The Killers

To quote the many tweets and Facebook posts after last night's season finale...OMFG.

I goofed though. I was in attendance at the Manhattan viewing party (attended by Clyde Phillips and Desmond Harrington as well) and I was in so much shock that my Facebook post inadvertently gave away the ending.

I deleted it later, but basically I told myself that at that point, no one was on Facebook who hadn't seen the show (OK I can tell myself anything to make me feel better).

I guess what I can say right now is...Dexter may have won the War against the Trinity Killer...but we all know Trinity won a critical battle that changed the dynamic of not only the show (selfish reasons abound of course) but the course of Dexter's life. Nothing will ever be the same for our vigilante killer again.

I was an English lit major and much of my studies came through reading and interpreting Shakespeare's works. Was there NOT a person in the audience last night that Hamlet didn't come to mind? You know the background. Missed opportunities. Loved ones lost as a result of procrastinating and not taking the matter at hand seriously, getting sidetracked with minutiae.

We all knew that Dexter's "tragic flaw" was what made him unique, made him who he was, and would catch up to him eventually one day. However, we can see the costs of this flaw and now several innocent people are hurt by this.

I think Clyde Phillips, if that was his intent, to have these Shakespearean parallels (I highly doubt it was a coincidence), is a genius. Of course, I have never read the Dexter books, so if this was a theme, then Jeff Lindsay really struck a nerve. Great job by all.

I can't help but wonder though what kind of dynamic this will leave. No doubt (SPOILERS AHEAD! SPOILERS AHEAD!) Rita's presence will be missed next season, especially for the way she grounded Dexter. But at the same time, she held him back from who he really was. And we all have seen in the past on this show that anyone who gets in the way of Dexter being true to himself "disappears" one way or another.

On a personal note, I am not one to easily get sucked into television dramas. Never in a million years would I think I would be rooting for a sociopathic vigilante serial killer but I am. I never get emotionally invested in television shows if I don't have to. Something about this show drew me in from day one.

The only other episode that I think has generated more questions than answers for me would be the Sopranos final episode. Most hard-core Sopranos fans were unhappy with the ending initially. Then all the questions they had afterwards and discussions it generated led them to believe that it was the appropriate series finale.

We all knew Dexter was going to kill Arthur. We all knew eventually Deb would find the truth about Laura Moser and her sons Brian and Dexter and the link to the Ice Truck Killer. Her reaction and realization of it surprised me. I do give the writers that.

I am guessing that next season, Dexter will lose custody of Astor and Cody to Rita's mother and she will try hard to get Harrison as well. Since he is the biological father of Harrison I think he will fight for him. Or maybe not. He could think that Harrison is better off without him but only HE knows the Code and may have to help him channel that anger we all know he will have growing up. These are Dexter's lessons learned. He will have to have Harrison learn from his mistakes but I wonder how much of it will be anger turned towards Dex as he is partially responsible for Rita's death.

Rita's death may not be as cut-and-dried as being by the Trinity Killer. Since we saw he found Dexter's old address. Someone suggested Elliot may have killed her or someone else did. I wonder if that's one of the story lines for next season.

Seeing as how this is the longest post I have ever written on my favorite show, I think I can surmise this was a fabulous episode and all I can say is, bring on more for Season Five.