Dexter Review

Overall 4.62 of 5 view all 63 reviews

tx23
Bronx, NY

The second season fianle of Dexter was like a deflated balloon

an avid TV watcher

DEC

2008

Dexter —

The season finale of Dexter was like a deflated balloon. All the tension built throughout the season reached its high point and popped in the episode before, and left this week to let out the rest of the hot air. For those who have not seen the Showtime cable drama, Dexter is about a blood splatter analyst (played by Michael C. Hall) who works at the Miami Police Department during the day and at night kills criminals that the justice system failed to convict while trying to appear normal to everyone he knows. The show is based off a novel by Jeff Lindsay called Darkly Dreaming Dexter. According to wikipedia there are certain parts of the show that are different from the book. The overall plot of first season was similar to the book, but the storyline for the second and third season is different from t he books that came after Darkly Dreaming Dexter.
            This season followed Dexter as his life went for a loop again. After learning his girlfriend, Rita (played by Julie Benz), became pregnant, he decided to propose to her. While stalking a new victim, he accidentally kills a man who is the brother of an assistant district attorney who launches the investigation to find the killer. The investigation leads to the development of a friendship between Dexter and the assistant D.A., Miguel Prado (played by Jimmy Smits), where he reveals to Prado his dark secret and lets him take part in it. Things go wrong when Prado disagrees with Dexter and kills someone who does not fit within Dexter's criteria or "code" (as he calls it). This puts a strain on their friendship as both plan to kill the other. The high point of the series takes place when Dexter kills Prado. The season finale took place the morning after Dexter killed Prado, dumped the body in a public place.
            In the first season finale, Dexter met his long lost brother and killed him, after learning that he was th e Ice Truck Killer, hacking people on the streets. In the second season finale, all of Dexter's murders were pinned on someone else. With all this in mind how could they possible top that in the third season finale? The answer is: they couldn't.
The finale was way to tie up the season's loose ends, and not leave questions unanswered at the end. Although the serial killer (the Skinner) was killed by Dexter, the Skinner case was closed. The wedding between Dexter and Rita took place. After Rita realized she was pregnant and told Dexter, he proposed to her leaving the rest of the season to the planning of the wedding.
            Overall it was dull. Because all the mounting action and suspense ended the in the episode before it, there was nothing to keep viewers interested. The back and forth battle of wits between Prado and Dexter was over. There was no big surprise about who the Skinner was or why he was killing. The issues of the minor characters were dealt with leaving no lingering drama or too many questions. Dexter's adoptive sister, Debora (played by Jennifer Carpenter), reached her goal of becoming a detective, kept a boyfriend, and was re sponsible for ending the Skinner case she had been working on.
            In the final episode there were only two things of big importance: the aftermath of Prado's death and the Dexter's wedding. The Skinner appeared in the episode so the case would not go into the next season. The case ended too quickly and with no questions. The Skinner kidnapped Dexter, because he believed Dexter had information he needed. Instead of having his tools to torture Dexter at hand, he walked away which gave Dexter enough time to get loose from the ropes and chase him. After wrestling the Skinner, Dexter put him into a chokehold and snapped his neck. Because he heard the police sirens, he threw the body off the stairs and onto the police car, and ran out a window. The police automatically assumed it was a suicide jump. The whole situation was odd for two reasons. In other cop shows when the police think they have the criminal, there are several cars to surround the building. The Skinner was a high priority case, and there were only two police cars that went after him. It was an easy way to let Dexter escape without being seen. The police must not have inspected the crime scene. Dexter was tied to a table, so he tipped it over to break his hand to pull it through the ropes and escape. There was no mention of blood at scene, but in the final scene of the episode it showed Dexter's broken hand drip=2 0blood. The table and rope was still out when the police arrived, but no one questioned why it was there. This neglect gave Dexter had an easy way out.
        Simply because this episode was not as good as the rest, it does not mean the future episodes will be just as bad. One slip up does not mean the end. The fourth season will soon go into production, and will probably air around the same time next fall on Sunday nights at nine. Viewers should continue watching or start watching the series. For those who have been watching since the beginning, they can hope to expect more narrow escapes, more twists and turns, and more revelations. For those who have not seen the show, they can easily catch up.