Dexter

Okay despite the utterly WTF aspect to Deb being in love with Dex, I'm kind of glad they are NOT just forgetting it. Her laying it on him in this episode puts the major screws to Dexter and I like when he's under pressure and doesn't know what the fuck to do. He's now got Isaak, La Guerta, Deb, and Hannah all up in his face and after his ass in various ways.

I don't necessarily buy that Hannah is his Argentina, but I buy that he thinks she might be. But maybe she's just his sad teenage joint on the porch(I'm not fussed by the chemistry so far, especially next to Dex/Lumen). I vote largely the latter.

I liked that Isaak articulated what I've long thought about Dex and the way he views people through glass, at this remove, and how Dexter claims to not understand feeling the kind of love Isaak had with Victor. I think this will mostly likely go full circle to S1 and Rudy. There it was family v. family and he chose Deb then, and now it's more complicated because he will probably have to choose between Deb and Hannah only this time not familial love at stake. Fucked up and ew-y as it might be I can roll with it.

I also wonder how far Deb will break, will she kill for Dex or will she die because of him? Overall I'm pretty impressed with this season.

I'm glad the spirits of the Dahl siblings have descended upon Dexter. Might mean less Hannah.

Speaking of purdy, Rome beared the brunt of my Carnivale cancellation induced spite (plus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and I, Claudius fill all my ancient historical fiction Rome needs) so I refuse to watch it, but Ray Stevenson is a total fox. Might go rent that Punisher sequel.

Paris if you like Ray Stevenson beefcake you are cutting your nose off to spite your face boycotting Rome.

The Dude wrote:Paris if you like Ray Stevenson beefcake you are cutting your nose off to spite your face boycotting Rome.

THIRTEEN!

blixie wrote:Okay despite the utterly WTF aspect to Deb being in love with Dex, I'm kind of glad they are NOT just forgetting it. Her laying it on him in this episode puts the major screws to Dexter and I like when he's under pressure and doesn't know what the fuck to do. He's now got Isaak, La Guerta, Deb, and Hannah all up in his face and after his ass in various ways.

I don't necessarily buy that Hannah is his Argentina, but I buy that he thinks she might be. But maybe she's just his sad teenage joint on the porch(I'm not fussed by the chemistry so far, especially next to Dex/Lumen). I vote largely the latter.

I liked that Isaak articulated what I've long thought about Dex and the way he views people through glass, at this remove, and how Dexter claims to not understand feeling the kind of love Isaak had with Victor. I think this will mostly likely go full circle to S1 and Rudy. There it was family v. family and he chose Deb then, and now it's more complicated because he will probably have to choose between Deb and Hannah only this time not familial love at stake. Fucked up and ew-y as it might be I can roll with it.

I also wonder how far Deb will break, will she kill for Dex or will she die because of him? Overall I'm pretty impressed with this season.

I agree with this whole thing. I think Deb being into Dex is fucked up, but I thought it was ridiculous that they were just gonna pretend her personal arc from last year hadn't happened. I loved how thunderstruck Dex was. He absolutely had no idea what to say once she blurted out that she'd gone to the church to confess her feelings for him. (Which I just now realized is hilariously perfect. She was making a confession at church. Late to the party, self.) Jennifer Carpenter needs a boatload of awards noms next year, and I may set something on fire if her phenomenal work goes unnoticed this season. She absolutely killed in that scene. You could just see Deb struggling to make sense of what the hell her relationship with Dexter has become and how hurt she is, both as a sister and as someone who is or was in love with him.

Hannah won't ultimately be Dex's Argentina, but it totally makes sense that he thinks she is. Who else would accept him completely for the serial killer that he is? To be completely comfy and at home with anyone is a godsend, and Dex has been harboring his insane secret for decades that it must be an unbelievable relief to just let everything hang out there with Hannah. I wonder if Hannah will try to kill Deb or exposing him as a killer to save herself somehow? Those are the two circumstances under which I can imagine Dexter getting rid of her. The only other person I can't imagine this show without besides Dexter himself is Deb so between her and Hannah, Hannah gotta go. The character annoys the shit out of me, and I wish she'd actually rot in prison instead of getting the easy way out and most likely getting killed by season's end.

Bleh. I really wanted Ivan to like, I don't know, try to bite Dexter to death on the boat. I didn't like how he turned into love-Yoda there.

