Wow, that's a much, much better ending. Also, I had no idea the creator of the show left after the fourth season. That explains the sudden drop off and subsequent descent in the quality of writing on the show. That completely sums up everything I hated about this finale (except someone else's comment about Harrison having more family than just Dexter and Debra and they were completely forgotten about as they and Rita have been for the last two seasons). Thank you for writing it for me.
The show was developed by James Manos, Jr., who ran the show in the first season. Philips (who joined midway through season one) became the showrunner beginning in the second season. Ultimately the show had four showrunners: James Manos, Jr. (season 1) Clyde Philips (seasons 2-4) Chip Johannessen (season 5) Scott Buck (seasons 6-8) Honestly, I'd say the show dropped in quality each time the reins changed hands.
Oh, certainly. I stuck through seasons five and six, but left after that. It was just too awful. Honestly, the show started to fall apart beginning in season three, but the presence of Jimmy Smits and then John Lithgow managed to hold it all together.
The rule seems to be never to show the boobs of anyone we are supposed to care about. I don't think we ever saw the boobs of Jamie, Deb, Rita, Hannah, Lumen, LaGuerta, or any other major character except villains (Trinity's daughter and Dexter's crazy NA sponsor).
I watched the free preview that came a week early. They put black out strips over her boobs, claiming that if you subscribe to showtime that you will be able to see her tits fiiiiiiiiiiiinally. She was more intriguing on Vegas in period costume.
They've definitely shown Jamie's and Rita's. I can't remember if the others ever showed up, but I distinctly remember those two being nude.
In the Dexter writing room ... The official reddit Dexter site has been pretty funny this week. www.reddit.com/r/Dexter
I've caught up on the whole season in the last couple of days, and it just made me think I should have watched it all before Breaking Bad. The two just don't compare favourably at all. What a wet fart of a final season.
BB running at the same time definitely didn't help matters, but I'm sure the season still would have been disappointing as hell regardless.
Pretty weak ending, but I'm glad I have closure. Should have stopped the show 2 seasons ago, it was pretty fucking awesome until then.
Just like discussion threads from previous seasons, this one is full of ideas and speculation that never comes to pass. Weak season. I always thought the show would end with Dexter getting caught but this season, I hoped he wouldn't and I'm glad he didn't but the ending was still unsatisfying with Lumberjack Dex and Harrison ending up with Hannah. I'd say it happened during his relationship with Rita. With a laugh like that I know he does. You're forgetting another Lost reference… A final season that leads up to an unsatisfying conclusion. I was thinking about Dex and Deb's mother too. We never saw her. I wonder why. Did a google search and damn! You weren't kidding. Life raft. Source I like that. I like that too. Not bad, but if they had gone that route, I would have wanted to see him getting caught, some reactions from all the players and a court conviction. That's exactly what happened. He knew he could never be with Yvonne Strahovski, so he opted for the woods. Agreed. I'm sure she resents having to look after his kid. Dexter got the other 80% bringing the figure to 100%. How did he get on the bus and sit next to her without her noticing? You know, as I was watching the season, I thought it might be an interesting twist if Dexter never got caught but ended up in jail for something else. What do they think happened to Deb? What do they think happened to Harrison? That's exactly what I thought.
Great article. Read it if you haven't already. One thing that sticks out that I agree with is that Dexter gets away with a lot of things because the writing just glosses over them (for example, how does he movie bodies so easily?). And they compared this show to Breaking Bad, calling them both dark dramas, but Dexter is more of a dark comedy, so I wouldn't expect the same kinds of consequences.
How many bodies has Dexter moved in and out of his apartment? In broad daylight, etc. It seems no one in his building pays the least bit attention to him. I'm able to suspend disbelief pretty well for tv/movies but watching Dexter these 8 years has been an arduous exercise in allowing all of those writer's gloss-overs. In the end, straining so hard it hurts to just accept these to follow the story. There are a couple of good laughs in davejames' link. Here's a dandy: "Miami Metro clown college. .... First we learn that Dex successfully covered up LaGuerta’s murder last season because his bosses let him work her crime scene— even though she accused him of being a serial killer in front of the whole department shortly before she was killed." The slew of pointless storylines by supporting characters was simply incredible. Like a slow motion bus crash, romances like Quin and Deb went no where (again) and Masuka and his daughter... WTF was that? But the most confounding issue (for me anyway) was that Dexter decided he didn't like killing anymore. Great. Explain it then. Why doesn't he like killing anymore? Did I miss this? I love the idea that Dex would grow and eventually not want to kill. Problem is I don't follow the logic of it. Dream ending #1: That's something that should have been explored all season - Dexter loses interest in killing. And then the series ends with Dex killing Deb as his final kill by pulling the plug on her- before MMPD finally closes in on Dex and arrests him for the serial killer that he is. Dex confesses all - but Masuka, Quin and Baustisa slowly realize Dex only kills the worst kind of people and they support him actions after all... so they allow him to escape to Argentina or whatever. Dream ending #2: A better serial killer than Dex kills him.
I actually liked that. I read that they wanted Masuka to finally have a meaningful relationship with a woman so they gave him a grown daughter. It was their way of giving the character closure. I thought it worked out well. I think he grew a little more empathy thanks to the "family" he had this season and the need to kill evaporated because of it. Like Deb? She may not be a full-on serial killer, but she was headed down that path for a while and she's the only one I can think of who's worthy enough to bring down Dexter.
It's a perfectly fine idea... for maybe a cute toss away scene in an episode or two. But not for the extended treatment that it got here (and the same goes for the Quinn and Jamie's relationship, Quinn's promotion, and the stuff with Cassie). It would be like if the final season of Breaking Bad devoted a bunch of time to following Skinny Pete or Badger's attempt to ask a girl out on a date or something. The entire time you'd be thinking "why the hell are we wasting time right now on this pointless storyline?!?" Contrary to what the Dexter producers seem to think, the entire series had been slowly building up towards a tense and exciting standoff between Dexter and Miami Metro, and the moment his coworkers would finally all learn the truth about him. It wasn't building up to the moment Dexter would quietly slink away to Argentina with his hot girlfriend, or fake his death in a hurricane without anyone ever learning his secret.
^ Exactly. I don't mind Masuka's daughter as a quick plot device to give the character some growth and closure --that's a good thing. I just could have done without all the false and shallow drama of "is she after my money," "am I really the baby daddy," and "Uh oh, I've seen my daughter's tits." They spent way too much time with it when there were much more important issues and characters that needed closure, but ended up being ignored or given short shrift. The same goes with the Quinn and Jaime relationship woes, Quinn's competition for sergeant, etc. They just introduced a bunch of extraneous nonsense that went nowhere, didn't advance the characters or the story in any meaningful way, and took time and focus off what should have been important in the final season of the series. I get that it's an ensemble cast and you want to give everyone attention, but you don't have to spread the wealth that much in the final season of the show that by all appearances was leading in a certain direction. The series is called Dexter, not Quinn or Masuka or black lady we'll never see again once she gets promoted and serves her purpose. It's okay to focus on Dexter a lot more in the final season than you would in an earlier season. That would be worse than what we actually got. That means Batista (and Quinn and Masuka to a lesser extent) would be willing to overlook the framing of Doakes as the Bay Harbor Butcher and his death, the death of La Guerta, eight years of MMPD being thwarted in investigations by Dexter destroying evidence and obstructing justice, and a host of other crimes and betrayals. I'd rather Batista look kind of dumb and have the ignorance is bliss ending (unsatisfying though it may be) than have him be a willing participant in covering up Dex's crimes and actually being okay with them.