TV Review: Dexter Kills No More....Or Does He?

So Dexter's series finale aired last night, and I have some thoughts. Instead of going into a lengthy recap of the episode I thought I'd give you some of the things I dug about the episode and some of the things I didn't:

What I dug:

1. Hardly any voice over. For the first time in the show's history, the episode barely had any voice over. I don't know if you noticed that.

2. The writing of this episode was I think the best in a long time. And by long time I mean since season 4, which kicked serious ass over any season of the show. The music was excellent and emotional and as mentioned above the minimal voice over made the episode feel more dramatic, which it was.

3. The heartbreak Quinn faced when they learned Deb was basically brain dead. He loved her so much, and I appreciated that we got to see Quinn rightfully upset that he lost his love. I've had a love/hate with Quinn, but I always felt that he and Deb belonged together.

What I didn't dig:

1. Deb's death. I really wanted a happily ever after, and I knew it wasn't going to be Dexter who got one, so I hoped it was Deb. I wanted her and Quinn to go off in the sunset and make babies that would swear worse than them. So when Deb died, it brought tears to my eyes, not because it was completely sad, but because my happy ending was gone.

2. Dexter taking Deb's body onto his boat and magically not getting noticed. Hurricane or not, that's surely to get noticed you would think.

3. Deb's burial at sea. I get why Dexter did it. Deb was his final kill and he had to treat it like all of his other kills. It was his way of not only saying goodbye to his sister, but to his life as he knew it. But I did have to wonder because I couldn't tell, did Dexter weigh down her body? Because I'm pretty sure she would be floating pretty soon right?

4. No Harry. I have mixed feelings about this. I've learned that some people thought the whole ghost Harry thing was cheesy. And it was in a way I guess, but it was Dexter's way of coping and staying sane if that makes sense. And I feel like we didn't get a proper farewell to Harry. It was the last episode after all, shouldn't we get to say goodbye to everyone? Dead, alive or figments of imagination?

5. Hannah inheriting Harrison. I know that sounds bad, but that's basically what happened, and I don't think I'm ok with it. Hannah is a serial killer too, so how is Harrison going to be any better off with her? She's on the run people. I think Dexter should have left Harrison with Jamie, she obviously loved the kid and he'd be a hell of a lot safer with her, or hell maybe even his grandparents so he could be with his siblings.

6. Dexter dying at sea and then not really. So we are supposed to believe for a brief 30 seconds that Dexter died at sea, but then we see that he's now a lumberjack. I think this was kind of a cop out. I was hoping he would go down in a blaze of glory per se. That Batista, Quinn and the gang would find out who he really is and he would go down fighting. We got a brief glimpse at how that maybe would have happened when Dexter killed Saxon, but it was a glimpse and I wish there had been more. And if we couldn't have that, then I would have been just fine with Dexter actually dying at sea. I'm having a hard time accepting that he's a lumberjack now.

So there you have it, my thoughts on the finale. Feel free to add your own likes and dislikes in the comment section. And I do have to say that even though the finale left me with mixed feelings, much like a lot of the seasons did throughout the show's life, I still love the show, and I'm going to miss my favorite serial killer. And next week I'm going to have to say goodbye to my favorite meth cooking side-kick. Walt can die, but not Jesse! We will have more on that after it airs.

Cheers!

Comic-Con Depression

With sadness I am yet again not at Comic-Con this year. I have wanted to go every year for a very long time and have never had the chance. This year proves to be the year I've most wanted to attend. A big chunk of my shows are hosting panels there and all of the exclusive swag and previews are killing me to not be able to have and see. Well luckily some things are being released soon after the debut at Comic-Con, and this has helped a little, but I still want to have the amazing experience of hearing the stars of my shows discuss upcoming stories. And I know it would be amazing.

I'm going to share a couple things that have happened so far at Comic-Con here on this very blog. I feel like if I can cover some of the happenings for others in one place it will help the sadness of the others that couldn't be in attendance.

