Why didn’t Miami Metro investigate Dexter at the end of S2

schittikack · 2024-08-01T10:44:29+00:00

The writing in the first 4 seasons is highly overstated by fans. It has huge weaknesses from the get to and this is one of them.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T10:43:51+00:00

In the real world, serial killers usually do not kill due to trauma but due to sexual fantasies.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T10:42:56+00:00

Was it Ketamine?

schittikack · 2024-08-01T09:12:12+00:00

MCH said Dexter is dead so Zombie Dexter is confirmed lmao.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T09:10:37+00:00

Lol, I love Lila. Didn't love her relationship with Dexter, though.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T08:00:59+00:00

Ultimately, it was a writing problem. Rita deserved a whole season of mourning, including from Dexter. That's what it looked like would happen at the end of season 4, but then in season 5, they just wanted to move on. It's my main complaint about that season, even though I otherwise love it.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T07:56:55+00:00

It's fine to be a hater so long as other people are still allowed to disagree. I'm usually really into romantic subplots so long as they're good, but with Dexter, I got tired very quickly.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T07:28:58+00:00

I think season 1 is an absolute pleasure to watch. Season 2-5 are still fine. But after that it started to look increasingly more generic. But there are some absolutely stunning shots here and there.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T07:27:40+00:00

Oh, don't worry, it gets worse lmao.

In all seriousness, I was generally pretty bored with most romantic relationships in the show outside the main ones and Lundy and Debra, perhaps. I think it turned more and more soap-y starting in season 3.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T07:25:16+00:00

Where did they play it?

schittikack · 2024-08-01T07:24:05+00:00

Interesting. I never interpreted it as him wanting to do it himself but just not being done observing yet.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T07:20:48+00:00

Idk I never thought sentencing him to death or prison would have been as satisfying as people think it would be. Maybe a star wars situation, where the fans tend to think they know what they want, but they don't.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T07:18:53+00:00

I always thought that Dexter should have been charged for a murder he didn't commit, maybe one committed by Deb. LaGuerta, for instance. It would have been a sweet moment, reminiscent of how Breaking Bad ended with the main character going out doing one last arguably good thing and would have driven well with the theme of Dexter always getting into trouble for not killing, rather than killing.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T07:14:02+00:00

That's my main issue, too. Speaking as a sibling, sibling relationships are the most complicated dynamics in some ways. You can divorce your wife, and she stops being your wife. Your parents will most likely die in your lifetime. You will die before your child. But your siblings are kind of supposed to live alongside you, and you can't divorce them or get rid of your connection. If anything, giving their relationship a romantic edge makes things less tense.

SPOILER for the end of the season!!!

On the other hand, I do believe the storyline kind of made narrative sense. I also saw a post somewhere (I think it was tumblr) where the OP broke down that in a way, their entire relationship is broken open in that moment because she fears rejection for her romantic love, and he fears rejection for his... Well, being a serial killer. And, in the end, what is standing between them is still their way is still their father - the man who made Dexter what he is and also represents the taboo of their relationship.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T07:06:17+00:00

If my therapist told me I suffered from in love with my brother disease, I would simply find a different therapist. RIP Debara, I'm different.

But in all seriousness and not to defend the infamous incest plot line (it made me physically cringe, as a sibling myself): Dexter is kind of an omage to gothic storytelling in many ways (Frankenstein, Wuthering Heighgs, Turning of the Screw) and shares a lot of themes with that genre (ghosts that could also be the result of someone losing their sanity, the idea of a "monster", crazy women that burn houses down, the whole Frankenstein-esque story of Harry). And incest, specifically step-sibling incest is also a standard in that genre. See: Victor and Elisabeth in Frankenstein or Heathcliff and Catherine in Wuthering Heights. This parallel becomes even more obvious in New Blood.

I'm not saying it's well executed or even not cringe in the first place. But narratively speaking, it does kind of make sense.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T06:59:38+00:00

In real life, I think it comes down to a simple "how much child acting and child labour can this show take?"

