The End Has Come
a reflection of series 8 as the show finally comes to a close
Despite eight years of tumultuous quality, ranging from unsurpassed heights to underwhelming lows, Dexter has always been one of my favourite television shows. One of the first television shows to feature a straight up mass murderer as its protagonist, Dexter offered something that was for a time unique. Unfortunately as the series went on it became apparent that Dexter had to grow beyond his emotionless, psychopathic behaviour in order for the show to remain fresh, and for this the writers cannot be faulted. However, as Dexter grew, his interest waned, we saw him tread the same path of self-discovery every season only to end up right where he started. But now, after eight seasons his dark journey is over, and for better or for worse, Dexter has finally ended . But was the ending worthy of such an intricate and crowd pleasing character such as Dexter? Or was it proof that this show really had outstayed its welcome?
Obviously this being a review of the series after it has concluded it goes without saying there are extensive spoilers, if you are still in the process of catching up you may want to shy away from reading this. You have been warned
Well for starters I just want to say that when I first saw the full trailer for this Season, I had something very different in mind. Based on what little footage offered, I predicted that, perhaps inevitably, Dexter's moral resolve would finally crumble and he would descend into the full blown psychopath we all believed lay just under the surface. In addition, based upon the events of the Season Seven finale it seemed that it would be the end for the relationship between our murderous anti-hero and his conflicted sibling, former lieutenant Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) as the guilt over what she did to protect her brother causes her to hurtle into a downward spiral of depression and chaos until she finally breaks and confesses all, effectively taking her brother down with her. Meaning that after having stayed so well hidden in the past what he "does in the dark will be brought to the light" (even the trailer's song hinted at such an outcome!)
This in itself would have been a deliciously complex finale that would focus not on the deranged serial killers that have plagued Dexter in the past, but instead would have been his final encore, brought about by the one person he believed he had real feelings for, a tragic sense of irony. However the trailer did make reference to two possible antagonists, a disturbed killer who 'scooped' out a portion of his victim's brain (particularly the part that gives a person empathy, and the mysterious Dr. Evelyn Vogel (Charlotte Rampling) who not only may have been a suspect of said murders, but would regardless be the perfect foil to Dexter due to her position as an expert on the psychopathic mind and who clearly has an agenda of her own, giving her the uncanny ability to seemingly know exactly how Dexter thinks, leading to the very real possibility that she may be the one to crack the mystery as to the 'Bay Harbour Butcher's' identity.
To get an idea of what I am talking about, and for those who haven't seen it already here is the Dexter Season 8 trailer.
To be fair, for the first three or four episodes that is what we got, less emphasis on the trademark 'Killer of the Week' scenario and more on the crumbling relationship between brother and sister as well as the breakdown of Dexter's 'moral' code. It was different, it was dark and to me it heralded the end of Dexter as we know it.
Alas it seemed that all this was too good to be true. The moment we found out Vogel's true connection to the Morgan family her interest slowly began to wane.As the prospect of her being the instrument of Dexter's destruction became less likely and instead we were greeted to a rendition of Mommy Dearest. Making Vogel the true mastermind behind the 'Code' isn't a bad thing in itself, in fact it allowed us to explore Dexter's origins in ways we have only dreamed about, from an academic standpoint. What made the story line rather lackluster was that it had very little to work along side with. The brain surgeon story line was abandoned at the Season's midpoint, only for it to be brought back for the last four episodes, when it was too late for it to make the same impact as say the 'Ice Truck Killer' (Christian Carmago), or the 'Trinity Killer' (John Lithgow) of Season's past. In addition the escalating discord between Deb and Dex was more or less resolved at about the same time, thus negating her as being the cause of his fall. Even the apparent loss of control for Dexter was resolved by the second episode. In a sense everything that made this season look so dark and exciting was resolved by the mid point, leaving the show to wander off aimlessly before hurtling back to its point for the series' concluding episode, unfortunately this resulted in the finale being a bang without a fuse, there was little groundwork for what actually happened until two thirds of the season had already been shown.
The answer, in my opinion, is that it could of...if handled better. After Vogel's grisly death put paid to the idea of her, through her tenuous alliance with her new-found son, playing a part in Dexter's ending and in effect allowing the narrative to come full circle and have her end a story that in many respects, as Dexter's creator, she began. We were instead granted a decidedly absurd episode full of loopholes and unlikely plot developments.
