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Dexter: Make Your Own Kind of Music

"You know that won't end well."

So we had a distinct theme: Vogel warning Dexter about the near impossibility of straddling two different worlds. And we had a lot of characters who thought they could do it, no problem.

Dexter, trying to balance his humanity with his darkness, actually seems to think he can kill the Brain Surgeon and then run off to Argentina with Hannah and Harrison and live happily ever after. Where has his good sense gone? Did he forget how well that Wayne and Hannah going to Argentina plan worked? Did he forget the U.S. Marshal who would almost certainly still be tailing him? Most critically, having a woman like Hannah who solves her problems with poison raising my little boy would be an instant deal breaker for me. Why isn't it for Dexter?

And yes, it would certainly be nice if Dexter could rely on Hannah to never poison himself or Harrison, and if they could run off and be happy together. It would be an interesting happy ending to the series. I just don't see it happening, though.

Dr. Vogel thinks that, even though she knows the minds of psychopaths better than practically anyone else in the world, somehow she can make a real relationship with her son Daniel, who has been killing her patients and sending her jars full of brains. Ah, she's a mom, she thought he was dead. I sort of can't blame her. This particular development explains a lot about Vogel, actually. I kept thinking maybe she had a stray psychopathic husband floating around taking revenge, but a son makes a lot more sense. It even explains her devising "the code" for Dexter in the first place. But Daniel is not Dexter in any way, shape or form, and she refuses to see that.

Poor Zach. I was actually starting to like him. And he might have had vigilante potential, since he had the calm and foresight in his last moments to leave a huge clue for Dexter.

I really liked that Dexter and Deb both arrived at Daniel Vogel/Oliver Saxon as Cassie's killer, but by different routes; what a crimefighting team they would make, and I'd hoped we'd get more of it this final season. Sadly, Dr. Vogel allied with the Brain Surgeon would be a formidable opponent for Dexter, since she Knows Freaking Everything. I do not want this series to end with Dexter brought down by a cleverer serial killer. So no Argentina. No cleverer serial killer. Are you listening, Dexter writers?

Deb thinks she can return to police work while hiding a serial killer in her house and another in her family. At least she's realized that there's a small problem with this scenario; Deb may be the least deluded character of the bunch. Maybe she can return to the force when Dexter and Hannah and all the conflict they're creating are gone. Yeah, not gonna happen.

Bits and pieces:

-- Hurray for the casting of Kenny Johnson, Lemonhead from The Shield, as Clayton from the U.S. Marshal Service.

-- Did Harrison lie to the marshal by calling the blonde woman in his picture "Mommy" instead of Hannah?

-- Arlene actually kept a half a million in a closet for Hannah. Now that's a friend.

-- Quinn kissed Deb. So not a surprise. Poor Jamie.

-- Dexter was wearing black again. Which doesn't bode well for his fate, huh?

Quotes:

Deb: "What was Zach doing with you and Hannah in the Keys? Serial killers convention?"

Dexter: (to Deb and Hannah) "You'll be okay here."
Hannah: "Sure. We'll just hang."

Hannah: "Look at what your own father did to protect you."

Deb: "I can't believe I'm eating food you made."
Hannah: "It's not bad, though, huh?"
Deb and Hannah having dinner together? Hilarious.

Three out of four really unlikely happy endings for everyone,

Billie
---
Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

10 comments:

  1. This episode was terrible.

    Dexter's stalking was bad. If he had taken a seat next to Saxon it wouldn't have been worse but at least more comfortable.

    In this episode Hannah wants to get her money? Last week she was already standing next to a plan to the Bahamas and she didn't spend a thought on her money.

    Now taking the mommy route with Hannah and Harrison is terrible and offensive to Rita. I think Harrison was drawing Hannah and by saying "Mommy" he just emphasized that he wants her to be his mommy.

    There are only three episodes left and they bring in a Marshall when they could have given that story to Elway who is severely underused.

    I hated CSI with Vogel and Dex in Zach's lab.

    I loved all the Deb scenes though. Maybe she can get rid of Hannah so that Dex stops acting like a love sick puppy. It's obvious though that he lost his need to kill since he did not spend much time with it this season.

    There is no second on this season that makes me feel it's the last and it's a shame that the writers threw so much potential for a last season away.

