Home Featured TV Shows All TV Shows Movie Reviews Book Reviews Articles Frequently Asked Questions About Us

Dexter: Goodbye Miami

"People get what they deserve. At least they should."

Dexter episode titles are often misleading, so I wasn't expecting anyone to leave Miami. And no one did. In fact, I expected pretty much everything that happened in this episode, when what I really wanted was for them to surprise me.

Oh, Evelyn. She was such a terrific character at first, but what a sad and inevitable death. I knew at the end of the last episode that it would go this way. And yet, it wasn't that the writers weren't faithful to the character. Everything she did with Dexter when he was a boy was what she had longed to do with Daniel. When Daniel took her to his kill room and asked for her help, it had to be like a dream come true for her; she could finally "fix" her own son, like she fixed Dexter. By the end of the episode she had accepted that it wasn't possible, but she couldn't just let Dexter kill him without saying goodbye. As if a hyper-aware observant serial killer who hated and resented her for institutionalizing him wouldn't see her intentions written all over her face.

Dexter was experiencing his nearing-the-end-of-the-season dithering, knowing that he should concentrate on eliminating the serial killer while being distracted by personal issues. I found it pretty frustrating because I knew how it would end, with the serial killer killing again. And giving notice to Angel? What a mistake. When you're running away with a wanted woman, you don't give notice! You don't sell your stuff! You just leave, Dexter. He works with the cops, he should know this.

Instead, Dexter didn't commit to either action and was finally putting together a kill room (more about that below) when Harrison, alone with Hannah, got seriously hurt. (Great big cut under his chin. Obvious parallel to the great big cut under Evelyn Vogel's chin.) Hannah didn't hesitate to take him to the emergency room, I'll give her credit for that, but why didn't she cut her hair short and dye it black or something a couple of days ago? Invest in a pair of glasses with clear lenses? Buy a baseball cap? Come on. I thought Hannah was smart.

And with that as a segue, Deb has decided that since she can't have Dexter, she's going to throw herself at Quinn? Well, maybe it isn't the mistake that it was a couple of seasons ago. Quinn has been more likable this season than he ever has, and I thought breaking up with Jamie was the mature thing to do – especially since Jamie was about to throw away an opportunity in Atlanta to stay with him. Quinn never loved Jamie, and staying with her while working with Deb was always going to be a bad situation. But I just don't feel good about Deb going back to Quinn on the rebound.

Finally, Dexter chose to set up his kill room in the same place where he killed the choir director in the pilot episode. The message was obvious – it's the end of the line, the last kill, the end of Dexter's journey. Will Dexter get to use it on Daniel before Daniel cuts the brains out of someone else?

I hope the last two episodes are satisfying. This was a decent episode, but it was frustrating.

Bits and pieces:

-- Matthews is actively looking for Zach. Good luck with that, Matthews. Poor Zach. That video of Daniel killing him made me go "awww."

-- Niki showed up to work stoned. Masuka was not amused.

-- Elway practically shoved Deb out the door. He was just pissed because she was never interested in him. I wonder if that's it for Elway? Or will he find a way to ruin Deb's return to Miami Metro?

-- Dexter was totally oblivious to the real reason why Deb was so upset about him leaving. Has he chosen to forget that Deb told him she loved him because he just doesn't want to deal with it?

Quotes:

Deb: "Okay, I'll look you up the next time I'm in Argentina."

Dexter: "Nothing will change when I'm gone. Blood will continue to pool. I just won't be here to photograph it."

Deb: "Hanging out with two serial killers. Doesn't get better than that."

Hannah: "Thank you for protecting me. Again."
Deb: "Who knew I'd be so good at it?"

I'm tempted to rate this episode two and a half sandcastles out of four. Opinions? Comments?

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

7 comments:

  1. Two sandcastles would be enough, though I would've probably rated lower. I think this season has been terrible. Major disappointment.

    ReplyDelete
  2. In my eyes, this season has officially been worse than season 6 now, and watching this after Breaking Bad doesn't do it any favor.

    My thought process after the Harrison jogging scene: "don't take him to the hospital... don't take him to the hospital... you can hold the cloth to stop the blood and/or call for Dexter or Deb for help, but you need to lay low especially after what Deb just told you... but just don't take him... DAMMITTT!"

    Well at least it gives us some very (unintentionally) hilarious moments, such as: “I don’t keep up with Dexter’s dating life.” ...Cut to 1 minute later: “If Dexter was dating Hannah McKay again, I’d f**kin’ know about it.” and this quality gif: http://imgur.com/inLnZST

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love your reviews! I think its great the series its becoming full circle, and holy shit, it really hurt me too when they showed how Zach was killed :(

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think I'm enjoying this season more than everyone else seems to be, but it is struggling with some plotting issues. You can see the bones all too frequently. Introduce the running machine, have an accident on the running machine, force Hannah and Harrison to go to the hospital, have the Nurse recognise Hannah and tell the detective Harrison's surname, thus cocking the whole thing up. It's all just a tad too transparent. If this had been season four or five, they'd have had Hannah caught by now, Dexter on the run, and Deb with half her skull missing. They've really been stingy with their stomach churning cliffhangers this season. I haven't thrown up once. Here's hoping for a vomit inducing penultimate episode.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's hard when, number 1. Your favorite TV character, in this case, Dexter, starts turning into a real boy or a regular person. What was exciting about watching Dexter in the beginning was seeing him evolve from a solely urge-directed killer to slowly becoming more human. Now that he's almost there, we don't seem to like him anymore.

    Number 2. The writers and the show runners don't seem to like the character anymore either. I think that's the reason we're getting this not really well thought-out derivative dreck for the final season. At least this episode went someplace, even if it wasn't very far. Disappointing to say the least, but maybe they'll actually surprise us at the end. I know, I know, wishful thinking.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I hereby resolve that as far as I am concerned Dexter's last season was Season 5.

    The only minor comfort in seeing one of your favorite shows go down the drain is the shared camaraderie of outrage among online fans.

    I specially like some of the coments at ew.com:

    >>> By this point of the FINAL season everyone should know Dexter is the Bay Harbor Butcher. Debra should be dead by her own hand and Harrison taken from him. His code should be in shambles, what little morality he had gone, a hunted animal who kills at will. See, that's how the story of a serial killer should end. But to be fair, "I'm going to Argentina with my girlfriend after I kill this guy" is pretty compelling too. <<<

    ReplyDelete
  7. This last season is so painful to watch. How can a show with one of the greatest seasons in television history (Trinity) end so terribly?

    Rather than this awfulness, I would have much rather gone the route of seeing Dexter caught and on trial.

    Poor Laguerta. Completely innocent. Dead. And we're now in the phase where it never happened and nobody's punished for it.

    ReplyDelete

We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.