"I think by trying to deny that he is a monster, you are kind of missing the point of the show.

He very much is a monster. I think to pretend anything else you are ignoring the harsh realities of what he does. He cuts people up. Most would find that difficult to do without throwing up, and barely anyone could do it and then act perfectly normal moments later. And even worse than that, he ENJOYS it. He is obsessed with flesh and blood and when he kills it calms him.

He is mentally ill, there is no doubt about it.

What Harry taught him, wasn't a conscience. Dexter doesn't kill bad guys because it's right, though it does make him logically a little less of a monster. He does it because they are a safer pray to hunt, not many will come looking for them, and not many will care they are dead.

Through the series, he does seem to have embraced the fact that he only kills bad guys as a way of dealing with his feelings about his family, as a way of ensuring himself that he would never hurt them, and I honestly don't think he ever would. But not because of his feelings, but more about the routine of it, which his mind has grown very attatched too.

I personally did have an objection to killing at all, until watching Dexter, and it's changed my mind a bit. There are people in the world who deserve to die, and I'd be quite happy to let someone as a thorough and capable as Dexter do that.

But it still makes him a wrong in the head. It still makes him a monster. A loveable, charming, logical and hopeful monster. But still a monster who kills people with various weapons that make a lot of gory mess and then cleans it all up neatly, cutting the body parts up and chucking them into bags, and then after dropping them off comes home to give his wife a kiss. "

"Six Feet Under was about so much more than just a "gay thing"! I'm not even sure what that means?!? Yes, his character was gay - but if you actually watched the show, you would learn that there is so much more going on that just that one little fact. "