The Final(e) Word

by Catherine Giordano

I get it. Series finales are hard. But that doesn’t mean the writers get to cop out and give us a poor series finale.

Breaking Bad ends good.
Get the DVD for the series

There are three types of bad endings.

The ambiguous ending: If I wanted to figure it out for myself, I’d be in the writer’s room.

The slip-shod ending which leaves all the loose ends hanging—it makes me feel that the closing bell rang and everyone in the writers room just left

The just-plain-wrong-ending: We know what happened at the end and the story is pretty well wrapped up, but we feel cheated somehow.

The most famous ambiguous ending was The Sopranos.  The screen just went black.  I thought something had gone wrong with my TV or DVR, and it cut the show off just minutes before the end. I thought I’ll catch the ending when they rerun it for the West Coast.  Eventually, I found out, that was the ending. The ending is whatever you want it to be. Not cool!

The most famous slip-shod ending was Lost.  The show hadn’t made sense for the last few seasons, but I kept watching. I thought that since I had already put so much time into the series, I might as well ride it out to the end.  What was that ending about? They were all in God’s waiting room having some mass hallucination.
 

The most famous just-plain-wrong ending was the Seinfeld series finale. All the characters go to prison. Just because they were all not very nice people, if you thought about it or a minute, didn’t mean that we didn’t love them.  In a comedy, character traits are exaggerated—that is what makes it funny. But the characters don’t stray too far from reality—that is why we recognize ourselves in them.

Now we have the Breaking Bad finale. The show did everything right. Mr. White had triumphed because he accomplished what he had set out to do--provide financially for his family. Yes, he died at the end, but he had cancer. It would have been unrealistic for him to have had a second remission. His death was sad, but really if he had gone on living, it would have been even sadder. He had burned his bridges, his bridges to humanity. He had allowed himself to become corrupted by evil. There was nothing left for him.

Nonetheless, Mr. White’s death is noble. Mr. White uses his superior cunning to get revenge for the death of his brother-in-law and rids the world of a murderous den of jackels who had no humanity to begin with. And he saves Jesse. At the last minute he knows that Jesse was just a troubled kid and that he had dragged him into a hell-hole.

It was so fitting that Jesse not only escapes, but that he kills Todd mano-a-mano. Todd could have been mowed down in the machine gun fire like the rest of his gang, but he survives long enough to be killed by Jesse. It is like Jesse is killing the evil that took residence in his heart.  At the end, he drives off, laughing manically, free at last. Jesse has a future.

The loose ends are all tied up.  Even the ricin that was woven in and out of the plot for many seasons had a final role to play. Mr. White uses it to eliminate Lydia, the genteel drug mastermind who lets others do her dirty work while she reaps millions through her international amphetamine dealing business.  Mr. White plants the ricin in a packet of Stevia which Lydia uses in her tea thereby poisoning her. (A bit far-fetched, but so neat.)

Weeds also had a great series finale. They used the flash forward technique. The family has gone their separate ways, but they have reunited for the bar mitzvah of the youngest son.  Their problems have not all evaporated, but they have all settled into the lives that are right for them. Fortunately, weed has been legalized so life is good for the two who remain in the business.—Nancy Botwin and her eldest son Shane.  In the last minutes of the finale, the Botwin clan all sort of drift out onto the porch one by one and sit quietly together side by side as a light snow falls. Tomorrow they will go their separate ways, but tonight they are a family and old wounds have healed.

The season finale of Dexter was a disappointment. We did not want to see Debra die—she could have overcome her past sins.  But, I was OK with it—sometimes “good” people die and “evil” people survive. The producer said in an interview that when Dexter pulls the plug on Debra it was not a mercy killing, and that makes me even more confused about the ending. I totally saw it as a mercy killing. After burying Debra at sea, as penance for his murders, and most especially for the death of his sister, he drives his boat at top speed into an on-rushing hurricane. Swallowed by a hurricane, a great metaphor, for a person who was engulfed by murderous urges.

   

But then we find Dexter is alive. His penance will be to live a life of isolation. It’s kind of ambiguous. Will his penance last only a few years or is it a lifetime sentence?  It also feels wrong. If he has chosen not to die, shouldn’t it have been because he would not abandon his son. 

He has left the boy in the care of Hannah, not the first person to come to mind when someone says "loving mother.” I think Hannah loved Harrison enough to be a good mother with Dexter at her side as husband and father, but on her own?  No way.  She is essentially a selfish person—she murdered an old woman, her benefactor, because she could not wait to inherit her business after the woman’s natural death.  She murdered a number of others also—anyone who was a threat to her. My feeling is she will soon tire of the responsibility of a child, and who knows what happens to the poor kid then.

Now, I understand that it might have been a bit strange to see Hannah and Dexter walk hand in hand into the sunset even if they were totally reformed from their previous murderous ways. Evil must be punished!  But on the other hand, neither had much of a conscience--they could have shrugged off their previous murderous ways and walked off into that sunset.  In real life, evil is not always punished.

I thought the best ending for Dexter was for him to die saving his sister from Oliver Saxon and then Hannah goes off to pursue new interests and Debra marries Quinn and takes care of Harrison and becomes a novelist, writing crime novels, one of which is a book titled "Dexter." Debra getting all maternal and “normal-lifey” is a bit of stretch, but possible.

.

