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| “ | I've never been good at relationships. Longest was a couple of weeks, and she was chained to my radiator, so I guess that doesn't much count. | „ |
| ~ Oliver Saxon |
Daniel Vogel, better known as Oliver Saxon, is the main antagonist in Season 8 of Dexter. He is a serial killer known as "The Brain Surgeon" who removes parts of the brains of his victims. He is also the arch-nemesis of Dexter Morgan.
He was portrayed by Darri Ingolfsson, who also played Jerry Tidwell in Criminal Minds.
Biography[]
Past[]
Daniel Vogel was born on December 23, 1968 to Richard and Evelyn Vogel. In 1982, at the age of 14, Daniel drowned his younger brother Richard Jr. in their family’s pool because he resented the attention his younger brother got from their parents. His parents made it look like an accident so that Daniel wouldn't go to prison, but Evelyn - a forensic psychiatrist specializing in violent pathology - realized that her son was a psychopath and had him committed to a psychiatric facility for juveniles.
When Daniel was 17-years-old, he set a fire in the hospital that killed seven patients. One of the victims, the real Oliver Saxon, was so badly burned he couldn't be identified, so Daniel faked his death and took his victim's name as his new persona.
In 2008, Oliver Saxon moved to Miami, Florida where he hid in plain sight as a building inspector. He also became a serial killer who sawed open his victims' skulls and removed pieces of their brains. His favorite piece of the brain to remove is the anterior insular-cortex, which controls empathy and is often found to be damaged in the brains of psychopaths; he means this as a swipe at his mother, who stakes her professional reputation on working with psychopaths. Ironically, Evelyn consults with the Miami Metro Police Department on the murders that she is unaware her son is committing, and dubs the killer "The Brain Surgeon".
A Beautiful Day[]
Saxon's first victim to be discovered by the Miami Metro Police Department was a mechanic named Robert Bailey. A large portion of his brain had been scooped out of his skull after being shot in the chest and dumped in a public area. The medical examiner reveals that Robert had been locked inside a small space for nearly a week since he was also dehydrated and starving when he was finally killed.
Every Silver Lining[]
Evelyn Vogel tells Dexter Morgan that she knows who the killer is and how she knows him. Evelyn asks Dexter to help her, but he refuses since he only goes after killers he is interested in or has personal grudges against, not "requests". Meanwhile, Saxon kidnaps two men, Lyle Sussman and Leonard Welks, and forces Lyle to kill Leonard by strangling him to death while at gunpoint, then shoots him in the head afterwards to make it look like he committed suicide to pin his murder on him.
Leonard's body is later found in the middle of a skate park, with a piece of his brain scooped out. Dexter finds the plastic bag that was used to kill Leonard and finds Lyle Sussman's fingerprints on it. Dexter investigates his homes and discovers that he was a big-game hunter in his spare time, deciding to search further to see if Sussman is the real killer and finds his body hanging from a meat hook outside his cabin. Believing Sussman was the killer who was working with an accomplice, he informs Evelyn Vogel, who still believes her son is the real killer. Later, Evelyn calls Dexter from her home about an intruder and he later arrives but only finds a DVD with the recording of Lyle being forced to kill Leonard before being shot with a pistol by Oliver who is standing just outside of the frame, so as to not be seen.
What's Eating Dexter Morgan[]
Later on when the MMPD investigate the scene, Lyle's body had been moved by Oliver who has shot Lyle’s body through the mouth and out the back of his head with a rifle to make it look a suicide, though only Dexter knows that Lyle was murdered. Meanwhile, Evelyn receives two more pieces of brains in jars outside her home, this time labeled "His" and "Hers". The brain pieces are the ones responsible for sight, telling both Dexter and Evelyn that Oliver now knows that they’re watching him.
A Little Reflection[]
After Dexter and Evelyn believed that they had dealt with The Brain Surgeon, a previous patient of Evelyn's named A.J. Yates, Dexter has lunch with Cassie Jollenston, neither of whom know who Saxon really is. Later on while at a friend's birthday party, Cassie introduces Saxon to Dexter as her new boyfriend.
