Dexter – Season 6 Finale – Do They or Don’t They?

I think this was the best episode of the season. It had all of the typical hold-your-breath moments that we have come to expect from the Dexter series. It almost made up for all of the ‘extras’ Dexter has been doing this season (acting like a medical examiner and crime scene technician, all while seeing blood droplets from across the room, on a doorknob). At one point, Dexter tells Deb the bodies Travis left behind were killed by blunt force trauma to the head. Now, while I am also quick to say that is not a tough diagnosis to make for even a layperson, shouldn’t someone other than our favourite blood spatter expert be making that call?

And how did she know he was going to be at the church?

I’m going backwards, I know. Hear me out. You all know how much I love a show that I can’t figure out what happens next. Unfortunately, I can’t figure this one out because so many steps and clues are being skipped, not necessarily only due to suspenseful events.

So in order to unravel my thoughts and feelings, I have to start at the end.

There was no indication that Deb should have been able to know or find out that Dexter was back at the church. I watched eyes glued to the TV, so I know I didn’t miss anything. So, suck-in-your-breath-moment number one was a little bit lost as I tried to figure out how she even knew to go there, let alone be going there to reveal her feelings for him.

And about that – I’m leaving it alone. It’s a very touchy area (and no, I am not afraid of touchy areas, but let’s remember this isn’t real life, mmkay?) I am interested in hearing your thoughts on this. I myself am torn; on the one hand, gross (I have stepbrothers and like Deb and Dex, we grew up together from a very young age – I consider them nothing less than true brothers). On the other hand, gross as I may think it is, they technically are not related, so….Help me out here.

That aside – holy crap! She knows! What does that mean for Dexter? As much as we know about him and how he deals with his dark passenger, we know equally that Debra tries to be a model of ‘black and white’, and deals very badly with grey areas. Looking back, I think we are being set up to expect Deb to be very accepting of the grey areas here, since she let Matthews off the hook on the dead prostitute. I don’t know how this will affect her feelings for Dexter, since she seems to be leaning towards grey; if it was me (or you know, in real life!), I’m pretty sure she would run for the hills.

Now back to the beginning. When the remaining half of the rowboat sank, and Dexter was left swimming in the ocean, who else didn’t wonder how he would get out of that? And when the woman told him God was looking out for him, it seems he may have been looking out for THEM when Dexter offs the guy who attempts to rob them all. And from then I went from thinking he was going to get arrested with all the other illegals swimming to freedom, to how the hell is he going to explain this to whoever it is he is going to call on that stranger’s cell phone?

And it true Dexter fashion, it’s the simplest excuse imaginable – he fell off his boat. I had a tough time swallowing that one, until Deb showed up crying and told him she has been so worried since she heard his boat washed up on the shore. After all, the last time we saw the Slice of Life, it was being motored away by Travis while Dexter seemingly exploded.

And right there, when she is hanging on to him and crying, is when my stomach sinks and I realize the writers really are going there. I don’t like the story line, as much as I am undecided on its grossness factor, and I hope it dies a quiet and painless arc death.

When Batista told Quinn he was putting in to transfer him out of homicide, I was elated. I hate Quinn’s drunken storyline, and though I liked it at first as his reaction to Deb’s rejection, I am over it and so should he be. But when it occurred to me this could possibly be the end of Quinn to make room for some not-technically-incestual relationship between Deb and Dexter, I desperately wanted that to not happen. So please, can we keep Quinn? I’ll be good, I promise!

What’s the deal with Lewis, and why was the Ice truck Killer hand thrown in for good measure? I know we’re laying groundwork for the next season, but it almost seems like an after-thought.

Moving on to Laguerta – me no likey. And I don’t think I am alone in that, or alone in hoping Deb gets something to hold over her head so she’ll back off with the manipulation of everyone else’s careers. It irks me when Deb takes her advice, and nothing rings true when she is trying to be friendly. I was never really a huge fan, though I loved the Batista-Laguerta marriage. I was sad to see that end because it gave her some serious humanity and made me think that if someone as lovable as Angel could love that, maybe I could too. But I guess not even the writers were buying that press!

I nearly had a heart attack when Travis pulled out Dexter’s driver’s licence. My partner and I immediately looked at each other and at the same time said “Harrison!” I was surprised that he left Jamie and Harrison alone at the apartment, when they zoomed in on the chef’s knife on the counter I thought maybe she would end up killing him, but no such luck. Travis spies the notice for Harrison’s Christmas pageant on the fridge, and from there I flashed back to Rita in the bathtub. Leave Harrison out of this!

Colin Hanks. I am resisting the urge to just leave his name as my entire thoughts on Travis Marshall, because I really do think that’s all that needs to be said. To pick such a challenging and evil role for your first major (I know, he had several small roles in movies and some short stints on quite a few television shows, but I think we can all agree this is the biggest), as the son of a major Hollywood player, I think this takes large cojones and massive intelligence. No one, anymore, will ever refer to him as Tom Hank’s son. He is Colin Hanks, and we’ll be seeing a lot of him, methinks.

All in all, I think it was a good season, and got better towards the end. It’s no ice-truck-killer or James Doakes season, but it’s good. I can appreciate where it’s going, I think, and so I will give credit where it’s due – good job, writers! I’m sorry I can’t get over the differences in Dexter’s duties at the crime scenes – all you had to do was slip in at the beginning that he took some classes or was filling in or SOMETHING, and I would have left it all alone.

All that being said, I am pleased with the edge-of-my-seat ending, and I look very much forward to next season, provided it happens. Michael C. Hall and Showtime are in contract negotiations which have apparently broken down over a $4M discrepancy. That I should have such troubles!

Anyone else think that mural of Dexter was seriously disturbing?

Season 7 premieres on September 30, 2012 at 10:00 on HBO.