Why "Goodbye Miami" May Be the Worst Episode of Dexter -- Too Late in the Game

Disclaimer: While I considered whether to write this, I realized two sides of the spectrum: a lot of people, especially professional critics, were very disappointed with this episode. On the other hand, some fans may argue for it. That's fine; in fact, I am such a major fan of the series that I am expected to be amazed by every episode -- making it a letdown when that doesn't happen. Don't hate me.

Let's get this out of the way: "Goodbye Miami" was not the show's finest outing. It may very well be the worst episode of Dexter ever produced. While I didn't go back to review whether there was a more slow-paced episode, there may very well have been in seasons 5 or 6. Still, for the simple fact that this was a much-hyped second-to-last episode it very much fails in this regard. That's not to say it was bad, but any episode from seasons 1-4 was more compelling than what should have been a more important episode. This post is about a mediocre episode from an incredible show, after all.

Here's issue numero uno... the entire episode can be summed up as this:

Vogel: "Dexter, leave my son alone."
Dexter: "He won't get well; I'll take care of him."
Vogel: "Okay, I finally believe you after forty minutes of this."

It honestly felt like characters kept having the same conversations about the same topics, which really slowed down the episode. Instead of introducing new plot points or twists, the characters had unnecessarily long conversations relaying information we found out already.

Then there were two ridiculous side stories involving Masuka's daughter showing up to work high (exciting for a final episode -- not even played for humor...) and Harrison falling off a treadmill while Hannah can't attempt to call Debra or stop what she's doing to grab him. Maybe if Harrison was more seriously injured the hospital-Hannah-risking-herself scene would make sense but in this context she had more options that wouldn't get her caught.

Then the episode ends with a twist most of us saw coming anyway. In my opinion, more should have happened at this point as by the time the episode ends it feels like little transpired for a 55-minute episode. Heck, I feel that Oliver should have been taken care of by now but maybe the writers are setting up a great plot line with him. The finale will tell whether that rings true.

It seems like the writers ran out of ideas and are waiting for the Saxon showdown, padding the previous two episodes with too much filler for a final season. More risks should be taken in the final season. We can only hope they're saving all their cards for a huge finale.

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