If you went to Comic Con, you may be already completely spoiler-ed out on Dexter's new, fifth season. But you can't really ever get enough of learning how Michael C. Hall feels about his show and his titular character, can you?
At the CBS TV TCA party this past week in Beverly Hills, Hall assured reporters that though Dexter may be learning to feel and deal with this feelings upon the death of his wife, "he is still a psychopath; there's no doubt about that!"
Hall was in great spirits at the party, as well as Showtime's presentation for the hit series. He admitted that he has a bigger sense of gratitude now for his life, his wife, and his craft after beating cancer.
Here are some of Hall's comments on the fifth season and the psyche of Dexter's character as we next see him.
In season five (as we've seen from the promo), Dexter loses it and begins hammering on one of his victims. It's not his usual pattern kill. Hall says it was fun to get to that place:
"I think that place in his psyche has always existed in my imagination. Maybe it was the first time we sort of went there, but yea...it was my job to let loose."
Season four ended with some pretty gruesome images, and then Hall went through what some might consider an equally gruesome time in his personal life with chemo/radiation treatments. He calls it "gratifying" to return to work as he knows and loves it:
"I was thankful that the hiatus managed to coincide with my treatment and that we didn't have to miss a beat in terms of our schedule. It has really become a family at this point, and it's gratifying to show up on set and realize how, across the board-- everyone is so excited to be back and so appreciative of this particular working environment. So it felt, and continues to feel, really good."
Hall says the vibe on set is always professional, but even more comfortable, because he works with his real life wife:
"We met at work, and we have always been comfortable working together. So it's -- I think, from the inside, it's not such a difficult thing to wrap our heads around or our lives around, and it's nice to be on the same schedule."
Hall doesn't believe Dexter will confide in anyone about who he really is or what really happened to Rita, even his seeming "buddy" on the job, Vince Masuka (C.S. Lee):
"I think Dexter relishes opportunities to reveal himself covertly and say things that are true on one level but only experiences true on another level by whoever he's talking to. But, no, I don't think so. I certainly hope not."
Hall all too often hears that his show, and his character again, often make people want to go out and kill someone, too, because he makes it look, fun, easy, and let's face it, justifiable:
"Well, I don't, you know, lose sleep over the possibility that I'm advocating serial murder through my work, you know. I mean, I think it's undeniably relatable. He's killing people. We all-- most of us probably live in L.A. or spend time here in traffic, things like that. I mean, we get that impulse. But, I mean, I'm proud of the show. When I hear comments like that, I don't really worry...I feel like it's more a meditation on the nature of morality, of our shadow side...I guess, if I hear a comment like that and I'm in the room, I just sort of smile and nod and say 'I know. I hope that this helps lessen the flames in you, that you can watch it, and it can be therapeutic'."
Hall considers how Dexter will atone this season, even if it's in unorthodox ways:
"What's interesting is this idea of atonement, this idea that Dexter is forced, through what's written, into those situations where he has to step into waters that he never anticipated stepping in, and it starts out subterranean, but there is some sort of appetite to address his maybe not even consciously acknowledged sense of guilt or remorse or need for atonement, and the circumstances of his life sort of manifest an opportunity to do that in a way that he doesn't create consciously."
Hall admits Dexter's relationship with his dead father will change this season, in large part because Harry (James Remar) as we know him is just Dexter's version of him, and he is in a messed up place right now:
"I think the relationship with Harry is definitely becoming more dynamic this season. They're not -- they're not quite adversarial. Or if they are, they -- they trade arguments. I don't know. That relationship evolves every time James and I do a scene, and that's, I think, been the case, and especially since maybe the last time we saw Harry and Dexter in the jail cell at the top of the finale from last season. There was a real sort of spark there, and I think we've tried to build on that.
I think the fun of the show is its ambiguity on a lot of fronts and the ambiguity of-- Harry's outside-the-box parenting style is, you know, the kind of thing that I think audiences were meant to grapple with. Did he save this guy's life or did he abuse him or both? Every parent makes mistakes!"
See what mistakes Dexter will make when the series returns to Showtime on September 26th.
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