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Spoiler warning: This article or section contains key plots and information. Read at your own risk. |
Oliver Saxon (born as Daniel Vogel) was a Character appearing in the final season of DEXTER. He was the eldest son of Dr. Richard Vogel and his wife Dr. Evelyn Vogel, with his younger brother being named Richard Vogel, Jr. Originally portrayed as a charming man involved with a woman named Cassie Jollenston, he was then revealed to be a psychopath turned Serial Killer, when his murders in Miami dubbed him "The Brain Surgeon".
He was one of the most astute psychopaths featured in the series, being able to escape from a psychiatric hospital, while, in the process, starting a fire that killed seven child inhabitants, stealing one of their identities, and faking his own death. In addition to this, he was one of the most successful Serial Killers, having had anonymously claimed the lives of at least twenty-seven victims over the years, without a single trace. He only became involved with Dexter Morgan when putting his own mother's life in jeopardy (eventually slitting her throat in front of Dexter), and later proposing a truce with Dexter that imperilled the latter's entire family (if Dexter was to pursue Saxon, the latter would kill his family).
Officially, he was the Main Antagonist of Season Eight and the Final Main Antagonist of the DEXTER television series. He was also the second Main Antagonist to play the cat/mouse game with Dexter (the first one being Brian Moser: Dexter's brother).
Personality
As a "perfect psychopath" (coined by Dexter Morgan himself), Saxon's personality is divided between his cover life and his public life, much like Dexter himself. However, unlike Dexter, Saxon's cover life does not become "real" emotion.
In The Public
When under his cover personality, Saxon is shown as a normal individual with a steady job and normal residence. He's always seen with a smile, speaking in a hinted accent from England (however, the actual accent is closer to Scottish or Irish) and keeps up friendly gestures to make himself appear kind, while speaking in a polite and calm manner. In regards to his girlfriend, Cassie, he appears to be a man in love...treating her kindly, as a charming individual.
After her death, he takes on a solemn personality...appearing in grief over her death. Spoken to, he refers to how happy they were together and their plans for future...even expressing tears. These emotions are likely false, simply to aide his alibi against being her killer.
Early life
Daniel Vogel was born on December 23, 1968 (or November 17th, 1969 as referenced in his law enforcement database entry) to Dr. Richard Vogel and Evelyn Vogel in England. Some time later, his younger brother Richard Vogel Jr. was born, and the children would grow up in a seemingly normal lifestyle. However, Daniel had a resentment towards his younger brother, because Evelyn paid more attention to him.
At the age of 14, Daniel acted on this rage and Evelyn found her younger son dead at the bottom of their swimming pool. Initially, she believed that the child had drowned, as he "wasn't a very good swimmer" but later when looking at her eldest son, she knew...as well as her husband, that Daniel had killed little Richard. Both parents agreed to cover up the murder as an accident, with Evelyn pursuing a career as a psychiatrist in an attempt to help her son. When she believed herself unsuccessful, she and her husband sent Daniel to a psychiatric hospital in England.
Three years passed at this psychiatric hospital, with Daniel wondering if his mother would ever come to pick him up. The hospital itself practiced illicit activities, subduing youths in order to force medication into their system by strapping them to obscure tables. At the age of 17, a fire broke out at the facility, where it was claimed that a nurse went on break while leaving a door locked, preventing the children from escaping the fire. Seven children perished and Daniel was believed to be one of them. His father, Richard, claimed to have seen his son's body, though it was burned severely. In reality, however, Daniel had faked his death and had caused the fire himself, resulting in the deaths of seven children by his own hand.[2]
As he grew older, he assumed the identify of a deceased boy by the name of Oliver Saxon, who had passed on November 26, 1989. The "new Saxon" continued his life living amongst and traveling between at least a dozen cities between two continents (Europe and North America). His records in Europe are uncertain, however his earliest known United States residence was in Galveston, Texas in 2003 for at least 3 years. He moved to Tallahassee, Florida in 2006 and again to Miami, Florida in 2008. On February 9, 2010 (later changed to September 9th, 2010 via a data report in the Law Enforcement database) he was issued a Miami license, and then became a building inspector, officially employed on August 15 of that year to the Miami Prime Building Inspections agency.[3]
According to his data report, he was present in Miami during the Skinner Case, Trinity Case, Barrel Girls Case, and the Doomsday Killer Investigation. His earliest recorded kill in Miami occurred January 29th, 2009 and he proceeded to kill at least one more victim that year, with three in 2010, 3 more in 2011 and at least three prior to The Brain Surgeon Investigation during the early year of 2013. These victims were not apparently left out in the open, so there was no evidence of a serial killer during these points.[4]
In Season Eight
With the apparent end to The Brain Surgeon (whom is presumed by Dexter and Evelyn Vogel to be a man named A.J. Yates, who Dexter recently killed), Dexter's life began moving into the focus of him raising a protege serial killer by the name of Zach Hamilton and attempting to see his most recent neighbor, Cassie, after her friend, Jamie Batista, insisted on the two "hooking up". Ultimately however, Dexter's awkward answers on their "date" and lack of conversational topics potentially drew Cassie off...and she was openly available to a new man in her sights.
