Dexter, deliciously dark Dexter, the serial killer with a heart returns once more, for one blood-soaked season, one last time.
Time is ticking for Dexter Morgan, ticking away one episode at a time, and when the severed hand strikes twelve, the red curtain will fall upon Dexter and Miami Metro’s finest. The question is: who will survive, and what will be left of them..?
It’s been a long road, a road paved with shrink-wrapped bodies and good intentions. Disturbed and dysfunctional, Dexter is haunted by his past, preyed upon by bloodstained memories of his murdered mother, and his need to satisfy his Dark Passenger, the clawing need, the voice within.
A blood spatter analyst by day, and vengeful vigilante by night, Dexter follows Harry’s code, his adoptive father’s rules which help quench his thirst for blood; never kill an innocent, and most importantly, never get caught.
Dozens have died dramatically over the past seven seasons, as Dexter killed friends and foes alike, preserving but a droplet of blood from their faces which he keeps as a collection of blood slides – trophies. The cheek of it. From the Ice Truck Killer and Miguel Prado, to Jordan Chase and the Doomsday Killer, Dexter has danced with death for days, as his life is spent under a microscope, in more ways than one.
And with an interior monologue dripping with humour and irony, Dexter has often stood shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Breaking Bad and The Wire.
And then there’s Debra. Oh dearly devoted Debra. Although averting the apocalypse, revelations came to light as Dexter’s dirty deeds were witnessed by his doting sister, and Miami Metro’s latest Lieutenant was emotionally ravaged. At the end of the last sanguinary season, Debra’s worst fears manifested with a twisted Sophie’s choice; kill her brother, or kill her boss.
‘Kill my boss?’ Homer Simpson once asked. ‘Do I dare live out the American Dream?’. Six months later, however, Debra’s dreams appear shattered in the wake of those damaging decisions, as she is evidently shaken to her foul-mouthed core.
Having quit her job at Miami Metro, Deb now works for a private investigation company, whilst consuming copious amounts of cocaine and alcohol. ‘You made me compromise everything about myself that I care about’, she affirms to Dexter. ‘And I hate you for it’.
As Dexter descends deeper into darkness, and his life spirals further out of control, vacillating rapidly between loving father and self-appointed judge, jury and executioner, the cracks again begin to show in his once immaculate countenance. Seeing Dexter’s Dark Passenger take control as he flies into fits of rage is so very reminiscent of the riveting Trinity Killer saga, and we all know how that ended.
With Angel Batista returning from the world’s shortest retirement (surprise, surprise), and the usual suspects Joey Quinn and Vince Masuka back at work, it would be business as usual, if not for the appearance of Dr. Evelyn Vogel (Charlotte Rampling), a neuro-psychiatrist who appears to know an awful lot about our predatory protagonist.
Although Dexter is unlikely to reach the lofty heights of season four once more, if the first episode of this final season is anything to go by, this is, and always was, a cut above the usual television show.
It would be an absolute crime to miss it.
Crazy Handful of Nothin' 