Different out for Lila (Dexter)

[Joe Washington]

What if instead of killing Lila, Dexter took upon himself to teach her the Code of Harry so she won't make another mistake like Doakes again? Her stealing Rita's children and burning her home with Dexter and them inside never happened.

 

[DarKush]

I don't think that would've worked. She 'loved' Dexter and wanted him all to herself, and she would've never accepted him going back to Rita. Besides, Dexter was raised by Harry and had a bond with him that Dexter didn't have with Lila. She had to go, there was no way around it. Though I miss her. I thought she was hot.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Dexter trying to teach Lila about the Code would go something like this:

Dexter: "Okay Lila, you can kill people as long as they know they deserve it."

Lila: "Fuck that, I do as I please. Let's have sex."

Lila and Dex were doomed from the start. She isn't the sort of person Dex could respect. She's undisciplined and weak.

so she won't make another mistake like Doakes again

To her, Doakes wasn't a "mistake." She kills anyone who gets in her way. Why would she ever change?

 

[Shurik]

She's undisciplined and weak.

And batshit insane. Dexter should've got rid of her much earlier. Out of all of his nemeses, I thought Lila was the weakest ...

 

[Joe Washington]

You're telling me there's zero chance of anything working out between Dexter and Lila? Of Lila slowly changing in some ways under Dexter's guiding influence? Of them becoming a crazy but interesting item like Sylar and Elle or Beecher and Keller?

 

[ITL]

^ Zero chance. Zilch. Nada. Never.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

You're telling me there's zero chance of anything working out between Dexter and Lila? Of Lila slowly changing in some ways under Dexter's guiding influence? Of them becoming a crazy but interesting item like Sylar and Elle or Beecher and Keller?

Lila wasn't a well developed enough character. She was crazy and obsessed with Dex because the writers needed her to be, to make the story work, and they invested no more work into her than that, which showed just how little they valued her as a character in her own right. Sure, you could revise the character so she would fit into future seasons but if you're going to that much work, why not start from scratch with a different character? Lila would need to be revised almost entirely so that she would become a valid character and not a plot convenience.

I'd start off with a character who is entirely amoral as a matter of principle, some too-hip-for-you type intellectual. How about a better looking version of Ayn Rand, or a Goth/anarchist type. She would be intrigued by Dexter's lack of conventional morality.

She might get skeeved as things got too uncomfortably "real," but to admit that Dex freaks her out and go running for the cops would require that she admit to herself that her hip/Goth/anarchist pose has only been that - a pose - and when the chips are down, she scrambles for the comforting shelter of conventional authority. She's trapped by her own pride and self-delusion.

I know people who are enough like that, so that characterization would come off as remotely plausible. I've never met anyone as far gone as Lila, though.

 

[Canadave]

You're telling me there's zero chance of anything working out between Dexter and Lila? Of Lila slowly changing in some ways under Dexter's guiding influence? Of them becoming a crazy but interesting item like Sylar and Elle or Beecher and Keller?

Lila was a loose cannon. She ultimately just conflicted too much with Dexter's character for anything to make sense between them, in the long-term.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

^ Zero chance. Zilch. Nada. Never.