Jamie's birthday was coming up and they decided to throw a beach party to celebrate, where various people could
Oliver when he's introduced.
come along to enjoy the fun. Oliver Saxon was one of these individuals, running into Cassie at the party where the two began to talk and his charm seemed to affect her immediately. Jamie noticed the two flirting with one another and went up to Dexter, telling him that she didn't know who the guy was, but if he wanted a shot at Cassie, now was his chance.
A little while later, following some drama elsewhere in the party, Dexter decides to move over to where Cassie is and begins a similar awkward conversation to the one that they shared on their "date". She seems distant, though friendly nevertheless and shortly afterward, Oliver walks up with some beers in hand. Cassie introduces the two, whereby Oliver extends his hand to shake Dexter's, as he holds a generous smile on his face. He then proceeds to talk to Cassie about not being sure which beer to grab, but decides to go with the one with the "Moose" on it. Dexter looks for an out in this situation and says he'll go check on his son Harrison, leaving the two of them to talk.
Zach's Death And A Growing Suspicion
It is soon revealed that Saxon is Cassie's choice over Dexter. Saxon is seen alongside Cassie outside her apartment (the two are about to go surfing), when Dexter is talking to his new disciple, Zach Hamilton, about patiently controlling his urges until the opportunity comes to kill a bad person. However, once Cassie is murdered the following night, Dexter suspects that this is Zach's doing (because of the similar bludgeoning to Norma Rivera, who Zach had previously killed), and manages to track Zach down to Key West, where the latter has apparently fled. Once he discovers that Zach has prepared a kill room inside of his hotel (he actually replicated Dexter's), Dexter believes that Zach is planning to kill another innocent person, but upon chastising Zach, he realizes that Zach was proactively hunting a man named Shaun Decker, a former classmate of
his, who had killed a woman and bragged about it. After learning of Zach's worthiness, he is convinced that Zach must have been framed for Cassie's murder. A short time later, Dexter enters his apartment, only to find the lifeless corpse of Zach Hamilton sitting on a chair with his brain sliced open (proving that The Brain Surgeon was not A.J. Yates).
In the next episode, Dexter resumes his hunt for Zach's killer, intent on ending this cat/mouse game once and for all. He comes across a hair in Zach's apartment, which he thinks Zach could've been instinctive enough to pull from his assailant. He proceeds to take this hair to the police department, where he can do some DNA tests on it. Upon testing the hair, he realizes that Zach's killer is related to Evelyn Vogel. Dexter learns of Vogel's early life and the fact that she had two sons; Daniel and Richard (the latter Daniel had drowned in a swimming pool). Vogel sent Daniel away to a psychiatric facility, in hopes that Daniel would be spared of his murderous ways. However, a large fire broke out there sometime later (apparently due to a nurse's clumsiness) that killed the majority of the children inhabiting the facility. Daniel was apparenty one of these, because his father had apparently dragged the corpse out of the flames and identified him as his son (though he was burned horribly). Dexter, however, believes that due to his intelligence and lack of empathy, Daniel may have started the fire himself, while assuming the identity of the real Oliver Saxon, and using this as his cover name upon traveling to the U.S.A. Vogel gives Dexter a picture of Daniel, which Dexter takes to do some facial tests on. Dexter inserts the picture into a computer, updating Daniel's age by 40 years, revealing it to be Oliver Saxon, whom Dexter recognizes almost instantly.
