Dexter: Why Debra Morgan is One of TV's Most Tragic Characters (2024)

This article contains spoilers for DexterTragic characters are some of the best to watch develop. They make viewers feel everything from happiness, anger, and sadness, and most of the time, all three feelings at once. Debra Morgan is the embodiment of a tragic character; from feeling neglected or abandoned by every man she's dated, to the anger she feels every time her superior, Maria LaGuerta, thwarts a possible career advancement, to lastly, her death at the hands of the man she loves most, Dexter. Debra Morgan is dealt tragedy through every step of her hero's journey. Here is why Debra Morgan is one of TV's most tragic characters.

Unresolved Trauma

From her father dying when she was a teenager, and watching her first real love die before her eyes, to realizing she has a repressed love for her adoptive brother, Dexter, Debra's life is a whirlwind of trauma. This trauma dictates every one of her relationships. She gets into a mundane relationship with Anton Briggs after FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy relocates for a better job, she gets into a relationship with Joey Quinn by the impulse to fill the "male" figure gap in her life, and she carries the trauma from dating The Ice Truck Killer - who not only tries to kill her, but also happens to be the biological brother of the only consistent male figure in Debra's life, Dexter.

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Her Rivalry with LaGuerta

Debra Morgan takes pride in her job as part of Miami-Metro P.D. She is a good cop with honed investigative skills, but she has one major roadblock - her boss, Captain Maria LaGuerta. From interfering with Debra's assignments, to undermining her authority, to generally antagonizing her when Debra's presented with career advancements - LaGuerta is Debra's antagonist from beginning to end. Nevertheless, LaGuerta finds a middle ground when she suspects the Bay Harbor Butcher is alive, asking Debra to help her investigate further. This long winding investigation keeps Debra on the verge of a nervous breakdown as she learns who the Bay Harbor Butcher is - Dexter.

When LaGuerta discovers the truth, she tries exposing Dexter, and when that attempt fails, she tries intimidating Debra into confessing by showing video evidence gathered on the Travis Marshall murder case (which Debra helps Dexter cover up). When Debra has to choose between Dexter and LaGuerta in a life-and-death situation, LaGuerta tries to again manipulate Debra at her weakest point by saying - "You're a good cop, you're a good person; you're not like him - put him down." While LaGuerta did not deserve her ultimate fate at the hands of Debra, she was a major roadblock for Debra's goals throughout the entire show.

Her Downward Spiral

One of the most interesting things you can see happen to any tragic character is them unhinging; for Debra Morgan; this happens upon discovering that Dexter is a serial killer vigilante. What makes the discovery all the more tragic is its reiterating that Debra is one of the best detectives Miami-Metro P.D has; in the course of a few hours, Debra pieces together evidence from the Trinity case all the way back to The Bay Harbor Butcher investigation, and she realizes they all have a common link: Dexter. That same night, Debra sneaks into Dexter's apartment and discovers his new set of blood slides, leading her to ask Dexter the hardest question of her life: "Are you a serial killer?" This is the beginning of Debra's downward spiral. Instead of exposing Dexter's crimes, she becomes complicit in them, first by keeping his secret and trying to reform him, and later by giving into her own dark desires and asking Dexter to "do what you do best" and put Hannah McKay on his kill table. Debra's point of no return is killing LaGuerta, who as morally flawed as she was, did not deserve to die.

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DEXTER

Dexter is at the core of Debra's tragedies. From the neglect she experiences by her father, Harry, as his attention is directed towards containing Dexter's Dark Passenger, to Debra's unrequited love for Dexter, to carrying his secret upon discovery - Dexter's existence is Debra's biggest obstacle. Her romantic relationships are doomed to failure as none of her partners compare to Dexter; Dexter has little understanding of romance or what his feelings for Debra even mean, and Debra abandons her ethics and morals in remaining loyal to Dexter's secret life. Even when Debra comes to terms with the guilt over killing LaGuerta, she commits a final act of complicity when she helps Dexter ambush Oliver Saxon in the penultimate episode of the series, and seals her own fate when Saxon mortally wounds her. By simply being part of Dexter's universe, Debra is destined for her tragic end from the beginning of the show.