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Of the 36 episodes of Dexter, 35 of them, I watched via certain methods using certain digital networks spanning the world with a certain not-quite-legal bent to them.
Do to a weird fluke of circumstance, I ended up getting cable a few weeks ago, and due to an even weirder fluke of circumstance we get Showtime. (Is Showtime part of basic cable? I assumed it was only available if you paid extra for it?)
So I watched the Dexter Season finale in a different medium than I'm used to. And somehow, it felt... less professional than normal? The acting and camera work felt like a bad TV movie. Did anyone else notice that? I'm not sure if it was a quality of the episode or the TV.
Anyway, the finale itself felt a little underwhelming, like everything worked out happy for the sake of working out happy, and the season as a whole was kinda "meh." I think part of the problem is that they put Dexter through so much stuff in the first two seasons that anything coming afterwards is a little lame.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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I'm in the same scenario as you. My parents recently purchased an HDTV and decided to get the fancy bundle with the cable company so I've been enjoying the last few weeks of Dexter on their tv as opposed to downloading it over the period of a few days and watching it on my nearly-dead laptop.
The finale was pretty anti-climatic, but on the whole I've really enjoyed the entire season. I LOVED the first season but was really disappointed with the second season.
I really enjoyed the idea of giving Dexter an outlet for his secret. And a chance to test his skills and his choice to become a teacher. While I think the appearance of Harry was often alittle too much, my biggest complaint would probably be the lack of blood and gore. It think its too easy to loose Dexter's perspective without the violence and death to remind people of what he really is under that convincing smile.
But I do like whenever they walk the line between Dexter's humanity and inhumanity. I like when the show deals with the mundane and how it's complicated by Dexter's dark desires. At the heart, its just a show about a man going through all the day-to-day drama that affects everyone. He's got daddy issues, relationship issues, work issues, issues with the rest of his family, etc.
I'm really excited about next season because hopefully it'll touch on one of the few things I liked about the books which is Dexter's relationship with children and the struggles he'll have with being a father and role model.
Psychologically, I found this season to be very satisfying. But I need more blood, gore and darkness! Though I was happy with the lack of unnecessary sex scenes. But Deborah could always curse more. ha.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I loved it. But I'm almost never disappointed in Dexter. I was pretty sure King was going to grab Rita or one of the kids to get to Dexter; I'm glad they didn't do that.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I enjoyed it, but I found the two resolution devices that stood out in the episode both to be a little too convenient and pat.
1) Ramon Prado had a lot of reason to suspect Dexter had something to do with Miguel's death. The skinner M.O. aside, Miguel specifically warned Ramon that Dexter was dangerous to Miguel - and it should be easy for a cop to imagine how a forensics specialist might copy a serial killer M.O. to hide his own tracks. Given this, and Ramon's past belligerence, I thought Dexter's heart to heart with Ramon went down too easily. Ramon's evident willingness to open up to Dexter and also to listen and consider what Dexter had to say seemed odd. Perhaps we're meant to think that Ramon is actually a lot nicer and humbler when sober, but to me it just seemed like a uncharacteristic interaction. If it turns out that Ramon is subtly deflecting Dexter's attention so he can make a more subtle inquiry into Miguel's death at a later date, I'll forgive this one.
2) The King death scene should have been more difficult for Dexter. First of all it's unlikely that the squad cars would come screeching into the warehouse if they weren't also covering all exits from the building in case King took off. (This guy already escaped from Debra and Quinn once; they aren't going to take chances.) Yet Dexter is able to slip out of a window without being noticed. Also, while it's clear that Dexter is smart and clever, managing to come up with the method to obscure that he already killed King AND get the timing right without making himself visible really stretches credulity. The scene promised Dexter being caught in an inexplicable and suspicious situation, but perhaps not disastrously so once King was dead, so the pat resolution felt somewhat like a cheat. To be fair, I actually found it clever and pleasing at the same time as I thought it was MacGuyver-esque in its fortuitous ingenuity.
There was another thing that bothered me about the episode. Did Ramon just trash Dexter's apartment out of spite and rage? Or was he looking for something? I assumed Ramon was looking for incriminating evidence, and it didn't make sense that he didn't open Dexter's trunk o'death, but I guess if he was just vandalizing then it might make sense.
Overall I liked the season. It wasn't as tense as the previous two seasons but managed to walk a fine line where we just can't be sure whether Dexter is redeemable or not, which is really the core question that makes the show interesting.
Edit: oh, and how does Dexter go missing from the night before the wedding to minutes beforehand without raising all kinds of alarms? The "broke my hand" explanation doesn't cover not answering the phone the night before and morning of the wedding.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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Ramon was drunk as a skunk. He could have missed the trunk (drunk as a skunk with a trunk, hmm...).
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:The King death scene should have been more difficult for Dexter.
The part about this that really bothered me was that Dexter's blood is at the crime scene. If they did even a cursory look around, I'd think a toppled over table with blood around it would warrant a write up in a report and samples for forensics. Instead they just skipped over it.
Overall, I rather enjoyed the season. I don't think they'll ever top Season 1, but this one was enjoyable. I wish that Miguel had at least once made reference to knowing that Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher. It seems like something he should have been able to put together.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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I was very disappointed with the season in general. Partly I think because the first two seasons were so intense that it was impossible for the third season to keep up. Its hard to follow an entire season where Dexter is being hunted by his coworkers.
The thing I hated this season was the glut of dead-Harry talking to Dexter scenes. I didn't feel that they added anything to the show at all, and were all kinds of boring. It got to the point that Niki and I would start talking to each other instead of watching the scenes when they were on.
Also, I think Dexter was carrying the idiot ball an awful lot.
Still, bad Dexter is better than most TV.
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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