Dexter

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I'm not sure what to think of this entire last season, except that it doesn't at ALL feel like a last season anymore. I think at first it did -- with Deb's meltdown (some great acting there for Jennifer Carpenter) and her break with Dexter. That felt like a huge watershed moment... and ever since the murder-suicide attempt with the car in the water, the show has felt like every other season: with another serial killer (or two) to deal with, and Dexter making sure he doesn't get caught.

I totally agree that there are suddenly too many little subplots -- for ANY season, let alone a final season. Why are they bringing in so many new characters (Vince's daughter, Vogel, Zack), bringing back characters who felt temporary (Hannah), and not dealing with the major characters in terms of final story arcs (Dexter, Deb)?

Looks like Deb will go back to the force (gee, she sure has healed fast from her own crimes and her knowledge of who Dexter is -- wouldn't most of us have ended up in a looney bin by now?), and all will be right with the world. Will there be some ending that will imply everything will go on as it did before? Will they ever really deal with the undercurrent of sexual/love tension between Dexter and Deb? Or has that been dealt with as much as they're going to deal with it?

I don't know how many episodes are actually left, but it just doesn't feel like it's heading TOWARD anything anymore. Really fizzling out after a great first few episodes of this final season...



I don't know how many episodes are actually left, but it just doesn't feel like it's heading TOWARD anything anymore. Really fizzling out after a great first few episodes of this final season...
Only four episodes, yes, four, this is what is confusing me at the moment after the last few episodes which never really advanced towards anything until the very last scene of the last episode.
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Yikes, how are they going to wrap up anything in four episodes and not have it feel shoe-horned in?

Agreed -- the last revelation of the past episode was the only real advancement toward an ending. As for Vogel -- she's starting to feel like a fifth wheel when I had hoped earlier that she could be an instrument to move us toward a fulfilling wrap-up for Dexter himself (either good or bad). She's outlived her usefulness as a character.



Yeah, after the first few episodes they made her a sub character that all the more 'main' characters occasionally go to see, so she wasn't involved directly in the foreground, I thought something was going to develop between her and Deb, but it didn't. I thought they were going to be more direct in going 'back to their beginning' with her helping round of Dexter's eight season arc, but it didn't work out that way, strange.



I actually like Hannah and hope they end up together. I agree that there seems to be too many sub-plots going on, but I guess they are doing that to give those secondary characters a reason for being around anymore. Vince and Quinn have done nothing significant the past seasons (Quinn more so since he is a more important character than Vince) so we have some lame story arcs for them since it's the final season.

Deb seems to be recovering faster than I expected. Vogul is someone I don't particularly care about, but it seems that they are moving her into the territory I originally thought she was going to be in. So at least there's that.

Poor Zack, another useless (?) character.

At this point, I don't particularly care how the series ends, I already know that it won't be wrapped up in a nice little bow like Breaking Bad will be.



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Wait, was there even an episode last night? Didn't look like it (due to the holiday weekend).

But hey, you could be referring to any number of episodes in this final season. It doesn't even feel like a good REGULAR season, let alone a final season. I'm thoroughly disappointed in how they're apparently (not) wrapping this story up.



Gonna watch the latest episode that I think was just on for you guys in the US when I wake up (later/tomorrow), really don't like what they did with the Brain Surgeon.

WARNING: "Dexter" spoilers below
He was related to Vogel, what a stupid, uninspired plot twist, ridiculous


Edit: Just seen there wasn't an episode this week, ah well.



This show has just gotten so sloppy. Hannah's a huge fugitive (hugitive!), but she's hanging out with Dex in front of her sister's house talking, instead of doing so in the car? And she's not wearing a hat/sunglasses/inconspicuous outfit, like every other wanted person would, but instead is leaving her head and face completely uncovered and wearing a bright pink, uber-tight dress? Really? C'mon. I know it's not a plot hole, in the sense that the scene doesn't have to meaningfully change to "fix" it, but there's a serious lack of attention to detail here. It makes a big difference whether or not a character actually has to adjust to being "wanted," otherwise we're just being told they are.

And yeah, the only reason to give us so little backstory on Vogel's family is so we can be shocked when we learn all this...but I don't think anyone is. It's not that kind of reveal. Good plot twists make you feel a little dumb for not having seen it, because all the information was sitting there in front of you the whole time. Plot twists that rely almost entirely on withholding the information you would've needed to even potentially guess them are cheap and unimpressive.

At this point I'm just glad we're in the home stretch, because even a badly written finale to a long-running show has the potential to be quite good.



This show has just gotten so sloppy. Hannah's a huge fugitive (hugitive!), but she's hanging out with Dex in front of her sister's house talking, instead of doing so in the car? And she's not wearing a hat/sunglasses/inconspicuous outfit, like every other wanted person would, but instead is leaving her head and face completely uncovered and wearing a bright pink, uber-tight dress? Really? C'mon. I know it's not a plot hole, in the sense that the scene doesn't have to meaningfully change to "fix" it, but there's a serious lack of attention to detail here. It makes a big difference whether or not a character actually has to adjust to being "wanted," otherwise we're just being told they are.

And yeah, the only reason to give us so little backstory on Vogel's family is so we can be shocked when we learn all this...but I don't think anyone is. It's not that kind of reveal. Good plot twists make you feel a little dumb for not having seen it, because all the information was sitting there in front of you the whole time. Plot twists that rely almost entirely on withholding the information you would've needed to even potentially guess them are cheap and unimpressive.

At this point I'm just glad we're in the home stretch, because even a badly written finale to a long-running show has the potential to be quite good.
WARNING: "Dexter" spoilers below
I really hope it doesn't end with Dexter and Hannah actually leaving for Argentina. It would be really poor, but I actually feel it's going to happen as I don't feel the writers have the balls to do anything better with Dexter like him getting caught or killed or something.

What I would like to see happen is:

Saxon kills Vogel, please.

Hannah and Dexter go to boat/plane or whatever, thinking about whether to leave or not.

Deb tries to find Hannah.

Dexter reconsiders and goes back into Miami to find Saxon.

Deb finds Hannah, kills Hannah (won't happen, but please)

Dexter finds Saxon, gets him on table, but then Quinn interrupts, although this would be too similar to last season.

Something like that will probably happen though, I can see it coming together with Dexter and Hannah on one side, and Quinn and Deb on the other.



Yeah, that could all happen. Who knows. At this point I'm pretty terrified that they're going to turn Dexter into a "good guy." They're already laying the groundwork for this with Vogel saying that perhaps he isn't a pure psychopath as she assumed. I've been dreading that all season...the idea that she'll say something like that, indicating that they intend to show that Dex isn't a bad guy, but was made into one. Nevermind that this doesn't fit very well with all we know about his upbringing so far. Ugh.

Also, it's absurd how much of the dialogue is just plot-advancing data dumps now, or characters just openly telling us everything they're thinking. The show needed a voiceover for most of its run because Dex had a secret that nobody knew about. That's why they needed Harry in his head. But now he's got three people to talk to who know exactly what he is! So he just plops down on a couch with one of them and just talks about his feelings whenever the writers need him to. Which is apparently quite often now.

The scenes with Vogel are particularly bad. She never sounds like she's talking to him; she's talking to us. It's so clumsy. "Here's why you wants thi. Here's why it's important for you to resolve that." Meh.



Yeah, that could all happen. Who knows. At this point I'm pretty terrified that they're going to turn Dexter into a "good guy." They're already laying the groundwork for this with Vogel saying that perhaps he isn't a pure psychopath as she assumed. I've been dreading that all season...the idea that she'll say something like that, indicating that they intend to show that Dex isn't a bad guy, but was made into one. Nevermind that this doesn't fit very well with all we know about his upbringing so far. Ugh.

Also, it's absurd how much of the dialogue is just plot-advancing data dumps now, or characters just openly telling us everything they're thinking. The show needed a voiceover for most of its run because Dex had a secret that nobody knew about. That's why they needed Harry in his head. But now he's got three people to talk to who know exactly what he is! So he just plops down on a couch with one of them and just talks about his feelings whenever the writers need him to. Which is apparently quite often now.

The scenes with Vogel are particularly bad. She never sounds like she's talking to him; she's talking to us. It's so clumsy. "Here's why you wants thi. Here's why it's important for you to resolve that." Meh.
Yeh that annoys me too. In the first few seasons the narration was used as an effective way of understanding Dexter's character and was important in his development. Now it's just like an actual narration of story and is just used to spoon feed us the plot step by step, it's irritating.

This lies into the bigger problem with me, I have mentioned it before how after season four they changed Dexter's character so much. The first four seasons and their killers were all about Dexter, now they're not, it's not personal, and I feel they've changed his character to much. Like you say I hate this idea that he 'could have been made into a bad guy', from the start it was always said that he was always a bad guy and he was simply controlled thanks to Harry. When Vogel was introduced you could see how they wanted to make it more personal, go back to the beginning to make for a fitting end, but it's worked out badly, she's a terrible annoying character and I feel know personal/emotional connection to her, or between her and Dexter, she only seems to care about herself, in fact.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
The writers this season are so lazy. As Yoda pointed out, not even a freaking hat on Hanna when she goes out into public? Lumen wore a disguise and she was not a wanted fugitive. Just goes to show that prior seasons were a lot better (and I was not a fan of 5).

This last episode made me cringe even more with their attempt at shock with Debra being shot. The only interesting thing was Dex no longer needing Ghost Dad.




Oops, I mean Harry.
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Suspect's Reviews



The Adventure Starts Here!
I see, TUS, you and I are watching both Breaking Bad and Dexter... which means here at our house lately, we've watched Breaking Bad on the edge of our seats, barely breathing, while we DVR Dexter.

Then we put on Dexter... and I putz around on the Internet while the episode is playing....

So many cheesy, obvious things going on here. When they did the previews of next week's finale, I kept thinking, "Oh good. Only one more episode."

That's not a good sign, is it?



Saxon is by far the least interesting nemesis, yet. I do admit that seeing Dexter being wished farewell by Angel with his usual introverted-esque-feelings-starting-to-show type reception was sort of sad. I'll miss the show, even if this season is incredibly weak.
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28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
This season seemed like an obligation. They wanted to end it and Showtime wanted one more? They clearly don't care anymore and it's sad. I wanna watch seasons 1 and 2 again. I miss Doakes.



Exterminate all rational thought.
I will definitely miss this show as I have been a huge fan from the beginning, but even I have to admit this season is subpar at best. I watched last night's episode today and barely even paid attention I was still so worked up over Breaking Bad last night. That show is simply putting Dexter to shame in competing final seasons and it's not even close.



This season is an embarrassment. I hate everything about it. I hate Vogel. I hate Saxon. I Hate Hannah f*cking McKay.

I really hope Hannah dies and Dexter gets found out, something like that. I don't want it to end without Dexter dying or getting found out, that would be too easy.