Review: Dexter ‘A Beautiful Day’

Finally, the final season of Dexter is upon us.  That’s right, this eighth season is the last and so everything gets wrapped up for good over the course of the next few months.  Considering how some people were feeling about the quality of the show as it went on (myself NOT included), it’s a good thing they’re deciding to end it.  The question is - can they do it in a way that blows us away?

When last we left off, Dexter and Debra were in a bit of a pickle.  The murder of LaGuerta was a snap-decision by Deb and she isn’t exactly equipped to kill people in cold blood the way her brother is.  The new season picks up six months later and Dexter is back to work as usual, seemingly unaffected by the events of last season.  In fact, he’s feeling pretty good about life now that no one is on his trail and trying to connect him to the Bay Harbor Butcher murders.

Deb, on the other hand, isn’t handling it all that well.  She’s quit the police force and now works as a bounty hunter.  While on a case tracking some jewelry, she ends up in bed with her mark and jacked up on coke.  She’s avoiding most of her former life, Dexter in particular.  The absence of his sister begins to wreck havoc with Dexter’s self-control, resulting in him almost strangling a guy to death for cutting him off.  Add to this the addition of a new character to the show, Dr. Vogel.  She just happens to be one of the world’s leading experts on serial killers and the chance that she can look Dexter in the eye and know exactly what he is makes our favorite serial killer a bit uneasy.

Dex eventually tracks his sister down and discovers that someone is coming to kill her new boyfriend and is worried that she might get caught in the crossfire.  While trying to rescue Deb, he ends up killing the new man in her life.  Yet another reason for her to hate her brother.

In the meanwhile, Dexter and company are on another serial killer case, tracking down some guy who likes to steal parts of people’s brains.  Quinn seems to have forgotten all about his love for last season’s stripper and is now sleeping with Angel’s little sister.  And Dr. Vogel, in a final reveal, lets Dexter know that she understands exactly who he is and that she isn’t all that disapproving of his way of getting things done.

For the first twenty minutes of this episode, I felt like perhaps the series was about to crash and burn.  The shoehorning of exposition to explain all the developments of the off-screen six months was painful to watch and even the actors themselves didn’t seem like they cared much how their performances came across.  I was in dread of the entire season ending up like this.

But by the time the episode hits the middle mark, everything has gotten dark and screwed up.  We see the extent of how far both Dexter and Debra have fallen due to their actions in season 8.  The tone for the show shifts from bright and sunny to just plain crazy.  By the time the episode ended, I was fully excited for what future episodes have to offer.  The writers, knowing that this is the end of the show, seem like they may be going all-out to create something on par with the likes of Hannibal.

Next week, it looks like Dexter and Dr. Vogel will begin their new working relationship, which should prove loads of fun.  I’m happy that there’s no “somebody is going to find out Dexter’s secret” story arc going this time around.  I’m sure it will crop up, but hopefully they do it a little bit cleverer this time.  For a look at what episode 2 has to offer, check out this link.

Dexter and Harrison courtesy of darklydexter.com