Dexter: The Final Season Discussion [Spoilers]

[dalsh327]

Yeah, I was at least expecting to see Harry. It was the finale for crying out loud....

I think because he developed his own conscience towards the end where he didn't need the voice of his dad anymore. I don't know if his means he turns into a truck driving serial killer or because he's no longer with the police force, didn't see Harry as being relevant in his life.

[Kitty Softpaws]

If theres one thing this episode has taught me, its that you can easily tranquilize someone in a crowded bus across the aisle and tell them of your plans to escape out loud, and carrying a dead body covered in a blowing sheet onto your boat is actually pretty easy.

I liked the season, not one of my favourites but it was decent. Unfortunately it felt like just another season, not one that will wrap up the entire show. Oliver Saxon was a brilliant killer. I love how he was able to outsmart Dexter at every turn and even meet him in public locations like the station and pretty much mock him at the same time. I'd have preferred it if he was revealed a little earlier with less focus on Evelyn's patient with the head scar (can't remember his name).

The final episode left me thinking 'thats it?'.
-Fair enough Dex kills Deb so she doesn't have to suffer anymore but why take the body? The way I see it, he's putting her in the same group as everyone else he dumps at the bottom of the ocean.
-How does he drive his boat into a hurricane and survive?
-Why didn't he just return to shore and use the cruise control on his boat to send it into the hurricane?
-If Deb was his last kill then how could he ruin the lives of Harrison and Hannah?
-Why would he choose to save the life of Harrison by faking his death, which leaves him without a father, mother or aunt but in a hands of a wanted fugitive?
-Why would he turn down tapping Hannah McKay anymore?

Seasons four and seven remain my favourites, I'm not sure where this one ranks but I wouldn't put it around the top. Oliver wasn't able to outdo Isaak Sirko as my favourite villain simply because no one on this show can reach the level of bad ass like Isaak did.

[volcano62]

I am ok with the finale I'm just disappointed that the show is over.....

Edited September 23, 2013 by volcano62

[RussTCB]

Dexter kills Saxon with an ink pin. Debs surgery goes wrong, she's put on life support. Dexter takes her off of it and kills her. Takes her body onto his boat and dumps it at sea. He drives into a huge hurricane making us think he dies. Pan to Hannah and Harrison in Argentina, Hannah thinks Dexter is dead because it's posted on the internet. Harrison wants ice cream.

Cut to a random log cutting place, Dexter is alive with a full beard and living in seclusion working cutting logs; slow close up on Dexters face in his cabin, he looks at the camera, end show.

That's very similar to what she sent me last night. Sounds very odd to say the least.

[Black Sabbath]

I feel incomplete with the way it ended.

[stumbleine]

why treat Deb like his victims,dumping her at sea?

what was the point of Masukas daughter?

some of my ??.

this season was so bad the final episode was ok with me.

life has consequences.

you cant kill half of MIami and just hook up w the hottest girl and take a plane.

or maybe you can.

7/10

[volcano62]

A season 9 is needed to explain all the loose ends.

[Lithium]

Holy shit, that was awful. Why did he suddenly decide, out of the blue, "I have to protect my kid and girlfriend from myself by becoming a lumberjack in Bumfuckville"? And the dialogue between Hannah and the PI at the bus was cringeworthy. I didn't know that a crowded bus is a perfect place to inject horse tranquillizer into some dude's leg, then talk loudly about it afterwards.

It's a shame that it had to end like this. I've been watching this show since the year I started high school, and I am quite nostalgic about it. I just always expected an explosive ending considering the shows premise.

[volcano62]

Holy shit, that was awful. Why did he suddenly decide, out of the blue, "I have to protect my kid and girlfriend from myself by becoming a lumberjack in Bumfuckville"? And the dialogue between Hannah and the PI at the bus was cringeworthy. I didn't know that a crowded bus is a perfect place to inject horse tranquillizer into some dude's leg, then talk loudly about it afterwards.

