So, I'm finally writing down my thoughts about her after finishing the OG series, New Blood and Original Sin. (Still haven't touched Resurrection yet).
But yeah, SPOILER WARNING BELOW ⚠️⚠️⚠️👇🏻
The existence of Evelyn Vogel as a character is what I'd like to call a Schrodinger's Cat Character.
What I mean by that is, she's the type of character that you don't know anything about, unless you put your own meaning into it.
The basic facts we know about her-
1. She is a psychiatrist whose life long study has been on psychopathy and she views psychopathic individuals as necessary tools to society, almost seeing them as the next step in human evolution. There's something scientific in the way she worships the idea, and devotes her time and energy to become a messiah of that message. And as much as she's a messiah of her own propaganda, she's also scared of psychopathic individuals, and she does her best not to show it.
2. She's not a sympathetic character. She's a villain. She may not kill people directly, but she has a hand in making serial killers out of her therapy.
3. Her views of empathy are skewed enough that she deems it unnecessary, as if she has to constantly remind herself that empathy is weakness. It's what translated to how she treated her son when he was growing up.
4. Her son is Oliver Saxon, or Daniel Vogel, whom she institutionalised the moment she realised that he has psychopathic tendencies. And erased every existence of Daniel ever being born or being her son. We do not know anything about her husband or Daniel's father.
5. Vogel also had a hand in helping Harry (again, father of the year everyone) make the Code and diagnosing Dexter when he was still a child. Granted her doesn't remember her, but Harry went to Vogel for counsel and guidance.
6. She views Dexter as her 'second son' or the son that she has successfully engineered, which is something Daniel saw and got really jealous over, with Vogel even hyping him up as a 'god'. Dexter may choose to ignore the red flags of Vogel (probably because she validated his ego and got Debra to talk to him), but I see through her manipulative bullshit.
...
Her existence pulls up a few loose ends that I'd like to address and get answers for-
1. Who recommended Dr. Vogel to Harry and when?
2. Did Vogel know about the existence of Brian Moser? I'm sure Harry must have at least told her about it. Did Vogel ever seek out Brian's existence?
3. In Original Sin, we see Harry watch Dexter follow the Code for the first time... Does he ever reach out to Vogel afterwards? Did he ever keep in touch with her?
4. Vogel mentions that she wasn't able to attend Harry's funeral because she was overseas... But that doesn't explain the lack of communication over the years since Harry's death and why she never reached out to Dexter or Debra. But in the same sentence, she says she has been watching Dexter and is proud of him for following the Code?
5. So, if she was keeping an eye out on Dexter through those years, knowing that he's a vigilante serial killer... That same time, Brian was stalking and watching Dexter as well... I assume she at least still knew that someone was stalking Dexter even if Harry never mentioned Brian?
6. I'm also slightly surprised that she never took any interest in baby Harrison. Because she should have? Knowing about Dexter's origin and how Harrison's origin mirrors Dexter's? Especially after Trinity, because she's introduced way after Trinity.
I don't know, the existence of Vogel as this psychiatrist who dedicated her life's work to psychopathy and had an entire obsession over shaping Dexter and seeing as a 'second son' leaves so many questions unanswered...
And the way she treated Daniel is why he snapped and she got scared enough to try and placate him before dying by his hands... She feels like an unexplored canon event.
And honestly, if they do revive Original Sin, I hope we get at least some answers...
Anyways, those are my thoughts... And I'll ponder over them... For a while...
...
ETA: I forgot to add one more thing i.e the introduction of Vogel in the series.
She quite literally, comes out of nowhere. It's only when Oliver strikes, leaving a piece of someone's brain at her doorstep as a gift does she reach out to.... Matthews. Yes, the same guy who was Harry's best friend, and always preferred the Morgan's over anyone else.
So, that begs more question -
1. How did Matthews come into the position that he is? Did it happen after Aaron Spencer? (From Original Sin)
2. It is heavily implied that Matthews and Harry shared each other's secrets. What those secrets are, we don't know. But through small hints, we can tell that Matthew has an inkling of Dexter's darker tendencies and in a way approved of them, though he didn't say it outright because he had made some sort of promise to Harry. (This observation goes right over Dexter's head). So that begs the question - Did Matthews know that Harry reached out to Vogel? Was Matthews aware of Vogel? How did Matthews and Vogel even become friends enough to exchange contacts? Did Vogel use Matthews as one of her connections who was keeping an eye on Dexter's activities?
Because, if you really think about it, Matthews would not have brought in Vogel to psychologically dismantle the work of Oliver (before anyone knew he was the Brain Surgeon) if he knew that Vogel kept tight lipped about having a psychopathic son.
Her introduction genuinely doesn't make sense and accidentally becomes a huge canon event that no one has answers for.
Daniel Vogel AKA Oliver Saxon from Dexter is intersex and transmasculine AMAB, and his variation is unidentified while on the agenital spectrum! (link)
Intersex flag-only and popular transmasc flag edits under the cut!
