Vince Masuka

Vincent "Vince" Masuka (Masuoka in the books) is a fictional character in the Showtime television series Dexter and the novels by Jeff Lindsay upon which it is based. In the television series he is portrayed by Korean-American C. S. Lee. Masuka is the Miami Metro Police lead forensics investigator and works alongside Dexter Morgan in the lab and in crime scenes.^[1] He often cracks innuendo to the rest of the team, invokes his Japanese heritage only when convenient, and harbors decidedly unrequited feelings for Debra.

He is portrayed as obsessed with sex—the kinkier the better—and is not shy about propositioning every woman he meets. However, he has been able to tone it down when the situation calls for it, like when Angel was in the hospital, as well as calming Debra down when Lundy returned. Detective Joey Quinn even confronted him about that in stating that is the reason no one likes to be around him, only for Vince to harshly brush him off. However, he seems to accept Joey's explanation when no one came to see his speech on his newly published work, for which he cleaned up his act and dressed formally. At Debra`s request, he returned to his old self at the end of the episode, though his demeanour remains less vulgar.

In the books, Dexter feels a kinship with him as, like him, he hides who he really is. As in the novel, he sets up Dexter's Bachelor Party and kidnaps him to get him there (where, in the belief that he had been kidnapped by the Skinner, Dexter slugged Vince in the eye just as he opened the car trunk). However, he falls for the female Party Planner and it has been suggested they are still in a relationship, though she has not been seen since the end of the third season. He is also shown to be greatly distraught after seeing Rita kiss another man, leading him to try to tell Dexter. In season 5 he says that he regrets telling him. It is also discovered that he has a giant tattoo of a dragon on his back.

In the sixth season, he begins guiding around a group of interns, bringing them through the labs and to crime scenes. He's shown to be attracted to one of his female interns. However, once she stole an Ice Truck Killer manniquin and sold it online, he instead hires another, a tech-savvy game producing intern who covered up the event and also helped significantly in database analysis.

Differences from the novels

In both the television series and the novels, Vince is socially and emotionally awkward. In the novels, Dexter views him as a kindred spirit, believing that Masuka is also "pretending to be human", feeling much closer to Masuka, so much so that Masuka serves as the best man at his wedding, and Dexter considers him his best friend. In Dearly Devoted Dexter Vince throws a large bachelor party for Dexter within a few hours of finding out about his engagement, and in Dexter in the Dark takes his role as best man so seriously that he calls in favors to hire Manny Borque, a famous caterer, for Dexter's wedding.

References

External links

• Vince Masuka at the Internet Movie Database