It's a shame that it had to end like this. I've been watching this show since the year I started high school, and I am quite nostalgic about it. I just always expected an explosive ending considering the shows premise.

I know what you mean, every season 1-7 had endings that blew our minds.

As I said above, loose ends need to be cleared up. I think they left this open for a future season.

[Estranged Reality]

Ghost Harry needed to pop up out of the corner of the frame at the last section of that shot of Dexter staring into the camera.

"Well Dex, you're a lumberjack now."

Fade to black.

Seriously though, THAT WAS ONE OF THE WORST ENDINGS TO ANYTHING, EVER.

But it totally fit the continuing downfall of the show, so it's not like it was that big of a shocker, I guess.

[Coma16]

Why didn't he just send Harrison to to his brother, sister, grandparent to live?

[Lithium]

It just occurred to me that Michael C. Hall has been a part of both the best ending of a series ever (Six Feet Under) and the worst ending of a series ever (Dexter).

[Angelica]

Why didn't he just send Harrison to to his brother, sister, grandparent to live?

Cause that wouldn't have been retarded, and would therefore not have fit into the overall theme of the season.

[Forsaken]

It just occurred to me that Michael C. Hall has been a part of both the best ending of a series ever (Six Feet Under) and the worst ending of a series ever (Dexter).

True that, shows you how much writing makes a difference. Six Feet Under had one of the best endings of all time. Then again, to me, Six Feet Under was one of the best TV shows of all time.

[Becket]

It just occurred to me that Michael C. Hall has been a part of both the best ending of a series ever (Six Feet Under) and the worst ending of a series ever (Dexter).

Six Feet Under ending was great. Agreed, best ending ever.

[CheapJon]

It just occurred to me that Michael C. Hall has been a part of both the best ending of a series ever (Six Feet Under) and the worst ending of a series ever (Dexter).

True that, shows you how much writing makes a difference. Six Feet Under had one of the best endings of all time. Then again, to me, Six Feet Under was one of the best TV shows of all time.

Great to read! I've been thinking of picking up SFU after I've ended OZ (which I have one episode left to see).

Dexter (the show) can go to hell. At some point I will probably pick it up and re-watch the first 2 seasons and try to erase my memory of the 6 last. Glad this shit is over, God damn trolled me for years having me thinking that this will be the end, it will get better.

[Forsaken]

^

Absolutely watch SFU, you will not be disappointed. It was my favorite before watching BB, even now it's still very close to me.

[Izzy_Stradlin_XX]

^

Absolutely watch SFU, you will not be disappointed. It was my favorite before watching BB, even now it's still very close to me.

What's SFU about?

[Forsaken]

^

Absolutely watch SFU, you will not be disappointed. It was my favorite before watching BB, even now it's still very close to me.

What's SFU about?

A great drama/dark comedy about a family who runs a funeral home, from their home. Michael C plays David Fisher, one of the Fisher brothers who runs it after inheriting the business after his father passes.

[Lithium]

Six Feet Under is essential when it comes to TV shows. It's definitely in my top 4 shows.

[Axl_morris]

I hate these endings. Like the dark knight rises, dex couldn't have survived the storm and bruce couldn't have survived the explosion.

anyway, leaving dexter alive in that situation annoyed me. He never sacrificed himself, but chose to live on... does he keep on killing?

I also wanted more tension with miami metro closing in on dexter. Killing off deb through that away, but i loved it when doakes & la guerta found out. That was real tension. Imagine if quinn and batista were chasing dexter, rather than the bounty hunter guys no one gave a fuck about.

[dalsh327]

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/09/23/dexter-interview-series-finale/

http://tvline.com/2013/09/22/dexter-series-finale-spoilers-deb-dies-dexter-fakes-death/

http://www.eonline.com/news/461558/chills-former-dexter-producer-clyde-phillips-reveals-how-he-planned-to-end-the-series

[Nobodys_Fault]

God that was awful. Although I can safely say I did not expect the season to end with Dexter as a fucking lumberjack. The writers were obviously going for that ambiguous Nolan-esque ending and just completely botched the landing. In a season teeming with stupidity they really outdid themselves on the finale. Bravo.

