Dexterific or Dexaster? Thoughts on the Season 5 FInale

If you are an individual who spends a significant amount of time with me, you probably are aware of a few things. 1) Sometimes I try out Harry Potter spells to see if they work, especially if I don't want to get out of bed to turn the light off. 2) My goal in social encounters is for people to have no idea that I'm as much of a prude as I really am, and 3) I have not only an obsession, but an emotional attachment to the Showtime series Dexter, a crime drama highlighting a serial killer as a dark type of anti-hero, morally thinning the population one kill table at a time.




Maybe it's Dexter's constant struggle of right vs. wrong, perhaps it's some kind of twisted violent voyeurism, or maybe I just like getting into Dexter's head...but this show has been my favorite television series since its first season in 2006. I was watching the moment when Dexter remembered his mother's murder, as well as when he discovered his long lost brother, "Biney." My dad and I used to watch it together every Sunday after I graduated from college and moved back to Mansfield. This year, I watched alongside my fiance, who became a fan of the show when Season 3 was rolling. Tonight, we left small group feeling extremely angsty, rushing back to the house in order to get comfy and watch what I expected to be an EPIC end to Season 5. As the credits rolled, however, I looked over at my Media Hero and said one word: "LAME."

Immediately upon putting my opinion out into cyberspace, I think I was placed into the category of "Lumen-hater." I feel the need to explain myself, maybe even backtrack a little into Season 4 in order to explain my feelings about the end of the season...simply because I don't like being misunderstood. Sure, if we were going to go all Twilight up in this hizzy, I'd be Team Rita over Team Lumen, hands down. I loved what Rita did for him, and I love the life that Dexter could have had, and indeed wanted. Having watched his transformation and his love for his wife grow over the years, it horrified me to see Rita sitting in a bathtub of blood this time last year. EVEN SO....though I cry EVERY time I watch that episode (ask Justin), I was blown away by the amount of possibilities that presented itself with her death.



I spent the summer discussing with different people all of the directions that the show could take, but the one constant consensus I found was that the show could not last more than a couple more seasons. Dexter has been cutting it close over and over and over, and it's becoming less and less believable that he can once again get away. As Season 5 began, I felt that this was the direction it was going.

As much as I love Rita, I have actually enjoyed Lumen this season. I think that she filled a very necessary void in Dexter's life, and they helped each other become whole again. That said, I went into this episode praying that she wouldn't die. Not so much out of me liking her, but I can't imagine what that would do to Dexter. And here is where I'll start hammering out my dislikes for the episode. There were many scenarios in which Lumen could live and the show would still maintain some kind of suspense. Lumen could have taken the fall. Someone could have found Liddy's pictures at the end. Etc. Etc. But no...here they have this beautifully preserved relationship, one that obviously has people invested in it, and they end it just as swiftly as it began. The entire process of Dexter learning to trust again, to share...it's gone just as swiftly as it came. What annoys me is that it took about 2 minutes to dismantle. "Hey there Dexter, you have spent months helping me track down my rapists and kill all of the men that tortured me...and that's really great and all, but I'm kind of over that. I don't want to kill people any more, and you do...so this isn't going to work out, mmmmmkkkkbye." Yes, I know it was much sweeter than that, but the sweetness of the moment was lost to me in what I feel was a huge scripting mistake. Each season is starting to feel like a pattern. Some new person, whether it be villain or lover, is introduced, they are featured all season, and in the end they die or disappear. If this is what is going to be happening, then why do I even bother getting into the show? If the producers are going to just tie a pink bow on everything, then what's the point of creating that suspense up?

I use the pink bow analogy because I think that, overall, everything wrapped up way too neatly. This episode had so many possibilities: Quinn going down for Liddy's murder and spending next season hashing it out with Dexter, and all the drama that goes with that. Deb finding the pictures of Dex and Lumen and starting to put the puzzle pieces together. Dexter and Lumen teaming up as some kind of dynamic duo...but all of the crazy plot lines that had me on the edge of my seat were summed up in a neat little 10 minutes. Deb lets the vigilantes go (which I actually don't mind too much), Lumen decides she's done killing and is gone forever, Batista and La Guerta are suddenly married and happy again, Dexter returns Deb's favor and fudges Quinn's bloodwork, suddenly Quinn doesn't hate Dexter anymore, and oh, Harrison is one and Astor and Cody are coming back for the summer, and OH MY GOSH IT'S A DOUBLE RAINBOW ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE SKY, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN??????? .......ugh........



I understand that anything would have paled in comparison with last season's finale. But there could have been something, anything, to leave me on the edge of my seat for next season. But now the Dexter peeps have given themselves the freedom to basically start from scratch...again. I am going to watch the ep a couple more times, and I'm hoping I'll be able to edit some of this blog. But right now, I'm pretty darn disappointed.