Dexter: The ultimate Nature vs. Nurture? - TV Review, Television, Television Review, Movie Reviews, Film Reviews, Dexter, TV Shows, Television Shows, Entertainment

There are some things that are just disturbing to watch. Whether it’s a disturbing image like from news of a tragic event like a shooting or a video set up on YouTube like a recent serial killer did or a more fictional depiction of tragedy like the Saw films, Scream or a television depiction like Law & Order, Bones, or Jersey Shore. However there are some things which are hard to understand why exactly you’re disturbed by them. For me that show is Dexter. You can always look at a show like this and say that what is disturbing about it is the graphic depictions of sex, language and death that are disturbing, and yes it can be tough to watch the way in which people are both killed by the main character and kill other people but often that’s the least of what disturbs me.

What usually bothers me about the show is the way in which the characters evolve over time. Most disturbing of all is Dexter who struggles to deal with who he is versus how he was raised. Each season deals with the reality of his life as both a forensic blood spatter analyst and a serial killer. Living with such a contradiction alone would be difficult enough, but trying to relate to people without revealing this contradiction is even harder for him. He does manage to make some connections to people, though they are pretty basic at first over time they evolve and grow much like Dexter himself. The thing that disturbs me most about Dexter is how much people connect with the character. And not just in the sense of the insane ones who try to reenact or mirror his crimes.

My own connection is quite a strange one. I know what it’s like to feel disconnected from the world and other people, trying to find a way to connect to people when you don’t feel connected to anyone or anything. It’s hard to care about others or have a conversation that you find meaningful when you don’t care about what other people are saying. But you keep trying because you see the people around you talking and caring about each other and you want to understand what they feel like. You want to know so bad that you start to feel something just from that itself.

Ultimately, I think that’s what Dexter is all about, a man trying to connect to others without really knowing how. He tries to connect with his girlfriend, his co-workers as well as his family and friends. Yet no matter how many times he fails he keeps trying, despite the fact that doing so is against his nature. The main reason he fails is because his natural instinct is to shy away from people and do his own thing. But he was taught to spend time with people and to at least appear like everyone else so that he can try to fit in. This creates a tragic battle within the main character that is often played out within the inner monologue/voice over of the episodes and seasons as a whole.

As the seasons progress, he learns how to manage between his nature and the way he was nurtured to embrace in life. Watching him try to live up to both perceptions of himself that he has while dealing with the people around him and keeping them from learning the truth can be both tragic and disturbing at the same time.

So is Dexter the ultimate nature versus nurture? I think it is.

Being Erica Review: What is the importance of Being Erica?

Really good Canadian television is a bit of a rare breed. Truthfully, even though I was born in raised in Canada, most of the TV that I watched in my childhood was American made. Up until a few years ago, I can honestly say that I can’t name a single Canadian drama or comedy that I watched and it never really bothered me all that much. Then came the writer’s strike of 2007 and Canadian TV started getting picked up by American networks to fill the content gap left by those fighting for the rights of content creators everywhere in the American industry. Suddenly, I found a reason to watch Canadian television and I’m very glad that I did.

Because then came Being Erica. A show about a down and out woman whose life just hasn’t turned out the way she planned it. A woman who can’t help but think that if only she’d made different choices in her past, her life would’ve ended up being so much better then it ended up being. And of course, who hasn’t felt that once or twice in their life? Who hasn’t taken a look back at their life so far and said “If only I could go back and do this differently, my life would’ve been so much better.” But is that in fact true? If you could go back and change it, would it actually be better or just different? Are you sure you wouldn’t make it worse? Even more importantly, are these moments really the things that have kept you from being happy?

These are the central questions at the heart of the show that is one part comedy, one part drama, one part sci-fi/fantasy, all blended together to tell a story of strength and personal growth, championed by the great and talented Jana Sinyor. While occasionally feeling like an ensemble cast, the show never loses sight of the quirky, smart, funny, and powerful yet feminine Erica Strange (played by the fantastic Erin Karpluk) who is on a journey of self discovery that never lets her take the easy way out.

It’s worth noting that in the middle of the show’s four year run, Erin Karpluk had the opportunity to work on an American TV show, and did, as a supporting character on a show called Life Unexpected but eventually had to leave in order to continue with Being Erica. I don’t think there are many people in the industry who would argue that if you want to make it in the industry today, Hollywood is where it is at. So the fact that she for all intents and purposes left an American TV show for a show in which she starred in being watched by a much smaller audience, means there has to be something pretty special about the show, and I can honestly say that I understand why.

She was once quoted as saying that people who watch the show have come up to her on the street and told her that Being Erica has encouraged them to make changes in their life when they weren’t happy with it before. Given the way in which it has affected me, both as a writer and on a personal level, I have no trouble believing that other people have felt the same way. Whenever life gets me down or I start to worry about much I have yet to accomplish in my life that I want to do, I turn on Being Erica and I remind myself that no matter how bad things might feel, they are never as bad as I think they are. There’s always a way to salvage things and make the most out of a bad situation.

And so, what’s the importance of Being Erica? That’s the importance of Being Erica.