Dexter - Season Eight

Interesting "alternative ending" from one of the creative forces who left the show a couple years ago...
http://www.eonline.com/news/461558/...lips-reveals-how-he-planned-to-end-the-series

 

And who would raise him? The grandparents of his other adopted kids in Orlando? They're pretty much out of the show.

When you get down to it, the only two reasons for Hannah to come back are:

1) to provide a romantic possibility for Dexter's future

2) to provide somebody who will raise his son.

That's basically it. Well, that plus adding a plot contrivance of all the people coming after her for the reward.

Yeah, Tampa General Hospital (where I was born) is on Davis Island, and there is a dock not too far away where they can theoretically bring in patients by boat. It's not as close as this fictitious one in Miami, but that didn't bother me too much. It did bother me that Dexter got away with this and no one noticed.

"What? You're taking this body on a boat in the middle of a hurricane? You'll die out there!"

That would've been a very interesting ending. While I hate to see Dexter die at the end, I have to concede, this is a better ending than what they ultimately used.

 

As Howard Cosell used to say "exactly right, Danderoo".

 

How about SUB PAR on all 3? I agree that this was a weak season, what an uninspired way to let the hard core fans down. My wife is a huge fan and she finally got me to watch the show in 2010. I enjoyed the first 3 seasons, very impressed with the concept and execution and IMHO the writing was some of the best on Cable TV. I kept this on the DVR, will revisit this in a few days and make sure I wasn't in a bad mood from the Giants game....

 

Doh... some very negative reaction from fans via Twitter in this CNN article:

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/23/dexter-about-that-series-finale/?hpt=hp_t3

Some excerpts:

Great Dexter finale tonight. Loved the twist where it turned out that all along,
Dexter was a ridiculous waste of time.

That was one of the . We're leaving, we're not, we're leaving, we're not,
I died, I didn't, I'm a lumberjack...

Hey dexter, thanks for ending 8 seasons with the
most depressing hour of my life.

Everyone defending the Dexter finale should be punished
by being forced to watch the Dexter finale.

The #dexter finale was like having a friend of 8 years
suddenly drop kick my puppy... #wtf

My thoughts go out to those affected by the
Dexter series finale disaster.


Yikes! I thought it was disappointing, but not horrible!

 

Cliched happy ending or not, I wanted a Dark Knight Rises sly ending at the ice cream parlor. I give it a not bad, not great. This season had more plot holes than I usually notice, and I can suspend quite a lot of disbelief.

 

Phillps ending would of been perfect.
Too bad the dopey writers went somewhere else.
I wanted Hanna, dead.! such a whine baby.

That ending reminds of The X files ep Beyond The Sea.
Where killer before he's executed sees all his victims

 

I literally laughed out loud at Dexter carrying a corpse draped in a bright white sheet onto his boat parked right in front of the hospital emergency. It was too ridiculously funny for me to groan about.

While this season and the finale were minor letdowns for me, I'm still sad to see the show gone. In my book, Michael C. Hall is now two-for-two in cable TV leading role performances and I look forward to seeing what he does next.

 

Uh-oh... another thumbs down review, this one from the Huffington Post:

'Dexter' Finale Cuts Its Own Throat In Sappy Series Ending

Current showrunner Scott Buck defends and explains the ending:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/dexter-series-finale-showrunner-scott-632536

I was surprised to learn that Buck and the other producers intended for Dexter to deliberately plan to survive steering a boat directly into a hurricane:

He knows exactly what he's doing there; he's putting his boat in the path of the hurricane, which will then allow him to escape in this way. It is mentioned in an earlier episode that he does have an emergency life raft aboard that boat and you can look back and see he had a plan, he just didn't know what it was.

Very negative review in the Daily Variety:

http://variety.com/2013/tv/reviews/dexter-series-finale-review-1200655158/

‘Dexter’ Finale’s Sloppy Sendoff

“Dexter” had been running on creative fumes the past few seasons, and Sunday night’s series finale — despite its emotional flourishes — merely underscored that this was a series well past its expiration date. Some of the sloppiness in the finish was perhaps the biggest surprise, given how meticulous its serial-killer leading man usually is.

 

I just watched the Series Finale last night. This show had so much potential to go out on a wild rollercoaster ride but it ended in a comical whimper. Didn't Dexter learn the exact same lesson in this season like he did in season 4?

 

IMO the show lost its way when Deb learned the truth about Dexter. Better to have ended it back then.

 

re: the final episode (well, actually the last few seasons).

That was SO BAD. I mean, just bloody horrible. What the hell were they thinking? An embarrassment for sure.

 

The internet is full of hyperbole. While I don't think it was amazing, I think the ending was pretty good and was easily the best episode in a while. I think with a show that's been on this long, many people had ideas in their head on how it should end. And when it didn't end that way they flooded the internet with comments like "WORST EPISODE EVER!!!!" Heck, I've seen people post death threats to the showrunner. All this over a TV show? It's like it has become popular to hate on things that mean so little.

Sure it overstayed its welcome and should have ended at least a year or two earlier, and sure the last season wasn't nearly as good as the earlier ones, but worst episode ever? And if the show has been bad for so long (some people cite since Season 5 or 6), then why are they still watching with such high expectations? I'll add that usually it also seems that those with negative opinions seem to be the more vocal and persistent of voices on the internet. Plenty of evidence seen here on this board (and I'm not even talking about this thread).

 

Mike. Watch the episode again. Better yet watch the whole final season again. The acting is bad, the writing is even worse. The final episode had so many bad moments, my wife and I were chuckling all the way through. If you can watch it again, and still defend it, then.... I am not sure what to say.

 

I don't need to watch it again, although I might one day. I don't think the acting was bad. I truly saw an internal struggle inside Dexter thanks to the acting. I don't think the writing is terrible. Not as good as it used to be but then again I've always suspended lots of belief watching Dexter.

And what, did folks think the show's writing would somehow make a miraculous shift back to the first few seasons for the final episode? The show has been this way for a while.

 

I agree with aox.... Everything they did was stupid. Why would Saxon run to the hospital knowing the cops are gonna be all over the place surrounding Deb. I started chuckling the second he showed up there.

The whole season was like that.

 

I agree 100% with Clyde Phillips ending...

Right after he left the show started going downhill...

 

The problem is, that this show was once good, maybe even great! This was a lousy swan song. Too bad. Leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

 

Less than great ending to a very good show that provided many hours of enjoyment. While I wish it could have carried on the intensity seen in the first 4 seasons it wasn't meant to be. Overall I'll still look back on it in fondness.

 

Also thought the series' finale was a bit contrived and not worthy of some of the earlier season's cliffhanger last episodes. But to tack on what appeared to be an afterthought ending was to much. I almost switched off as Dexter steered his boat into the hurricane.

 

No surprise at the crap finale or the last 3 seasons. You must understand. Although 50% of America hates Hollywood. 100% of Hollywood hates everyone.

 

It was not an after thought. It was very much thought out. I am sorry it was lost on you.

 

I have no problem with you not liking the script but the acting was no different than any other season.

 

The only way that finale could have been worse was if when Dexter was driving his boat into the storm, a shark had come flying through the air and eaten him.

 

That would never have happened. Dexter jumps sharks; sharks don't jump Dexter.