Even the tying off of loose ends was not done very well.  Who was the person seen in the video being forced to kill for “The Brain Surgeon?”  Why did Dr. Vogel think that psychopaths were a gift to civilization? As for the killing of Oliver by Dexter, it seemed perfunctory.  It should have been the central emotional high of the episode. Dexter’s final kill!

Finales are hard. We don’t want to see our favorite characters go. But if they must go, we want them to go out right. Don’t let a great series break bad.

Please share this review by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing.”

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my reviews.

Showtime’s Dexter, #812, “Remember the Monsters”

Slice of Life

By Catherine Giordano

Did the series finale of Showtime’s Dexter, #812, “Remember the Monsters” bring the series to a successful conclusion? Well, yes and no. Some loose ends were tied off too easily and some were left hanging.

Dexter and his boat, "Slice of Life"

The season finale began in the same manner as the season premiere—brief clips of the actors talking about the characters, themselves, and the show.  It was nice to join in their reveries.

Dexter and Harrison make it to the airport and are on line to board the plane when Dexter gets a call from Hannah who is hiding out in the ladies room. She has spotted Elway looking for her. Elway has not yet seen either Dexter or Hannah. Quick-thinking Dexter heads to the gift shop, buys a backpack and some items to put inside, and leaves the backpack under a chair.  He then reports the backpack to a ticket agent—“if you see something, say something” he tells that agent as he points out Elway at the man who abandoned the backpack. Soon Security has surrounded Elway and marched him off.  One problem solved, another created. The flight is scuttled due to security concerns and everyone must leave the terminal.

Dexter gets a call informing him that his sister who was expected to recover from her gunshot wound has taken a turn for the worse. Debra is now on life support and nothing short of a miracle will keep her from living the rest of her life as a “vegetable.” Quinn says, "Debra is strong. She will come back.” Dexter says, “I’ve never seen a miracle.”

Dexter tells Hannah to take Harriosn and finda way to leave Miami without him. H has to return to the hospital to be with his sister  Hannah finds a bus leaving Miami going to Jacksonville as part of the evacuation plans necessitated by the oncoming hurricane. She and Harrison board the bus, but who do they find sitting across the aisle form them—Elway. Hannah, who still has made no attempt to disguise herself, was recognized by one of Elway’s ticket-agent contacts. He informs her that when they reach Jacksonville, he will call the authorities to arrest her and Harrison will be placed with child protective services.  

One Small question: Hannah is a wanted fugitive. Why not call ahead and have the police waiting at the station?For that matter, why not call immediately and have the police stop the bus.?  (Because it would ruin the plot, that’s why.) Hannah pulls out a thermos of tea and offers some to Elway. He responds by saying, “H ow stupid do you think I am.” Stupid enough to be distracted long enough for Hannah to stab him with a hypodermic filled with horse tranquillizer that she just happens to have with her.  (Maybe she got it from Dexter since this was his favorite knock-out drug, but could they have gotten that through airport security. Oh wait, Hannah went back to the motel room to figure out how to leave Miami. But would they have left a hypodermic needle filled with horse tranquilizer at the motel. Oh never mind.  It’s not good to think too logically about these things.)

In the meantime, Oliver went to a vet to get his gunshot wound attended to.  Then he kidnapd the vet and headed over to the hospital intent on killing Debra.  He cuts out the vet’s tongue and pushes him through the emergency room doors. This creates enough of a distraction for Oliver to get into the hospital and with no tongue, the vt can’t warn anyone.  When he approaches Debra’s room, Batista and Quinn are there to point a gun to his head and arrest him.  

Dexter is now determined to kill Oliver. He goes to the jail, flashes his badge and says he is there to perform a blood draw for a test for evidence.  He is admitted to Oliver’s cell where they are alone except for a security camera. Dexter opens his kit and starts laying out his equipment. Oliver asks, “Why are you here?”  Dexter calmly nods to the pen he has placed on the table and says, “To kill you with this pen.” Oliver makes a grab for the pen, and Dexter stabs him in the neck with a hypodermic needle. (One small question:  Wouldn’t a dangerous prisoner like Oliver been better secured?  Oh, never mind.).

Dexter waits until Oliver is dead and then yells for help. He is interviewed by Batista and Quinn. Dexter explains his presence by saying he was not technically off the force until the end of the week, and he wanted to look Oliver in the eye. We can see that Batista is not buying it, but he goes along, and declares that Dexter clearly acted in self defense.

Dexter has one more task to perform before he can leave Miami. He gets his boat and sails it to the hospital which just happens to have its own pier. The hospital is being evacuated because of the hurricane.  Dexter takes advantage of the confusion to go into Debra’s room and turn off her life support.  When she is dead, the chaos in the hospital allows him to wheel Debra’s gurney out of the hospital and then carry her onto his boat and speed away.  

He does this as his one last act to protect his sister. Earlier Debra had told Dexter how he has always been her protective big brother. “Remember the monster’s?” she asks him. As a little girl, she was afraid of the monsters, that were only shadows, and Dexter slept on the floor of her room so she would feel safe. Nice resonance here because Dexter’s voiceover spoke about the “shadow of my dark passenger”, and the monsters could be all the serial killers Dexter dispatched as well as Dexter himself. Turning off the life support is the last thing that Dexter can do to protect his sister.

Dexter’s takes his boat (named “Slice of Life”—an apt name consider Dexter’s avocation), and heads full speed into the oncoming storm. He stops the boat and reverently slides Debra’s body into the water. When she has sunk from view he continues full-speed ahead into the storm. This is the “eerily-beautiful-and- beautifully-eerie” moment of the week. The solemnity of the moment, the impressive ferocity of the gathering storm, and the nobility of Dexter’s suicidal dash into the storm.

