Firstly, I am a MASSIVE fan of Showtime’s Dexter’, and what’s not to love? A likeable blood-splatter analyst by day, and a serial killer driven by a certain code of ethics, plenty of blood, an expletive-filled step-sister, some of the best villains on television and an amazing script and cast make this both a very entertaining and thought-provoking show. And, now with the last season’s premiere broadcast on the 30th of June, I thought I would count down the things that I want to see or how I want to see this brilliant show brought to an end.
10: More Cody and Astor: Although their appearances have been few and far between since the end of Season 4, they have all been memorable, especially Astor’s drug use and Cody’s swearing. After watching them ‘grow up’ for seven seasons, it would be nice if the writers could somehow involve them in the action, and not just Harrison. Therefore, they could not just become more and more minor, but be given the spotlight that they deserve, seeing that they were major characters in the first couple of seasons.
9: More development of Harrison as a character: While the new trailers suggest that Harrison will be jeopardised during the season, I would like to see him to mean a bit more than Dexter. It always just seemed that he was either there for the ‘cute factor’, or just to give Dexter something to care about, other than his various sexual partners. Perhaps, he could talk more and become not only a consequence of Dexter’s actions, but a shaping force of them.
8: More explanation of Nadia’s trip to Las Vegas: I was so annoyed when one of my favourite characters of Season 7 (so many to choose from), Nadia, was quickly rushed off of the show near the end of the season. Joey’s love interest just up and left Miami to go to Las Vegas to find a new job. Once again, a character which had lifted the, at first, boring and stupid Quinn to a loving, caring and selfless guy, is just thrown out for silly convenience. I either hope she returns for at least one episode, or we find a little bit more about how she is doing.
7: No rushed explanation of LaGuerta’s death: I swear Miami Metro Homicide has to be one of the least effective and stupid police force in the world. Let’s go through each season: Season 1: Debra can’t tell her fiancee is a serial killer, Dexter kills Brian. Season 2: The department thinks Doakes is the Bay Harbor Butcher and close the case based on very thin evidence. Season 3: They miss Dexter by ‘that much’ and Dexter kills the Skinner and Miguel’s death is basically forgotten about. Season 4: Trinity walks right past Lundy and right into the station, Dexter kills Trinity. Season 5: Liddy’s death basically ignored, Debra was in the exact same room with Jordan’s corpse, Dexter and Lumen and still didn’t have the balls to bring them in. Season 6: So many not-followed-up deaths, including Brother Sam, Nick, Louis. Travis luckily escapes the cops and Dexter kills Travis. Now, Dexter and Debra’s luck needs to run out, there needs to be more of a thorough, well-explained investigation of LaGuerta’s death.
6: Someone in the department finds out: Leading on from the last one, I want to see someone in the department to discover a crucial piece of evidence and be morally conflicted about whether or not to report it. Preferably, I would like either Masuka or Batista, but ultimately, it should be Quinn, after spending so much of Season 5 searching for ‘Kyle Butler’ and then just mysteriously liking Dexter again after being very suspicious.
5: Either make Evelyn Vogel a complex character rather than a simple antagonist or have a really good villain: A high point of all Dexter seasons (except for Season 3, fuck off if you liked Miguel Prado) is their villains, the most memorable being of course Brian Moser and Arthur Mitchell, and to an extent, Isaak Sirko (who I think is one of the best character of the whole series). Therefore, there should either be a more complex antagonist or they should make Vogel the main antagonist, while either creating a ‘twist’ or just complicating her ‘arc’ past just the predictable discovery of Dexter and her murder by his, or maybe Debra’s, hands.
4: More creative kill-rooms: Now, I don’t mean re-creating the tableaus of Season 6, but the season is being hyped up to be based upon the concept of legacy, i.e. what Dexter leaves to the world and indeed his family (Harrison, Cody, Astor and, possibly Deb). Therefore, the writers should continue the exponential increase of creativity in Dexter’s kills (i.e. Ray Speltzer, Victor Baskov).
3: More of Debra crying: The trailers for Season 8 are definitely focusing on the low point that Debra has fell to following LaGuerta’s death, and rightly so. However, the writers should not only show her downfall from Dexter’s perspective, but highlight her strange relationship with Dexter, remnants of memories of Lundy and her connection to her father, and how all of this is exacerbating her confusion about who she now is. Therefore, I would like to see more scenes a la the scene at the crime scene of Lundy’s death in Season 4 or her confession of love for Dexter in Season 7. Jennifer Carpenter is, I think, the best cryer in acting I have ever seen, HANDS DOWN. After seeing her as this strong, almost invincible super-cop, this season should portray her as fragile, vulnerable and utterly broken after the Season 7 finale.
2: A sad and chaotic ending: Now, you are probably all wondering how I want the show to end. Firstly, I think the focus should be on creating a solid final season, regardless of the ending. Secondly, no matter on how it ends, no one will be completely satisfied. However, I think that the only way that it can logically end is either him killed, incarcerated or escape then incarceration. There can be no happy ending, and there shouldn’t be one. After 8 seasons, I and indeed all fans should want a definitive ending, even if it is sad, but still should remain hopeful. I think a happy ending where Dexter walks off into the sunset with Hannah or Deb or some other romantic interest would lose the dark edge that the series has been creating for the past 11 years. Either way, the ending should be bloody and filled with chaos, both narratively and visually.
1: More Hannah: I know I am just saying I want more of certain characters, but they are really what hold this show up. This applies especially to Hannah of Season 7 (my favourite season, if you haven’t noticed), who, while not having a extremely complex story arc, she was more of an impact on Dexter than anything else. She changed everything in Dexter’s life and showing her out of prison at the end only hints that she may play a large part in Season 8. The writers should have learned from the rushed disappearance of Lumen in Season 5 that you can’t just rush a forced, albeit interesting explanation, of why a character has to be axed. But, especially because Hannah changed Dexter, even to the extent where he considered marrying her and being happy without killing, her character should be either enlarged or given a proper ending (either by death from Dexter or Debra or a legitimate reason for her leaving). I think a character that transformed the way the audience sees the protagonist should be kept for as long as possible. If she has to leave the show, she has to leave Dexter a changed man, by either destroying or hurting him in some way, or leaving him a better person than before: there is no middle ground. If there is some loosely based explanation in the first couple of episodes concerning her leaving, some heads will roll.
So, with that said, what do you want or expect to see from the upcoming season of ‘Dexter’? Do you love it? Do you hate it? Do you want to see it end? I know I don’t, but it has remained one of the best shows on TV and it will be sorely missed for its confronting violence, black humour, complex characters, striking visuals, haunting score and the demented ‘Dark Passenger’ we all love.
The Synecdoche of Sims 