Using this information and later investigating Saxon's house and matching a print between him and Zach's killer, he realizes that Saxon is definitely Vogel's son. Vogel is appalled by this news, but refuses to allow Dexter to kill him (believing that her son deserves a second chance). Dexter pretends to agree with Vogel, though proceeds to spike her coffee with a sedative, and he then goes to The King's Bay Cafe, where Vogel had arranged to meet her son (due to the fact that Daniel has been monitoring her computer activity). Dexter watches on from the window as Daniel repeatedly plays his favorite song ("Make Your Own Kind of Music", by Mama Cass Elliot), however, when Dexter is distracted, Oliver turns around and manages to spot him. After Oliver exits the cafe, Dexter proceeds to follow him to his car, readying himself with a tranquilizer, though he realizes that his own tires have been deflated by Oliver (who was aware of Dexter's presence, and is now on his way to Evelyn's house). Dexter manages to reach her house before she is harmed, and warns her of the threat that her son poses. Evelyn, disappointed about what happened that morning, tells Dexter to leave the matter to her. Dexter then leaves, but as the scene pans, it is revealed that Saxon was hiding in Vogel's house, and the two proceed to have breakfast together.
Threat To Vogel
Resuming right where they left off in the previous episode, Saxon proceeds to accuse his mother of imprisoning him in the mental facility, to which she responds that she was forced to (because Daniel had killed his younger brother). However, Saxon continues to upbraid/threaten her, and he then becomes jealous of the attention she gives to Dexter Morgan, convincing her to help Saxon, instead.
When Vogel is returning to her house from a visit to the department, Saxon is waiting outside for her and opens his car door, asking for her to enter, while convincing her that he will do no harm. Vogel warily enters the vehicle, and the two drive off to an abandoned doctor's office, where Saxon leads her into a room --- the very room where he kills his victims in. Daniel tells her about all of the horrible
Daniel and his mother share a hug for the first time in years.
memories he has of when he was in the psychiatric facility, and when the doctors would strap him down to a table (like the one that Daniel has currently) and force him to take his medications. He explains that the reason he chose this room is because it reminds him of the room that he was "tortured" in. Saxon continues to converse with her, before he once again asks for her to help him, in the exact same way that she helped Dexter: To freely exist as a killer. Vogel, feeling her son's "pain", hesitantly tells him that she will find a solution, and they share a hug for the first time in years.
After proving Saxon's guilt by finding a video of him killing Zach with a bonesaw, Dexter convinces Vogel that, despite her protests, her son is unchangeable and that he needs to die. Though disheartened, Vogel reluctantly goes with the plan of meeting Saxon in an isolated area of the public, where Dexter will sedate and capture him.
However, Vogel invites Oliver to her house instead, where the chances of him killing her are
Saxon killing his mother.
higher. Oliver instantly notices something eerie about her behavior and questions her, only for her to respond that it is because of stress, but Oliver sees right through her and determines what she has planned. When Dexter arrives, Saxon calls him, informing him that he wants to show him something, only to turn on a light revealing that he has Vogel at a window. Dexter orders him not to touch her, but Saxon ignores his order and mercilessly slits her throat, as Dexter watches on in horror. Dexter breaks open the door, and finds Vogel exsanguinating on the floor. Dexter embraces her in deep sorrow as she takes her final breaths, while Saxon uses this time to flee.
Truce With Dexter
The next day, Oliver goes to Miami Metro to clear his name of being a suspect in Cassie's murder. He speaks with Quinn, providing excuses for every question that he is asked. Dexter arrives to perform the DNA swab, while shocked to see Oliver. Oliver remains calm, though questions if the DNA test is really necessary, but Quinn reminds him that he agreed to cooperate. Oliver does so and then leaves. He proceeds to show interest in Dexter's apartment, meeting with Sylvia Prado, who is selling it. Dexter comes, again stunned to see Oliver, who asks if Dexter could show him around the home alone, which Sylvia agrees to, giving the two men a chance to speak face to face. Oliver then proposes a truce, saying that he'll go his separate way and forget about Dexter if he does likewise. However, while making his ceasefire truce, he also speaks of how Dexter has much more to lose than himself, slyly threatening many of the people that Dexter cares about. Dexter thus agrees to the truce, which pleases Oliver, who then leaves.
