Dexter

[Deleted]

It was just so epically terrible, I can't put into words how mad I was when it ended. It just was not the same show that was so good in the early seasons. They destroyed it.

[hamhock]

I just watched the ending. Wow, that was awful.

[Binky]

Sept 23, 2013 11:56:22 GMT -4 @roisin54 said:

It was just so epically terrible, I can't put into words how mad I was when it ended. It just was not the same show that was so good in the early seasons. They destroyed it.

Yeah. You know, I could write a dissertation about how they destroyed it, but I was talking to my friend (who occasionally watched it, but doesn't like gore or suspense) and she tried to get me to summarize what they did.

Early seasons Dexter had two main conflicts: Dexter trying to reconcile his serial killing with being a person and Dexter trying to avoid suspicion for being a serial killer. I always enjoyed the suspense of the latter aspect, honestly, because my understanding of Dexter was of a serial killer who is going to justify serial killing regardless of his lovelife/children/sister/code because he has a compulsion to kill. I liked Rita and Lumen and those relationships, but I liked Dexter trying to outwit Doakes, Quinn, and Laguerta better. Yeah, sometimes he escaped via deus ex machina or characters being extra dumb, but there was tension! There was conflict!

The last three seasons increasingly had Dexter redundantly trying to reconcile serial killer/person in ways that were really badly plotted/made so little sense/were just not compelling, until this season where his need to kill was cured by love. Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay. Cured by love. Fuck you show.

And this season, no one was trying to catch him. The only vague tension was Deb's quickly-gotten-over breakdown. After they sacrificed Laguerta (a beloved, original cast member) for him, he was completely safe. He murdered a dude on camera in front of his co-workers and they were like "Cool, go to Argentina." Batista OD'ed on stupid pills and Quinn had to have had a lobotomy.

I'm not even touching the fucking lumberjack shit, but the above to me is how they destroyed the show. They turned a story about a serial killer eluding cops and pretending to be a normal person, into a serial killer cured by love, not chased by cops, with an annoying kid and annoying girlfriend, and annoying therapist with annoying psycho son. Substitute "annoying" with "boring" and it also works. Boring/Annoying show about nothing but vague romances, new characters with stupid storylines, while character assassinating old characters and completely ignoring 5 years of storylines that weren't boring and annoying.

[CAgirl]

That was an awful finale! My husband & I were laughing at all the stupidity going on. I loved this show in its first seasons, but this final season was horrible. What were they thinking? And there's gonna be a spin off? About who? Hannah & the kid? Is lumberjack dexter gonna make special appearances?

[kostgard]

This really makes me glad that I checked out on the show a while ago. I thought about going back, but when they were apparently doing the "Deb is in love with Dex" thing it killed absolutely any desire to watch (though I kept up with what was going on).

The problem seems to be that the writers decided that Dexter is truly a hero. A lot of people have been comparing it to Breaking Bad in that BB is doing everything right that Dexter is doing wrong, and I agree. In BB world, people can be good, bad or in between, but actions have consequences. And people have to pay the price. Walt may have started out as a decent man, but he evolved into a monster and now he's paying the price. Dexter? Well, everyone in the police department were too dense to notice the murderer right under their nose (except the two who weren't and were subsequently killed), Deb decides that her brother is a swell guy who deserves happiness, and not a freakin' serial killer who deserves lots and lots of jail time. And instead of accepting that Dexter is psychologically effed up and that's why he killed, the writers decide that all that was really missing was the love of a good woman. Now he's all cured, and he totally won't be killing people with his lumberjack axe. They are basically saying that he's just a misunderstood good guy who needed to meet the right lady and was totally justified in killing all those people, even the police officers who were trying to do their job.

Bull. Shit. And then they killed Deb. She was the only character I really liked. Screw that.

[alpierce]

I'll only watch it for Yvonne. I only watched it in the past for Julia Stiles. I expected it to get stupid a long time ago.

[Neurochick]

I stopped watching when Jimmy Smits was on; the show was boring and predictable to me then.

But from what I've read, I really don't get what the audience expected. Maybe Dexter should have been caught? But I agree about the consequences; it seemed that Dexter shit on people and they paid the price instead of Dexter.

[Deleted]

I thought someone on the force other than Deb surely would've figured out what he was by now, it just seems like they made all the other cops actively stupid.

[bklynred]

Rita being killed by Trinity was the last time this show made me gasp (in horror, not embarrassment).

The finale was terrible. S4's showrunner talks about some obvious things like Hannah not even changing her f*cking hair color with half of Miami running after her. Hannah & Deb being even remotely civil is ludicrous.

Deb's death was supposed to shock us but it annoyed the hell out of me. Deb & Quinn deserved to be together; she earned happiness. Dexter should've either been exposed and arrested or killed by Deb, someone he was stalking or in a random crime (ala The Wire). That's what he earned via his actions. WTF happens now, he doesn't kill anymore just because he's a lumberjack and lives alone? It made no sense whatsoever, and insulted the intelligence of the fans. They squandered the whole psychiatrist angle, which could've been interesting but piddled out to nothing. Also, I'm sure Yvonne whatsherface is a really nice woman, but a good actress she's not. That's why she worked best as a killer--she's naturally detached and emotionless.