Dexter Season 4 Finale — Growth through Loss

I have never commented on a show–or even this one–before, but I will now because the finale raises so many interesting questions in terms of what a writer might choose to do at this point.

And, yeah, I love the show 😉

So, as I said on the Dexter Facebook page: Holy cow.  Great ending to an interesting season (though I’m still on the fence about whether this was the “best” season). I never quite bought that Dexter could be Dexter with a family along for the ride, something the show set up in the very first episode this year.

While fairly annoying, Rita would have to be brain-dead not to figure out something eventually and so her exit is logical.  I’m just hoping the writers do NOT take a cue from the books and have Dexter start grooming the kids to nurture their serial-killer-within.  What will be fascinating: how the writers reboot the character.  They could go the logical (and more predictable) approach of Quinn as bad guy deciding there’s more to Rita’s murder; the Mitchell family mentioning/recognizing Kyle Butler as Dexter; Deb starting to put things together (as she sort of does in the first book in the series, although there’s been so much water under the bridge for the TV version that I would find it hard to believe that Deb could forgive and then cover for Dexter as she does in the books); throw the kids in there for good measure . . .  If they choose this route, the season will be quite a bit darker and bleaker and more about victimization without Dexter necessarily growing as a character.

Or the writers could take this GOLDEN opportunity to allow Dexter the chance to grow by acknowledging limitations and let him start fighting the better angels of his nature (which will surely be represented by a ghostly Rita–I don’t see how the writers wouldn’t use her this way).  Before, Rita’s not really been an anchor so much as a (frequently annoying) connection with the real world–mostly in terms of obligations and responsibilities.  With Rita now gone but maybe not forgotten, we could see two aspects to Dexter continually at war with one another (in the personae of Harry and Rita) rather than having the real-life Rita calling in the middle of a high-speed chase ;-).  Rita becomes an aspect of his character, not merely a real-world accoutrement, a means to an end.

Furthermore, if Dexter, as a character, is internally consistent and really does believe that this is fate, then it’s unclear to me how the writers could justify, within the internal logic of the show, how Dexter could/would manage the children.  What I could see would be Dexter cutting himself off from human contact and then, eventually, working through his grief and lust for vengeance in a new relationship . . . further down the line, of course.  It took a whole season for Dexter to REALLY want to be with Rita and not simply protect his family.

Personally, I’m hoping the writers follow this path and don’t feel the need to be real-world logical about this.  (Hello, Dexter is pretty “fantastical” as it is . . .)  Dexter is best when the show focuses on growth through loss.  Deb has had to contend with that almost constantly–and look how much she’s blossomed as a character.  Dexter had to lose a brother; he had to nearly lose Rita in order to re-discover her; Deb had to be truly endangered for him to realize that she was his one constant. With Rita physically around, there simply wasn’t room for more growth unless he confessed everything to her–which, given her character (which, I have to admit, was REALLY getting grating–remember, she was always threatening to leave him unless he did therapy, etc.), would’ve resulted in losing her.

Should be an interesting Season 5.  Let’s just hope the writers don’t succumb to logic 😉

Oh–and John Lithgow: if he doesn’t get an Emmy for this, there is no justice in the television universe.  Having said that, James Remar did a wonderful job as Harry–and wouldn’t it be fascinating to watch those two ghosts–Harry and Rita, both of whom loved and cared for Dexter in life–duke it out for Dexter’s soul.  (Remember: Harry’s been right most of, if not all, the time.  That Dexter recognized and then forgave Harry’s flaws was a fabulous piece of character growth. )