Since I base my calendar and seasons on the TV series that I follow, I associate the end of the year with the conclusion of the annual run of certain shows. And for six years now, I start my festivities for the holidays with the last episode of Dexter for the season.
Dexter (Michael C. Hall), the serial killer who only targets other killers, is finally able to completely deal with the death of his wife, Rita. He lives his life in relative peace as father to his son Harrison and blood spatter analyst for the Miami Metro Homicide by day, and as a serial killer by night.
The major theme for season six is religion, as Dexter encounters two different kinds of religious personalities. The first is the Doomsday Killer, Professor Gellar (Edward James Olmos) and his protege Travis Marshall (Colin Hanks), who create numerous ghastly tableau, recreating the countdown to the end of times while featuring human sacrifices that were considered to be sinners in life. While searching for the Doomsday Killer, Dexter encounters reformed murderer, Brother Sam (Mos Def), whose new mission in life is to help former criminals live a more productive and God-centric life. Meanwhile, Dexter's sister, Deb (Jennifer Carpenter), has broken up with Quinn (Desmond Harrington) and, as a result of the power struggle between the now Captain LaGuerta (Lauren Velez) and Deputy Chief Matthews (Geoff Pierson), became a lieutenant. She tries to deal with the pressures of both her work and personal life by consulting a therapist, while Batista (David Zayas), Quinn and Masuka (C.S. Lee) make bad decisions along the way. New characters are introduced, including new babysitter and Batista's sister, Jamie (Aimee Garcia); video game creator and Masuka's intern, Louis Green (Josh Cooke); and Deb's replacement, Mike Anderson (Billy Brown).
From this point on, I'll be sharing my thoughts on major plot points and development. Spoilers ahead.
The TV series adaptation has long since moved on from the novel series by Jeff Lindsay. In fact, only season 1 followed the plot line of the first novel, "Darkly Dreaming Dexter", and with major differences at that. Despite the deviation from the source material, the Showtime series did one important part right. They made sure they stayed true to Dexter's character.
Aside from killing those who deserve it, there are other prevailing themes that have appeared throughout every season of Dexter. And season six was no different.
Dexter had always known that he is a monster, despite his choice in victims. Yet, there was always a part of him that tried to find a way for him to live a normal life. In seasons past, he held on to the belief that he could find friends who would accept him for who he was, or that he could live the life of the serial killer while maintaining a happy, family life. Needless to say, those that presented either possibilities had ended up haunting him in different ways.
This season, however, gave us the possibility of Dexter finding a true friend. True, Dexter had intended to kill Brother Sam, but when Dexter realized that Brother Sam's reformed life was for real, he instead found an unlikely source of sound human advice, whether practical or religious in nature.
Which is why I completely understood why they had to kill Brother Sam off.
If Brother Sam had become a constant in Dexter's life, our favorite serial killer will find the answers to his big questions. I felt that Brother Sam would have made the most impact on Dexter's way of thinking. While it's true that he won't be able to turn Dexter to a devout Christian, Brother Sam had made enough of an impression to plant ideas of forgiveness, camaraderie and potential for reform. Dexter's slow growth in terms of dealing with human nature and emotions is a constant driving force of the show, and to suddenly give him all the answers courtesy of a single influential character would have made his evolution less compelling. So, yes, it was necessary to kill Brother Sam off. But, I really liked the character, who was deftly portrayed by Mos Def.
There was one other thing that came about because of the death of Brother Sam. Dexter decided to confront Brother Sam's killer and heavily debated whether to kill him or to heed Brother's Sam's last words about forgiveness. In the end, Dexter gave in to his anger and killed the culprit, giving in to his Dark Passenger.
Which manifested in the form of Brian Mosley (Christian Camargo). The return of Dexter's brother, however short, was one that I particularly enjoyed. It was a literal dialogue with himself on giving in to his compulsion to kill versus the rules of his father Harry (James Remar), which have been the basis for his conscience.
Now, as for the big bad wolf of the season. The Doomsday Killer dished out some of the most gruesome display of victims. The four horsemen tableau was particularly disturbing. I couldn't even bring myself to include a picture of it in this post.
There was much controversy regarding the outcome of the Doomsday Killer persona. Fans had speculated early on that Travis was the real killer and that Professor Gellar was a figment of his imagination. Needless to say, never had being so right caused people so much disappointment. Once somebody had the bright idea of the possibility that Professor Gellar was a manifestation of Travis's Dark Passenger, everyone else obsessed about finding clues to prove it. And got their panties in a bunch when it turned out to be true and succeeded in ruining the twist for themselves. People, you can't expect the showrunners to change the twist or create another one on top of it just because you guessed what's going to happen. I actually enjoyed the twist, even if I did pick up clues for myself beforehand.
There were also criticisms regarding Colin Hanks' performance as a villain. I think he actually did well, especially after the great big reveal and he was no longer the timid Travis. At this point, no villain will live up to our standards ever since the fourth season concluded. John Lithgow as the Trinity Killer will always be the biggest and baddest villain in Dexter's arsenal of season arch enemies. We will forever be spoiled by how great Lithgow's performance was and how awesome season 4 turned out to be. Yes, this season could have been much better, but if you consider it by itself without the shadow of seasons past, it was actually good. Colin Hanks did just fine.
The biggest character development for the season, however, does not belong to Dexter. Deb was always a staple in Dexter's life and one of the few people Dexter actually have fond feelings for, in his own serial killer with limited understanding of emotions way. This season, Deb went through a breakup, was promoted as lieutenant, and went through therapy that revealed more than she and the audience bargained for.
While the big twist regarding Doomsday Killer was met with disappointment, the twist regarding Deb's real feelings for Dexter was met with shock and outrage. What followed was a heated debate on crossing the line with incest or just plain jumping the shark. I think there was mention of brimstone and pestilence upon the writers and creators of Dexter.
While I would have wished for a better resolution or self realization for Deb, it somehow made sense that Deb had feelings for her adopted brother. If you really think about it, her choices in men had to be indicative of something bigger than having daddy issues.
And if having Deb admit her feelings for Dexter wasn't enough, they have her walk in on him as he kills Travis. Admittedly, the execution of the scene was a little bit of a let down, but I wasn't particularly surprised that they would eventually get to this point. One of Dexter's biggest fear was that Deb would find out what kind of monster he was. She was bound to find out.
I felt a bigger sense of suspense when Louis boxed up the manikin hand from the Ice Truck killer case and addressed it to Dexter. I'm still scratching my head as to how Masuka's intern and video game creator Louise Greene fit in Dexter's world.
Dexter's sixth season ended with a lot of questions for its audiences. First, what will Deb do about her feelings for Dexter? Second, what will Deb do after witnessing Dexter perform a ritual kill? Third, what does Louis know? And of course, what will Dexter do about Deb and his special package when he receives it?
And with an official pick up for two more seasons, we can expect to get the answers to these questions. Despite a couple of misses in scene execution here and there, the sixth season of Dexter dished out both familiar and shocking elements that we love about the series. Never mind that the twists received mixed reactions. Even if you didn't like them, it got your attention and made you form an opinion, right? That's more than what other TV series can invoke from their audience.
And if you're wondering why I haven't written anything about the man who plays the titular character...
Of course, Michael C. Hall was still brilliant as Dexter. I don't think I need to further expound on that.
Happy viewing!!Labels: Adaptation, Dexter, Drama, Must-Watch, Showtime, TV, TV Series
