This weekend I was able to catch up to the season finale of Dexter. Overall, I thought this season felt scattered and it almost seemed like guest stars were being pushed out there to get us to keep watching. Colin Hanks, Mos Def, and Edward James Olmos are the three big guest stars. I thought Mos Def and Olmos are reliable and play well. Meanwhile, I like how Hanks plays a guy straight-laced looks, but always has a bit of darkness in his eyes.
This season's big theme was religion. In each season there seems to be something which tempts Dexter to stray from Harry's code. In Season 1 it was being free of the code and being his Dark Passenger with his brother. In Season 2 it was truly exposing himself to someone who understood and developing a new code. Somewhere around Season 4 the motivation to break the code came not to unleash the Dark Passenger or let it be understood, but to control it. So in Season 6 Dexter tries to control the Dark Passenger for his son through religion. The other main story line is Deb's ascent both in terms of her job, but also her importance to the overall plot.
Of the last three season, Season 4 with the Trinity Killer was the best, probably of the series. Season 5 was disappointing, but decent. Season 6 seemed lost and ultimately challenged me to wonder if I still care what happens. I'm not sure if I'm losing interest in Dexter or Dexter is just less interesting. I was glad to find out that Dexter will most likely be ending in two seasons. I think it could give the show an extra lift to make it once again a great show. (On a side note: I've become more and more convinced that TV dramas must end before too long or otherwise the drama becomes unbelievable. Too much happens to the characters it becomes as ridiculous as Deb stating that she was engaged to a serial killer who tried to killer her, who by the way was Dexter's biological brother and she watched another one of her boyfriends die in front of her by the same person (who she thinks) killed her brother's wife. But for some reason she has to go to therapy for taking down a guy with a gun in a bar. This is why, while I believe Breaking Bad is as good as ever it must end.)
SPOILER ALERT. Please do not read below if you have not seen Season 6.
I believe the overall plan of Season 6 was a sound and good one. The main plot points were the big reveals that Professor Gellar (Olmos) had been dead the whole time (I was truly surprised) and that Deb finally catches Dexter in the act (Was truly not surprised and didn't like how it was done). I also think that using religion as Dexter's temptation from Harry's Code was a good idea. Tempting him with the idea that he can be rid of his Dark Passenger though Brother Sam's (Mos Def) example and through saving Travis (Hanks) to give his son a good life was a good source of drive. I also thought the struggles Deb goes through with being the new head of Homicide was probably the best part of the whole season. Jennifer Carpenter since Season 4 has done an increasingly good job and Season 6 she continues to grow the character of Deb. In fact, Deb is really the only character that grows in this season. But this season like I said I struggled to keep caring.
First off, I have to say that I along with most people did not like the whole Deb in love with Dexter plot that grew in the last couple episodes. I thought that the fact Deb and Dexter were not biologically related left a door strangely open from the beginning of the series. But I thought that door had been shut through the past 6 seasons of interactions between the two. It never seemed like they were anything else but brother and sister, biological or otherwise. I don't think this made sense and Deb seemed to make less sense when she said that she had always looked for men who were Dexter or the opposite of Dexter. I was thinking that this doesn't make sense in terms of the boyfriends I remember her having and maybe she's been in her head a bit too much because she could probably justify anyone in either category.
Second, I'm not sure what was the deal with the odd road trip episode with Dexter's brother (Christian Camargo) and the Trinity Killers son (Brando Eaton) . At one point of the episode, I thought who else is going to show up Sgt. Doakes (Erik King), who left the show too soon, or Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits). It almost felt like a reunion show (even though he already had his high school reunion in the first episode).
Third and most important, I've become concerned with Dexter's (both the show and the character's) lack of care for the detail, which used to be very important. Just concerning the last episode I have the following questions: why didn't Travis take Dexter's kid at the apartment with only the babysitter watching rather than risk a tricking extraction at his day care? How was Dexter able to escape the police and detection from the tower after knocking out Travis? How does he get him to the car in broad day light with nobody (including cameras) noticing? Why would Dexter choose the church to kill Travis when he knows Deb knows he will be there? Additionally, there seems to be small things that don't make sense. Like when Dexter sets up a scene outside of the art museum for Travis and is unseen. You're telling me there aren't any cameras outside an art museum? Additionally, throughout the season, there seem to be characters who are developed for no reason this season; new detective Mike Anderson, the various interns, and Batista's sister/Dexter's babysitter. None of these characters really have much to do with the plot except for Batista's sister who plays a utilitarian role.
But the last scene of the season makes me most hopeful. What will Deb's next reaction be? How will Dexter explain it? Will he reveal everything (doubtful) or just hide behind some new explanation (likely)? What will this do to Deb? Hopefully, the show will be able to build on this moment more than it did after Rita died. Even though the show has gone down in my view, I'll still be watching.
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