Dexter Series Finale - With Spoilers!

[Dave Gray]

So, Dexter is over.

[SPOILERS]

People are pissed off about the ending.  But I was more concerned that this season, in general, was kinda aimless and going in the wrong direction.  They'd written themselves into a big hole and they weren't going to get out of it in 1 hour, regardless.  I didn't think that this final episode was necessarily horrible, but I think that the final buildup was a pretty wasted opportunity.

There are a few things that I just don't get.

It seems that the entire premise of what was happening with Dexter's character is that he was learning to become human.  He was growing to not need to kill, replacing it with love, etc.  Now, I don't think that he had to end up there, but it appears that this was completely abandoned.

Secondly, I am OK with the disbelief required to watch this show.  However, you need to make it worthwhile.  If something is unbelievable, but provides a benefit, fine -- but what was the point of Dexter dumping Deb's body?  First off, having a hospital on a pier is weird, disconnecting and stealing a corpse is weird, but why -- what's the motivation to dump the body?  Had they established that Deb wanted no part of a police funeral because of her Laguerta dealings, fine -- but that was never mentioned.

Lastly, though Dexter's ending was not what I wanted for the character myself, I'm OK with it and I don't have to like that he appears to be in a personal prison.  But I question if our Dexter from the last 8 seasons would make this decision.  It seems that this realization that he's bad news to everyone is too little too late.  Leaving your kid an orphan on the lam with a serial killer doesn't seem like the most noble choice, as the show wants us to believe.

And then the last shot of Dexter in the logging yard -- I am OK with his being on his own again.  And the fact that he's a trucker plays into the serial killer lifestyle (like Trinity), but I think they could've given us a little more of a bow, considering so many other things are in the air.  Even a "tonight's the night" voiceover to bookend the series would've worked....  I just don't understand the point of this last season, as a whole.  It seemed to grow the character and then it stagnates.

Lastly, there were many subplots introduced this season ot the end of last that meant nothing.  Masuka's daughter, the Quinn being sergeant story, Quinn's squabbling with the babysitter, the black woman who was introduced as detective, and even Deb falling in love with Dexter.  It was just a lot of confusion introduced for no reason.

Overall, sloppily handled.  The show was really good in seasons 1, 2, 4, and then it even got pretty good in season 7.  I wonder if they had bigger ideas and got cut short, so they had to scramble to resolve.

[Spider-Dan]

So you're saying that the annoying sister dies at the end?

Something to look forward to, I guess.

[Phishfan]

I agree. The last season felt like a lot of aimless wandering.

[MaineDolFan]

To be fair, a central theme from the start was "Harry" telling Dexter he couldn't have a "real life" and would need to live alone, away from people.  Dexter struggled against this for 8 seasons, trying to banish his "dark passenger" and make human connections, all while collecting collateral damage (Rita, Deb, even Doaks - a good cop who didn't deserve to die, along the way).  So the "self imposed prison" thing, makes sense.  Dexter is far too self important to actually kill himself, and he finally realized - really realized - the consequences of his "human interactions."  They almost got Deb killed in season two, they did get Rita killed in season four (and who knows why Trinity left Harrison alone and didn't kill him), Harrison was actually placed in harm's way more than I can count. 

There were times I got miffed at the writers who tried to force the "you need to sympathize with Dexter over everyone"...thing.  Doaks, as much of a hard-ass as he was, had one "crime."  He learned the truth.  Dexter couldn't do it himself, but somehow that problem wound up "solved."  Same thing with LaGuerta.  Over all a good person, a little slimy, but someone who figured it out. 

And Deb is the one who pulls the trigger.  We, as an audience, are supposed to feel okay about a good cop being killed for the "greater good?"

I had issued with a lot of things from season 4 on (after 4), which coincides with one of the original writers leaving.  This writer (Phillips is his name, he is working on "Nurse Jackie") now, was the creator of Trinity and the Ice Truck Killer.  Stands to reason when he left, the show took a weird turn.  I read yesterday that E News online caught up with Phillips.  He had written his own ending for Dexter, years ago.  It went like this:

"In the very last scene of the series," Philips explained, "Dexter wakes up. And everybody is going to think, 'Oh, it was a dream.' And then the camera pulls back and back and back and then we realize, 'No, it's not a dream.' Dexter's opening his eyes and he's on the execution table at the Florida Penitentiary. They're just starting to administer the drugs and he looks out through the window to the observation gallery.

"And in the gallery are all the people that Dexter killed—including the Trinity Killer and the Ice Truck Killer (his brother Rudy), LaGuerta who he was responsible killing, Doakes who he's arguably responsible for, Rita, who he's arguably responsible for, Lila. All the big deaths, and also whoever the weekly episodic kills were. They are all there.

"That's what I envisioned for the ending of Dexter. That everything we've seen over the past eight seasons has happened in the several seconds from the time they start Dexter's execution to the time they finish the execution and he dies.  Literally, his life flashed before his eyes as he was about to die. I think it would have been a great, epic, very satisfying conclusion."

Link to the full story here:

http://www.eonline.com/news/461558/chills-former-dexter-producer-clyde-phillips-reveals-how-he-planned-to-end-the-series

[Dave Gray]

I agree largely with your insights, Maine, but I think the writing team did this very, very sloppily and these ham-fisted realizations that Dexter has come too late and too quickly.

They build us up for 8 years that Dexter is growing to love.  Then in the last hour of the show, he has this realization that he is "post-serial killer", then "I made a mistake; I should've killed this guy", then "I am too dangerous and need to live in exile."  It's just too much of a turn that goes against the character.  Especially because, to the writer's credit, they did a pretty good job of evenly transitioning Dexter from a "society faker" to an actual member of society with emotions over the 8 seasons.  It's like the last few decisions he made were a big "NOT!" from the writers.

I don't think that anything that happened in the last episode was criminal, but these themes should've been set up and foreshadowed better in the season(s) leading up to this.  Instead, it felt like they were forced to wrap things up faster than they would've liked.

[MaineDolFan]

Agreed, but I think they could have wrapped it up this season.  They spent valuable time with stupid sub-plots (Quinn, etc) which could have been elsewhere.  Quinn had been on to Dexter for a while, he could have been used in a much more valuable way.  Another waste was the lack of camera time Angel had this season.  Virtually zero.

[Dave Gray]

^ I completely agree with this.  Quinn was perhaps the most underutilized character on the show.  He was built up well, his arc was interesting and relevant, but he plays virtually no role in the wrap-up of any of the characters that matter.

In short, Angel and Quinn should start to put the pieces together that there's more to Dexter.  In the last episode, when Dexter kills Saxon that he did it on purpose.  They should be in a position where it is their duty to arrest him with the knowledge they have and instead, they "give him" the excuse and willingly let him walk, knowing that he's fleeing.  Maybe even tell him that they're giving him a head-start but that this will eventually all come out.

Then, Dexter's "sacrifice" would make sense.  He would fake his death to keep the feds off of Hanna's case.

[MaineDolFan]

The one part where this wouldn't be sense is Quinn.  He is semi dirty.  He is a good cop with a dirty streak and Dexter covered a very bad crime for him.  Quinn owes him and had completely backed off / developed a new sense of respect for him since that season.  Almost looked at him with..."like" in his eyes.  Those two interacted completely differently after that.  Prior to, Quinn couldn't stand Dexter and Dexter felt the same. 

So I can totally see where Angel would still take the "Dexter, how are we going to explain this" stance, all the while Quinn is trying to figure out a way to help Dexter get out of it.

Either way, missed chances.  Quinn was one of my favorites on the show.