Yes, AD is unrivaled genius

More on Dexter 'contrived premise': It's actually not that contrived at all. They do a pretty good job at portraying a sociopath. Keep in mind that sociopathic serial killers are often (perhaps always) highly intelligent and skilled individuals and *appear* to be very normal. It's just that they have problems with empathy.

FWIW, some psychologists believe that sociopaths can provide value to society. In order to achieve that value, though, they'd have to be discovered at early ages and put into careers like military special ops. I'm not sure, but I think some psychologists believe that some of the best military personnel to date were probably sociopaths who didn't go the way of Gacy because of their outlet. Sociopaths in the military are hypothesized to be very efficient at taking orders without hesitation, not succumbing to PTSD, etc