Dexter – Oh Brother, What Art Thou?

If you read my blog regularly, then you likely know the last season of Dexter filled me with blind, hot rage. All my reviews reflected that rage, and I pretty much swore that the show and I were done.

Well, that we’d be done right after I found out how they resolved that crazy cliffhanger. But even I knew that breaking up with the show wouldn’t be that simple. Spoilers ahead, so click through only if you’ve seen the season 7 premiere.

Let’s start things off by talking about what I didn’t like last season. I felt that the season dragged on and had gotten predictable and formulaic – Dexter has always been a flashier version of a procedural, but I was beginning to notice that procedure more and more. The series had become repetitive and needed to shake things up in a major way to re-engage me as a viewer. And it did – in a fantastic way, and in a dreadful, infuriating way.

I was not, and will never be, on board with the idea of Deb being in love with Dexter. Can’t, won’t, shouldn’t. I felt like the idea came out of nowhere, it was dropped into her head by a therapist and she accepted it as the truth all too easily. For the viewers, it simply wasn’t believable – and frankly, there was no right way to do it. I loved the brother/sister relationship Deb and Dexter had, it was the strongest relationship in the whole series. And they undermined that.

Deb catching Dexter in the act was exactly what the show needed, and what we’d been waiting for all along. I hate that it was tainted with the other storyline, because if you remove that from the equation then it was an exhilarating development. If you forget that Deb was about to declare her love for her adopted brother at that church, then you’re left with one hell of a season premiere.

Deb is a good cop, and she knew there was plenty amiss with Dexter’s story that he’d snapped and killed Travis in the heat of the moment. But she loves her brother (not just in that way, but in the way we’ve always know that she loves him) and she was confused, overwhelmed, eager to believe. I buy that Deb would not immediately throw some cuffs on Dexter and call it in. And I like how complicated that makes everything. Because Deb helped Dexter cover up the crime scene and stage a suicide, she’s now an accomplice. If she turns Dexter in, she goes down too. But that was when she thought it was just one murder – by the end of the episode she’d managed to figure out that her brother is a serial killer. That is the big realization, the one that matters, and I’m really excited to see how they deal with it.

Since Dexter is on at the same time as Revenge – show that doesn’t necessarily have the same clout as a cable drama like Dexter but pleases me much more – I won’t necessarily be reviewing Dexter every week. But I’ll definitely watch it every week (probably on DVR the next day) and I’ll write a little something every now and then when I think the storyline warrants it.

What about you guys? Are you tuning into Dexter for a seventh season? (For fans of the show who haven’t watched in a couple seasons – I’d say you’re actually able to just dive back in without seeing what previously happened. The “previously on Dexter will catch you up, and you might enjoy watching Deb deal with this bombshell news.)

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