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

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

I had no idea they were going to kill Rita. I knew something was going to happen at the end because they kept throwing out tension music and miscues. The voicemail made me flip, but I think it was Rita until I saw the blood. Dexter can get out of almost anything with his easy charm, but be paid dearly in this episode and was cut almost no slack. While I hate that it was Rita, it is the consequences. Dexter can't have nice things. He doesn't get to have his cake and eat it too. It's covered in blood.

Dexter is an emotional mimic in a lot of situations. He knows how he is supposed to react from watching the people around him and stumbling through it. I think about how and what Harry taught him and I come to thinking he taught Dexter what he thought he would need to survive. I don't think Harry ever considered trying to become anything else, only how to hide what he is under something else.

With the Dark Defender, the dark part is often set aside.

I'm not sure I want to see rage and revenge Dexter. I almost want to see him shut down. He already killed Trinity, showing him more mercy than any other kill I can remember.

I didn't consider Rita's death as adding to that long list of women in refrigerators.
Dexter was something good in her life, yes, but he was also something dark. She didn't know Dexter's secret, but death and destruction are the consequences of being in Dexter's life. Everything around him will eventually be touched by his darkness and turn to shit. Thinking about the whole season, I think Rita's death was a natural conclusion to the season. It was about Dexter trying to have everything. He juggled being so many different things and having so many people in his life. This episode was showing him that he can't do it, he can't have that. I'm devastated that Rita had to be the ball that fell.

I love Rita and her journey and how far she has come from when we first met her in season one. It's really awful to think, but I'd have rather it been Cody, but he wouldn't have fit in Trinity's pattern and given Harrison to parallel.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

I do get why people think it's a natural end to the season's arc: Dexter does need to have a ball drop - there does need to be something that slips to show he can't have everything. As I said, I don't actually want to be this jaded about it. But I kind of...well, I think the fact I was expecting it (or at least if not actively expecting it, the thought had crossed my mind in a cynical context) affected my response to it?

I think...twisted thought it is, I would rather it have been Cody too, for the reasons you state and because it would have been braver and more shocking than Rita, even. And one of the things we know is that Dexter really does seem to have more of an emotional connection to kids than anyone else, and has always been closer to Cody than to Astor.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

obsessive24's husband had an interesting observation (http://obsessive24.livejournal.com/293767.html) about the arcs of the series:

Dexter slowly realises, over the course of the seasons, that he - his true self - is unable to have anything by nature. The dark passenger will taint every real relationship despite his best intentions. To wit:

s1 - no brother
s2 - no lover
s3 - no friend
s4 - no family

Thinking about it that way, it makes even more sense to me. I was worried for Deb when Trinity went to her apartment, but I never thought that she would die because she's too important for the show and carries a lot of storyline. Plus, SHE'S DEB.

I think not guessing it was going to be Rita dying has a lot to do with how I took the episode. I'm going back and reading some reaction posts and that looks to be a major factor. Some were spoiled over twitter for it, which took away the shock.

I'm sure exactly what the timeline was for Trinity's pattern in the final episodes. I'm pretty sure that Rita broke his pattern, so taking Cody wouldn't have been that far off. Coming back to the all important Thanksgiving episode, Cody was the one that called out being thankful for Dexter. I think they made it be Rita for the mother's blood parallel.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

ARGH WHAT IF S5 IS NO SISTER! *criez* *panics*

Also, argh, go and break my heart by reminding me of when Cody said that, why don't you... I really hope that in S5 they don't just have Dexter ditch the older kids off with Paul's parents or something. On the one hand, I can see him deciding that this is the message that he can't have a family, but equally, if he ditches them, that...removes the central interesting conflict of the show. The fact that Dexter still wants these things.

I want to see him struggle as a single father. Actually, what would be hilarious, if we're allowed to have things be hilarious when Rita's so awfully dead (and yes, I completely agree that they wanted Harrison to experience what Dexter experienced, though hopefully he's young enough it won't scar him for life), is if Deb moves in and tries to help him out and they form a new, weird family unit with Deb teaching Cody and Astor how to swear.

But, still, I come back to ARGH. I'm really nervous about S5. I can see ways they'd go with it that would keep me watching, but I can also see them going in directions that cause me to lose interest...

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Deb is my absolute favorite person on the show. The way Jennifer Carpenter plays her kills me. How she breaks down and cries hurts my soul.

I think Dexter will keep Cody and Aster. At least I hope so. I'm not sure they've planned that far in advance. I read an interview saying that the writers haven't broke down the next season and don't have much planned.

When Rita was there, Dexter was able to navigate being a father without too much problem. Dexter as the primary caregiver of the family will be a different story. He doesn't understand people or children by extension. The episode where he humilated Aster in front of the skater boy being case and point. Imagine that everyday. I think Deb will end up moving in with them and they'll try to stumble through raising the family. Deb is as clueless as Dexter in a lot of ways when it comes to children.

I will watch Dexter until the end. It's one of the shows I can't quit, like Lost. I have to know how it ends. I've missed a few episodes of Lost and I don't care, but I still watch it and want to know what happens.