Dexter Says Good Bye... For Now

Well this remains one of the shows best seasons ever, possibly THE best. I was slightly off with my predictions as to who would be dead by the end of the season, but we did have to say some goodbyes.

Naturally Lumen and Dexter killed Jordan Chase. This was inevitable. There was no way he would get away and no way they would let him live. He was the serial killer bad guy guest star, and as the season came to an end, so did he.

But what was amazing was the way in which it happened, and what came after. Lumen carried out the kill, but you could see on her face that she no longer got that same sense of peace that she got from killing Tilden and witnessing Cole’s murder. But what was shocking was that Deb showed up and as Lumen and Dexter stood in shock behind the tarp she told them off, but in the end the part of her that could relate to Lumen thanks to the Ice Truck Killer let them go. This was the closest she has ever come to discovering Dexter’s true identity, but he got away undetected. Something makes me think she may never learn his secret now.

Then there was the Quinn storyline. He seemed to be stuck, sure to go down for the murder of Liddy. He even had blood on his shoe, but he couldn’t rat out Dexter, he couldn’t do that to Deb. And so he didn’t, and after Deb let Lumen and Dexter go, unaware it was them, he botched the blood test so that Quinn could get away without being framed for Liddy’s murder. Now he and Deb are together and she is happy for once. I couldn’t have been happier to see him escape this situation. Granted the show is called Dexter and so if it came down to it, Quinn would take the fall for the Liddy murder, Dexter would see to that. But Quinn didn’t divulge that he had been spying on Dexter with the help of Liddy and he got away without it being explored too deeply.

But the one gripe I have with the season finale is that Lumen, whose dark passenger had left her after Chase’s murder, left Dexter. She knew that he would have to keep killing, but she no longer felt the urge. She was “cured.” It broke Dexter’s heart to see her leave, and it was equally hard as a viewer to watch her walk away. After Rita's murder he needed Lumen, and he was closer to Lumen that he had ever been to Rita. Now I fear that he will never get another love interest. All that he has is his kids, and they will spend the summer with him, hopefully filling the void that Rita and Lumen have left.

I have no idea what to expect in the next season as all loose ends were tied up here, but this has been the case with past season finales too, only Dexter had Rita in the past, now he has no one, romantically speaking. Looks like we’ll have to wait until next September to find out what’s next at Miami Metro.

Dexter says, “I Love You”

The season is quickly coming to an end and as it is the ninth episode in a twelve episode arch some things have begun to reach a boiling point. First things first, it is blatantly obvious that the Santa Muerte murders are not the key serial killer arch as I though in the first few episodes, but rather it is the Barrel Girl killings. The audience knows it is Jordan Chase and his fraternity of killers carrying out these murders, but the fallout has yet to occur at Miami Metro.

Most importantly, this episode saw the introductions of many of the key characters. Astor shows up at her old home, where Lumen is staying, completely drunk and, unfortunately, looking like a prostitute. She does not take kindly to the fact that Dexter has a new “tenant” so soon after Rita’s death. Yet again Dexter has to play the role of daddy to someone old enough to observe what is going on, and be angry about it.

Deb also meets Dexter’s beautiful, young new tenant. It was exciting to see Lumen hold her own against Deb. When Deb says, with her typical attitude, that she didn’t know Dexter had a new tenant, Lumen responded, with attitude, by saying she didn’t know Dexter had a sister. Naturally no one believes it is exclusively a tenant/landlord relationship, which at this point it is.

But it was so refreshing and wonderful to see Dexter play the overprotective, devoted father again. He beats up the step dad of Astor’s friend when Lumen discovers she has bruises all over her body. This actually brings Astor closer to Dexter again, and she asks a really insightful question, does helping Lumen make Dexter feel better about what happened to Rita? She finally accepts that Dexter may not have been to blame, and he is hurting from the loss of Rita as well. And then it comes, the words that make this show so multifaceted and wonderful, “I love you.”

Dexter is capable of love, as we have known for some time now, but he is finally accepting what he is and redefining what he isn’t. In one of the most heartwarming father-son moments, Harry says he is proud of Dexter for protecting his daughter and he finally admits that he may have underestimated Dexter, that he is so much more than just a monster, and had he seen this years ago he may not have lead Dexter down this path. Again, this is why this show is successful. Dexter is not a monster, despite his questionable extracurricular activities. He is one of the most fleshed out characters currently on screen, and I think this show will go down in history as one of the all time bests.