Dexter: The End of an Era

Nearly 7 years ago, Showtime released a television show called Dexter. A dark and twisted series, Dexter is about a man who by day, works for Miami metro as a blood spatter analyst, and by night works as a serial killer. In no time at all, the masses flocked to their screens every Sunday night to watch Dexter make his kills and bury them at sea. The twist about the story line is that he kills only bad people, people who he proves to be evil people and need to die so that they cannot harm anyone else. Through a long succession of lies, betrayal, luck, lust, anger and heart wrenching moments, (plus lots and lots of blood), Dexter has survived for a total of 8 seasons for our viewing pleasure.

I didn’t get into the show until it was entering the third season. I had heard about it right when it was first released but because I am not a fan of guts and gore, I did not attempt to watch it. But then I did. And once I started watching it, I just couldn’t stop. I got the first 2 seasons on DVD from Blockbuster (remember Blockbuster??) and hid out in my room watching the episodes in sequence from beginning to end. I would turn on my laptop, turn out the lights and watch Dexter in awe of what it was. Cruel and dark with a good score of humour intertwined amongst the blood and death. It was one of the few shows that I would actually yell out loud “OH MY GOD!” when an episode would end. I just had to know what happened next. It was so intense.

Plus Michael C. Hall is sexy as hell playing Dexter Morgan. He gets all dark and his voice goes all hollow.... What is it about that man and that brown shirt? 

Last night was the last episode of Dexter.

The series finale.

Done.

Complete.

Over.

No more Dexter.

I watched the episode this morning and even after having 12 hours to think about what I watched, I am still having a really difficult time putting my thoughts and feelings into words. For the past few weeks I have been watching religiously and have been hoping that everyone would live happily ever after. After all of the shit that those people have gone through, I wanted things to just work out, let the bad guys die and let everyone else just be happy. The end. I kept telling people, "I hope it ends well and they are get to be happy...but I know it won't because it is Dexter."

WARNING! If you ever plan to watch Dexter or have yet to see the final episode, stop reading right now because I am going to talk about it and give it all away. Even if you might someday in the far future decide to watch the show, stop reading now because I would hate so much for you to know how it ends. That would make me feel wretched to know that I wrecked the ending for you.

You have been warned.

But no. Dexter is not about happily ever after and never has been. Why should it start now that the show was ending? Things just don’t work out like that for these people so even though I had hoped for the best, I was mentally prepared for the worst. And yes, the worst happened. Deb died. She fuckin’ died! (To all of you who know Debra Morgan, you know that the F word was completely valid and totally called for in the situation). When Dexter walked into her room, saw her all hooked up to life support and broke down in emotion, I was devastated to see that emotion come from the character. Dexter does not get emotional (ever) and does not get choked up…so it was a pretty pivotal moment for the character to have. My heart broke and from there I knew that shit was going to get real very quickly. Dexter didn’t get his happy ending. He faked his death, abandoned his son and left his son with the only woman whom he ever loved; the only woman who would ever accept him for what he was. It was heart breaking. He gave it all up so that they could have normalcy and so that he could stop hurting the people he loved.

The thing with Dexter that we all need to keep in mind is that overall, Dexter is a bad guy. He is. He kills people. He is a serial killer who hunts down his prey, ties them down to a table, ends their life, chops them up into pieces and discards the pieces over the side of his boat. Basically every single death in that show was linked to him in some way and a lot of innocent people died because of him. Why should he get his happy ending? Why did we all want to see him get what he wanted, get his happy life, when deep down we all knew that he was the root cause for a lot of terrible happenings?

Because he was dead inside and he was finally becoming a normal human being! Because we love him. We love the show and the characters and everything about it. We’re all just gushy hopeless romantics and in the end we just want things to work out for the best and let love prevail. Whether that love is between a brother and sister, boyfriend and girlfriend, father and son or cop and cop, knowing that the show was ending made us want the characters to end on a good note. Too bad for us! I knew that it was going to end badly and that Argentina would never happen, but a girl can dream.

I know that Dexter is just a silly TV show, but now that it is over, it’s like a chapter of my life is done too. That sounds ridiculous to write, but I have devoted 5 years to watching that show and now it is over. I won’t ever watch a new Dexter episode again. It’s a sad thought. I believe that yes, the show had run its course and it was time for it to come to an end. How many times can a guy get away with killing people night after night? Especially a guy who works for a police department! But as a viewer, it is hard to say goodbye to the show. We got to know these characters and all of the silly inside jokes. We laugh with them in good times and cry with them in their grief. The end of a TV show is kind of like having a reliable friend who suddenly stops calling. It sucks.

So thank you Dexter for entertaining me for all of these years. You were awesome.

PS. Breaking Bad is ending soon too. Stay tuned for my mental breakdown when that show ends!