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]

Dexter was rather sloppy this season, which was a factor in the show. I see his changing character as development. I wouldn't want to be watching the same Dexter of season one in this season four. I wouldn't still be interested. I hate it when characters stay the same and never evolve, like Shane on the L word. Every season was EXACTLY the same character arc with minor changes. It drove me bananas. I see Dexter as an evolving character that changed over time with his experiences. In this season, his emotions came hard and fast and he's too inexperienced with how to handle them, which created messes in his life and the lives of the people around him.

I can only think of Mason on Dead Like Me to make my comparison. Mason is the only static character I've ever liked because he was unaffected by anything. He stayed exactly the same guy no matter what life changing events he went through. It was a part of his character. I wouldn't like Dexter as much as I do if he were unchanged by the events of his life. Dexter's life in season one is far different from the life he had in season four. Instead of living alone in his apartment he lives in a house with his wife, her two children, and their baby. Different situation calls for a character change through reaction.

I see Rita's death as a consequence of being a part of Dexter's life. She was unknowing, but being so close to Dexter would have to come with being touched by that darkness.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

It's so interesting because what you describe is how I see it is supposed to work... it makes total sense that Dexter needs to evolve. And yet, as he has I have found the show less and less interesting. I am in a minority there I think but it's just become more and more unbelievable to me. I think it's not just that he has changed but the *way* that he has changed that I've found a stretch. But then I was never attached to him the way other people were... so I would have been quite comfortable continuing on without seeing more human reactions from him.

You're totally right about Rita. I think her death was very fitting in a way--she was always totally blind, but that didn't mean she wasn't a victim. She died 'pure' in the sense of being so trusting of Dexter and never knowing the truth, but her unknowingness also opened the door for her to be the ultimate victim.

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there are people that think the same thing. The premise can't be sustained for too much longer. This coming season logically seems to be the last one. I'm not sure about the renewal, but I can't see it continuing much more.

I can't say I'm attached to Dexter. I wonder how much he actually loved Rita and how much of it was him buying into his own cover. I want so hard to believe that deep down Dexter loves Rita the way a husband is supposed to love a wife. The dark part of me thinks he tricked himself into loving her. Most of me believes that he loves her, but can't understand it fully.

I hope Trinity didn't tell Rita about Dexter. Dexter can't have nice things, doing the things he does. I'm sad that it was Rita that paid the price.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

I need to believe that Trinity didn't tell Rita anything. Or that if he did he sounded so deranged she did not believe him. I wonder if I distance myself from Dexter (and even from Rita a bit) because being so close to that story is so painful and horrible. Mind you, being attached to Deb is not easy at times either...!! I think the final season will be a roller coaster for me, as I'm sure it will focus on Deb's relationship with Dexter. *bites nails*

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

I hope he didn't, but I'm not sure. I can see him being awful enough to do it.

Deb has been my favorite since the beginning. I hope it ends well for her out of any of them.