The next scene is a small bit of the wreckage of Dexter’s boat—the part of the boat with the boat’s name on it is floating in the water after the hurricane has passed.  Then we see Hannah and Harrison sitting at a café somewhere in South America.  Hannah is reading about Dexter’s death in an online news story. 

This is a fitting ending for the story. Dexter pays for his sins with the nobility of his suicide. (Howeve , I do question the wisdom of leaving Harrison in the care of Hannah.  Yes, the two clearly love each other, but if Hannah resumes her killing ways and is discovered, what happens to Harrison?  But with Debra gone, there is no one left to care for Harrison, but Hannah.)

Click Here to order Dexter stuff

Wait, there is more. Dexter is not dead. He has grown a beard, and is working in a remote logging camp. How are we supposed to interpret this? Has Dexter faked his death to avoid having to answer for his latest two crimes? The security camera from Oliver’s cell will reveal that events did not transpire exactly as Dexter reported them, and when Debra can’t be found, someone will identify Dexter as the person seen wheeling her out on a gurney. Does he want everyone to assume that Harrison died on that boat with him? Does Hannah know that he is still alive?

Why has Dexter not assumed his new identity and joined Hannah and his son?  Is this some kind of penance he must perform? Dexter said what appeared to be his final good-bye to Harrison on the phone. “Remember that I love you. But then he added, “Remember that until you see me again.”  Is this supposed to mean that he will eventually join Hannah and Harrison?

It seems like the writers felt that killing Dexter off, even if he died nobly, wouldn’t be acceptable to be viewers. On the other hand, they couldn’t just have him waltz off and live happily ever after. It would have been unsatisfying for him to pay no price.  Is that why they gav us this ambiguous, perplexing, ending?

Oh well, it is just a TV show, not an actual slice of life.

Please share this review by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing".

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my reviews.

Showtime “Dexter” #811 “Monkey in a Box”

Straddling Two Worlds

by Catherine Giordano

I predicted it. Dexter captured Oliver, but turned him over to Debra to be arrested. In episode 11 of

Showtime’s Dexter, titled “Monkey in a Box”, which aired on 09/15/13, Dexter is transitioning from serial killer to a normal guy and as he does so, he is straddling two worlds.

The episode begins with Dexter removing Vogel’s “Dexter Files,” before calling Miami Metro to the scene of Vogel’s murder. He explains that Vogel had asked him to come to see her, and when he arrived the door had been kicked open and she was on the floor with her throat slit. Dexter says that he tried to stop the bleeding, but he was too late. Dexter can’t work the crime because he is a witness, but Debra is back on the force and on the case.

Dexter still has one more day at work and Batista calls Dexter into his office to take a cheek swab from Oliver for DNA. Oliver said that he had heard of the news that the police were looking for him concerning the investigation into Cassie’s murder. He says that he had cleared out his apartment because the memories of Cassie that the place held were too painful. (One small question: Why test Oliver’s DNA?  They would expect to find Oliver’s DNA at the crime scene since he was her boyfriend.  Perhaps, so they would know which DNA findings to ignore.) Oliver and Dexter both play it cool.

Dexter is selling his apartment and the real estate agent calls him to say she has a cash buyer who wants the owner to show him the place.  When Dexter arrives, Oliver and Dexter both play it cool again. Oliver asks the agent to wait outside because he doesn’t want an agent “selling him”; he says he can learn more of what he wants to know just talking to the owner. What he really wants to know is whether or not Dexter will agree to a truce—neither will kill the other, they will both just walk away. Dexter agrees, but he has metaphorically crossed his fingers behind his back. No way is he letting Oliver go, especially after he makes veiled threats against Dexter’s family, even his step-children Astor and Cody.

Dexter knows that Oliver works as a building inspector so he looks for buildings that Oliver has condemned.  He finds a condemned, and now abandoned, psychiatric hospital building and realizes this is the perfect site for a kill room. He finds the kill room and a hidden computer with videos of all his kills.

Dexter wants to flush Oliver out so he anonymously releases one of Oliver’s kill videos to a local TV news station. At the same time, over at Miami Metro Oliver’s DNA is matched to Vogel’s. Oliver is now Miami’s public enemy #1.

Dexter knows that Oliver will now come after him. Debra comes to Dexter’s apartment for one last meal together before Dexter leaves Miami.  Dexter wants her to leave because it is dangerous, but Debra insists. They have a heart-to-heart.  Debra tells him he is not a monster, checked only by Harry’s code.  Dexter is a human-being at his core. 

Evidently the two hatch a plan. In the next scene, Dexter is asleep in his bed when Oliver enters. Dexter springs from the bed, Debra emerges from the shadows and puts a gun to Oliver’s head, and Dexter injects Oliver with his knock-out needle. This is the “Deb-and Dex-tag-team-murderers-back-in-action” moment of the week. Debra leaves with a proud smile on her face, so pleased about how she helped Dexter capture Oliver. (she is no longer conflicted about Dexter’s righteous kills.)  Dexter is going to take Oliver to Oliver’s own kill room to kill him. Nice touch.

Dexter is in Oliver’s kill room with Oliver secured to the examining chair. Dexter intended to do his pre-kill spiel, but his heart is not in it. Dexter is not indulging his urge to kill anymore; this kill is purely personal and hence no fun. He decides not to kill Oliver—he is done with killing. He is going to turn him over to Debra to arrest him. He calls Debra to come to the abandoned hospital.

This turns out to be a bad mistake because Debra is being followed by Clayton. Ever since Hannah was spotted at the hospital with Harrison, Clayton has been back on the case. Clayton interviewed Debra at Miami metro, but she coolly maintained that she was the one who took Harrison to the hospital. This visit convinced Debra that it was no longer safe for Hannah to stay at her apartment. She drove Hannah to a motel near the airport. They said good- like old friends.  Debra has come to like Hannah, or perhaps she knows she has to try to be friends with Hannah for Dexter’s sake.

Clayton enlisted the aid of Elway. Elway went to Debra’s home pretending he wanted to apologize for their argument. He invited himself in, entered over Debra’s objections, and  looked around. He saw the table set for dinner so Debra explaind that she having guests as she shoved Elway out the door. But not before Elway saw Hannah’s purse and high heeled shoes in the corner. He quiped that cops sure make good money these days—the items are obviously expensive and he is obviously suspicious. Red high heels—clearly not Debra’s style.

Elway and Clayton break into Debra’s apartment while she is gone and toss the place. (I don’t think they bothered with a search warrant.) The place is clean, but Elway checks the computer and sees that a South American Airline website was recently visited.  Elway is going to use extra-legal methods to find out if Hannah had booked a flight. While he is doing that, Clayton is going to follow Debra in the hopes that she will lead him to Hannah.

When Debra arrives, Dexter can hardly wait to leave. He decides to leave his knives behind saying the police will think that they are Oliver’s. The plan is to say that Debra was looking at the buildings that Oliver had condemned and decided to go to the abandoned psychiatric hospital to check it out.  She found Oliver there and subdued him. Debra follows Dexter out of the building for one last good-bye.

Dexter is off to collect Harrison from Jamie’s house and meet up with Hannah for their flight out of Miami. Before he leaves Dexter sees Harry, apparently for the last time.  “You don’t need me anymore,” Harry says.

Clayton enters the hospital and finds Elway strapped to the chair. Oliver plays the victim claiming that a homicidal maniac has bound him, and please hurry, release me before he comes back. (One small question: Has Clayton, a U.S. Marshall, been so intent on finding Hannah that he does not recognize Oliver, whose face has been plastered all over the news?) As soon as his restraints ar relased, Oliver promptly grabs a knife and stabs the marshall to death, slipping gun from his holster.

Just then Debra returns. Oliver shoots her, wounding her—it’s a gut shot again, like the one she got a few seasons ago when she was romantically involved with Lundy.  Debra falls but manages to get a shot off at Oliver, but he only gets only a minor wound in the arm and he escapes.  Debra is very weak, but she manages to pull her cell phone from her pocket to say she has been shot.

  

Over the 8-season DVD set

Predictions.  Dexter is going to hear about Debra being shot and he won’t be leaving Miami. He will be going to find Oliver so he can kill him this time. Oliver is going to come after Dexter’s family just as he threatened to do if Dexter did not agree to a truce. Oliver is going to die one way or another.  Also, a hurricane is coming and I’m sure that is going to complicate things.  

Will Debra survive her wounds?  Debra was rummaging through Quinn’s desk looking for office supplies and found the diamond engagement ring that he had once bought for her. Quinn catches Debra looking at the ring, but they both make a joke of it.  Is Quinn going to propose to Debra?

Will Dexter die trying to protect his family?

Will Hannah and Dexter escape with Harrison and live happily ever after in Argentina?   Will Elway foil their escape? 

I’m not sure if the show wants a happy ending or a dark ending?  The show is straddling the two possibilities. The series final is next week--the questions will have answers. 

Please share by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing."

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my posts.

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.

Please share by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing.".

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my reviews.

Click Here for Dexter DVD's and merchandise.

Dexter as Ubermensch

by Catherine Giordano

Back in episode 802, Dr. Evelyn Vogel tells Dexter, “I believe that psychopaths are not a mistake of nature, but a gift that helps the human race to become civilized.  Without psychopaths, mankind would not exist today."

 

[See my review for Episode 802 Every Silver Lining]
 

In my review of that episode, I referred to that moment as the “I’m-waiting- to-hear-the-explanation-for-that” moment of the week. I’m still waiting for that explanation. Perhaps it will come in the last three episodes.

 

My explanation is that Vogel has taken her theories about psychopaths from the German philosopher and nihilist, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) who wrote about the “ubermensch”—the ”above-human man.”

 

The ubermensch is not constrained by traditional morality, he is the creator of his own values. 
 

The ubermensch can become a hedonistic monster, because with no pre-given morals, anything can be justified.

But, the ubermensch, because he is not yoked to traditional thinking and behavior, is free to create and innovate and thus propel humanity into new ways of thinking and acting.

 

Our culture sees psychopaths as monsters; Dr. Vogel sees them as heroes who are free to create and  innovate. They are not mere mortals, they are above the mass of humanity, they are the super-men.

 

Vogel has an interesting point. Great leaders, thinkers, and inventors are similar to psychopaths in that they must rise above the herd-mentality to force their vision upon the rest of us. They often forsake the joys and comforts of “normal life”  to pursue their vision. The human race progresses due to their efforts. They are humanity’s benefactors.

Dexter is a psychopath who ignores society’s prohibition against murder and vigilante justice, who has his own moral code, but he acts for reasons of self-indulgence. An ubermensch motivated by self-indulgence is a monster.

What do you think?  Is Dexter the ubermensch? Leave a comment on this post and let me know.

Please share  by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing" 

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my reviews.

Pre--Order the complete dvd set or get other Dexter merchandise

Showtime's Dexter #809 “Make Your Own Kind of Music"

Family Matters

By Catherine Giordano

Darri Ingolfsson plays Oliver Saxon on Dexter

HBO’s “Dexter” is not about serial killers; it is about family. Episode #809, “Make Your Own Kind of Music”, airing on August 25, 2013, clinches it. Substitute the word ‘family” for “music” in the title of this episode.

“Dexter” is about Dexter and his father, Harry. It is about Dexter and his relationship with his son, Harrison. It is about the relationship Dexter and his sister, Debra, have with each other. Before Rita’s death, it was about Dexter’s relationship with Rita and his step-children.

It is about the relationship between Hannah and Dexter, especially in the last couple of episodes when they decide that they want to have a life together. Little Harrison says he wants Hannah to be his mom. A new family is forming. They are planning to flee to Argentina (the real Argentina, not the metaphorical Argentina) and start a new life.

Even Debra and Hannah are getting chummy. Elway is trying to track Hannah down for the reward money, so Hannah needs to lie low until they can leave the country.  Dexter stashes her at his sister’s house. They are starting to feel just a little bit sisterly.

It is about the “work family” at Miami Metro. They have their differences, but with a few exceptions--Debra killing LaGuetra, the animosity between Dexter and Doakes-- they are always there for each other. Batista, who is now in charge at Miami Metro, is urging Debra to rejoin the “family.” Debra wants to return to Miami Metro, but is conflicted—how can she go back to being a cop when her brother is a serial killer and another serial killer is hiding out at her house.

It is about forming families-of-choice, a situation that occurs when people who are not actually related to each other take on family-like roles with respect to each other.  The short lived maternal role of Vogel with Dexter, Debra, and Zach. The even shorter relationship, between Dexter and Zach, a relationship cut short when Zach was murdered by the Brain Surgeon.

And to underline the importance of family even more, even Matsuka now has a family—he has met the daughter born from his long-ago sperm donation to a fertility clinic.

Click Here to order Dexter DVDs, Blu-Ray and other Dexter merchandise

In episode 809, we learn about Vogel’s family.  She had two sons—one dead and the other believed to be dead. The shocker in episode 809 is that Vogel’s older son, Daniel, was a psychopath, and at the age of 14 he killed his younger brother. Vogel and her then husband covered up the murder to protect their surviving son, and had him placed in an institution in England. He died in a fire at the institution, or so Vogel believed.

But Vogel’s son was not dead; he had set the fire in order to escape. Daniel then assumed a new identity—he became Oliver Saxon (played by the actor Darri Ingolfsson), the man who most likely is the murderer of Cassie, the young woman bludgeoned to death with evidence left at the crime scene to implicate Zach. Was Oliver motivated by sibling rivalry because Vogel was getting too close to Zach? Was Zach another younger brother that had to be dispatched?

Was Vogel protective of Dexter long ago, and more recently Zach, because of the death of her own sons? She tells Dexter that realizing that her son was a psychopath is what caused her to become interested in treating psychopaths.  (It appears that she wasn’t very good at treating them—her former patients continued to kill until Dexter stepped in with his killing-table and knife and removed them from the land of the living.)

Dexter discovers that Daniel/Oliver is Zach’s killer from some DNA he finds in Zach’s studio.  (No one except Dexter and Vogel—and the killer, of course—knows that Zach is dead.  Zach’s actual family has reported him missing.)  He also uses the DNA to confirm that Oliver is related to Vogel.

Dexter suspects that Daniel/Oliver has placed spyware on Vogel’s computer. (One small question: Remember the shoe fetish guy, AJ Yates, who had Vogel’s case files on his computer—was Daniel/Oliver involved with that?  Were they accomplices?  Did Daniel/Oliver ask Yates to kidnap his mother?

One very big question: How much did Vogel know about her older son? Did she know all along that he was still alive?  Were they in contact with each other?

Another very big question: Is Oliver ”The Brain Surgeon”?  Was he sending pieces of brain taken from the area of the brain responsible for empathy to Vogel in order to send her a message? Was it his way of saying,  “I’m sorry you had a son missing the empathy-area of the brain; here’s a little something to make up for that.” Or have the show runners tossed us another red-herring.

Daniel/Oliver has now disappeared because he felt the police were getting too close to discovering his role in Cassie’s murder. Both Dexter and Vogel are keen to find Daniel/ Oliver—each for their own reasons.

Vogel remembers that the song “Make Your Own Kind of Music” (sung by Mama Cass—another mother allusion), the song that was playing on the Zach’s Ipod when Dexter discovered Zach’s dead body, was a favorite that she and her son used to listen to when they went to the King’s Bay Café. Dexter tells her to make an entry into her computer journal saying that she plans to be there tomorrow. The plan is for Mom and Dexter to intercept him there.

Dexter wants to kill Daniel/Oliver, but he knows that Vogel will not allow this. So he drugs her tea with one of Hannah’s potions to knock her out. He then stakes out the café, sees Daniel/Oliver there, and is planning on following him when he leaves.  But Daniel/Oliver has outwitted Dexter. A tire on Dexter’s car has been slashed. Dexter isn’t following anyone.

Dexter is concerned for Vogel’s safety. He rushes to her home to warn her that Daniel is on to them.  Vogel says she is fine and that she has not seen Daniel.