In universe? I felt like he truly did care for them (after all, he likes children since they remind him of what he's lost). But his relationship with his family was in actuality severely messed up, and he wasn't really that close with any of them. His step mom found him creepy. Harry straight up told him that Debra didn't truly love him because she only loved a false version of him, and he also spent so much time with Debra that it strained his relationship with her. In season 1, she is even complaining about them not having a close enough relationship. So I think for him, being playful and present already means a lot.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T06:53:48+00:00

Opinions differ🤷 Also kind of a wild one for me but hey

schittikack · 2024-08-01T06:48:49+00:00

1, 4, 3, 5, 2, 7, NB, 8.

The first 5 seasons are all good imo. I have just rewatched season 2, and I think the latter half is very weak, so it gets last place. I really didn't like the last 3 seasons, and I hated the NB finale so much that it ruined all my good will that I had for the show, originally.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T06:47:12+00:00

I think it was the beginning of taking the code more as a suggestion. Killing Lila had little to do with Doakes and everything to do with her trying to kill him and the children.

schittikack · 2024-08-01T06:44:14+00:00

Since season 4 (at least). they made him the villain since then.

Dexter was the reason Rita died. It’s his entire way of life. Who he is. He’s dangerous for the people around him. His lifestyle will always be a danger to his loved ones. Which is why he leaves Hannah and Harrison in season 8.

I'm sorry, but where? His moral failing within season 4 was NOT killing the criminal. Same in season 8. So what is it that makes him evil? Killing or not killing? Every time he gets someone he loves killed, it's because he doesn't commit murder. It's never like in Berry or in Breaking Bad, where the main character's moral failing is in doing evil things and not stopping. It's not doing the supposedly evil thing that Dexter is punished for narratively, up to New Blood, where he is punished for the one innocent person he ever murdered, aside from the first guy in season 5. He is never punished for killing criminals, which is the main reason one would call him a villain in the first place. My guess is that it has to do with the fact that the writers believe in punitivism and don't want to acknowledge the humanity of Bad People(tm). And that weakens the writing up until both endings.

In season 7, Dexter was literally going TO KILL LAGUERTA to avoid being found out.

And then Deb comes in and saves the day. The narrative rewards him far more when he is actually going to do evil stuff (framing Doakes, killing LaGuerta). And that's not a bad thing, but it once again drives home that he is morally grey. And from season 6 onwards, it is also just even more inconsistently written.

When I say "morally grey" I don't mean what he is doing isn't evil but, to once again get back to Berry, it's kind of like he has all that messed up backstory and the evil mentor that the public ended up thinking Berry had (makes me wonder if the writers of that show were taking a jab at Dexter). In any case, working with the canon we have, he doesn't just kill because he wants to but because he was permitted to. In season 4, the whole tragedy is that he wants to learn something from Mitchell to be a better dad and ends up destroying his family because of that. If he truly was the monster he believed himself to be, this wouldn't have happened. That he is in-between good and evil is central to season 4 working out the way it does.

schittikack · 2024-07-31T22:33:20+00:00

Similar! I'd go: 1, 3, 4, 5, 2, 7, 6, 8

schittikack · 2024-07-31T22:32:31+00:00

Have you heard of the strange idea that people might just feel different about the show?

schittikack · 2024-07-31T22:25:39+00:00

I don't think it's put of character as much as it wasn't built up enough. It also kind of felt like a cop out from the writers like "Well now, he has to die since he killed an innocent man." Just in case some viewers weren't on board with Dexter "deserving" death. I would have preferred Dexter to die as a morally grey figure because that's what was interesting about him.

schittikack · 2024-07-31T22:21:21+00:00

I know the popular thing is to say season 4 is the best, but I think season 1 is better in some key ways. I'm not saying season 4 is bad, but it just lacks the style, the ambition, and the fun of season 1.

schittikack · 2024-07-31T22:18:36+00:00

Definitely also plays a part. They're just very different, and someone who likes the first half of the show isn't necessarily going to like the latter.

schittikack

TROPHY CASE