Jennifer Carpenter is trying her best (and she is a wonderful actress), but this incest shitteriffic plot has destroyed Deb's character for me. I kind of thought she might kill herself tonight (or by the end of the season) and I only want Hannah to go first.

Noooo! Isaac! Dammit.

Y'know even after last week I was still hanging out some hope that this season would finish out as strong as it started. Sure Dexter is behaving in disgusting love struck ways and being counseled in that love by the previously bad ass vengeance demon Isaak, but I thought it was intentional for us to notice how not into Dexter Hannah actually is, and that he's deluding himself because he's under more strain than he's been in six years. I also wanked that Isaak knows Hannah will be the death/end of Dexter and so he was pushing him towards the black widow with gusto!

But all that cratered out in this one. Dexter never felt he was "responsible" for his murders? There is no Dark Passenger? He and Hannah are legit? Wow, so so so sucky. At this point I hope Deb gets to put a bullet in both of them. Sorry show I'm not buying he feels more genuinely for Hannah than he did for Lumen, I know you were bummed she couldn't stick around because of all the back stage boning, but really just trying to pretend she never happened is bullshit.

Dexter's love life is a little repetitive.

Lila: Oh, she understands my drug addiction = killing addiction, I LOVE HER.
Lumen: Oh, she has a dark passenger just like I do, I LOVE HER.
Hannah: Oh, she's okay with me killing people and she likes killing people (while my sister is accusing me of this), maybe we're actually the same, I LOVE HER.

I sort of see why the producers were going to end this season (or was it next?) since they've set up reasonable death outcomes for everyone ranging from Quinn to Deb to Laguerta to Dexter.

Honestly, the only real part I enjoyed during the episode (besides Masuka because I love him) was Dexter in the fireproof suit. Even though I was expecting him to be in it already, it was still kind of cool when he just popped his head up and grabbed the guy.

Binky wrote:I sort of see why the producers were going to end this season (or was it next?) since they've set up reasonable death outcomes for everyone ranging from Quinn to Deb to Laguerta to Dexter.

I think there's supposed to be one more season, but I'm seeing some article where they say that's because Showtime talked them into ending it after S8, so S7 and S8 might be two halves of the same final arc.

I could see Dexter being on the run for the final season, and Deb being in jail or something for concealing a whole whackload of, uh, everything.

The Dude wrote:The Onion: Coy 'Dexter' Producers Hint At 'Huge Plot Holes' In Season Finale

Hee.

Binky wrote:Dexter's love life is a little repetitive.

Lila: Oh, she understands my drug addiction = killing addiction, I LOVE HER.
Lumen: Oh, she has a dark passenger just like I do, I LOVE HER.
Hannah: Oh, she's okay with me killing people and she likes killing people (while my sister is accusing me of this), maybe we're actually the same, I LOVE HER.

He's getting into Liza Minnelli territory of repeating mistakes.

I think this was actually my favorite episode of the season, because it called back to Dexter when Deb didn't know and all the cops he had to trick. I wonder who drugged Deb? I kind of think it was...DEB.

Binky wrote:I think this was actually my favorite episode of the season, because it called back to Dexter when Deb didn't know and all the cops he had to trick. I wonder who drugged Deb? I kind of think it was...DEB.

That was my suspicion too. Given how much Dexter has lied to her, I kind of think Deb wouldn't hesitate to give him a taste of his own medicine and manipulate him to get what she wants. Or maybe given we saw Deb with that water bottle throughout the episode, it may have been an accidental overdose. Nevertheless, it seems crazy that Dex would think nothing of having Hannah arrested, thinking she wouldn't betray his secrets. The point though that kept sticking in my mind was that Dex killed Hannah's dad! Yes, Hannah wanted him out of her life, but still... Dexter plays by a very specific set of rules that only apply to him. I can kill your dad, but you can't kill my sister. Oy.

Morning Angel wrote:Dexter plays by a very specific set of rules that only apply to him. I can kill your dad, but you can't kill my sister. Oy.

Teehee. Yeah, you have a point.

Yeah, I am fairly certain Deb was the one who accidentally overdosed herself. I'm not sorry to see Hannah go, though. And on a superficial note, someone needs to buy that girl a nude bra. I wanted to start a drinking game for every time she showed up in a white shirt and black bra.