But, in the “plot-keeps-getting-twistier-and-twistier” moment of the show as soon as Dexter leaves, Daniel emerges from the bedroom. Vogel has allowed him to eavesdrop on her conversation with Dexter to prove to him that Dexter acted alone. Vogel had told Dexter that she wanted her son to be re-institutionalized.

But now it seems that all she ever wanted was to have her son restored to the bosom of her family. They are together now—a family again.  Family matters.

P.S. The double meaning of the phrase “family matters” is definitely intentional.

 Click Here to Buy a CD with Cass Eliot singing the song from the show, "Make Your Own Kind of Music"

Please share by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing”

Please "follow" so you don't miss any of my reviews.

Showtime’s Dexter #808 “Are We There Yet”

Dexter and Zach have dinner at Grandma Vogel's

Bad Murder JuJu

By Catherine Giordano

There’s a lot of bad-murder-juju in every episode of Showtime’s “Dexter,” and it’s particularly prevalent in episode 808, “Are We There Yet” which aired on August 18, 2013. We go from scenes that make us think of one big happy family to scenes that make us think of one big murder-happy family.

Hannah and Dexter set off on a road trip to murder-ville just like any couple going away to the Keys for a nice weekend.  Dexter has discovered that Zach has a room in a motel there and believing that Zach murdered Cassie, Dexter plans to kill Zach because he is an out-of-control psychopath unlike Dexter who is the very-much-under-control psychopath. But Zach convinces Dexter that he did not kill Cassie; he was busy killing a rapist friend from high-school at the time.  It appears that Zach was framed for this murder with his blood placed under Cassie’s fingernails.  

Dexter and Hannah clean up after Zach’s latest murder, disposing of the body that was in the trunk of Zach’s car.  Then they all drive back to Miami together--Dexter driving, Hannah in the front passenger seat, and Zach in the back seat asking, “Are we there yet?” Is this a happy family or what?

But wait it gets better. They all head over to Dr. Vogel’s house for a nice family dinner.  Vogel is grandma in this scenario, and she just happens to have a secret-recipe casserole ready. She insists that everyone stay for dinner. Secret recipe? Are we supposed to read something into that, especially when she wants to make sure no one is a vegetarian.   

Debra heads down to the Keys also. She has persuaded Elway that the firm should try to capture Hannah because there is $250,000 in reward money on her head. She tells Elway she knows Hannah is Miami. Debra has hidden a GPS tracker on Dexter’s car and she follows him to Zach’s motel room. She confronts Hannah, but eventually has to back off because Dexter loves Hannah. So is Deb now accepting Hannah into the family? Will she be the sister Debra never had?

Talking about family, Dexter’s son, Harrison, is so cute, I think he is going to have a cameo appearance in every episode from now on.

And let’s not forget the new daddy-daughter relationship between Matsuka and Niki. Niki had been working as a topless waitress and Masuka was so grossed out by the site of “daughter-boobs” that he found a job for Niki in the crime lab. Niki is very new agey, so she is doing a sage cleansing of the lab to get rid of the bad murder juju. Girl, there is not enough sage in the world to dispel the murder juju that hangs over all the characters on this show.

Dexter has gotten Hannah a new passport (with a new identity) and the plan is for her to fly to the Bahamas early in the morning. From there she will disappear again. Where will she go? Dexter wryly suggests Argentina. This harks back to something Hannah told Dexter back in season 7.  Argentina has always represented a magical place to Hannah, a place where one could escape one’s problems. 

They are saying good-bye, but Dexter and Hannah cannot bear to part.  An extended scene of passionate lovemaking ensues. Dexter’s body protectively shields Hannah’s body while giving us a nice look at Dexter’s butt. (I liked that the show did not go the usual route and show Hannah in all her naked glory.)  The next morning Dexter takes Hannah to the waiting plane, but at the last moment, he asks her to stay.  It’s a wonderful loving moment, but I suspect by the end of the season, we will look back at this moment as the “this-is-the-moment-when–it-all-started-to-go-wrong” moment of the week.

There is a lot that can go wrong. Debra may have decided not to pursue Hannah anymore, (in fact, it appears that she has decided to leave the private detective agency), but Elway is taking it up where she left off. He’s now trying to find Hannah.

Things have already started to go wrong for our little happy family.  When Dexter returns to his apartment, he finds Zach sprawled in an arm-chair. Closer inspection shows that Zach is dead and his skull has been cut open “Brain-Surgeon” style. This is the I-told-you-you-so” moment of the week.  I told you the Brain Surgeon would strike again.

Zach is dead, and just when I was starting t like him.  His boyish charm, naivete, and desire to please were getting to me. His father seemed to be cold and rejecting—the give-him-everything-money-can-buy-but-never-your-time-or-love type. And Dexter was starting to be the “nice daddy” and Zach seemed so happy with his new daddy.   

As with the previous victims, Dr. Vogel has been gifted with a jar containing a piece of the victim’s brain. And it just so happens that after the family dinner, Hannah and Dexter left together and Vogel was tasked with driving Zach to Dexter’s apartment. I’ve been saying that Vogel is the brain surgeon, although I thought that was a far-out-there idea when I first suggested it in my review of episode 5. Is this further evidence or is it a red-herring?

One more far-out-there thought. If Zach didn’t kill Cassie than who did?  Was it her new boyfriend, Oliver Saxon? Is Oliver somehow connected to Vogel—perhaps her long-lost son. Is Oliver feeling some sibling rivalry towards Zach and Dexter? Did Oliver kill Zach?

