A show notorious for an awful ending comes back from the dead and has an even worse second ending.
An ending which wasn't earned at all:
- Dexter is acting sloppy and idiotic the whole time. This is a man who got away with hundreds of murders.
- Angela, who hasn't been able to solve a series of missing persons cases in her own town for 10+ years, solves the BHB case thanks to a series of plot contrivances, a google search and a freaking retcon (the M99/ketamine inconsistency, that made all of this possible). Her conversation with Batista in the final episode makes no sense either.
- The writing for Harrison is all over the place. After ten episodes I barely know who this kid is and what he wants. He keeps running away from conversations until the final couple of episodes and then we get barely 45 min of father-son bonding out of the whole season. His 180° turn in the next and final episode feels incredibly rushed.
- The show completely falls apart when Dexter kills Logan and he didn’t have to. All the evidence they had on Dexter was circumstantial at best, they had nothing solid to tie him to any of the murders. Any capable lawyer would have got him out of this. So his decision to attack a cop and prove himself a killer is the most illogical and out of character action he could have taken at the time. It was all downhill from there.
I am not upset Dexter died. His death could’ve happened in any number of fulfilling ways that honored the journey and the themes of humanity, morality, consequences, personal growth, development of empathy, justice/vengeance, the lasting effects of trauma the show explored in its' original run.
I’m upset they instead had his own son put him down like an animal while undermining years of character development to tell us he was just a psychopath incapable of feeling all along. Vilifying him entirely at the last second to force this outcome feels like weird moralistic bullshit punishing and mocking us for caring. Miss me with that bullshit.
I loved it. Most of the Pearson family are flawed human beings. They strive to be good people but they are flawed nonetheless. The show doesn't try to portray them as perfect beings. Jack who was abused as a child and carries the horrors of Vietnam inside but still tries to be there for his family. And does his best to break the toxic cycle of his family. Rebecca who was from a wealthy family and left all of that for love. Made some bad decisions along the way. After losing her beloved, grief consumed her. But her love persists. Kevin who always felt neglected and desperate for approval. After learning to shove his emotions down for so long that his empathic side rarely comes out. He has the best character development in the story. Randall who always questioned his place in the world. Torn between gratitude and sense of belonging. Kate who used food as her source of love. So sure that she was not worthy of love that she always takes it out on others. All of these characters have flaws but all of them are higly relatable characters. Family dynamic is a huge plus. I liked that about this show.
I really loved they way the story was being told. It is unique that we watch three timelines simultaneously.
