The former Showrunner, Clyde Phillips, talks about how he would have ended the show if he were still in charge. I'll admit, I think that would've been a hell of a lot better than what they actually did. As a matter of fact; from this point forward, I'm just going to blindly believe that's how it did end and you can't convince me that the crap I witnessed Sunday night wasn't anything other than a bad dream.
I’m finding that the more I hear about how other people wanted it to end, the more satisfied I am with what we got. I personally would have been pissed off and let down if Dexter died or was caught at this late stage. Dexter is flawed, yet charismatic and interesting to follow. He is a killer, but his actions have also saved lives. To ignore this and dumb things down to “he deserves to die because murder is bad” is lazy writing and a little insulting. Frankly, if Dexter repulsed some people enough to want his blood at the end of this, I would question why they followed for all of these years. Death is a half-assed answer and I strongly disagree with that link above. It's much more bittersweet to see him get to the seemingly unreachable goal of being human, only to lose those important connections as punishment. As for getting caught, the only character I would be satisfied with in making the connection is Batista after following up on Laguerta’s suspicions. That opportunity was squashed early on, so anyone else would have caught Dexter by a stroke of dumb luck, which is unacceptable for a finale. I prefer that scene of acceptance by Batista and Quinn because it makes Dexter’s exile/punishment more relevant.
I think that scene of acceptance really wasn't a "Dexter is a serial killer of a ton bad people and we're cool with it." Its "We get that he went in there and killed that one dude because he shot Deb who we all love." That's my problem with it. I have no problem with him not dying, except in the way it actually went, the lumberjack thing was "come the fuck on." If they all found out, and he still got away, cool. But them not having a hint? At all? This episode gets an F. This was a whole lot of bullshit.
I had a friend tell me the ending was somehow actually worse than the leaked Quinn spinoff ending, so my expectations were REALLY fucking low. Turns out, this was about as bad as I expected. Just really lame, with zero emotional investment in any character whatsoever. It is comical that no one found out, but that goes beyond this episode. Going into it, I wasn't rooting one way or the other for him to kill himself (or get caught, for that matter), but the way they did it, why wouldn't he kill himself? I mean, he goes through all that trouble trying to get away...just to abandon his son with the woman whom he loves so much she takes away his desire to kill, then goes and works as a lumberjack where his desire to kill will presumably return. Doesn't make sense to me in and of itself, but if he's really getting away to protect those he loves, why not just end it all? Any emotional/mental progress he made with that old man shrink would surely slip away after six months in the bush. I almost turned it off before getting to the lumberjack scene. Couldn't help but laugh at how serious and dramatic that last shot of him staring at the camera was supposed to be. As if we were all supposed to be astonished or amazed that -- dun-dun-DUN -- he's still out there. I'd be shocked if the writers spent more than a week on this entire season.
I’m well aware of the distinction, which is why I was very particular in selecting my words and said they got a glimpse of him. When faced with the premise that some people deserve to die, they accepted it in the same way Harry did in creating the code and Deb did in letting Dex and Lumen escape. It is the first step in accepting Dexter, and since we’ve seen it happen twice, the writers probably felt we were smart enough to make the connection. These are strong statements, similar to what my friends have said, but really need to be justified. When I asked them how it should have ended, they came up with scenarios that were nonsensical and even show-breaking. I believe a lot of thought did go into Dexter’s outcome and will also ask you what would have been a better result for him. Parker, you’re bent on having him get caught, but why? It sounds like a shock just for the sake of having a shock. If he were caught he would be treated like any other common remorseless criminal, which ignores the benefits of his actions and oversimplifies the grey premise that is the crux of the show. If he were discovered and on the run, his exile is no longer a self imposed punishment due to his humanity, so what growth is there and why have the 8 season journey? If he were discovered and accepted, it’s not far removed from the scene we got in the surveillance tape room. Fill in the blanks for me, what is this better ending you see that I don’t?