Dress Code[]
The next day, Dexter sees both Saxon and Cassie outside her apartment before they both enter while he teaches his "protégé" Zach Hamilton how to control his murderous urges. When Cassie is found dead in her apartment the next day, having been beaten to death with a statue, Dexter suspects Zach of losing control like he had before. Saxon, meanwhile, shows up at the crime scene and very convincingly pretends to be devastated by her death.
Are We There Yet?[]
After Dexter tracks Zach down to The Keys where he believes Zach is in hiding and, upon finding him, he criticizes him for trying to poorly replicate his kill rooms but discovers Zach had not been trying to kill another innocent person, but a murderer named Shawn Decker. This convinces Dexter that Zach was framed for Cassie's murder and helps him clean up the evidence of Shawn's murder. Back in Miami once he returns home, Dexter finds Zach's dead body sitting in his chair with a piece of his brain removed, revealing that he and Evelyn were wrong about Yates being The Brain Surgeon.
Make Your Own Kind of Music[]
After finding a few of Saxon's hairs inside his apartment next to Zach's body, he takes the hairs to his lab at Miami Metro and discovers that the killer is related to Evelyn. Once he confronts her, she tells him how Daniel killed his brother and escaped with a new name; confirming that Saxon is the real killer. Evelyn asks Dexter to not kill her only living son if he finds him again and Dexter pretends to agree to spare him, but secretly plans to kill him to avenge Zach. Figuring Saxon might be tracking everything Evelyn does on her computer, Dexter has her write a fake entry in her online journal that she's going to be going to eat at a local diner later and goes there to try and capture Saxon.
Dexter stalks Saxon, intending to knock him out with a tranquilizer, but Saxon slashes Dexter's tires and drives away. Dexter manages to get to Evelyn's house and warns her about her son coming to her, but Evelyn angrily tells him to leave since he had drugged her earlier to prevent her from going to see him. As Dexter leaves, however, it is revealed that Saxon was hiding in a closet in there the entire time and he forced Evelyn to send Dexter away.
Goodbye Miami[]
Saxon accuses his mother of abandoning him by institutionalizing him, but she insists she was only trying to help him. He accuses her of caring more about Dexter than her own son and angrily leaves, though later returns to bring her to his kill room at an abandoned psychiatric hospital where he kills all his victims. He then pretends to genuinely want help from Evelyn, wanting her to let him kill freely as Dexter does, and she believes his lies and hugs him for the first time in decades.
After letting her go, Dexter shows Evelyn a video Saxon made of him removing Zach's brain while he was still alive, and she reluctantly agrees to let Dexter kill her son, though she wants to say goodbye to him first. After letting him into her home with the promise of tea, Oliver quickly notices her very nervous appearance and realizes that she's betrayed him. When Dexter arrives at her house, her light suddenly turns on and Dexter watches as Oliver slashes Evelyn's throat with a kitchen knife and then flees the house. Dexter runs inside to comfort her as she dies.
Monkey in a Box[]
Now having to kill Saxon by himself, Dexter takes all of the files that Evelyn had on her son. Meanwhile, Saxon is at the MMPD clearing his name on Cassie's murder. Later on, they both meet at Dexter’s apartment and Oliver offers Dexter a truce as well as threatening him with the fact that Dexter has much more to lose than he does. Dexter pretends to agree to the truce, but once Saxon leaves, Dexter warns his foster sister Debra of Saxon's threats. Not intending to follow along with Oliver's truth either, he anonymously gives the MMPD physical evidence as well as video evidence to make Oliver a wanted man. Oliver learns of Dexter's betrayal at a gas station when he sees his name on the news, then rushes to his apartment to kill him, however Debra points a gun at the back of his head while Dexter sedates him.
Taking advantage of having Oliver strapped to his own kill table, Dexter calls Debra over to Oliver’s kill room so she can arrest him and be a hero to Miami. Before leaving, Dexter tells Oliver that he's going to be sent to the electric chair. However, Debra is followed on her way to Oliver’s kill room by Deputy Marshall Clayton; who finds Oliver before she does. Oliver pretends to be an innocent victim of The Brain Surgeon and Clayton releases him; Oliver then immediately stabs him to death. Debra sees this and shoots Oliver in the arm, but he takes Clayton's gun and shoots her in the stomach.
