Dexter: My Thoughts

*WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW*

 

Any one could have bet on the fact that I would have something to say about the final episode of my beloved Dexter that aired Sunday night and here I am.

 

 *cue enormous sigh*

So I want to preface this by saying that I did not have any pre-set ending in my mind; I just knew that it wouldn't be a walk-off-into-the-sunset, everyone-is-alright kind of conclusion. I mean, come on, it's a show about a serial killer for goodness sake! None-the-less, I did not see the final twist coming.

 

Viewers have had to suspend their disbelief time and time again and I have happily gone along with the thought that no security camera, police officer, or innocent bystander for that matter has ever caught Dexter in the hundreds of murders he has committed, but the final scene left me feeling like I was taken for a fool.

 

The beginning of the end was when Debra dies: while certainly sad, it did not surprise me much. She has had her ups and downs on the show, highs and lows, and she had just found her way back from rock bottom, so sure it seems a little unfair that she had to pass away, but I get what the writers were doing. The fact that Dexter decided to dump her in the ocean confused the hell out of me. The ocean is where he discards the dismembered bodies of the unfortunate souls having found themselves plastic wrapped to his table. The ocean is where he dumps the scum he removes from Miami's streets. The ocean is where he buries his secrets. The ocean, in my opinion, is no place for his sister.

 

While I was still shaking my head and trying to come up with logical explanations for his actions, it became clear that Dexter had no intentions of meeting back up with Hannah and Harrison, rather, he recognized that he was "bad" for them and decided to spare them from the destruction he feels he brings to everyone close to him. A tear or two may have slid down my cheek as he called Harrison and told him he loved him. And a few more tears escaped as I realized that Dexter was driving his boat straight into the hurricane that was threatening the Florida coast. Suicide. Dexter was going to kill himself because he felt like he hurts everyone he loves or brings awful things to them due to his "dark passenger". Okay. I can go along with this. Kind of a martyr situation but sure, he is looking out for the best interest of his son. The screen fades to black. I exhale, waiting for the music to begin and the credits to start rolling but wait, there's more...

 

They cut to a man hopping out of a logging truck. He unstraps his load, then begins walking away from the truck. Is that? No. Dexter grew a beard? What? My anger grew with each step he took until he reached his humble shack, sat down at an empty table then looked up at the camera with a blank face and the screen went black again. HE FAKED HIS DEATH AND MOVED TO THE NORTH PACIFIC TO BECOME A LUMBERJACK?!?!? Are you freaking kidding me?! "Selfish" was the one word that kept popping up in mind. I was 100% okay with him dying in a hurricane, but essentially abandoning his son with a wanted fugitive, regardless of whether he loved her to, because he thought he may cause him pain if he ever learned the truth about his dad? Nope. I don't accept it. I mean, I have to accept it. That was it. The end. Adios Dexter. But I am not happy.

 

I have read a couple of interviews with the writers and producers that have clarified a few of the decisions they made, but I am still not satisfied with the finale of my favorite show. Some rationale for the lumberjack choice was that this was a profession that took him far away from Miami (though Hannah and Harrison weren't there anymore, they were in Argentina), it was a job that kept him isolated and away from a lot of human interaction, and he was punishing himself by forcing himself to be around chainsaws day in and day out (his "dark passenger" was born when he witnessed his mother be murdered via chainsaw in a shipping container when he was 3). Hmmm.... ok, that makes a little sense, but I don't know. I mean, we SAW him drive his boat right towards the storm and we are just supposed to believe that he miraculously survived that? I know that the boat had to turn up in pieces for the rest of the world to think he was dead, but I think it is far fetched to think he could swim away from something like that. I read that it was "known" that there was a life raft with a motor attached to his boat that he could have used to flee, but I'm not buying it.

 

I am sure I will re-watch the finale again, hell, I'll re-watch the entire series many times to come I am sure, but I said it right afterwards and I'll say it again: I would have been happier with Dexter dying. There is my two cents, do with it what you will.

 

I'm going to choose to remember Dexter from the first picture, happy with Harrison (the original Harrison I might add) as opposed to the latter scary version...

 

 The final scene: