Dexter (Season 8)

Dexter has probably the most notoriously despised series finale in all of television, or at least it did before Game Of Thrones came out. However, my opinions on show enders tend to be a bit... unconventional. I think Evangelion's TV ending is genius, Mr Robot's ending nearly ruined the show, and that the beyond polarizing Lost finale is pretty great and people just don't understand it (they don't, though). So what do I think about Dexter's infamous final season? Well, it's not great, but it is better than I was expecting.

Dexter's sixth season lost me in the very first episode, with its abrupt retcons, shoddier-than-usual writing, and boring religious themes. Season 8, on the other hand, actually got off to a pretty great start! Debra spiraling after killing Laguerta was a heartbreaking but logical progression for her character, the Brain Surgeon seemed like a cool new serial killer for Dexter to face off against, and the storyline about Vogel, a sketchy psychiatrist who helped Harry come up with The Code, is a really intriguing storyline. While I kind of hoped Dexter would be in more danger of being outed to his friends as a serial killer for the final season, I think the concept of tackling his emotional growth and general psyche is a really intriguing one. There was always this ambiguity about if Dexter is really psychopathic, if he really has a "dark passenger", and it feels like the season was setting up for a final concrete answer. Not to mention Vogel being a mother figure Dexter never had, it's all really great stuff. I wouldn't say this part of the season was amazing by any means, Vogel's introduction was a bit retconny and there was a general lack of urgency for what should be the final season. However, I generally found much of Season 8 to be really engaging, which is more than I could say about Season 6. So how did it all fall apart?

I think the cracks started to show when Hannah showed up. I didn't hate Hannah in Season 7, but she was definitely a weak link and stole time away from all the other more interesting storylines. But at least those storylines kept going, Hannah's appearance pretty much abruptly shuts down so many interesting storylines. Dexter seeing himself in Zach and considering teaching him the code? Zach is killed. Dexter trying out the dating scene with a girl named Cassie? Cassie is killed. Masuka learning he has a daughter? Pretty much forgotten. Quinn trying to make sergeant? Also forgotten. Even the storylines that remained were tainted, like how Vogel's moral ambiguity that made her so interesting at first was pretty much stripped away. But the point where the series finally lost me was the treadmill scene, Dexter's jumping the shark moment. Harrison getting injured by tripping on a treadmill is just so poorly-conceived in every way. Not only is it a ridiculous setup, but Harrison's actor couldn't sell it at all and the obvious stunt double made the whole sequence look cheap. Even with the aforementioned faults, Dexter still could've ended on a high note. From that scene onwards, however, I knew this show was a lost cause, and it was. The final three episodes were easily some of the series' worst. It still wasn't boring like Season 6 was, they were entertaining in a so-bad-it's-good way, but it honestly stunned me how a season could start with so much promise and end up wasting it all.

And then there's the finale, which is a bit of a mixed bag. Once again, I like what it's trying to do and it thematically fits with the rest of the season in a lot of ways. Dexter distancing himself from his horrible actions (realizing he doesn't need to kill) only to have to face the consequences of said actions is textbook tragedy. Breaking Bad and Bojack Horseman did the same exact thing, and they both ended excellently. While I wish the punishment Dexter faced was being arrested, losing everyone/thing he cares about and having to go into exile works fine, if a bit safe. However, in practice, this finale had a lot of really stupid moments that really dragged it down. Stuff like pretty much everything surrounding Debra's death, Dexter dragging someone out of a hospital, Harrison being left with a murderer, the awful hurricane special effects, Batista and Quinn seeing Dexter's admittedly cool kill and not arresting him for it, and Saxon being arrested anticlimactically. And even the good moments felt a bit mishandled by the rough writing demonstrated by these last few episodes. The lumberjack shot doesn't really sell whether or not it's a punishment for Dexter, or him getting away with his crimes. 

But still, while this was a pretty bad episode of television, I'm not all that mad with it. It didn't ruin Dexter for me, it was just kinda crummy. And it's not the worst series finale I've seen so far. Not when How I Met Your Mother, Seinfeld, and Star Trek: TOS exist.

Since this season ended up being so uneven, I wanted to list out its high point as well as its low point:

Scar Tissue (high point): This episode was probably Season 8 of Dexter at its most potential-filled, and its best acted. Jennifer Carpenter (Debra) killed it for the whole season, but between her scenes with Vogel and her attempted murder-suicide of Dexter, she was especially great here. Dexter learning that Vogel has been taking notes on him was great too, as was Masuka finally getting a subplot of his own as he learns he has a daughter.

Goodbye, Miami (low point): "Owwwwwww... Owwwwwwwwww... Owwwwwwwww." I'll never let that treadmill scene slide, but even outside of that, the main premise of the episode was done already and executed better in Left Turn Ahead, Vogel's death is another waste of a character's potential, and Quinn and Jamie suddenly break up two episodes before Quinn's other love interest dies making it kind of a waste.

Overall, Season 8 of Dexter was... rough. I actually really enjoyed the first half of this season with its interesting new characters, focus on the Dexter/Debra relationship, and fascinating themes that were at play, but it feels like the season just slowly got worse and worse as it went on. The writing got sloppier, the production felt cheaper, interesting storylines got dropped, and the last few episodes just completely flew off the rails. It's not the worst final season of TV ever (not in a world where How I Met Your Mother exists), but it sure as hell isn't a very good one.

2/5 Stars

My ranking of the Dexter seasons is:

2 > 4 > 1 > 7 > 5 > 3 > 8 > 6

My ranking of the Dexter finales is:

4 > 1 > 7 > 3 > 2 > 5 > 6 > 8

Favorite Episode: Hungry Man

With so many people speculating on what they would've preferred for a Dexter ending, I thought I'd give my two cents on the matter as well to end these reviews off. The frustrating thing about Dexter is that it has all the pieces for a fantastic ending, you just needed to restructure it a bit. Keep Seasons 1-5 as is, at least until Season 5's finale. The Big One has a frustrating fakeout where Debra almost catches Dexter and Lumen in a kill. Have it so that she does catch them in a kill and end the season with that cliffhanger, completely writing out Season 6. If the writers really needed to write out Lumen, maybe have it so that Lumen escapes and Debra only catches Dexter? Then do Season 7 pretty much as is, and end the series with that season's finale. Even with the things I liked about Season 8, Season 7 felt designed to be a final season and the fact that it wasn't continues to baffle me. The final scene could have been anything from Debra shooting Dexter to Debra shooting Laguerta to Dexter getting arrested and I think they would all serve as interesting and fairly satisfying endings for the show as a whole.