Eagle-Eyed ‘Dexter’ Fans Spotted This Easter Egg Referencing ‘American Psycho’
Dexter Morgan is America’s favorite fictional serial killer. Now many years after Dexter originally aired, Michael C. Hall is back in his titular tole for the revival. Dexter definitely has a morbid sense of humor. The series once referenced the mysterious thriller film American Psycho in a subtle way that fans might have missed.
Fans noticed an ‘American Psycho’ reference in ‘Dexter’
Dexter Morgan lives a double life. In the original series, he is a blood-spatter analyst at Miami Metro Homicide by day and a serial killer of other murderers by night. Dexter usually uses a tranquilizer to sedate his victims before taking them to his kill room. Obviously Dexter uses a fake name to get the drugs so they can’t be traced back to him, and his choice of an alias is an interesting one.
“When Masuka brings up the list of doctors authorized to get the M99, Dexter removes his alias. Note that Dexter’s fake alias (used to get the M99 tranquilizer) is Dr. Patrick Bateman. Patrick Bateman is the lead character of American Psycho,” a fan wrote on moviemistakes.com. “This was most likely an intentional ‘easter egg’ of sorts within the show.”
Who is Patrick Bateman in ‘American Psycho’?
Besides being serial killers, Dexter Morgan and Patrick Bateman don’t have too much in common. Bateman goes on a wild killing rampage and doesn’t do much in the way of covering his own tracks. He may have even secretly hoped that he would eventually be caught. At the end of the movie, Bateman isn’t even sure if his killing spree actually happened.
In contrast, Dexter is a polished serial killer. He has a code that has allowed him to get away with his crimes for many years. He only targets other serial killers (though he has strayed from this a few times) and seems to have at least some semblance of a conscience, even if it was only instilled in him by his foster father.
Was the ‘Dexter’ Easter Egg meant to be a joke?
Patrick Bateman is also a fictional serial killer. It’s a pretty cool Easter Egg that Dexter uses this name for his alias. Some fans dug a little deeper and thought this Easter Egg could be a funny commentary on Dexter’s cluelessness about pop culture.
“It’s a joke. Dexter doesn’t watch many movies and doesn’t have any idea about American Psycho. His ignorance of modern culture and in particular movie characters is stressed in a previous episode when he doesn’t recognize his girlfriend’s costume as being Lara Croft,” a fan wrote on Stack Exchange.
“He thought the alias would make him appear innocent (he even says this in the scene), but the joke is that if any of them saw that name whilst investigating the case, they would instantly put 2 and 2 together.”
