The Dexter Finale - A Writer's Perspective (Contains Spoilers)
The final episode of the final season of Dexter has aired, and with it has come a tidal wave of criticism. But is it as bad as its fans and critics say?
A quick recap or spoiler, depending on your viewing habits. The character, Dexter Morgan is a serial killer, having been 'taught' by his foster father and a psychologist to only kill bad people, after his tutors presumed he was a psychopath. The show begins with Dexter stating that if he could have feelings, he'd have feeling for his foster sister Deb. Deb's a very sympathetic character - a cop with a thirst for justice. As the seasons accumulate, we see Dexter experience more and more qualities of a person capable of feelings and the viewer begins to root for him to become more 'human'.
The final season opens up many possibilities, from Dexter riding off into the sunset with his son, Harrison and his lover, Hannah, to Dexter realising that he does have feelings for Deb after all and becoming the brother (or even perhaps lover) she always wanted. Another avenue the show teases us with is for Dexter to be killed by the season's super villain, Oliver Saxon.
The finale sees Hannah leave taking Harrison, with Dexter set to follow. Instead, Deb is effectively killed by Saxon. Unable to bear the thought of leaving his brain dead sister in a coma, Dexter disconnects her tubes and breathing apparatus. He carries her lifeless body to his boat and zooms off to sea, where he drops her into the ocean in one of the most poignant and beautifully shot scenes of the entire show. A storm claims Dexter's boat and he is reported dead. While the viewer roots for him to turn up alive and ready to start his new life with Hannah and Harrison, he instead turns up on a construction site presumably far far away. Earlier revelations tell us he's protecting the only two people left that he really loves, by keeping out of their lives. A tear roles down his cheek and the titles roll.
The majority of fans felt that Dexter 'deserved better'. I have to admit, the ending left me feeling miserable. However, as it sunk in, I began to regard it as an exceptional and daring piece of scripting. It's not the writers' responsibility to leave the viewer feeling warm and fuzzy, it's the writers' responsibility to give the show a good ending. The show preserved its integrity up to the very end, never betraying what it established in its eight season run.
Dexter has never been a feel good show. It's brilliant escapism and has moments of wicked humour, but it's hardly light entertainment. Allowing Dexter to ride off into the sunset would have undermined both the genre and the complex make-up of Dexter's character.
What we've always wanted for Dexter was for him to to feel and that's what we got, in the form of the rawest emotion known to man - grief. It would be ridiculous to expect somebody who had been responsible for the deaths of over one hundred people, including his own wife, to start having real emotions and suddenly feel on top of the world. Likewise, it would be unreasonable to expect a character whose compulsion to kill was so strong that he repeatedly put his own life in jeopardy, to just stop killing.
The ending was poignant, developed the character a realistic amount and was packed with suspense, emotion and surprise, in keeping with the show's general ambience. You can't say fairer than that.
The reaction put me in mind of other endings such as the final finale of The L Word and the first season finale of Orange is the New Black. In both cases I felt cheated by the scriptwriting, which left me in a bad mood. But at least with Dexter and, to some extent, Orange is the New Black, I felt that the scriptwriters had chosen 'brave and moving' over 'happy ever after', and you have to respect that.
It would have been hard to respect the writers of Dexter if Dexter had ridden off into the sunset and lived happily ever after.
+