Why would Saxon go to the hospital to finish Deb off? It's like they just gave up attempting to tell any sort of coherent story.

Why was Elway incapable of getting off the bus!?

The hospital has boat parking.

"You don't even work here. How are we going to explain this?" How indeed Batista.

[Black Sabbath]

They're supporting it by saying exactly what it is; Dexter living the rest of his life in his own, miserable exile. And that's supposed to make us happy? Why the fuck would anyone be happy about that when most of us were rooting for him the last 8 seasons? Such bullshit. The more I think about it the more pissed I get.

Also, lol @ this:

Have to ask: How did Dex get from his boat to the shore in the middle of a hurricane?
BUCK: Hopefully it’s not a question that will be examined too closely. The show has always been a half step away from reality; it’s a hyper-reality. We established there is an emergency life raft with an outboard motor on the boat. He could have gotten in the raft and made it safely to shore.

What a cop-out reply

Whatever. I defended these guys literally up until the second to last episode, but with the way they ended the series, they lost my support.

[Estranged Reality]

I hate these endings. Like the dark knight rises, dex couldn't have survived the storm and bruce couldn't have survived the explosion.

It worked for TDKR. The plane had an auto-pilot system installed so the editing toward the end was simply misleading, it appears he abandoned ship before it even hit the ocean. It's a bit of a manipulative ending in the sense that it's edited in a way to mislead audiences, but I have no problem with that if it's done in a classy way like Nolan managed to pull off. He basically pulled a prestige on the audience (ha!).

And regardless, with TDKR both the film and its character EARNED redemption. Bruce was ultimately selfless and willing to sacrifice himself -- not just literally but in the sense of his own identity, fortune and fame -- for the people of Gotham. In stark contrast, Dexter didn't earn any kind of redemption, and certainly not enough to validate such a heavy-handed ending.

For eight seasons he was a selfish psychopath. Yes, we enjoyed watching him try to weasel his way out of situations. But let's look at what he produced in the aftermath of his own selfish, compulsive need to murder:

- He was indirectly responsible for the death of a cop doing his job (Doakes);

- He got his wife murdered because he was playing cat and mouse with a serial killer, and then he dumped her orphaned kids with their grandparents;

- He consistently put his own son in harm's way;

- He basically manipulated his sister into killing an innocent police chief (again, someone just doing their job);

- He got his sister shot and killed by a serial killer who, again, he was playing mind games with

But because of the way the narrative has been framed for years, we were manipulated into sympathizing with Dexter. I stopped sympathizing with him a while back.

At the same time, I wouldn't have cared if he had lived at the end of the show. What's insulting is how they tried to provide him some kind of catharsis/redemption/revelation where he suddenly - after eight seasons for us, and a lifetime for his character, of being an emotionless serial killer - no longer feels the need to kill...because he found "true love" in some blonde bimbo (Yvonne Strawhatever is a lovely actress but let's face it, they had no chemistry, her character was a joke, and ultimately she too was a serial killer so how is it that she somehow negated his own compulsion to kill people?).

It's an insulting ending, and it doesn't work within the context of the show and its character's history. Furthermore, the 'ambiguous' ending with Dex staring into the camera miserably? Again, doesn't really work -- so we're meant to take away that he's exiled himself to a lifetime of guilt and remorse... or has he really? Without his love around, no doubt he's going to revert back into a psychopathic mindset; and he's going to feel the selfish need to kill again. And he won't be able to feel human emotions (something he constantly reminded us of with his increasingly banal voice-overs) so is he REALLY going to spend the rest of his life surveying all the damage he caused the ones he (pretended to) love?

Probably the worst finale to any show i've ever seen.