Dexter - 4x12 - The Getaway

[kiki_miserychic]

I have a million swirling thoughts about Dexter, the show and the character. I finished watching the season finale about ten minutes ago and I still can't think properly. I keep thinking back on the previous episodes this season and remembering little things, like how it was Dexter's family that made him weak in the end. He stepped into fully when he thought Trinity shot Deb and that's when things started turning to shit. I think this season has been my favorite, even better than the first because it went deeper and harder.

He wanted to learn from Trinity how how to achieve the balance that would allow him to be a better father/husband. He was all surface with nothing underneath, while Dexter falters on the surface and has deeper feelings that he doesn't know how to express or feel. Dexter doesn't know how to express most of his feelings and doesn't understand them, which led to his mistakes this season. Emotionally and in a socially meaningful context, Dexter is still that child sitting in a pool of his mother's blood. Trinity was the worst possible human being to use as a familial model for Dexter. The Thanksgiving episode had me wrecked. For personal reasons, I was terrified. Absolutely terrified of Trinity. Dexter was right when he held that knife to Trinity on the kitchen floor: "I should have fucking killed you when I had the chance." Dexter doesn't deal well with guilt and I think the guilt from not killing Trinity sooner will eat away at what part of his soul Dexter is in touch with. Dexter was in the fucking truck while Trinity killed Rita. We know how she died in that bathtub and I can only hope that Trinity didn't tell her the truth about Dexter as he murdered her. I'm usually the type of person that values honesty and doesn't believe that ignorance is bliss, but not in this case. Rita and Deb are my favorite characters, Deb being my first. She's coming closer and closer to the truth and as much as I know that's a part of who Deb is, I never wanted them to find out about Dexter. I think that what Dexter represents in their lives is more important than the truth that will shatter their illusion.

There are so many blasted loose ends. So many that I can't even rein them all in to make a list. I want season five right now and I want it to be about the downfall. I want to see Dexter drown in his own spilled blood. Yes, I relate to Dexter far more than most people, but I can still comprehend that he ends human life. It's human life that he has declared void, but that is not for one person to decide. I hope next season will be the last because in light of the season finale, I think it's been leading up to the end. The illusion is that Dexter is the Dark Defender, but he's a murder in reality. We've watched the show for four seasons and we've bought into the wink and nudge. It's like when I watched cherryice's Convenient Parking and it made me see Dexter in a different way. We see parts of him that no one else does, the same way we saw pieces of Trinity. When what Dexter has done comes out, they will be seen as the same thing: serial killers. Trinity's family and Dexter's will go through the same thing. Deb will be hurt the most from it. As much as I relate and understand Dexter, I care about and love the people around him. There's a wink and a nudge to the audience, literally in the credits shown at the beginning of every episode, that Dexter does these things and gets away with it. We go along with it, which is why many don't want to see Dexter be caught. It's like I'm the sick one for wanting to see him destroyed.

FUCK, Rita. I'm going to watch keewick's Stars and cry.

FUCK.

Comments

[kuwdora.livejournal.com]

GAH omg that picture

[gigglemonster.livejournal.com]

Gah FUCK ME! I watched this motherfucker like four hours ago and this post has wrecked me all over again! DUDE! SHOW! OMG!
You're far more coherent and eloquent than I am even now. I would just like to give a big fat AMEN to this entire post! Especially the second paragraph! I hadn't even thought of the fact that Trinity might have revealed Dexter's secret before he killed Rita but ohh my lord I hope he didn't. I can't think of a more horrible way to die ;asldfj gives me the willies!
But yeah, I suspect there will be a ton of guilt on his part. There were so many opportunities for him to kill Trinity and he just never took them. What's worse is that for a while there he thought he could better his family by keeping him around and in the end that just destroyed them. Ugh. Awful!

I kinda hope next season will be the last too, if only because I can't imagine where else they can possible go! To imagine Dexter trying to be a single parent to those poor children (that picture KILLS me! and omg Aster and Cody! I'm a mess just thinking about it!) is just crazy. *SIGGHH*

I can't even talk about this finale anymore lol it's still making me far too rambly. Basically WORD to ALL of this!
*watches Keewick's vid for the zillionth time*

[serrico.livejournal.com]

It's like I'm the sick one for wanting to see him destroyed.

If that's sick, then I am, too. I think this show is at its best when Dexter's *soclose* to losing absolutely *everything* (which is why s2 is my handsdown favourite), and I really, really hope the final season carries through on that threat. He's been able to dodge it thus far, but with Rita gone--who was such a *huge* part of his cover, and his ability to *be* human, not just act it--I kind of can't wait for everything to unravel for him.

