Oh, Dexter. I watched all eight seasons of your show with a really strong, interesting premise. After the season with the Trinity Killer (played by a terrifying John Lithgow), there was no where to go but down. But did you have to sink so, so far?
The following are my thoughts immediately following my viewing of the Dexter series finale, which aired last night, 9/22/13.
After setting up a race through airports that would lead to not only girlfriend and convicted murderer girlfriend Hannah's arrest but Dexter's eventual reveal as a serial killer, the episode was actually based around Debra getting shot in the gut, wheeled into surgery, being told by the doctors that she's going to be fine, and then making a complete 180 and becoming brain dead.
The highlight of the episode was Dexter stabbing nemesis serial killer Oliver Saxon in the jugular with a pen. It's something I thought of doing to myself while watching this show years ago.
During an evacuation of the hospital where Deb is hooked up to life support, Dexter enters her room (wearing his kill outfit to really set up what he's set out to do), and detaches her from the machines that keep her alive. It is a heartfelt goodbye, but is completely ruined by the next scene, in which Dexter steals his dead sister's body from the hospital in plain sight, takes it to his boat waiting nearby, and drives out to sea, TOWARDS A HURRICANE, MIND YOU, to dispose of the body and deprive any of the other characters that loved her (Joey Quinn, Angel Batista) from saying their goodbyes to their newly fallen colleague.
Then comes my favorite part. Dexter, wanting to save ladyfriend Hannah and son Harrison from himself (or so one of Dex's famous voiceovers tells us), drives his boat directly into the oncoming hurricane. The boat does not survive and neither does Dext---
Wait, what's that you say? There's more? We cut to a logging yard where a very hairy Dexter is alive and well. The end. No Moral.
Now, I don't typically watch shows expecting things to be tied up in a neat little bow, and let's be honest: that was never going to happen for Dexter. That having been said, aside from the episode being generally unsatisfying, it never did what the show promised and foreshadowed from day one: it never revealed to its supporting characters that our hero is a serial killer. There was also no conclusion for our recurring characters at the Miami Metro PD: Masouka, Quinn, Batista, Chief Matthews, Masouka's daughter who was introduced just before the end of the series for seemingly no good reason, and Jamie. Luckily, we tied up loose ends with Ghost Harry in the penultimate episode.
I've seen a lot of TV in my day, some of it good and some of it bad. I really wanted the end of Dexter, which has been slumping for years, to surprise me and be a rewarding ending to something that was once so good. It was not.
Goodbye, Dexter. I'll watch your actors in the next things they do, but I can't say that I found you to be anything but disappointing as a whole.
There's more where that came from,
Meljo
The following are my thoughts immediately following my viewing of the Dexter series finale, which aired last night, 9/22/13.
After setting up a race through airports that would lead to not only girlfriend and convicted murderer girlfriend Hannah's arrest but Dexter's eventual reveal as a serial killer, the episode was actually based around Debra getting shot in the gut, wheeled into surgery, being told by the doctors that she's going to be fine, and then making a complete 180 and becoming brain dead.
The highlight of the episode was Dexter stabbing nemesis serial killer Oliver Saxon in the jugular with a pen. It's something I thought of doing to myself while watching this show years ago.
During an evacuation of the hospital where Deb is hooked up to life support, Dexter enters her room (wearing his kill outfit to really set up what he's set out to do), and detaches her from the machines that keep her alive. It is a heartfelt goodbye, but is completely ruined by the next scene, in which Dexter steals his dead sister's body from the hospital in plain sight, takes it to his boat waiting nearby, and drives out to sea, TOWARDS A HURRICANE, MIND YOU, to dispose of the body and deprive any of the other characters that loved her (Joey Quinn, Angel Batista) from saying their goodbyes to their newly fallen colleague.
Then comes my favorite part. Dexter, wanting to save ladyfriend Hannah and son Harrison from himself (or so one of Dex's famous voiceovers tells us), drives his boat directly into the oncoming hurricane. The boat does not survive and neither does Dext---
Wait, what's that you say? There's more? We cut to a logging yard where a very hairy Dexter is alive and well. The end. No Moral.
Now, I don't typically watch shows expecting things to be tied up in a neat little bow, and let's be honest: that was never going to happen for Dexter. That having been said, aside from the episode being generally unsatisfying, it never did what the show promised and foreshadowed from day one: it never revealed to its supporting characters that our hero is a serial killer. There was also no conclusion for our recurring characters at the Miami Metro PD: Masouka, Quinn, Batista, Chief Matthews, Masouka's daughter who was introduced just before the end of the series for seemingly no good reason, and Jamie. Luckily, we tied up loose ends with Ghost Harry in the penultimate episode.
I've seen a lot of TV in my day, some of it good and some of it bad. I really wanted the end of Dexter, which has been slumping for years, to surprise me and be a rewarding ending to something that was once so good. It was not.
Goodbye, Dexter. I'll watch your actors in the next things they do, but I can't say that I found you to be anything but disappointing as a whole.
There's more where that came from,
Meljo
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