Dexter - The Final Season (Spoiler Discussion)

[davejames]

Ok, so I was wrong, the Brain Surgeon IS still alive. Of course I can't say I found the character all that interesting in the first place, so it's hard for me to get excited about it one way or the other.

At this rate, it looks like the most likely contenders are Cassie's boyfriend (which seems a little too random-- if he was trying to get close to Dexter, how come they've barely interacted? And why bludgeon Cassie and frame Zach for it?) or Vogel herself, who would apparently have to have a split personality in order to leave brain parts by her own door and then act completely surprised and horrified by it later on (but if that's the case, how come Dexter or Deb haven't seen a hint of this disorder in all the hours they've spent with her?).

I admit the confrontation between Hannah and Deb was pretty good, and the bumbling Zach was good for a few laughs, but those were about the only high points.

It's just amazing to me how all the great momentum that came from Debra learning Dexter's secret has been just completely wasted by this point. Instead of using that energy to build up to the finale, they've basically regressed to the aimless and lethargic storytelling of Seasons 5 and 6 again.

I mean, seriously? We're 8 episodes in and Miami Metro still doesn't have a CLUE about anything that's going on with Dexter, Debra, or Vogel??

 

[TheSeeker]

I watched it last night and quite liked it.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I mean, seriously? We're 8 episodes in and Miami Metro still doesn't have a CLUE about anything that's going on with Dexter, Debra, or Vogel??

I'm starting to think that they never will. If they do they'll probably rush it in the series finale.

 

[Mister Fandango]

Maybe they'll pull a True Blood. "Oh no, Dexter really is an evil serial killer! Bang, bang. Now he's dead. End of storyline, job well done. <dusts hands, then flash forwards for the epilogue>"

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Well, the brain surgeon being Cassie's boyfriend and Vogel's son was not that shocking. It was like the reveal two seasons back with Travis and his Olmos hallucination...kinda too obvious.

 

[E-DUB]

Am I the only one who thinks it would have been hilarious if the actor who played Desmond on Lost had done a cameo in the diner scene while "Make your own kind of Music" played?

 

[ALF]

I mean, seriously? We're 8 episodes in and Miami Metro still doesn't have a CLUE about anything that's going on with Dexter, Debra, or Vogel??

I'm starting to think that they never will. If they do they'll probably rush it in the series finale.

Agreed... I'm starting to think like they'll never find out and Dex and co. will just get away with it and slip into the night. Which would be kind of irritating. But this has always been very character driven drama so... there's actually no need for Dexter to be revealed. Maybe Matthews will try and confront or threaten Dex and he kills him. I'm still suspicious of him as a character, so duplicitous. Although maybe he's just there to symbolism the corruption of the police system or something, the very inspiration for Dexter to take the law into his hands. How many times has he forced a law officer to let a guilty party go free? Unless he somehow knows that by doing so... it leads them to Dexter's table. Does he know Dexter is a killer? I honestly can't recall.

I'm pretty sure Jaime is going to get whacked. There's something about her character that seems like she's always getting into the line of fire with dangerous situations. Plus, she's Harrison's care taker, which puts her in the sights of anyone looking to hurt Dexter.

Another reason for Jaime to go is so that Quinn and Deb can finally hook back up, it looks like the writers can't seem to let that one slide.

 

[Yoda]

Am I the only one who thinks it would have been hilarious if the actor who played Desmond on Lost had done a cameo in the diner scene while "Make your own kind of Music" played?

You know it was bugging me the whole episode, but I could not remember what show it had recently popped up in. A cameo would have been epic, "Good choice of song, brother".

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Am I the only one who thinks it would have been hilarious if the actor who played Desmond on Lost had done a cameo in the diner scene while "Make your own kind of Music" played?

You know it was bugging me the whole episode, but I could not remember what show it had recently popped up in. A cameo would have been epic, "Good choice of song, brother".

It would've been even better if Henry Ian Cusick played Oliver. At least then, I would actually care about what's going on.

 

[Xip]

I mean, seriously? We're 8 episodes in and Miami Metro still doesn't have a CLUE about anything that's going on with Dexter, Debra, or Vogel??

Well, it is the same Miami Metro that decided Quinn would make a good detective so I guess that's very likely...

Was I the only one bothered by the fact that the preview was more exciting than the whole episode? I mean, wasn't it kind of obvious Vogel would protect and hide her son? The only real shocker of the episode really was that Deb ate food Hannah prepared. Who would have guessed that right?

 

[TheSeeker]

Maybe Matthews will try and confront or threaten Dex and he kills him. I'm still suspicious of him as a character, so duplicitous. Although maybe he's just there to symbolism the corruption of the police system or something, the very inspiration for Dexter to take the law into his hands. How many times has he forced a law officer to let a guilty party go free? Unless he somehow knows that by doing so... it leads them to Dexter's table. Does he know Dexter is a killer? I honestly can't recall.

He has had me very suspicious for a while now. I wouldn't be surprise if we learned that he knew about Dexter all along.

 

[TheSeeker]

Sorry for the double post but it looks like there's no new episode this weekend. Bummer.

 

[davejames]

Sigh, so much for that tense, exciting, season-long cat-and-mouse game between Dexter and the Miami PD that we've all been waiting for.

Well, the brain surgeon being Cassie's boyfriend and Vogel's son was not that shocking. It was like the reveal two seasons back with Travis and his Olmos hallucination...kinda too obvious.

Yeah it reminded me of that as well. It didn't help that they telegraphed the whole thing a week earlier with Daniel and Quinn's little lunch scene together.