There were highlights of course, Deb's tragic death made for very sad viewing, she was the most conflicted of the show's central characters, even more so than her murderous brother. Despite now knowing that what he was doing all these years was of course wrong, and served to stand for everything she opposed during her time at Miami Metro, she nevertheless could not stand by and see her brother incaracerated and most likely executed. At the end of the day he was her family (her only remaining family) and the strength of that bond is what got her killed. But in my view this is where the episode began to falter. The distracting side plot about the cat and mouse chase between PI Elway and Hannah as he uses every means at his disposal to cash in the handsome reward for her capture, we saw Dexter behaving in such a way that managed to undo years of meticulous maintenance of his cover by simply stealing Deb's body from the hospital! I mean I know there was a hurricane on the way (Naturally) but come on! How would not one member of staff notice him casually taking her body out the hospital and down onto his boat.
Perhaps I am being a tad harsh in picking on that so much, it was merely a means to an end, a way of getting Dexter into the middle of the stormy sea so that he can gently lay Debra's body in the ocean...and let her sink. Like with many of the decisions in this episode I understand the theory of it, but in practice it just seemed callous. His sister, the one person in his life that he had stuck with him through thick and thin just plonked into the ocean and allowed to sink, no better than his many victims! It was interesting to note however, that they chose to cloth her in white, a stark contrast from the black rubbish bags containing his usual prey. Perhaps it symbolised that despite her purity, despite her good nature, he still is ultimatly resposible for her tragic death. If this is the case then it is actually a very good idea, but one which looks better on paper. Similarly to how he simply rides off into the storm, to put himself at the same turbulent nature as the one that lies within him. Beautiful symbolism, slightly iffy execution.
I suppose I am just a touch bitter that very few of my hopes for the finale actually came true. The main villain suffered what was in my honest opinion, the worst death that a main antagonist on the show has done so yet. Considering that that this was the man that murdered his sister, there was no poigniant dialogue, none of Dexter's usual speech as he explains why he feels the need to do this. Arguably of course there is no need to explain, we know it already. But I must admit I liked the idea of Dexter getting emotional for the first time in one of his 'speeches' as he contemplates just who the victim was this time. Instead his very quick, very blunt, all in all rather rushed if you ask me, with no ramifications to DExter at all considering it was caught on police camera. To me it was amazing that no one discovered Dexter's identity, when he quite brutally ran a pen through Saxon's neck (in a prison cell) Batista and Quinn barely batted an eyelash. I suppose in hindsight the grisly death of one who has murdered one of your own is considered justice by some? I don't know, but what I do know is that it feels to me like a waste of a scenario. Dexter works in the Miami Metro so I always kind of assumed we would be in for a fantastic scene in which his friends and co-workers finally discover him for what he is. It would have been emotional, dark and above all narratively gratifying. Instead they allow him to simply walk away, understandable? Maybe, but in my opinion a tragic waste.
I know my review of the last episode may be considered brief, but I just wished to touch on the most important aspects, this review is more a critque of the season as a whole rather than just one episode. But the review would of course not be complete without a brief mention of the ending itself, the last scene, Dexter's goodbye. Let me just say that I would have been ok with Dexter simply disappearing into the storm, never to be seen again. There is a touch of darkness about it, as well as tragic irony, But most of all it adds a touch of ambiguity. Death may have been a bit much for a character we have come to love, but getting off scott free would have been a bit easy for him, so the ambiguity would have been a happy compromise. Ominous, yet hopeful.
Instead we are treated to the reveal that Dexter has simply become a Canadian Woodcutter...
Again the theory and logic are sound. Dexter must live with the knowledge that he ultimatly destroyed the life of the one person (besides his kind of pointless son) who actually meant anything to him. He must live with the knowledge that he must remain alone or risk hurting those around him, that he never will be 'human'. It's tragic, depressing and suitable and it would have worked well, if it hadn't reavealed he was a woodcutter, it is just too cliche! Even Wolverine has done it. If it had simply faded in to show him sitting at his table in his bare home, staring solemnly into the camera I would have been content with it, the look says everything, and while the show does end with that shot, what comes immediatly before takes much of the sadness out of it for me.
So quite clearly in my opinion the finale was an episode with plenty of sound ideas, and magnificent symbolism surrounding, but unfortunatly it did not quite manage to convey them well on the screen, a shame that such a great show had to end in such a mediocre manner. But I shall choose to remember Dexter during the glory days of Seasons one to four, and of course seven before Ray Stevenson left to film Thor 2.
