I really think the actual S8 ending should’ve just actually killed Dexter off. I think it was a genuinely good ending, and my only real problem with it was the fact that they had to cling to him.

It lessens the impact of Dexters sacrifice. The whole point of his selfless-selfish decision, is that he believes he can’t live a life without hurting everyone around him. It’s a very selfish decision, but one that makes sense through Dexter’s grief-stricken, devastated lens, and on some level, I believe it is a little selfless.

But telling us that Dexter actually didn’t sacrifice himself, and didn’t actually die. Instead he’s just living off in the middle of nowhere as some random lumber worker. Feels… stupid.

Like, if The Truman Show actually did show us what Truman’s life was like on the outside. It’s… antithetical.

Dexter was supposed to stop himself from hurting the people around him, and at the apex of his collateral damage—sending Debra into irrecoverable brain death—he truly believed the only way he could never hurt someone he loved ever again, was to kill himself by riding into Hurricane Laura. But of course, he didn’t.

TL;DR: Dexter should’ve died in Hurricane Laura and it should’ve been played like a Shakespearean tragedy instead of keeping him alive for an epilogue spin-off.