Dexter - The Final Season (Spoiler Discussion)

[The Nth Doctor]

http://www.eonline.com/news/461558/...lips-reveals-how-he-planned-to-end-the-series

"I haven't shared this with anyone," Philips told me. "And I can tell you that this is what I personally would have done should I have stayed with the show. I chose not to stay with the show, and so everybody did what they did, and I had no problem with that…and I think they did a good job with the final episode. But here is what I personally would have pitched."

"In the very last scene of the series," Philips explained, "Dexter wakes up. And everybody is going to think, 'Oh, it was a dream.' And then the camera pulls back and back and back and then we realize, 'No, it's not a dream.' Dexter's opening his eyes and he's on the execution table at the Florida Penitentiary. They're just starting to administer the drugs and he looks out through the window to the observation gallery.
"And in the gallery are all the people that Dexter killed—including the Trinity Killer and the Ice Truck Killer (his brother Rudy), LaGuerta who he was responsible killing, Doakes who he's arguably responsible for, Rita, who he's arguably responsible for, Lila. All the big deaths, and also whoever the weekly episodic kills were. They are all there.
"That's what I envisioned for the ending of Dexter. That everything we've seen over the past eight seasons has happened in the several seconds from the time they start Dexter's execution to the time they finish the execution and he dies. Literally, his life flashed before his eyes as he was about to die. I think it would have been a great, epic, very satisfying conclusion."

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.

I thought this was one of the better episodes of the season from an emotional (rather than logical) standpoint. Unfortunately, that's not saying much in this godawful mess of a final season full of missed and misused opportunities (did we really need Masuka's daughter, Quinn and Jaime's relationship woes, Young Indiana Jones, the multiple fake out Brain Surgeons, Dexter dating the neighbor, Dexter's apprentice, Quinn's quest for sergeant against the lady who completely disappeared after being promoted, Hannah's abusive husband, the US Marshal, etc.? What a bunch of extraneous filler).

The worst parts of the episode for me:

- Is Dexter Superman all of a sudden? How exactly was he supposed to have escaped unscathed from sailing his tiny boat directly into the hurricane, where it was destroyed? Did he swim miles back to shore in hurricane force winds and waves?

- Is Dexter the Invisible Man all of a sudden? It was bad enough that he took Debra off life support and all of her vitals monitors without anyone at the hospital responding, but then he --in plain clothes-- wheels her out, picks her up, takes her down to the dock, and just sails away with her body. I get that there was a hurricane incoming, but that was ridiculous.

- So Harrison is better off living with a serial killer who has a history of poisoning people close to her, and who has now lost the one person she loves who acted as a stabilizing influence on her? Better than living with his grandparents? Or Jaime? Or Batista? Or a pack of wolves? Or just about anyone else but Hannah? It's totally out of character for Dexter to just entrust the care of his son to even someone he loves like Hannah, especially after she's clearly still unstable given her poisoning of Dex and Deb and desire to murder her husband, abusive bastard or not. What happens when Harrison gets to the age where he starts to talk back to her and Dex isn't there to keep her under control?

- I love Batista, but my god he's the worst detective in the world. It's a wonder Miami Metro PD even has a 20% clearance rate. I thought finally something was going to click after he saw the way Dexter dispatched Saxon, but other than a little confusion and a furrowed brow, Batista let it be. Quinn knew it was a straight up revenge murder, but he was fine with that. Batista wasn't however, but still let himself be talked out of finding anything wrong by Quinn and Dexter.

- I don't mind the idea of Debra dying, but not like that. I'll grant it was a surprising twist, but I would have preferred a more meaningful and poignant exit for her character than to have her suffer a stroke offcreen. Though it was still sad to see her go.

- Why did Young Indiana Jones feel it was a good idea to ride on the bus with Hannah all the way up to Daytona when he confronted her before the bus was even moving? It's not like they were on a plane that's pulled away from the terminal. Just grab her and Harrison and hop off the bus. Of course she's going to try and make a move if you leave her uncuffed on a long bus ride.

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.

 

[Harvey]

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.

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.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

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.

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.

Fair enough, but there certainly was a major drop in quality after Philips left.

 

[Harvey]

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.

 

[Captrek]

Angel's sister? She just floated away from relevance back to being again only a baby sitter. Don't show me an actresses' naked boobies if you don't want me to focus on her storyline!

The writers get a pass on this one because you never saw full boobage. You got "there's clearly another observer in the room filming things, so I'm going to awkwardly obscure my breasts with my hands and arms" glimpses of side boob at best.

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).

 

[Guy Gardener]

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.

 

[Mister Fandango]

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).

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.

 

[ALF]

It's kind of hard to put into words how stupid that was.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Have you ever watched porn in fastrewind?

 

[Borgminister]

It sure leaves the door open to the viewer writing their own continuation of the Dexter story...

Since his record is still inexplicably and inexcusably clean, I want to see him branch out into advertising:



Maybe take out rival cleaning product mascots like the sinister serial killer Mr. Clean and the infamous Snuggle, who strangles his victims to death with their own snuggily soft bedsheets.

And if that falls through, maybe he can get a job with the NOAA or the National Weather Service as a stormchaser, since he can apparently survive hurricanes and tornadoes without any protection.

