'Dexter' Final Season Recap - Remember the Monsters?

Here we are, the final episode of Dexter.

It's been 8 long seasons that we've gotten to know America's favorite serial killer, but as the saying goes, all things must come to an end.

Would this be the epic finale fans having been anticipating since the series began?  Would Dexter die?  Would he finally turn himself in?  Would Deb go down with him?  As inconsistent as this final season has been, I still had hope in the back of my mind that the creative team would come through and deliver at the very end.

Sadly - and oh so sadly - this 'series finale' that it was coined was probably one of the worst episodes in this series' history and likely even one of the worst series finales of all-time (even topping The Sopranos).

Where do I begin?

Let's start with Deb.  She died.  Yup, after taking that bullet to the gut from Saxon then being told everything was pretty much fine, suddenly develops a blood clot and proceeds to have a major stroke resulting in her becoming a vegetable.  Mind you, most of these sad circumstances happen off screen so we go from Deb being a bit drugged up to Deb being brain dead.  Jennifer Carpenter deserved so much better than this.

Oh speaking of Saxon.  After escaping from that broken down hospital, he car jacks a guy in broad daylight, gets stitched up by a veterinarian, then decides to cut that guys tongue out so he can sneak into the hospital to go kill Deb.  Does it work?  No.  Before Dexter can get to him, Batista and the rest of the cops arrest him and take him back to the station for detainment.  Saxon's fate is met in death by pen as Dexter sticks him in the neck after making it look like he was being attacked.  Pretty lousy climax there.

Finally, good ol' Dexter.  He's unable to board to plane to Argentina with Harrison and Hannah because he's forced to call in a terrorist threat as Elway is on to them.  This leads Dex to do more soul searching again, realize everything bad that's happened in his life is his fault, and kill Deb himself by taking her off life support.  He does all this while leaving Harrison and Hannah to go on without him (they don't know that) and take Deb's body out to see before Hurricane Laura hits as Dexter takes his boat straight into the storm.

What we're left with is many unanswered questions but we do get a send off of Dexter still being alive, living a secluded life in Oregon as a lumberjack who finishes up by looking straight into the camera.  New series?

If my recap sounds choppy and rushed, well, it's because that's basically how the season and finale was handled:  like garbage.  Sloppy writing, undeveloped storylines, characters given no proper sendoff, unnecessary plot points...an underwhelming ending for a show that should have gone out with a bang.  It sucks that this is how Dexter went out.  I will forever imagine the first four seasons of this show are it and only consider them the entire series.  That last scene of season four when he finds Rita dead in a bathtub full of blood and then walks baby Harrison out of the house, he thinks to himself, "I'm what's wrong."

End of series, done.

Notes:

• Deb's death felt so poorly done.  I had no emotional reaction whatsoever to a character many have adored over eight years.  Poor execution, but that sums up this entire season and especially finale.

• No mention of Masuka's daughter, there's a fucking surprise.

• No closure for Batista or especially Quinn after he loses the love of his life?  Pure shit.

• Was Elway suppose to be something more for this season?

• Thanks Hannah, no one ever liked you.  Rita will always be the 'true blonde' of the show.

Fuck you creative team for the past four seasons.  How you took a great show and turned it into a mediocre piece of shit is beyond me.  Do me a favor and watch Breaking Bad this upcoming Sunday.  That's how you properly end a fucking television series.

Grade: F