And this episode was even more insulting. Not only is Hannah walking around Miami in slinky dresses and not even trying to disguise herself with a wig or baggy clothes, but Dexter's method of stalking someone is now apparently standing outside a restaurant window in a pink shirt in broad daylight.

Jeez, can't believe I'm actually enjoying the cheesy Under the Dome far more than the final season of Dexter. How sad is that.

 

[ALF]

It's sad. Went it first came out this was the best thing to watch on television. Every one was watching Dexter in the first couple of seasons.

Could the writers not figure out how to pull off a big reveal? Would it have been too difficult or off-putting to have Dex on the run from MMPD (ditch the usual formula, etc). I will certainly wait and see but I can't figure that any of this is turning out the way we'd hoped.

I remember an interview with David Chase shortly after The Sopranos ended. Although very polarizing at the time I came to appreciate how that series ended. But there was a quotation from him that surprised me how strongly he felt that fans of his anti hero wanted him dead:

"The way I see it is that Tony Soprano had been people's alter ego. They had gleefully watched him rob, kill, pillage, lie and cheat. They had cheered him on. And then, all of a sudden, they wanted to see him punished for all that. They wanted "justice." They wanted to see his brains splattered on the wall. I thought that was disgusting, frankly. [...] The pathetic thing—to me—was how much they wanted his blood, after cheering him on for eight years."

I wasn't thinking the same thing for Dexter at all - just that if he did get killed in the finale it would have brought kind of a completion to the series as he would never kill again. But does this series go for the happy ending more times than not? Anyway, we've egged Dexter on for years, yes, and I don't think he needs to be killed, but it's the duping of all the cops he worked with that must be dealt with... they've littered the series to references aplenty to the frustration of the cops who see bad guys walk all the time. For internal screw-ups, for red tape and mistakes in due process.

I see it as a major cop-out (pun intentional?) that Dexter scoots off into the night with his blonde-of-the-week and kill tools to kill all the scum bags in Argentina. That ending won't sit right with me.

My guess is Dexter lives. And MMPD doesn't find out OR they find out so far into the finale that there is no time for any meaningful reactions by his co-workers.

 

[davejames]

Well I made peace with the fact Dexter lost his edge long ago (the writer's insistence on slowly humanizing the character over the years I've always felt was a huge mistake; this isn't TNG's Data we're talking about here, it's a freakin serial killer-- we don't need him to be soft and loveable to still find him interesting to watch), but it still seemed very possible to end the series in an intense and exciting way.

And the previous season did a pretty good job ramping things up for the finale, it seemed like. Unfortunately instead of paying those storylines off, the writers have decided to go in some... completely other direction. With a bunch of new characters and storylines we couldn't care less about.

 

[ALF]

Unfortunately instead of paying those storylines off, the writers have decided to go in some... completely other direction. With a bunch of new characters and storylines we couldn't care less about.

There's something terribly familiar about that direction a series can take... I'm sure there are countless others but the one that immediately came to my mind was:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_%28TV_series%29

 

[stj]

I look in this thread from time to time just to see if people are catching on to just how godawful Dexter has become since it lost its way in season four. I haven't seen any of this season but you all must realize on some level that inventing Charlotte Rampling as Mom makes it necessary to address the issue of the real mother.

Omitting her is grossly incompetent. It's not just an issue of plot plausibility, which hasn't even been a goal since season three. It's a question of dramatic honesty. Any human being, offered the discovery of a spiritual mother, would think of their real mother.

I tend to believe that the show's fundamental problem is that they opted for a "hurray, the vigilante!" approach. But this is stupid and vicious and there's no way to put this on screen with any vestige of competence, much less honesty.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

I look in this thread from time to time just to see if people are catching on to just how godawful Dexter has become since it lost its way in season four. I haven't seen any of this season but you all must realize on some level that inventing Charlotte Rampling as Mom makes it necessary to address the issue of the real mother.

Omitting her is grossly incompetent. It's not just an issue of plot plausibility, which hasn't even been a goal since season three. It's a question of dramatic honesty. Any human being, offered the discovery of a spiritual mother, would think of their real mother.

I tend to believe that the show's fundamental problem is that they opted for a "hurray, the vigilante!" approach. But this is stupid and vicious and there's no way to put this on screen with any vestige of competence, much less honesty.

If you haven't seen ANY of this season, then your criticism of this season comes from...? Other people's reviews? Online synopsis? Osmosis?

I'm sorry but your severely negative response to this season (based on pure speculation, it seems) is baseless and unjustified, in my opinion.

 

[stj]

I'm sorry I didn't make myself watch even more Dexter after being more and more disappointed by seasons three, four, five and six. Obviously I wasn't giving the show a chance. Plainly I have no right to think (much less say) Dexter has gone rancid.

Still, after enjoying the first two seasons so much there's some residual interest in how the story ends. I was always interested in why Mrs. Morgan let Harry monopolize Dexter, and why she neglected Deborah. What do Dexter and Deb think of Mom? What do they say about her as they work through the issues of how they got to where they are? And why aren't you people commenting at all on this?

 

[davejames]

Well from what we've seen the mother was pretty much a complete innocent in all this. It was Harry who appeared to shape the futures of Dexter and Deb the most, either through his law enforcement career or through the "code" that he taught Dexter.

In any case, I can't say I have much interest in exploring Dexter's past anymore anyway. By this point, the story should have been focused much more on whatever future he might have, and with his big showdown with the police. That's what we've all been looking forward to the last few years.