When they took the Santa picture, I said to my husband, "shouldn't Jamie be the one in the photo? She's the one raising Harrison."

As for the previews:

Spoiler:

I thought Deb was going to kill herself.

I thought Laguerta deserved a better end than that. The entire episode had a dreamy quality to it (aka rushed and nonsensical). Gah. I used to love this show so much but last season and this season were just so poorly done.

Binky wrote:I thought Deb was going to kill herself.

I thought Laguerta deserved a better end than that. The entire episode had a dreamy quality to it (aka rushed and nonsensical). Gah. I used to love this show so much but last season and this season were just so poorly done.

Yes! If Laguerta is so convinced Dexter is The Bay Harbour Butcher, there's no way she wouldn't have been more careful. She was good police (I tip my hat to you, "The Wire"). She recently calls out the person who she thinks is a serial killer & has been killing for what... 15 years, and has never been caught. I can't believe she'd go to a container on the docks to meet a guy she thought dead at night with no back up. WTF.

This season was better overall, but still, for a show nearing its end, virtually nothing truly bad ever happens to Dex or Deb that can't be somewhat undone, which is frustrating. So now, they've compromised Deb further by having her kill someone... It made me feel awful for her, and made it even more impossible to think she wouldn't turn Dexter in right away (which I can bet she won't). I agree that it would have been more interesting for Deb to kill herself or turn on Dexter, to be honest. I was hoping that meant Dex would either be on the run next season or have to face justice.

I was really hoping that Hannah would end up dead, and instead she ends up free and on the run after leaving Dex some dumb ass flowers? Fuck that. The season started out so well, and then it's like the writers just got tired of figuring out what to do with the characters. Isaak turning into some love guru for Dexter was kinda charming, but it was puzzling as hell, too. Yeah, he opened up about his love for Victor, but I don't see why he turned into a damn mushball all of a sudden. Counseling Dex about how he speaks to Hannah on the phone? WTF, really?! And then the handling of Hannah's arrest and of her poisoning Deb was lame. There were no officers around to stop her from escaping her hospital bed? How is that possible? She's a killer, for God's sake!

And I really thought Deb was gonna be revealed as having dosed herself to manipulate Dex into getting rid of Hannah. I'm glad that she didn't stoop to that level, but Hannah's sudden reveal in the prison meeting with Dex was so sudden and felt false. "She got in our way. I had to do something." I know that's always been Hannah's main reason for killing, but the scene felt thrown together. It felt like they backed out of making Deb the responsible party there.

LaGuerta didn't deserve to die that way. I absolutely adored Jen Carpenter and Lauren Velez in that scene, but it really enrages me that now Deb is a killer, too, and that LaGuerta for finding out the truth even though she did nothing wrong. In fact, she did damn good investigating throughout the season to find out who the real Bay Harbor Butcher was, and I was pretty impressed that she set Dex up to kill Estrada so she could catch him in the act. Crazy and dangerous idea, yeah, but considering how sure she was about him and how nobody else believed her, I could understand why she resorted to that desperate measure.

Can Jen Carpenter please roll around in awards, or at least award noms, next year? Pleeeeeeeease?

whatthedeuce wrote:

Can Jen Carpenter please roll around in awards, or at least award noms, next year? Pleeeeeeeease?

I hope so, but I noticed Dexter was excluded from the Globes and the SAGs this time around (probably because last season was BAD). Jennifer Carpenter is excellent, but the show is tanking.

I admit I thought Hannah was going to show up and kill Laguerta, which also would have been a cop out a la Lila taking out Doakes, but I would have liked it better than Deb killing her.

It's too bad that the writing is all over the place now. The acting is still way up there, and I'd hate for Jen Carpenter to go completely unrecognized for her work in this season. It truly was extraordinary to me, and Deb was even more vital to the series than Dex, IMO. I wanted to see how she reacted to everything and what choices she'd make in every difficult situation. I almost didn't even really care about Dex anymore because the whole Hannah thing just became so irksome and absurd.

Les Moonves says season 8 is it.

The article also has some casting info, so be warned if you don't like to know that sort of thing in advance. (Though it's just actor names, no info on characters.)

Thank the lord. I think they could probably put together a decent wrap for the character vs. stretching this out with Big Baddie vs. Dexter for another few formulaic seasons.

(I don't think that's casting info in the article, I think it's for another show Showtime is producing.)