Dexter is hardly a parent… I don’t think he qualifies under even the loosest definition. Other than sperm donor.
See, everything you said is something that happens to all kids from time to time when parents move… Except the ARGENTINA part, which is beyond hokey and why this season has frustrated most of us.
I don’t know how closely this reflects the books Dexter is based on, but they should have not followed the books beyond the premise of Dexter and maybe his father guiding him through murders. Dexter the serial killer was interesting enough when he was working for the police as a blood spatter expert. Dexter the fugitive, mentor, father, idiot, killer is just ridiculous to the point of absurdity.
The show split from the books pretty early on. It’s been a while since I read the books, but as of the sixth book, Rita is still alive. There is no Harrison, but Dexter and Rita have an infant daughter. Cody and Astor are still very much in the picture. Dexter is fiercely protective of his family, although Cody and Astor are capable enough of looking out for themselves that I wouldn’t recommend messing with them. And Doakes is still around, albeit a little worse for the wear.
To me, this show shouldn’t feel a need to stick to the books because it has strayed so far from the books anyway. Mi don’t thing there are that many people who are watching this show because they read the books, (I didn’t even know a book series was around when I started watching Dexter), and even if they are, what does it matter now? The show is ending, they haven’t stayed very faithful to the books anyway, so why not make it a good series and just flush the books, except for some characters and plots that work?
I feel torn with Dexter. On the one hand, I was a big fan, and feel like I shouldn’t trash the shoe, but on the other, I feel like the writers/producers/all involved have truly let me down as the show winds to its conclusion.
No one likes to feel like they’ve wasted their time getting into a series just to watch it die an ugly death. And even though this happens more of then than not, Decter was a show tht I was sure was not goi g to suffer such a terrible fate. Clearly, I was wrong.
Well - a lot happened, and only one more episode to go…
The previews gave a few hints, but still have no idea how this show is going to wrap up and who is going to bite the bullet and who is going off to live happily ever after.
It does appear they have a boatload of loose ends to tie up rather quickly, so the last show ought to be fast paced, if nothing else - assuming they will tie up all those loose ends.
From all of Dexter’s foes over the years, Dr. Vogel’s son seems like the least likely of all to be in this final season/final episode - he just ain’t all that smart, as shown from walking into traps so stupidly and easily.
And so many stupid errors along the way - cleaning the apartment but not bothering to clean the search engine history? Geez - that is House Clean Sweep 101 rule number one. Might as well have a few links to “How to poison people.” and “How to dispose of dead bodies.” and “Famous serial killers.” on there as well.
They knew this was the last season. I just don’t understand the sloppy writing to get them to this place - but again, I will hold off final judgment until after the final episode - I still have hope that they can pull of a grand finale. It had better be a doozy.
Saxon only survived this long because he was introduced ‘so late’ in the season as the killer - very similar to the ITK from season one - and the reality is, Saxon is who Dexter thought ‘dexter’ was - Dexter was basically trained to be a serial killer/emotionless.
The bookending of Dexter’s story in this regaurd is good - the rest, not so much.
Lemonhead letting Saxon go and then being killed by him was a bit of a surprise.
Almost every time Dexter was ready to kill someone and didn’t he’s regretted it. Saxon shoots Deb. Trinity killed Rita. Brian came back for Deb. Probably others I’m not thinking of. The only exception is Hanna, and she tried to kill Deb too.
Would not the smart thing be for the Marshall to take a look at the security cameras in the ER waiting room?
And this has been bothering me for a while, but how does Dexter cart these bodies around? He had to get Saxon from his apartment to his car. Does he just wrap him up in a trashbag and pretend he’s taking out the garbage?
Does anyone get the feeling that most of this season was written before it was announced that this would be the last season and the writers had to do a whole lot of rewriting to get everything to be wrapped up by the end of the last episode?
Yeah, that was cute. They even included the little “tink” sound that plays in the opening when Dexter inclines his head to the camera.
As for Saxon being freed and then killing his rescuer–of course. 100% predictable.
I agree with the comment a ways above about Saxon not being particularly interesting as a villain in himself; not particularly bright, not charismatic, not notable in any way. His only virtue is his connection to Dexter’s Beginnings, which is what’s being relied upon to engage us emotionally. (With past season-foes, frankly, the showrunners mainly relied upon the charisma of the biggish-name actors playing those villains.)
We’re supposed to be comparing Saxon’s cold psychopathy to Dexter’s warm connectedness with family and friends, and feeling more suspense over Dexter’s fate as a function of our increased liking for him.
For me, it’s not really working. This show had, from the beginning, the problem that all shows based on wish-fulfillment do: If your main character is gratifying the audience’s wish to identify with someone who Does Whatever He Pleases and who Wastes Those Who Offend Him, then how do you square the circle and let the audience feel—at the same time—the pleasure of identifying with a Good, Warm, Loved-and-Loving character?
This season the showrunners seem to be hitting the “Dexter is a Killer…but a Really Nice One, Not a True Psychopath At All” theme pretty hard–but not very successfully, perhaps. It is, in fact, a hard sell to make.
Yeah, the show at heart is basically pretty cowardly in its premise - Dexter supposedly has to kill and only feels genuine pleasure and release during a kill, but the kills themselves were always pretty quick; typically one cut across the cheek and a quick stab to the chest. We never saw Dexter vivisecting or raping anyone. And he has to linger in Miami to get Saxon? That’s more OCD than psychopathy.
You raise a good point, but I don’t offhand recall Dexter ever talking about paying rent, and I seem to recall references to how he “bought” the apartment next door.
I just saw the episode. I thought the search engine history was intended to cause the police to monitor the airport, so that they’d catch Dexter and Hannah leaving the country together.
And I was amused watching Dexter wander around the abandoned hospital that Saxon used for a murder site. I was remembering all the other abandoned buildings that the various serial killers and Dexter used for murder sites. Miami must have an abandoned building that no one ever enters on every block.
I think the most jarring thing for me at this point is that Hannah continues to go out in public without any attempt at a disguise. Not even small stuff like a hat or sunglasses.