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  2. Geez, Anon. I'm not happy with what they're doing with Dexter, but I still think the season has been good. I liked what they did at the beginning of the season with Deb, and Hannah is an interesting character -- I do get why Dexter is obsessed with her. He's sort of in his middle trying-to-do-too-much, not-keeping-his-priorities-straight mode, which is pretty much what he does in the middle of every season.

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  3. This entire season to me is like "One Life to Live" with serial killers. Hate Hannah, the femme fatale (with the abusive rich Julian Sands husband...seriously?); hate Dexter's lovesick puppy act. But can't stop watching...for Deb. Love, love, love her as always.

    Maybe because it follows "Breaking Bad," which is the most amazing show on TV, it just pales in comparison.

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  4. First anon here: Billie, I agree with you about the first part of the season. The Dex-Deb situation was great.

    But the problem lies in what you're saying with "what he does in the middle of every season".

    This is the last season and they do what they always did. You can't tell that this is the last season. They are playing it safe and they even leave out the tension they gave us in previous seasons.

    I think the Brain Surgeon story is not suited for a last season, since it's dragging and it was obvious that Yates wasn't the BS and it was clear that Oliver has a bigger significance than just dropping lines in the background.

    And bringing back Hannah is a mistake as well. They should have focused on Deb-Dex and Miami Metro closing in or something. But they spend so much on Dexter's big love story that it takes away the suspense element and makes Dexter quite soap oper-ish.

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  5. I'm not sure about this season. Since the beginning of the series I always thought that the final season would be all about people finding out about Dexter, trials, thrills. I think we're getting a pretty "standard" season and that's not how I imagined the show saying goodbye.

    Don't get me wrong, the season's been good. I just expected great and breath-taking.

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  6. I've always loved your site and your reviews (especially Buffy and Breaking Bad), but I just have to accept that we will disagree many times when it comes to Dexter.  Dexter season 6 is one of the worst seasons of TV I've ever watched live week to week (and I was baffled when I read your mostly positive reviews alongside each weekly episode).  This season is looking to be on the same level or pass it, which really disappoints me because I thought season 7 is really good.  

    Too many problems to state, but mostly it boils down to normal human logics:
    http://i.minus.com/i5RYOCS7SyIRn.gif

    Also, if Breaking Bad was written by Dexter team (spoiler for past Sunday's BB episode):
    http://i.imgur.com/ryGn6Xy.jpg

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  7. Different strokes, I guess. We'll have to wait and see how it ends.

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  8. The whole season has been lackluster, the writing is hackneyed,trite and boring. This season needed true fans writing it, then Dexter would indeed go out with a bang.

    I did find this episode at least taking us somewhere, even though I can't for the life of me figure out where they're heading. The show should have ended after Rita's death or after he lost Lumen. With the exception of the first few epis and the last of the 7th season, I haven't wanted to re-watch any of the 8th season and that's bad.

    Scott Buck, are you tired of the show and basically don't care anymore? It sure seems that way. Too bad.

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  9. This season's main problem has been its pacing. As you mentioned in an earlier review, Hannah's story kind of exploded out the nowhere and then resolved itself far too quickly. In hindsight, I wish they'd introduced her earlier and then killed off her hubby mid-season. I agree with some of the criticism above that the season hasn't really caught fire yet. I expected Dexter to be on the verge of being caught at this stage, yet he appears to be in no discernible danger, and with just a handful of episodes remaining. With final seasons, you expect all manner of character deaths, yet we've really had none. I expected Deb to die, or Angel... Quinn? I don't feel as though they've made the best use of this being their last ever season. Lost and BSG were knocking people off all over the shop at this point. But, despite these gripes, I'm really enjoying the season. Plus, I really don't know how it's going to end -- which is always a bonus. Maybe they still have surprises in store.

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  10. This is not Dexter. I want to watch Dexter not The Sound of Music!! Where is the Dexter I used to know? All this wishy washy romantic stuff is annoying. It is not exciting anymore.

    The only thing that can save Dexter is something like:
    Quinn somehow discovers who (or maybe what) is Dexter and starts to pursue him. Jamie gets murdered. This affects everybody so they more or less all agree that the killer deserves to be on Dexter's table. Dexter does one more killing and leaves by boat (maybe with Hanner and Harrison). Big storm, all lost at sea..

    But, this is wishful thinking

    ReplyDelete

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