When I started watching, I would have balked at the idea of SEVEN seasons for this show. I was thinking, this premise can be stretched for four or five, tops. But the developments this season have changed my mind - I think the writers are positioning the story so that it's good for two or maybe three more seasons.
And if they can continue beyond that, more power to them. I'm curious to see Astor and Cody as they grow up, presumably with Dexter as their father. I think it's going to have to happen at the expense of the ferocious intensity that was so present in S1 and still lingered in S2. But Dexter is so different a person now. I'm glad to have as much of this fantastic series as I can get, but I kinda miss the uncompromisingly terrifying guy from S1. He's more Ozzie Nelson than Ozzie Osbourne now.
It's really not even Batman - it's unique, and much trickier. With Batman, you get the sense that the writers/producers/directors buy into Bats' vigilante ethos, and present him essentially as a hero.
With Dexter, there's always this second level of judgment, even from Dexter himself. He isn't a vigilante. That would be far too easy. He's a guy who needs to kill, and his killing only looks like the work of a vigilante. You can tell when the show is being written right because the writers aren't asking us to sympathize with the character, but to judge our own response to him - we sympathize because Michael C. Hall is so charismatic and he seems to fit the role of the hero vigilante - and realize that by sympathizing with a monster, we are also monsters.
But lately, they're softening Dex into more of a true vigilante role. That's what I mean by him turning into Ozzie Nelson if by Ozzie Nelson, I mean Dirty Harry.
And if they can continue beyond that, more power to them. I'm curious to see Astor and Cody as they grow up, presumably with Dexter as their father. I think it's going to have to happen at the expense of the ferocious intensity that was so present in S1 and still lingered in S2. But Dexter is so different a person now. I'm glad to have as much of this fantastic series as I can get, but I kinda miss the uncompromisingly terrifying guy from S1. He's more Ozzie Nelson than Ozzie Osbourne now.
It's really not even Batman - it's unique, and much trickier. With Batman, you get the sense that the writers/producers/directors buy into Bats' vigilante ethos, and present him essentially as a hero.
With Dexter, there's always this second level of judgment, even from Dexter himself. He isn't a vigilante. That would be far too easy. He's a guy who needs to kill, and his killing only looks like the work of a vigilante. You can tell when the show is being written right because the writers aren't asking us to sympathize with the character, but to judge our own response to him - we sympathize because Michael C. Hall is so charismatic and he seems to fit the role of the hero vigilante - and realize that by sympathizing with a monster, we are also monsters.
But lately, they're softening Dex into more of a true vigilante role. That's what I mean by him turning into Ozzie Nelson if by Ozzie Nelson, I mean Dirty Harry.
That's the least of the show's interests. It's actually a lot less gory than you might assume. The true terror comes from the characters and who they are.
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But I think I'd like the series to end with Dex dead, at the hands of Lumen (for whatever convoluted reason) and she continues his work. The two are an interesting team and I hope it's not cut too short.
); e) possibly kill off Deb if Lumen is back in the story; f) show the impact of Astor and possibly also Cody learning the truth about Daddy; and g) also get around to what I wanted to see this season: Dexter truly going off the rails rather than being tamed and domesticated.