Saxon strapped to his own kill table, by Dexter.
Dexter, however, never intended to go along with the truce, especially after Oliver reminded him of all the people close to Dexter, who are in danger of being harmed. Providing the police with the DNA swab which showed them that Oliver was Vogel's son and anonymously sending them v
Saxon gets freed by Max Clayton,
ideo footage of each of Saxon's kills that he found in Saxon's kill r
but then stabs him,
oom at an abandoned hospital, Dexter makes Oliver a wanted man. While at a gas station, Oliver sees the news about the manhunt for him and immediately figures that Dexter is responsible. He goes straight
takes his gun,
to Dexter's apartment, planning to kill him, but is inter
and shoots Debra with it.
cepted by both Dexter and Debra Morgan. After sedating Saxon, Dexter brings him to his own kill room and straps him to the table there. They discuss the appeal of Miami and why Oliver wants to stay there, while Dexter wants to leave. After a lengthy
Debra fires back,
conversation, Dexter realizes that he has more of a drive to start a new life than to kill anymore, including killing Saxon. Oliver, desperate to live, agrees with him, telling him that he does not have to. Dexter decides for the first
grazing Saxon's arm,
time in his life that he doesn't have the urge to kill and so calls
but is left severely injured.
Debra, wanting to turn Saxon over to the police. Debra arrives while Dexter leaves, wishing to start his new life with his girlfriend, Hannah McKay, and his son, Harrison Morgan, as quickly as possible. However, Debra was being tailed by Deputy Marshal Clayton for her and Dexter's involvement with Hannah McKay. Clayton finds Oliver strapped to the table who, in the pretense of an innocent victim, gets Clayton to free him. Saxon takes one of Dexter's knives and stabs Clayton to death. Debra rushes back into the room, her gun drawn on Oliver but, after picking up Clayton's own pistol, he shoots Debra in the stomach and flees. Debra fires back, and is able to maim his arm.
Final Confrontation
Saxon steals a car from a man after knocking him out, and drives around looking for a place where he can get his lacerated arm healed. He finds a veterinarian and forces him to stitch up his wound by holding him at gunpoint. He decides that he wants to kill Debra once and for all, and so goes to the hospital where she is being treated. Being a wanted man, he creates a scene by cutting out the vet's tongue (whom he has held hostage) and letting him loose in the hospital. This allows him to move in without trouble as he searches for Debra.
Dexter kills Saxon.
However, Dexter, who has sensed his presence based on the event that just took place, picks up a fork and tries to kill Saxon before he has the chance to harm Debra further. However, unbeknownst to both Saxon and Dexter, the police, led by Lieutenant Angel Batista, were prepared for Saxon's arrival as well and arrest him on the spot. After Saxon is interrogated by Batista and Detective Joseph Quinn, Dexter pays him a visit and tells him how he blames himself and not Saxon for what happened to Debra, albeit he plans to kill him with a pen (that he had just placed on the table). Saxon quickly picks up the pen and seemingly tries to kill Dexter, but Dexter moves to his right, so that the pen only pierces his shoulder. Dexter then punches him in the face, yanks the pen out, and stabs Saxon in the left carotid artery, causing the latter to bleed to death very rapidly. The tape clearly shows that Dexter was defending himself (although, in reality, he intended for it to go down the way it did), and so is not charged for the crime.
Victims
- Richard Vogel, Jr.
- Seven children in psychiatric hospital
- Thirteen unnamed victims
- Robert Bailey
- Leonard Welks - Indirectly
- Lyle Sussman
- Cassie Jollenston
- Zach Hamilton
- Evelyn Vogel
- Max Clayton
- Debra Morgan - Indirectly; Saxon mortally injured her, which resulted in a bloodclot reaching her brain. Knowing that this would lead to her demise, Dexter mercifully shut off her life-support.