Dude, how are you still this in to the show? For me it's less about the finale and more about the season overall. The finale was just the turd cap on the bottle of shit this show's become. Even going back to the previous season (or two), it all just stinks of laziness. Given his condition/situation, why did Saxon have any desire or motivation to kill Deb? Why did Dexter have ANY reason to continue hunting Saxon, especially given his new found humanity via Hannah? And if she's the reason he no longer cares to kill, why the fuck would he leave her? That's what they tried to get across, right? That being with Hannah is the only way he can suppress his dark passenger? True love conquers all, correct? So why, if they are able to actually disappear from people who may suspect him/be after her, would he then bail? We can presume that in Guatemala or wherever the fuck he wouldn't be killing people so long as he had Hannah's lovin, so why send them off alone? If he's not killing people, he's not a danger to her or Harrison. But ok, they pitched it like he felt he was protecting them. Fine. So why not kill himself? How fucking pointless and lame is it that he just disappears to...what, continue killing people (since his dark passenger suppressor is across the world) and start the cycle over again? How fitting would it have been if he died in the same waters he's dropped so many bodies (including Deb's)? If his eight season "growth" is that he finally found love to replace the dark passenger, how little sense does it make for him to go "Naaahh, think I'll bail on that and just kill lumberjacks in the middle of nowhere. Ooh, and I'll get rid of my annoying kid, too. LOOK AT ALL MY GROWTH!" I mean, "growth"? Seriously? This entire series is just him getting away with whatever the fuck he wants, over and over, despite constantly hurting those around him. He personally faces zero repercussions, ever. Then he gets "redeemed" by love but just decides that's not for him, for no good reason. That's not even getting into the really laughable things like the inept police department, Ghost Harry encouraging Dexter to hunt Saxon (despite being a more cautious ghost in the past), the frying-pan-to-the-head obvious narration, or Masuka's daughter. Not that I'm complaining about seeing her perky tits, but it was obviously just a thrown in plot line to give him lines and show some tits (again, not complaining). They didn't even bother resolving that one. If you actually watched this out of anything more than obligation or amused curiosity, you should check out Breaking Bad. Will blow your freakin mind.
You accuse the writers of laziness when many things have clearly gone over your head and you have made no effort to find the answers yourself. Has it occurred to you that maybe everything is right there and you aren’t as smart as you think you are? You laugh at the notion of growth. Do you think he is the same guy from season 1? What was his body count in this season compared to past ones? Has he ever been remorseful and ‘wished he could take everything back’? Has he ever tried to punish himself to make amends? As to why he has faced zero repercussions in the past, see my previous post about the problems with him getting caught. If he totally gives in to the dark passenger, then it makes sense for an intervention from LAPD (which is why it wasn’t necessary for Batista to follow up on Laguerta’s lead), otherwise, I think collateral damage (Rita) is quite sufficient until the endpoint. By all means though, tell me what you would do different. Remember the ‘obvious narration’? Well if you listened to it, you’d know why Dexter had to go after Saxon and why Ghost Harry encouraged it. Dexter put Saxon on the news and submitted his kill videos to the police, do you really not understand why Saxon wanted to take a stab at Dexter’s loved ones before escaping? News reports said Deb survived, so if Saxon escaped without retaliating, Dexter avoids wrath and wins. Dexter left Hannah as a punishment for himself. Over Deb’s brain dead body, he said he was sorry and wished he could take it all back. The lumberjack choice is more in line with the hike in the mountains that Deb last spoke of, don’t you think? He bailed on Hannah because he doesn’t believe he deserves a happy ending. He is honoring Deb instead of being with Hannah. From what we saw with Lumen, when the darkness leaves you, it’s gone for good. Combine that with Dexter’s wish to take everything back, and I think we can safely assume that he won’t kill again. As far as symbolism goes, when Dexter is satisfying the dark passenger, he dumps bodies in black bags. His last kill was dumped in white cloth because he is free of the darkness and from Hurricane Laura (a nod to his mother, Laura Moser), the new Dexter is born to take his punishment of exile. Kill himself eh? Is that the answer when things get tough? Hide from the consequences and take the easy way out? Oh, but the writers are lazy....right. The other little things you mention are certainly not season breaking, but I think you need the Masuka storyline explained. Masuka was a pervert. He discovered he had a daughter. He experienced having his daughter being objectified. Masuka is no longer a pervert. End arc. Are you starting to see why you are unfit to sniff your own farts and criticize the writers? I hope so, because all I can do is get frustrated and type out posts with my middle fingers. If you are disappointed that you weren’t on the edge of your seat, fine, that is definitely valid. I’m just really fed up of hearing people complain only to probe them and discover they have a very poor grasp of what went down.
Wow. Those have gotta be the only words I've read or heard that resemble anything close to positive when it comes to describing this season. There's no chance you aren't at least related to one of the writers.
No, he's exactly right, and said it much better than I tried to last page. I didn't particularly enjoy they way they got to the end point, but the finale ended the show the only way that made sense in both a logical and emotional way.
