Who Is More Terrifying? Joe From You Or Dexter
Everyone loves a good television antihero — serial killers included. Two of the best examples of TV's most compelling serial killers of recent years are Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) from Showtime's "Dexter" and Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) from Netflix's "You," who is a not-so-much an antihero. Of course, the two may share popularity, but Dexter and Joe couldn't be more different.
"Dexter" follows its titular character as he deals with the urges of his "dark passenger" by following a code laid out by his adopted father. He only kills other killers — those who have slipped through the cracks of the justice system. Meanwhile, on "You," Joe has a very different kind of justification system. Joe, who sees himself as a hopeless romantic on the lookout for his lifelong love, will do whatever it takes to "protect" the woman he loves. Whatever it takes often includes murdering anyone who gets in the way of their relationship — and in a couple of cases so far, murdering the woman he "loves," as well.
But who is the most terrifying killer? Joe or Dexter? It's a tough question, as their methods, justifications, and years of experience range pretty wildly. Fans of both shows recently attempted to find an answer through a discussion post on Reddit, in which user u/Thedemonwhisperer posed the question, "Who would you fear more?" Fans had a lot to say on the matter — read on to find out their conclusions.
Fans think Dexter is more skilled at killing
The conversation swayed toward fans pitting Dexter and Joe against each other to compare their skill levels and decide which one is more apt at killing. Most fans agreed that Dexter was, by and large, the more skilled vigilante, with his precision and attention to detail.
User u/coolindoms wrote, "Joe is the type of guy dexter kills when he has a few hours of down time . That shi*t would be light work for him." In a bit of pushback to that declaration, user u/Zach_9224 pointed out that Joe might not end up on Dexter's table so easily. He wrote, "Dexter's light-work kills would be someone who was already through the police and there's enough proof, just not enough justice. The challenge would not be getting Joe on the table, but rather proving [that he] fits the code. Joe arguably does a good job covering his tracks, so I think that'd be the more interesting part of it."
Still, most fans agreed that Dexter would come out on top of Joe any day. User u/HelRayzer12 wrote, "Yeah [it's] not even close, I enjoy 'You' but Joe's not even close to comparable to Dexter." Stating it plainly, user u/wanderer-09 wrote, "Joe is a baby compared to Dexter." One fan, user u/johax84, unaware of "You" or Joe Goldberg, wrote, "No clue who the first guy is." To this, a Dexter-siding fan, user u/viceheadthrasher, wrote, "Just some schmuck who fears Dexter Morgan."
Fans make a case for Joe
However, as the conversation went on, other fans started to point out that the original question was who the average person would fear more — and the average person, who isn't a killer, doesn't fit Dexter's code. On this note, user u/Sgt_Heisenberg wrote, "Everyone here is just screaming how Joe is an amateur compared to Dexter (which is probably very true) but I really hope everyone here wouldn't have a reason to fear Dexter."
In agreement, user u/white95z wrote, "Joe. Dexter has no reason to kill me but Joe could end up falling in love with my wife and killing me to get me out of the way." A few women brought up how they're given a reason to fear Joe just by being women, as they're put in danger by being a possible object of affection of Joe's — after all, several of his partners have ended up dead. User u/hadapurpura wrote, "As a non-killer, non criminal, I have no reason to fear Dexter. As a woman, I have reason to fear Joe."
Laying out Joe's deadly nature, user u/Rainydays5 wrote, "Alternatively anyone even remotely connected to a woman he's interested in. Joe will kill you if you're in his way, he's far more dangerous because he's kinda unpredictable and impulsive. You're never going to end up on Dexter's list unless you're a piece of sh*t in the first place, since he does his due diligence."
All in all, it seems the answer is pretty clear — Dexter is the more skilled killer, but Joe is far the more dangerous to the average citizen. And lucky for us, they're both just as compelling to watch.