Other possible victims of Oliver Saxon are men named J. Mitchell and B. Rickers, as both appear on Saxon's laptop files.
Attempted
- Dexter Morgan
- Dr. Turner - Saxon cut out the vet's tongue and left him in a severe condition. However, the vet's status is currently unknown.
Trivia
- Despite getting killed by Dexter, Saxon is still the only Main Antagonist to destroy Dexter's life completely as well as ending his reign as the Bay Harbor Butcher (making him the only character to defeat Dexter). Also, Arthur Mitchell destroyed Dexter's life partially by killing Rita but unlike Rita Dexter couldn't recover from Debra's death.
- Arthur Mitchell, Travis Marshall, Isaak Sirko, and Oliver Saxon are the only Main Antagonists who are known to have killed their first victim when they were children (out of these four, Isaak was the youngest when he killed his teacher).
- However, Saxon is the only one confirmed to have killed 8 people while up until he was 17.
- Saxon and Travis Marshall are the only Main Antagonists who were born to be Serial Killers. Interestingly, they both killed one of their family members as their first victim (Travis killed his parents and Oliver killed his younger brother). Also, both Saxon and Travis killed the only remaining member of their family apart from themselves later on in life (Travis killed his sister, Saxon killed his mother).
- He is the only Main Antagonist whose first victim was a child and overall the Second Main Antagonist to kill a sufficient number of children (the first being Arthur Mitchell).
- Saxon was present in Miami during the events of Season Three, Season Four, Season Five, Season Six and Season Seven. Oddly, he killed many people during the course of those seasons, but his killings were never found by Dexter until the Final Season, in which Saxon becomes the main threat.
- His driver's license lists his birthdate as December 22, 1979, however the police report taken from Cassie Jollenston's house lists his birthdate as December 23, 1968. It's likely that the date used on the license is based on the birthdate for the original Oliver Saxon, who was born on November 17, 1979. The date again becomes skewed when a data report in the law enforcement database states that he was born on November 17, 1969 which adds 10 years to the original Saxon's age.
- Saxon, like Trinity, is the only other character to have killed someone close to Dexter and the only one to have claimed numerous victims in the course of his life prior to settling in Miami. He has moved between at least 12 cities in 2 continents (North America and Europe), with Dexter feeling that his movements were to avoid being caught. This suggests he killed enough people in each city that he needed to move on, to continue remaining under the radar.
- If the number of kills in Miami can be used as a reference, he's killed at least 5-10 people per city. As he recorded 13-14 deaths while in Miami, he may have killed more individuals outside of the recording but assuming he recorded his previous victims prior to 2009 it's suggested he may have killed at least a 100 of his own between 1978 and 2009, rivaling him with Dexter. The number very well may be greater, but remains unconfirmed as even Dexter wonders just how many people Saxon has killed.
- Saxon is thus far the most successful adversary Dexter has faced, as he has been able to kill 2 people close to him (Zach and Vogel) and caused the indirect death of another (Debra, who Dexter chose to mercifully kill, as she was in a vegetative state).
- According to the two video files Dexter found on Saxon's computer (by using spyware from Vogel's computer against his) in Episode 810: Goodbye Miami, Welks and Sussman were killed on 8/14/2012. This conflicts with dates shown earlier in the show, where it was still July when Dexter was hunting A.J. Yates. In addition, the police report states that Cassie Jollenston was found dead in her apartment on 8/15/2012. The video file matches with Cassie's death but not with Welks and Sussman, which would have been more believable as the 7/5/2012 video file found in Episode 811: Monkey In a Box.
- Like George King, Saxon displays a charming, polite, respectful and extremely well-mannered attitude in public.
- Oliver parallels another psychopath and the first main antagonist Brian Moser (Dexter's brother) in various ways:
- Both are highly intelligent individuals.
- Both of their identities were not revealed in the beginning.
- They toy with police but specifically, a certain someone (both eventually involving Dexter one way or the other).
- Both took the name of a deceased person as an alias (Brian was Rudy Cooper and Daniel is Oliver Saxon). However, Brian killed his man. It's uncertain if Daniel had a hand in the original Oliver Saxon's death.