There is plenty of murder juju to go around. 

Please share by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing". 

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my reviews. 

Click here for Dexter merchandise

Showtime’s Dexter 807 “Dress Code”

The Vortex

By Catherine Giordano

A roiling vortex of action, intrigue, and death: Showtime’s Dexter, #807, “Dress Code" aired on Sunday August 11, 2013 and sucked us in. If season 8 will have 12 episodes like previous seasons, we have reached the point of no return—we are more than halfway through the season.

Dexter meets Miles Castner, Hannah's new husband,shortly before he meets his end.

Debra describes Hannah as “everything that’s wrong with our lives, a vortex.”  Girl, there is so much wrong with your lives that calling Hannah the vortex might be something of an exaggeration. Debra claims that everything started to go bad in her life when she first asked Dexter to kill Hannah. However, the turning point may have come a little earlier when she discovered that Dexter was a serial killer and she began to aid and abet.

Show a little gratitude, girl. Hannah could have killed you and Dexter in the last episode when she drugged your dinner (perhaps that is why the steak tasted so bad). I take that back. Forget the gratitude—perhaps you didn’t die because the steak tasted so bad that you only ate a couple of bites. No on third thought, gratitude may be in order after all because she could have killed you after you were passed out. 

Regardless of Hannah’s intentions Debra and Dexter are alive at the beginning of the show although Dexter finds himself in an isolated field near a lake. One small question: How did Hannah drag Dexter into her car and then dump him in a field. He was dead weight, excuse the pun, and Hannah does not look to be physically strong. Also, why?  What was the point of dumping him in a field?

Dexter tracks Hannah down and discovers that she is living on a mega yacht with a multimillionaire. He follows them to the Red Coral Club, but he can’t get in because it is a members only club, and besides, they have a dress code.(Get it, “a code”). Dexter calls his new protégé, Zach, to see if Zach’s dad is a member. He is and Zach promptly arrives (evidently with a change of clothes for Dexter) and the two are admitted to the club.

Hannah is with the man who we learn is Miles Castner and Hannah’s new husband.  Hannah has a new identity as Maggie Castner. When Miles leaves Hannah alone for a few minutes, Dexter approaches Hannah.  When Miles returns we learn that this is a very possessive and controlling man who knows all about Hannah’s past. He wants Dexter to stay away from his wife.

Dexter can’t leave well enough alone and goes to Hannah’s old flower nursery which is now in ruins to meet Hannah there. Together they tell each other that they are still in love with each other, but Hannah says they must stay away from each other.  Miles has evidently been following Hannah and/or Dexter so he knows about this meeting.  Goons are sent to beat Dexter up. The beating causes Dexter to miss a meeting with Zach, and Zach’s hurt feelings about being stood-up set off a very bad chain of events.

In the meantime, Miles has confronted Hannah/Maggie and tells her that she will never again be allowed to leave the boat and they will set sail at once. Right after he forcibly helps himself to his conjugal rights. The next thing we know, the crew has shore leave, Dexter is on the boat, Miles is dead on the floor, and Hannah is covered in blood. (This is one strong lady.) Dexter to the rescue, the mess is cleaned up, and Hannah and Dexter are out for a moonlight cruise on Dexter’s boat dumping the body. This is the “how-romantic” moment of the week. Dexter and Hannah are together again. Is all forgiven?  Stay tuned.

Back to Zach. There seems to be a problem with Vogel and Dexter's plan to teach Zach ‘the code.’ Dexter was a child when Harry taught him—he was more malleable. It is dawning on Vogel that a grown man who has already killed once, cannot be controlled so easily. Sure enough, Zach kills again. (We don’t know that for sure, but it looks like Zach has killed again.)

Zach was so excited about becoming a protégé; he couldn’t wait to kill again. The part about not taking the lives of innocents wasn’t getting through the blood lust.  A furious Zach arrives at Dexter’s apartment (despite being warned never to go there because they can never be seen together) and becomes even angrier when he discovers that Dexter is not home. Cassie, his next door neighbor, hears the pounding on the door and comes out to tell Zach that Dexter is not home. The next thing we know, Dexter gets a call and must interrupt his romantic evening on the water with Hannah to go to a crime scene. Cassie is the victim. 

Cassie was romantically interested in Dexter despite the fact that she was dating a very nice man. (The girls always love the bad boys.) Well, now that is not going to happen. 

However, some other romances are moving forward. Quinn and Jamie are moving in together. Is it true love or are they both doing it to spite Angel. Jamie is mad at her brother for not promoting Quinn to sergeant and Quinn is mad at Angel about this also.

Elway and Debra may be getting closer. Debra doesn’t spare Elway’s feelings when she blows off his attempts to date her. But Elway has the guts to stand up to her and tell her off for her rudeness and nasty attitude. He tells her that he is due a little gratitude.This leads Debra to realize that Elway has done a lot for her by giving her a job. She apologizes and it appears her attitude might be changing.  (Girls always go for the bad guys.) Now I am worried for Elway. Everyone who Debra dates ends up dead.

There are so many vortexes roiling. Everyone is being swept closer and closer, faster and faster, into the devastating center of the vortex. And we the viewers are being swept right along also.

Please share by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing".

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my reviews.