They should've played the lumberjack song at the end...

 

[LitmusDragon]

In the Dexter writing room ...

The official reddit Dexter site has been pretty funny this week. www.reddit.com/r/Dexter

 

[Seven of Five]

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.

 

[davejames]

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.

 

[Garak]

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.

 

[Agent Richard07]

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 think it's more that she's marveling at the fact that he's found a way to cure himself of being a complete psychopath more than she's worried that she misdiagnosed him. At the start of the series, he really fit the definition of one. It wasn't until he had Harrison that he genuinely started to change.

I'd say it happened during his relationship with Rita.

Would't it be awesome if Masuka has always known?

With a laugh like that I know he does.

This might be just me, it seems like this episode had a couple of Lost reference. When Musaka is talking his daughter, Quinn cautions him about her trying to con him and lists reasons why such as money and ends with "kidneys." I couldn't help but think of John Locke and his father. Later on, when Vogel is attacked, I swear the music that was playing in the background was the same music (and similar set-up of music casually playing, followed by a surprise) as when Juliet burned her muffins.

You're forgetting another Lost reference… A final season that leads up to an unsatisfying conclusion.

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.

I was thinking about Dex and Deb's mother too. We never saw her. I wonder why.

BTW, Charlotte Rampling, (AKA Dr. Vogel) was a major babe back in the day.

Did a google search and damn! You weren't kidding.

How the fuck did he survive after heading out to see into the middle of a hurricane?

Life raft. Source

I'll rationalize it and say that the final scene with Dexter is him in hell.

I like that.

Did anyone read the faux finale spoilers that have been out for awhile? In them after Dexter slams Elway into the wall at the hospital Quinn grabs Dexter, takes him into another room telling him to get his shit together and kill Saxon. Dexter is confused and Quinn reveals he's known about Dexter being a serial killer for awhile now. Dex says he can't kill Saxon because he's lost his will to kill. Quinn tells Dexter he'll do it. Dex stays with Deb at the hospital. Quinn finds Saxon back to Saxon's hideout, straps him down and knifes him to death. Deb dies. Then Quinn helps Dexter fake his death by sending Dex's boat out to sea. After the storm passes we see Dexter with Hannah and Harrison in Argentina...fade to black and we see Quinn following someone...we then hear Quinn doing a voice over...he's now following in Dexter's footsteps.

I like that too.

http://www.eonline.com/news/461558/...lips-reveals-how-he-planned-to-end-the-series

"I haven't shared this with anyone," Philips told me. "And I can tell you that this is what I personally would have done should I have stayed with the show. I chose not to stay with the show, and so everybody did what they did, and I had no problem with that…and I think they did a good job with the final episode. But here is what I personally would have pitched."

"In the very last scene of the series," Philips explained, "Dexter wakes up. And everybody is going to think, 'Oh, it was a dream.' And then the camera pulls back and back and back and then we realize, 'No, it's not a dream.' Dexter's opening his eyes and he's on the execution table at the Florida Penitentiary. They're just starting to administer the drugs and he looks out through the window to the observation gallery.
"And in the gallery are all the people that Dexter killed—including the Trinity Killer and the Ice Truck Killer (his brother Rudy), LaGuerta who he was responsible killing, Doakes who he's arguably responsible for, Rita, who he's arguably responsible for, Lila. All the big deaths, and also whoever the weekly episodic kills were. They are all there.
"That's what I envisioned for the ending of Dexter. That everything we've seen over the past eight seasons has happened in the several seconds from the time they start Dexter's execution to the time they finish the execution and he dies. Literally, his life flashed before his eyes as he was about to die. I think it would have been a great, epic, very satisfying conclusion."

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.

So then his boat gets ripped in half... and also... the hurricane rips off his penis.. right? That's what happened?

That's exactly what happened. He knew he could never be with Yvonne Strahovski, so he opted for the woods.

That's quite the fuck you btw.. fake killing yourself and forcing her to raise your kid as a single mom in a foreign land... Wtf?

Agreed. I'm sure she resents having to look after his kid.

I love Batista, but my god he's the worst detective in the world. It's a wonder Miami Metro PD even has a 20% clearance rate.

Dexter got the other 80% bringing the figure to 100%.

Why did Young Indiana Jones feel it was a good idea to ride on the bus with Hannah all the way up to Daytona when he confronted her before the bus was even moving?

How did he get on the bus and sit next to her without her noticing?

What I really would've liked to have seen is Dexter getting caught pulling the plug on Deb, going to jail for a mercy killing.

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.

So, Dexter euthanises his sister and then he fakes his death in order to become some kind of lumberjack hermit?

What do they think happened to Deb? What do they think happened to Harrison?

Can you imagine Angel and Dexter trading blows (no, you sick pervert, not like that.)

That's exactly what I thought.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I think this summed up the problems with this season perfectly:

http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/09/20/dexter-final-season-gripes/

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.

 

[ALF]

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.

 

[Agent Richard07]

...Masuka and his daughter... WTF was that?

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.

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.

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.

Dream ending #2:
A better serial killer than Dex kills him.

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.

 

[davejames]

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.

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.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

^ 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.

Dream ending #1:
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.

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.