Showtime Dexter #810 “Goodbye Miami”

The Perfect Psychopath

Dexter and Hannah share a tender moment.
 Will it be their last?

By Catherine Giordano

Dexter calls Oliver Saxon “the perfect psychopath that I once was” in episode 810 of Showtime’s Dexter, titled “Goodbye Miami.” The game is on between Dexter and Saxon—may the best psychopath win.

Of course, I’m on Team Dexter so I’m rooting for the “best” in the best possible sense of the word.  Dexter is the best because he is not a perfect psychopath—he has the ability to love, he has a conscience, and he has “the code.”  Will the things that are good about Dexter lead to his downfall?   

Dexter has a crisis of conscience concerning the people he loves. He has to choose-- does he protect his family or does he go to the aid of Dr. Evelyn Vogel. He chooses Vogel.

The FBI detective who had given up on finding Hannah is back on her case after she is spotted in a hospital clinic.  Hannah was alone with Harrison when he was playing on Debra’s treadmill and fell giving himself a severe cut with a lot of blood. One small question: Have these people never heard of child-proofing?  How hard would it have been to unplug the thing after Harrison played with it the first time?

Another small question: If you are wanted by the FBI, wouldn’t you try to change your appearance, at least a little bit. Perhaps dye your hair, change your hair style, wear large sun glasses or eyeglasses. Apparently, this never occurs to anyone despite the fact the both Debra and Hannah are very familiar with police work.

Dexter and Vogel had hatched a plan to draw Oliver out of hiding.  Vogel apparently realized that she was not going to be able to persuade her murdering son to return to an institution, so she agreed to help Dexter send him to his just reward. The plan was for Vogel to arrange to meet Oliver in a safe public place so that Dexter could follow him when he left. Instead Vogel invites him to her home. (One small question: Do people on TV shows always have to make really stupid decisions just to advance the plot?)

Oliver can sense Vogel’s fear and realizes that his mother has betrayed him. He calmly slashes her throat, saying “once again you choose the wrong son,” just as Dexter arrives. Oliver escapes and Dexter is fruitlessly trying to stop Vogel’s bleeding. This is the “avert-your-eyes-if-you-are-squeamish” moment of the week. 

In a sense, the adult Dexter has witnessed the death of his “mother” similar to the death of his mother that he witnessed as a toddler. Vogel was using desensitizing therapy on  Debra making her relive the death of LaGuerta. It worked for Debra. Will it work for Dexter. Will her death “cure” Dexter.

A few questions have been wrapped up by this act. Vogel is not “The Brain Surgeon” and did not know her son was alive prior to Dexter bringing her the DNA results. We know that Oliver definitely is “The Brain Surgeon” and that he definitely killed Zach.  Dexter hacked into Oliver’s computer and found the videos that were Oliver’s mementos of his crime. What we do not know is the identity of the person we saw in another video of the Brain Surgeon’s victim where someone was being forced to do the actual killing.  And why?  Is that “The Brain Surgeon’s” preferred M.O.? I hope this issue will be resolved in the last two episodes of Dexter.

Now that Vogel is dead, we may never know what she meant in episode 802 about psychopaths being "a gift that helps the human race become civilized."--unless someone is going to read it out to us from her book or her diary. (I speculate on this in another post. Click here to read it.)

Vogel’s blood is all over Dexter.  What is he going to do now?  Get out the bleach to clean up the mess and then make her disappear?  I think this is not going to be that easy.

The detective that is after Hannah suspects that Dexter is involved.  Will he get a search warrant for Dexter’s house and find the bloody stuffed animal, a loose end from a previous kill? Dexter has hidden Hannah at Debra’s house and also brought Harrison there to keep him safe from Oliver. One small question: Wouldn’t Hannah have been better off in some out of the way motel? And shouldn’t Dexter have kept Hannah away from Harrison for fear that he might say something to the wrong person?  More stupid decisions in service of the plot.

Dexter has quit his job and made plans to go to Argentina with Hannah. Debra is not happy about this decision.  Dexter is going to be out of her life, and this is a frightening prospect for Debra. Dexter has always been there. She appears to recognize that she has to deal with this loss by getting on with her life.  She accepts Batista’s offer to rejoin Miami Metro, and she accepts Quinn’s offer for them to get together again as a couple. It turns out that not only is Quinn still in love with Debra, but Debra is still in love with Quinn.

Quinn and Jamie have broken up. Jamie, who was always afraid that Quinn was still in love with Debra, is going to be really pissed when she finds out about Quinn getting back together with Debra.

Another potential complication—will Debra’s closeness to Quinn cause her to let something slip about her brother’s hobby, or maybe love will addle her brain and in the spirit of “there-can-be-no-secrets-between-us” she’ll tell all.

There is just one more loose end. Dexter cannot leave Miami just yet despite the danger of Hannah being discovered.  One small question: Why doesn’t Hannah leave on her own? She has her new identity papers. Yes, Dexter thought it was safer for them to leave as a family, because the FBI was looking for a lone woman, not a family group.  But circumstances have changed.

The reason Dexter won’t leave just yet is that he has to kill Oliver first. This is a grudge match. We saw Dexter crying over Vogel’s body; he has to avenge her death. And we know that Oliver is fueled by hatred and jealousy because Dexter was like a son to Vogel. Oliver is perhaps the smartest killer Dexter has ever been up against. Oliver is the perfect psychopath.

If the death of Vogel has cured Dexter he should be unable to kill Oliver.  However, I don’t think any fan of the show wants to see Oliver left alive to go on killing.  So I think Dexter will get Oliver on his table and then spare him like he did for Hannah and Zach.  He will decide to let the police capture him.  But wait, Oliver may know too much about Dexter—his mother’s files and videos and all. So, Oliver will somehow bring on his own death after Dexter spares him.

Then the cured Dexter and the reformed Hannah and the innocent Harrison can live happily ever after someplace where there is not an extradition treaty. Quinn makes detective and takes Batista’s job when Batista retires and eventually Matthews job when he retires. Debra leaves Miami Metro again to have babies and write a novel about psychopaths.  And everyone lives happily ever after.

Admit it, all of you viewers and fans, vicarious psychopaths all, you want a happy ending, don’t you.

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