I ask because it wasn't really a happy ending. Deb died and Dexter couldn't be with his woman and his kid so the only 3 things he ever cared about were lost and it was all his fault and he has to live with that the rest of his life. That and his beard was probably terribly scratchy.
I had a problem with Dexter since Season 4, as I felt like the seasons were basically the same with different actors. As far as the last episode? Dexter decides to ditch his kid with a known killer in a foreign country to live in the middle of nowhere to be a lumberjack because he feels like he's a curse and everything goes bad when he's around? He makes that decision in like 5 minutes with no real explanation or reasoning. Dexter picking up dead Deb from the hospital and walking out the front door and put her on his boat to "bury" her and then drives into a crappy CGI hurricane and survives? He fakes his own death, for what reason? I mean the whole last episode and season made no sense. I also hated how Dexter spent the whole series trying to stop being a serial killer and to be normal but could never do it because that was "the way he was" and finally Hannah comes back and boom he decides to stop for good in a quick 5 minute scene. I think people hated the ending because there was no real payoff, it didn't tie any loose ends. It was kind of just there. It didn't feel like the series was ending.
On paper I think it sounds good but what they actually filmed and shown just was a let down because there was really no build up to his decision. And his decision really didn't make any sense. It just happened and happened quickly because the episode was ending. And Dexter left his kid behind, he could have been with Harrison if he wanted too. Plus he's leaving his son and Hannah behind because he's a killer and everything is his fault yet it's ok Harrison is left with a killer? But we the viewer should be ok with it because Dexter loved her, yet she didn't have a code and was shown to be a stone cold killer at times? Plus why didn't have come to his decision after Rita, an innocent victim, died? Rita was one of the one pure "good" characters on the show and her death, which was huge at the time, was pretty much ignored after the first 2 or 3 episodes of Season 5.
All fair and legit. I just didn't understand the "it was a happy ending" complaint I've heard from lots of people.
No it definitely wasn't a happy ending by any means whether you liked the episode or not. I can't see how anyone can say that.
They needed to give us something. Even if it was a simple and obvious he got caught by the cops and LaGuerta's death was pinned on him and Doakes' name was restored or he turned himself in or something. Because what they ended up giving us gave the viewer no closure and Dexter, as a person and character, never changed or evolved.
How it should've ended: Deb comes to terms with what she and Dexter are. Cut to scene at Bayside, with steel drums and Dexter, Deb, and Hannah celebrate with boat drinks. The TV over the bar fades in, broadcasting that a child has been found murdered in a playground and the murderer got away. The camera pans to Dexter and zooms; a dark look on his face becomes his signature smirk. Fade to black...play the opening theme over the last credits. If the show were made in Europe or Asia, that's essentially how it would end. But here, we have to serve the Judeo-Christian ethic and punish the guilty. Even if real life fails to do that 90% of the time.
I would have been fine with that. I would have been fine with Hannah never coming back too since it felt really really forced to me. I personally would have had Angel find out that Dexter was the real Bay Harbor Butcher after going through LaGuerta's notes (remember when that was a storyline for 3 minutes in one episode?). Angel then asks Quinn for his help in finding out the truth only to have Quinn find out that Deb was the real killer of LaGuerta so now Quinn doesn't know whether to turn her in or not and what to do with Dexter. Long story short in the end Dexter finally decides that he's a curse to everyone around him and it would be better if he wasn't around so he simply turns himself over to the police in order to save Deb. Flash forward to a year later and he's on death row having his last meal with Deb and Harrison, the guards come to get him to get the lethal injection and while Dexter is walking to the room he sees the ghosts of all the people he killed during the show (bringing back characters like Trinity, Rudy, his girlfriend in season 2, Colin Hanks, etc) followed by others who died during the show like Rita, Doakes, LaGuerta, Lundy, Harry. It ends with Dexter on the table tied down (much like how Dexter finished off his victims) with the doctor just ready to put the needle in and the screen goes to black. That way you have tie in to all the other seasons, it gives all of the main characters something to do in the last season instead of what they ended up doing which was nothing. You get twists and moral issues between the characters. And you have the closure that Dexter, while having a code, really was a monster and was no different then the people he preyed on.