There were highlights of course, Deb's tragic death made for very sad viewing, she was the most conflicted of the show's central characters, even more so than her murderous brother. Despite now knowing that what he was doing all these years was of course wrong, and served to stand for everything she opposed during her time at Miami Metro, she nevertheless could not stand by and see her brother incaracerated and most likely executed. At the end of the day he was her family (her only remaining family) and the strength of that bond is what got her killed. But in my view this is where the episode began to falter. The distracting side plot about the cat and mouse chase between PI Elway and Hannah as he uses every means at his disposal to cash in the handsome reward for her capture, we saw Dexter behaving in such a way that managed to undo years of meticulous maintenance of his cover by simply stealing Deb's body from the hospital! I mean I know there was a hurricane on the way (Naturally) but come on! How would not one member of staff notice him casually taking her body out the hospital and down onto his boat.
Perhaps I am being a tad harsh in picking on that so much, it was merely a means to an end, a way of getting Dexter into the middle of the stormy sea so that he can gently lay Debra's body in the ocean...and let her sink. Like with many of the decisions in this episode I understand the theory of it, but in practice it just seemed callous. His sister, the one person in his life that he had stuck with him through thick and thin just plonked into the ocean and allowed to sink, no better than his many victims! It was interesting to note however, that they chose to cloth her in white, a stark contrast from the black rubbish bags containing his usual prey. Perhaps it symbolised that despite her purity, despite her good nature, he still is ultimatly resposible for her tragic death. If this is the case then it is actually a very good idea, but one which looks better on paper. Similarly to how he simply rides off into the storm, to put himself at the same turbulent nature as the one that lies within him. Beautiful symbolism, slightly iffy execution.
I suppose I am just a touch bitter that very few of my hopes for the finale actually came true. The main villain suffered what was in my honest opinion, the worst death that a main antagonist on the show has done so yet. Considering that that this was the man that murdered his sister, there was no poigniant dialogue, none of Dexter's usual speech as he explains why he feels the need to do this. Arguably of course there is no need to explain, we know it already. But I must admit I liked the idea of Dexter getting emotional for the first time in one of his 'speeches' as he contemplates just who the victim was this time. Instead his very quick, very blunt, all in all rather rushed if you ask me, with no ramifications to DExter at all considering it was caught on police camera. To me it was amazing that no one discovered Dexter's identity, when he quite brutally ran a pen through Saxon's neck (in a prison cell) Batista and Quinn barely batted an eyelash. I suppose in hindsight the grisly death of one who has murdered one of your own is considered justice by some? I don't know, but what I do know is that it feels to me like a waste of a scenario. Dexter works in the Miami Metro so I always kind of assumed we would be in for a fantastic scene in which his friends and co-workers finally discover him for what he is. It would have been emotional, dark and above all narratively gratifying. Instead they allow him to simply walk away, understandable? Maybe, but in my opinion a tragic waste.
I know my review of the last episode may be considered brief, but I just wished to touch on the most important aspects, this review is more a critque of the season as a whole rather than just one episode. But the review would of course not be complete without a brief mention of the ending itself, the last scene, Dexter's goodbye. Let me just say that I would have been ok with Dexter simply disappearing into the storm, never to be seen again. There is a touch of darkness about it, as well as tragic irony, But most of all it adds a touch of ambiguity. Death may have been a bit much for a character we have come to love, but getting off scott free would have been a bit easy for him, so the ambiguity would have been a happy compromise. Ominous, yet hopeful.
Instead we are treated to the reveal that Dexter has simply become a Canadian Woodcutter...
Again the theory and logic are sound. Dexter must live with the knowledge that he ultimatly destroyed the life of the one person (besides his kind of pointless son) who actually meant anything to him. He must live with the knowledge that he must remain alone or risk hurting those around him, that he never will be 'human'. It's tragic, depressing and suitable and it would have worked well, if it hadn't reavealed he was a woodcutter, it is just too cliche! Even Wolverine has done it. If it had simply faded in to show him sitting at his table in his bare home, staring solemnly into the camera I would have been content with it, the look says everything, and while the show does end with that shot, what comes immediatly before takes much of the sadness out of it for me.
So quite clearly in my opinion the finale was an episode with plenty of sound ideas, and magnificent symbolism surrounding, but unfortunatly it did not quite manage to convey them well on the screen, a shame that such a great show had to end in such a mediocre manner. But I shall choose to remember Dexter during the glory days of Seasons one to four, and of course seven before Ray Stevenson left to film Thor 2.
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