The Scene and Herd

I’m no serial killer, but I think that Dexter and I want a lot of the same things: lots of meat, a really clean house, quality coffee and a fantastic body. Most of all, we both want a great breakfast, every single morning.

There is a lot of breakfast in Dexter. It’s practically a show about breakfast. Dexter is constantly buying boxes of donuts for his colleagues. Rita’s kids ask for pancakes twice an episode. Power dynamics between Rita and Paul and Dexter centre around who is making breakfast for the children. Coffee is always present and talked about. And obviously, there is the opening credits: Dexter-preparing breakfast to an offbeat. I never get sick of it because I never get sick of breakfast.

This morning I spend my breakfast/coffee time poring over political news, namely Raittgate part two: Cancer is sexy. This is the kind of story that makes me glad to be me. I am so happy I am not Lisa Raitt right now that it’s practically a new lease on life. One of the worst days in my memory is the morning after I made a risky joke and it did not go well. I kept wishing I were somebody else. Being the victim of your own poorly chosen words or actions is the worst thing ever.

People are always getting out of bad situations and then saying, “the best part about this being over is waking up in the morning and making myself a cup of coffee.” This is an especially popular sentiment when people have just been released from prison. Breakfast is a major theme in Dexter, because Dexter is constantly getting out of prison, in the sense that’s he’s constantly avoiding it. The entire series culminates at the end of season two when he narrowly avoids getting caught and imprisoned, wakes up the next morning, makes breakfast (in a sequence of shots almost identical to the opening) and says, “this is way better than prison… I can make some French press.”

Do I like Dexter because I like breakfast? Or do I like breakfast because I like Dexter, and everything he represents? This show makes me enjoy my own breakfast just a bit more than I usually do. I am so glad I am not an imprisoned serial killer. And years after my bad joke, I still wake up in the morning thankful that I haven’t said any thing distasteful recently. E.g. Cancer is sexy.