Why Viewers Empathize Dexter Morgan

Dexter Morgan is as guilty as the victims he kills. However, most fans love Dexter and root for him to escape detection as he cleans up the streets of this Showtime drama. The question is why and the answer is just as simple.
In real life we are bombarded with news of crime that seems never ending.

Dexter can do what others cannot. We have rules, regulation and rights that Dexter ignores as he searches for a guilty suspect. Dexter is a sociopath but those who are innocent of extreme crimes will have nothing to fear from him.

Dexter is almost inhuman in that he can see the dangerous ones among us. Some of the greatest serial killers in the real world were able to avoid detection for decades simply by acting normal. Family, neighbors, friends saw only the façade and never knew that lived with or next to a real live monster.

In the pilot episode of Dexter, his first victim was a church going man who also doubled as a Choir Master. It was hard to believe that he could be in trouble with the law and even harder to believe that he could bring harm to anyone. Through the eyes of a serial killer and his own investigation, Dexter finds that he is a monster who kills children. Dexter is above such behavior. In his own words, Dexter has "standards".

Another reason that viewers love the character of Dexter is that audiences love to see the bad succeed on TV. Although he is a bad man and a self professed monster, Dexter controls his urges. Using the teachings and code of Harry, Dexter is able to channel his needs into helping others.

He is a killer. There is no escaping that solid fact. He would be found guilty in a court of law and many would say the right things. He would be considered a bad man who was as evil as the people he killed. Privately, many would congratulate him on a job well done. Every time Dexter sent a new victim to a watery grave, he was saving a life that serial killer would have eventually taken. In many cases, Dexter was arriving just in time to stop them from taking one more life.

Dexter also has a conscience that will not let him take the easy way out. He could have chosen to team up with his long lost brother Brian Moser but he chose to save his adopted sister. In doing so, he got rid of the one person he could be free with. Lila was unstable at best and would have been the ideal mate to a serial killer such as him but once again he went against his dark nature and chose Rita, a woman he would have to hide from forever.

When dealing with Doakes, Dexter had many chances to remove him from his life but Doakes was not evil and Dexter could not kill him. The only viable option to avoid a life behind bars and a lethal injection was to frame Doakes for his crimes as the Bay Harbor Butcher. Dexter put those plans in place but spent a long time fighting his sense of right and wrong.

As a serial killer Dexter is often emotionless and says that he only feels empty. However, if someone attempts to hurt his family and friends, Dexter will do anything he can to protect them. Dexter is a monster with a dangerous urge to kill but he fights to control his desires and refuses to let them control him.