- They both appear as charming, successful men.
- Both characters were institutionalized at youth, though Brian was released at 21. Daniel broke out by faking his own death and possibly killing people in the process.
- Both characters most likely continued killing prior to their appearance in the series, as Brian's estimated to have killed far more people than what is shown, and Vogel specifically stated that whoever The Brain Surgeon was, he's killed plenty before.
- The moment Brian sits with Dexter at the table in their mother's house is similar to the moment when Daniel sits with his mother at her home.
- Both display their victims for the public to see, as a way of sending a message.
- They both make their victims look like perpetrators. Brian framed Tony Tucci and Oliver framed Lyle Sussman (although in Tucci's case, Debra Morgan and Angel Batista believed him to be innocent from the very beginning).
- At one point they were both presumed to be someone else by Dexter and others. The ITK was presumed to be Neil Perry and TBS was presumed to be A.J. Yates.
- They both played a cat and mouse game with Dexter and were both one step ahead of him.
- They both are trying to reconnect with a long lost relative through killing. Brian tried to reconnect with his brother Dexter while Oliver tried to reconnect with his mother Vogel.
- They both started dating someone close to Dexter. In Oliver's case it was Cassie, while Brian was dating Debra. In both cases they decided to kill the person but Oliver was successful.
- The both send body parts as clues to the person they are trying to reconnect with.
- Like Brian, Saxon can be also seen as a brother to Dexter as he is Vogel's son and Dexter is considered to be her 'spiritual son' - Saxon even tells Dexter: "Mother chose the wrong son, again" as he kills Vogel.
- Both killed one of their parents. Brian killed his father while Daniel killed his mother.
- They both broke into Dexter's apartment attempting to kill someone only to be lured into a trap, in the exact same room.
- Both get strapped onto their own kill tables by Dexter, only Dexter spares Saxon, so that Debra can turn him over to the police - a big mistake as Debra ends up getting shot by Saxon, who manages to escape (after stabbing Clayton, who frees him, thinking him to be an innocent victim).
- Both use an abandoned hospital related to their crimes, Brian to hold Tucci (and amputate him) while Saxon used his as a kill room. Only Saxon owned the property, Brian simply seemed to use it.
- Both expunge the blood from their victims.
- Both are killed because of trauma to their necks - Brian had his throat slashed and Saxon was stabbed in the neck with a pen.
- Both were killed because of Debra Morgan - Brian to protect her, and Saxon as an act of revenge.
- Both of them are killed by Dexter Morgan and left for Miami Metro. However, Brian's death was made to look like a suicide, whereas Oliver was clearly murdered.
- He is the only character in the series to be both a Serial Killer and a mass murderer.
- Oliver Saxon is the only Main Antagonist to be killed by Dexter in front of Angel Batista and Joey Quinn (as they watched the security footage).
- Saxon is considered to be the most personal adversary of Dexter, due to the fact that he is responsible for the deaths of Evelyn Vogel and Debra Morgan.
- Saxon is the only main antagonist to be killed by Dexter in a confrontation. Dexter has killed others in this manner before (George King, Stan Liddy, Andrew Briggs, etc.), but none of them were main antagonists.
- Saxon is the only antagonist to have "beaten" Dexter. He caused the death of two people close to Dexter, Evelyn Vogel directly and Debra Morgan indirectly, and others that were close to him, such as Zach and Cassie. Dexter ended up having to kill Debra because of Saxon, and this caused him to realize that he destroys everything close to him, so he left Harrison with Hannah, and started a new life elsewhere. This means that, because of Saxon, Dexter's life was changed entirely. Additionally, although he was killed by Dexter, he didn't have to go back to a facility, which is something he told his mother he would never do again.
Gallery
References
- ↑ As of Cassie's death, the date is at least August 15th, 2012 as confirmed by the police report filed.
- ↑ Episode 809: Make Your Own Kind of Music and confirmed by Saxon himself in Episode 810: Goodbye Miami
- ↑ Episode 810: Goodbye Miami, his data report that Dexter pulls up
- ↑ Episode 811: Monkey In a Box, victims are shown as video files while Dexter is investigating Saxon