues to get pushed down by other people, mainly Dexter's, problems. She always finds some way to get through it. We see her character hit rock bottom, but again, she pulls out of it. I have really enjoyed watching Deb's character grow and see how strong she really is. I'm not sure there is another character on TV with more problems than Deb, yet she is still a powerful and confident woman. There need to be more of these on TV, and less of the Housewives and Jersey Girls!

Dexter and GIRLS don't have very much in common but I would like to add in that anytime Deb is having sexual relationships, they are about her. She always does it because she is attracted to the man and not because he pursues her, she is never marginalized for her sexuality. This is definitely not a big part of the show, but I think it is important that this show hasn't shown the oversexualization of women that many other shows have. She dresses like a normal woman, even feels uncomfortable when she has to change the way she dresses for work--yet she is still gorgeous. You should know by now how much I love to see women just being themselves and doing exactly what they want.