[buffyann.livejournal.com]

god that image. I can't get this out of my head. it's so sick yet so brilliant. what an horrible thing.

I think this was made to remind us who dexter is and even if there could be hope for him in a way, he's still a serial killer, it will most likely destroy everything around him. as awful as that is.
Now, let me go and cry in a little corner.

[sdwolfpup.livejournal.com]

I think there's a good possibility Dexter will die at the end of next season (assuming it's the last - I REALLY hope so, because it feels like we're all set up for the endgame now). AHH thought they might try to have him try to go 'sober' next season and end the series on an ambiguous note, something like, "I'm Dexter Morgan, and I'm a recovering serial killer. It's been three days since I've killed someone" but with a really "can he do it?" feel to the end.

I have no idea what they've got planned.

God, that picture, though. I can't even deal with it. It hurts to look at it.

[balistik94.livejournal.com]

This was a very shocking finale I didn't see it coming. The idea of having a family was actually good but things went wrong when he started to care about them, when he started to think he could have a somewhat regular life. It feels like next season will be the last and I want him to get caught too but I have a feeling he'll get away in the end and will teach Harrison his code because that kid is messed up now even though he's too young to understand what he saw.

[aurora]

FUCK indeed.

I'm still completely in shock. It's good that there is a hiatus, because I need time to process everything, but on the other hand, I'm so impatient and want to see where they'll go next season.

The Thanksgiving episode had me wrecked. For personal reasons, I was terrified. Absolutely terrified of Trinity. Dexter was right when he held that knife to Trinity on the kitchen floor: "I should have fucking killed you when I had the chance."
WORD TO ALL OF THIS. The Thanksgiving ep made me sick to my stomach.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

See, I feel...really conflicted about this ending. As in, my initial reaction was an epic "meh" mainly because as soon as I heard that they were building up a sense of SHOCK and SECRECY about the ending, my first thought was, "Right, so they're gonna kill Rita. Or maybe Deb. But probably Rita."

So, while I agree, the image is just gut-wrenching and shocking and very well played, the actual twist is...not really that surprising to me, and I'm not sure I'm really all that on board for it. I mean, partly, sure, there's an element of OMGS NO NOT RITA! And also I appreciate that Dexter can't be the happy serial killer forever. He's responsible for this and he has to live with it. And really, we do need to see consequences.

But at the same time, something I've been struggling with since season one has been just how much of a sociopath Dexter really is. It's very difficult to maintain a distant character as a POV character and again, I'm conflicted (see a pattern?) because on the one hand, I think that we need to start seeing some emotion and humanity in Dexter in order to continue to stick with a show over seasons instead of over a 12 episode arc, and I do find the questions about whether Harry taught him to survive or only taught him to retreat into his psychopathy is intriguing.

But I still feel that there's an element of the show wanting to have its cake and eat it too. The excuse for Dexter being a serial killer is his mental condition but at the same time the show denies that while showing him being capable of more and a family man, etc., etc. At a certain point it stops becoming an interesting exploration of the character and runs the risk of literally turning into the "Dark Defender" of the season 2 in-universe comic book.

And that's fine; if Dexter was still as detached in season 4 as he was in season 1, we'd all probably be bored and frustrated with him, but...equally, if he really is a sociopath, then most likely he will both get over Rita and not keep Astor and Cody. If he isn't, and this is going to send him into rage mode and revenge mode, etc., then okay, that'll probably make for more interesting TV, but at that point it also turns Rita into one in a very, very long line of women in refrigerators.

So that's my catch-22. And why I'm kind of irked at the show for throwing me this curveball. On the one hand, if Dexter decides that he's toxic to his children and his family and withdraws, or doesn't feel much at all, then it's not a season I'll be so interested in. If, on the other hand, he does have an emotional reaction, I'm back to...goddammit, one of two favourite characters dead for a shocking plot twist again. *sigh*

So...yeah. I dunno. I feel all jaded and I wish I didn't. :(

[beerbad.livejournal.com]

even better than the first because it went deeper and harder.

That's what she said.

I got your card in the mail yesterday, yay! And thanks. :)

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

I want to see him caught. But I only really watch the show for Deb. I realised that more than ever in this episode, where I was left strangely unaffected by Rita's death. I feel bad for the kids, but I'm not *in* Dexter's story, and he's fallen so far from even where he began... killing an innocent person this season made me totally detach from him for once and for all, I think. Now I only care about what it will do to Deb to find that her brother is a psychopath.