Order Dexter Merchandise

Showtime’s Dexter #806 “A Little Reflection”

Twisteroo
By Catherine Giordano

Anyone who thinks that Showtime’s Dexter is losing its mojo, winding down in its last season, needs to see episode 6 of Season 8, “A Little Reflection”, aired on August 4, 2013. he title “A Little Reflection” will carry a lot of meaning by the end of the episode.

Last week I suggested that Vogel might be “The Brain Surgeon.”  I’m not that confident about that prediction, but Vogel sure does like to mess with people’s brains. She has a new patient, now that the threat to her life has passed (Or so she thinks, because if she is not “The Brain Surgeon,” then this killer is still out there.)

Her new patient is Zach Hamilton. Dexter is interested in him also. He thinks that this young man (still in his teens or barely out of them) is responsible for the murder of the Hamilton family maid. Turns out Dexter is right, and now the kid is stalking a second victim, Sophia, also a dark haired Latina woman. Dark haired Latina women seem to be his type. But in the “twisteroo” moment of the week, we discover that these women are not Zach’s type, but his father’s type.

Dexter has gotten close to Zach, the better to find the proof he needs to put the kid “on his table.” Zach is a photography buff with his own studio. He likes to take pictures of bloody crime scenes.  Dexter is at alone at a murder scene doing is lab-geek thing when the kid shows up. He has a police scanner on his phone. Dexter invites the kid inside the yellow tape to take close up pictures. Later he visits the kid at his photography studio and discovers the proof he needs in the photographs that Zach took.

Vogel asks Dexter not to kill Zach, but Dexter says, “He has to die.”  He finds Zach at the Cypress Harbor Yacht Club, a property owned by Zach’s father. The father embraces Sophia as she gets off work and leaves the club. Zach starts to follow not Sophia, but his father when Dexter and his needle intercepts him. I’m feeling bad—the kid is a killer, but he’s still only a kid. 

 When Zach comes to on Dexter’s table he confesses to the murder. He says the maid was his first kill; he’s had these urges to kill, but he had never killed before. He indulged his urge to protect his mother. His father’s affairs were making his mother so unhappy that she was drinking herself to death. Dexter asks, “So you love your mother?” “Of course, I do,” Zach answers. Dexter questions Zach about his urges to kill and realizes that he and the kid are very much alike. Dexter decides not to kill him. He has found a little protégé, a little reflection of himself.

Dr. Vogel had urged Dexter to consider teaching Zach “the code”; she called it her “little experiment.” Would it work a second time?  Dexter was opposed, but in the killing room he changes his mind.  “You never had a Harry,” he tells Zach who has no idea what he is talking about. The boy has his good qualities, he loves his mother, and he has a conscience as evidenced when Zach tells Dexter to go ahead and kill him because if he lives he will kill again. He seems to be such a nice young man, just like Dexter.

A few other things happen during this episode on the way to the second “twistaroo” moment of the week,   Matsuka offers his daughter, Niki, a check for $5,000 after Debra’s investigation shows that the young woman is broke and in debt up to her eyeballs. The girl gets insulted, refuses the check, and storms off saying she doesn’t want money from him. Poor Matsuka, for once he does something nice and he gets slapped down for it. Is Niki sincere, or is she playing the long con for a bigger payoff?

Dexter gets his come-uppance during a heart-to-heart about how lying is a non-no with his little son, Harrison.  Harrison says, “But you lie too, Daddy.” He pulls a stuffed animal from a drawer, a stuffed animal that got covered in blood when Dexter stabbed Briggs in episode one of season eight.  Daddy Dexter had thrown the toy in the trash, and told Harrison it was lost, but the boy found it. Dexter lets him keep it, suggesting that the toy should “live under the bed” for now.

Angel passes Quinn over for the promotion to detective. He gives the job to Miller, the candidate that Deputy Chief Matthews has been urging on him. Quinn is angry and is determined to prove himself the better choice. He’s been following Zach trying to get the evidence that Zach killed the maid. Will Quinn’s determination to solve the murder interfere with Dexter’s plans for Zach?

Elway, the owner of the detective agency where Debra now works, is sweet on Debra.  She is discouraging him because as she tells Dexter, “He doesn’t know me. He doesn’t know I’m a murderer. He doesn’t know I tried to kill my brother and myself.”  She feels that no man can ever know who she truly is, and thus no man can ever love her. She and Dexter are best buds again, as Dexter says, “You. Me. Steak. Beer. Just like old times.” But it is not like old times. Debra has changed.

Dexter has had a little mini-date with Cassie, his neighbor.  Jamie has been trying to set them up. They meet for a food truck delicacy--fries with Nutella and peanut butter.  (I’ve never heard of that; I sorta want to try it, and I sorta find the idea revolting.)  Cassie asks Dexter about himself like people tend to do on first dates. “What are you passionate about?” she asks. No way can Dexter answer that question.  “Sometimes I go bowling.” They both laugh.  She is learning that Dexter is a “hollow man,” a person with no interests. She’s attractive and vivacious—I think she has written Dexter off as someone she would like to date.

But never mind. Dexter has Debra to hang out with again.  Over a too-tough steak and some beer, Debra starts to feel dizzy and passes out on the couch. Dexter starts to feel the room swim also. At that moment, the shocker of the season—the second “twisteroo.” Hannah is back.

Hooray.  Let the games begin. I’ve been waiting for Hannah to return. I think there are still a few more twistaroos in store for us before Dexter goes to syndication heaven.

 

Please share by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing" on google circles.

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my reviews.

 

 

To pre-rder the complete set of 8 seasons or any other Dexter merchandise, click here.