If you were looking for reviews for Dexter episodes, then you may know jkrishan, a lucky fan who watches the episodes before they actually air, and reviews 'em without spoilers. Hit the 'read more' button for a spoiler-free review of the final episode of Dexter. He doesn't reveal anything, he's just providing his thoughts on the finale. If you don't want to know anything at all about the upcoming episode, ignore this post.
"It's all over. Done. Finished.
After 8 seasons, 96 episodes, and countless victims, Dexter Morgan has taken his final bow.
Season 8 has been a mixed bag, to say the very least. With all due respect to those who have been enjoying it...It should've been so much more. What started with so much potential and intrigue, dissipated into unfocused story lines, lazy pacing, and a lack of emotional weight. This being the final season, there shouldn't have been a wasted moment.
Maybe time will be kinder to Season 8 down the road, but its not about the first 11 episodes anymore... It's about the BIG one. Either the finale puts the nail in the season, or it goes out on a emotional and intense high.
As always, you'll find NO SPOILERS for the finale here. But I'll do you all a kindness and debunk a few rampant details...
No Quinn becomes the new Dexter.
No Matthews kills Dexter.
No bodies washing up on shore.
That's the only spoilers I know or will address.
So how IS the episode?
Dexheads... I really don't know what to say.
At exactly 10:00pm ET on Sunday, September 22nd... The *beep* will hit the fan.
Emotional without emotion. Clever without being logical. Urgent without being intense. A little bit brilliant, a whole lotta stupid, an interesting conclusion, and an unsatisfying experience. In other words...
It's a mess. But when it hits, there's moments that stuck in your brain. Unfortunately these moments are too few and far between.
We finally get a Saxon that's insanely menacing. If THIS guy showed up in Episode 5 or 6, we'd have a villain worth getting excited over. Too little too late. His fate can be debated as clever, stupid, or anticlimactic.
Our cast does solid work, but nobody particularly swings for the fences. Given the emotional stakes, MCH is particularly subdued in certain key moments. Considering these season has been about Dexter embracing deep feelings and emotion, it's a unique choice for the actor and character. But this is the detail that intrigues me the most.
There's no doubt the episode has a lot of problems, and its going to be like Christmas for the haters, but what the ending has to say about the character of Dexter will be the hot topic of the day. Some will love the final resolution, some will call it the ultimate cop out, while others will question it's intention and meaning. It's not Sopranos vague by any stretch, but the final moment of the entire series has a unique impact.
When the end credits appear, there's definitely a feeling that Episode 12 should've been better. You can't shake the feeling of convenient logic and questionable decisions. But after it begins to simmer in your brain, the good, and sometimes great, rises to the surface. Like Dexter, who is in constant conflict with his emotions and intentions, so is the finale.
I was intrigued, I was disappointed, I was touched emotionally, I was completely pissed off, I thought it showed flashes of brilliance and moments of absolute stupidity. I want to forget it, but it stayed with me.
A fitting and poignant end for the character of Dexter Morgan. A questionable, and debatable, end for the series.
Cut to black
EDIT: Ok. I watched it again. A lot of the same problems, but... When you realize what the episode is trying to say, Michael C Hall's performance in the last act is beautifully done."