Remember the Monsters?[]
After escaping and getting his arm fixed by a veterinarian, Oliver decides to go to the hospital that Debra is at to kill her; using the veterinarian as a distraction by cutting out his tongue and sending him inside. However, Saxon is arrested by Lieutenant Angel Batista. After Debra suffers a stroke during surgery that leaves her in a permanent coma, Dexter visits Oliver in the interrogation room. Knowing the camera watching the room has no sound, he tells Oliver that he is going to kill him with the pen on the table. Oliver goes for the pen first and tries to stab Dexter, but Dexter moves at just the right time, resulting in Oliver missing his throat and wounding him in the arm. Dexter punches Oliver in the face to disorient him and stabs him in the neck with the pen. Oliver falls to the ground and chokes to death on his own blood.
After Oliver's death, Dexter meets with Joey and Batista and tells them that he killed Oliver in self-defense, a story that they appear to accept - although it is implied that they know what really happened and choose to look the other way because they believe that Oliver got what he deserved.
Personality[]
As a "perfect psychopath", Saxon is devoid of empathy, remorse, and fear. He is also cunning, manipulative, and highly intelligent; able to mimic normal, human emotions he is incapable of actually feeling.
Oliver is the personification of evil; even Dexter is horrified by his cruelty and sadism. He is incapable of remorse or empathy, and revels in the pain and suffering of others. Lacking Dexter's moral code, Saxon is capable of murdering anyone without a second thought; even his own family members.
Victims[]
- Robert Bailey - Shot in the chest by Oliver Saxon; shown dead.
- Leonard Welks - Strangled to death by Lyle Sussman; coerced at gunpoint by Saxon.
- Lyle Sussman - Shot in the back of the head and then is mounted by the exit wound on a meat hook by Oliver Saxon; found dead.
- Cassie Jollenston - Head bludgeoned with a statue by Oliver Saxon; found dead.
- Zach Hamilton - Back of head cut open with a bone saw while still alive by Oliver Saxon; found dead.
- Richard Vogel Jr. - Drowned in a pool by Oliver Saxon; mentioned.
- Seven Children - Burned alive in a fire set by Oliver Saxon; mentioned.
- Evelyn Vogel - Throat slit with a kitchen knife by Oliver Saxon; found alive, dies onscreen.
- Max Clayton - Stabbed in the chest with a knife by Oliver Saxon; stabbed onscreen, found alive by Debra, found dead by Dexter (?)
- Debra Morgan - Shot in the stomach by Oliver Saxon, which later lead to a blood clot to form in her brain that put her in a permanent coma, and later mercifully taken off of life-support by Dexter.
- Total - 16
Quotes[]
| “ | Mother chose the wrong son, again. | „ |
| ~ Daniel killing Evelyn in front of Dexter on the phone by slitting her throat with a knife. |
| “ | You know what it’s like; to kill? It can be cathartic and it was, so I'm giving you the choice: go on with your life or come after me. But choose poorly like mom, and you will lose. | „ |
| ~ Oliver ushers to Dexter over choosing to come after him or meet his end. |
| “ | Oliver: What do you see? Dexter: A trail of blood and body parts. |
„ |
| ~ Dexter discussing their ways of killing; which Oliver takes pride in. |
| “ | Dexter: In one sharp moment, you took away this... foolish dream that I could have a happy life. Oliver: Is that why you're here? To tell me all this? |
„ |
| ~ Oliver's last words with Dexter. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Saxon is heavily inspired by Martin Thiel, the main antagonist of Criminal Law; a misogynistic serial-killer of women out of hatred of his mother's profession as an abortion doctor, which included her trying previously to abort Thiel. Thiel taunted the main character - his defender - to catch him, and Thiel later killed his mother in a climactic spree.
- Saxon's success in mortally wounding Debra was the cause for Dexter's exile; making him and Arthur Mitchell the only antagonists in the series to claim a victory over Dexter.
- Saxon is one of the only villains in the show to have their reflective ritual delayed and be killed directly by Dexter in a personal way.
- Saxon could arguably be an overarching antagonist of the series, when he was a child he drowned his younger brother to death, forcing Evelyn Vogel to study psychopaths, this would result in Evelyn making the “Code Of Harry” and Dexter turning into the vigilante he is now.
See Also[]
- Oliver Saxon on the Dexter Wiki
- Oliver Saxon on the Pure Evil Wiki
