That Dexter finale

Baffled by that Dexter finale last night? Feeling a little unsatisfied?

You’re certainly not alone.

While most of us thought Dexter would either be a) caught b) killed or c) get away to Argentina, he actually did none of them.

Instead he organised his own disappearance and finished up as a lumberjack. What the?

Dex finally came to realise that he brings nothing but misfortune to those he loved and so puts himself above his son Harrison and girlfriend Hannah McKay. Instead of following them to South America he orchestrates a new life as a loner, trapped in his own solitary -devoid of his own monologues and ghosts to keep him occupied.

As an audience we were denied the moment of exposure for our anti-hero and there will be division over whether that was a pay-off we were owed or whether our hero’s escape is more satisfactory.

But it was an inglorious exit for his sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter), who effectively died off screen and whose body was dumped in the ocean like waste. Charming.

When I think of other TV characters bidding each other goodbye after long runs, this one barely even required an emotional acting turn from Michael C. Hall. Ok he pulled a few faces here and there, but there will be no Emmy noms in any of those. Lost opportunity.

And what of the unfinished subplot for Masuka’s daughter this season?

Social media was getting stuck into the show last night, and who can blame them after 8 seasons of loyal viewing?

According to showrunner Scott Buck and longtime executive producer Sara Colleton the ending was pitched some years ago, centering around Dexter forced to kill his own sister (what as opposed to them making out?).

BUCK: The kernel idea were the last few scenes. They were what I pitched a few years ago. The main idea was Dexter is forced to kill Debra. And there are many ways that could happen. But those final scenes were pretty much unchanged.

It seemed like the ending that was most justified. In season 1, you saw this guy who was so compartmentalized. The last couple seasons have been about breaking down those walls by having his son and his relationship with Hannah and having Deb discover who he is. Still he was able to justify what he did. We felt it took the death of the one person he cared most about to really look at himself. [His fate] wasn’t something that happened to him but his decision. He had to bear the burden of deciding his own fate.

You can read much more on their answers in an interview with Entertainment Weekly here.

But you should also read another interview with Clyde Phillips who was executive producer and showrunner for the first four seasons.

He tells E!Online of his own vision of the finale:

“In the very last scene of the series,” Philips explained, “Dexter wakes up. And everybody is going to think, ‘Oh, it was a dream.’ And then the camera pulls back and back and back and then we realize, ‘No, it’s not a dream.’ Dexter’s opening his eyes and he’s on the execution table at the Florida Penitentiary. They’re just starting to administer the drugs and he looks out through the window to the observation gallery. 

“And in the gallery are all the people that Dexter killed—including the Trinity Killer and the Ice Truck Killer (his brother Rudy), LaGuerta who he was responsible killing, Doakes who he’s arguably responsible for, Rita, who he’s arguably responsible for, Lila. All the big deaths, and also whoever the weekly episodic kills were. They are all there.