Paper, maybe it wasn't just the finale that gets an F but the whole thing leading up to it. That was an excellent breakdown, its a fair argument, but it still sucked compared to everything else leading up to it, and every other show Dexter wants to say its on par with. Just because you can connect the dots doesn't mean it was good. Thanks for bringing up the Masuka arc, yes, that made sense logically. BUT WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU JUST UP AND NEUTRALIZE THE BEST PART ABOUT THAT CHARACTER? Especially without having more fun with it? That bar scene was great, but after that it just died. Just pointless shit that didn't bring me any closure. It was just lame shit they executed without any flare or excitement. That is all.
What are you kidding? This isn't even a coherent thought. So because Dexter didn't go all rampage-y after indirectly (but pretty directly) killing Laguerta, there's no reason for the man who loved her to investigate further (that being the second time a fellow cop suspicious of him has died). This "makes sense", according to you? So because he's now known and wanted state-wide, his most logical move is to continue pursuing a cop, instead of fleeing and changing identities, like we know he's done before. Totally in character! Except that she never had a dark passenger, and she said as much, as soon as she joined Dexter on a non-psycho-pervs-who-tortured-her kill, didn't like it, and said, "I'm not like you." But if your uncle or someone wrote that episode, I totally get how you'd make that "connection" to this turd sandwich of a season. Anyways, that's as much as I can stand to write about this show. Maybe you're right and the majority is wrong. Your cousin is a boom mic operator or something, and you feel it's your responsibility to defend one of the biggest tanked shows in the history of TV. No ill feelings. Thanks for the chuckles.
Parker, you’re not working with the words I am writing. In this thread I have expressed my dislike of the season and described it at best as satisfying. I also stated that it wasn’t a season that left people on the edge of their seat in my last post. What I am arguing is that those who cannot connect the dots should not be making claims of lazy writing or F ratings of the finale. The end was carefully thought out and could not intelligently include the flair you desire. Unless you have an answer. Superfantastic, regarding Batista, it doesn’t make sense for the writers to go there because it breaks the show if Dexter gets caught. Saxon felt he was in direct competition with Dexter for his mother’s affection. He felt inferior, was very jealous, and could not stand to let Dexter win the fued. I swear it’s like you are watching a different show from me. You're dim and obnoxious. It doesn’t take a show insider to disprove you. You just don’t understand what is happening. There are several reasons to believe he isn’t going to kill again and it’s really on you to prove otherwise. Quite convenient that you realize you can’t be bothered when it’s time to back up your position.
Of course he's going to kill again. His question this whole season--hell, for all seasons--is, "Can I be a normal person?" Spoiler alert: the answer is fuck no. And he knows it now. He says in the episode that everyone he loves dies, meaning he's not meant for love, and the Dexter that believes love isn't for him is the Dexter who believes he is 'apart,' empty and a vessel for his Dark Passenger. The Dexter who believes he can have a normal life would not kill. The Dexter who realizes he'll never have a normal life has no reason not to. As far as concrete evidence of such, look no further than the ending scene. He's wearing the same face as in the opening credits, what I refer to myself as the "I'm gonna kill some motherfuckers for the next hour of your life" face. That was deliberate. Michael C. Hall is a good actor. If he wanted to convey remorse in his eyes, he would have. Hell, if the SHOWRUNNERS wanted to convey that he was remorseful, they would have. Dexter would have stared at a mountain. He would have put his hand on a stump that he carved Deb's name in, stared at the knife and thrown it away. Something. What did they do? They show him in his empty cabin, separated from everything, sitting by himself, considering his life with a somewhat sad face, and then looking straight into the camera with his "I'm gonna kill some motherfuckers" face. He's not a man. He's a monster. The void returneth with the absence of love and normality. In what world can you interpret this as him not returning to killing? If anything, it was apparent pandering to the legions of fans who were upset at how much he wasn't killing. It was a deliberate choice to let fans think, "Oh, well I didn't see him kill, but now he'll kill people forever! Hurray!" It wasn't a good choice, but it was a clear one. Of course, it all makes sense when you realize Hannah was actually a figment of Dexter's imagination. Because why the fuck else would he let her strut around Miami with blonde hair and double-take dresses if she didn't exist? She couldn't exist, because Dexter is smart. He would not let that happen. Nope, nope.
Right. Except not at all. <a class="postlink" href="http://tvline.com/2013/09/22/dexter-series-finale-spoilers-deb-dies-dexter-fakes-death/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://tvline.com/2013/09/22/dexter-ser ... kes-death/</a>