So here we go:

Firefly Panel Live Blog: (Not live anymore)
http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/07/13/firefly-comic-con-panel/

Firefly Cast Reunion Photos:
http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/07/13/firefly-reunion-photo/







First Two Minutes of Dexter Season Premiere: (Thanks Jordan for finding this you rock!)








Doctor Who:

And no Chris Hardwick isn't on Doctor Who, but he's
wearing a Dalek so it counts.

Series 7 Insight:
http://io9.com/5926180/doctor-who-shows-us-something-weve-never-seen-before?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow






The Walking Dead Season 3 Preview:









Once Upon A Time Season 2 Preview:

So John Barrowman co-hosted the live coverage of the Comic-Con on G4. It was sweet! Four hours of interviews, previews and floor coverage. Although some of it was cheesy and dumb, it was the best I could get with not being there. I'm just glad they covered it just for me this year.

Don't Let It Be So!! TV Character Deaths

I don't do well with death in general. I have a hard time coping with the fact I'll never see the person again. And viewings I just don't do most of the time, because I'd rather not remember the person that way. This typically holds true for TV Show deaths as well. To be fair a TV viewing is so different from an actual viewing. You know they're not really dead, and they don't look dead. But the idea of the character dying and you never getting to see them again is pretty much like a real life death. Of course you can have the occasional flashback and you get to see that character again, but it's still not the same.

Last night's episode of The Walking Dead got me thinking about how often I'm probably going to have to deal with a character death on this show alone. The most recent being not only shocking, but sad. I liked Dale, although he was a little too preachy for me at times, he held true to himself when everyone else kept wavering on their rights and wrongs (Oh yeah Spoiler Alert! Better late than never I say). And with this character death, I thought I'd spend a little time highlighting five of the most shocking and/or sad TV deaths that I have seen (the Spoiler Alert holds true throughout this post if you've not watched any of these shows).

1. Nate on Six Feet Under

This could actually go for the entire cast, but honestly, Nate's death affected me more than the series end. I have never cried so much for a character death than I did when Nate died. I was so sad that he couldn't beat his illness even after surgery. Having to say goodbye to Nate was the hardest TV death I have ever gone through. The only consolation was to be able to watch Peter Krause move onto Parenthood. It's almost as if Nate re-incarnated himself. Too much of a stretch? Having said this, the series end of the show is probably the most beautiful, sad and satisfying end of a show there has ever been. You actually got to have closure with every single character, and nothing was in question of what would happen to them in the future. I wish every show could put this much thought, and have the chance to end it like Six Feet Under did.

2. Rita on Dexter

Rita's death was definitely a shocking end to an amazing season. My hat's off to John Lithgow for playing such a convincing character. One who you think is a normal bloke living a typical family life, and then see that he's in fact a serial killer. I see why Dexter was so intrigued with The Trinity Killer, because he seemingly was able to manage his two lives. But under the surface you witness this isn't the case, and the family is suffering greatly. And just when you think Dexter has taken care of the problem in the end and he can go home to his own family, you find that he doesn't get off that easily this time. The hardest part of Rita's death was seeing his poor child sitting in a pool of his mother's blood crying uncontrollably. That will tug on your heart strings for sure.

3. Lucy on ER

This death was both sad and shocking. This happened early on in the series (I believe first season), and with a show that lasted for as long as it did, you sometimes forget about characters that worked in the hospital. This one I have never forgot, because the death was a complete shock. First you have the guy from Numbers and the Santa Clause movies come in to the ER with his wife Paris from Gilmore Girls. You learn that the guy has a mental illness and sees things that aren't real. Even after all of this you still would not expect him to go all postal on the hospital and stab not only Lucy, but Carter too. Although Carter ultimately survives (and gets addicted to pain pills), Lucy isn't so lucky and ends up dying from her injuries.

4. Alex on Roswell

Suicide is never an easy subject to cover, whether it's in real life or on TV. For this death though, it was one that was supposed to look like a suicide, but then ends up being a murder. The second season - at least the last half of it - is spent searching for Alex's killer. Which we later find out has been hanging out with them the entire time (enter shock face here). The initial assumption of Alex's death I would guess was aimed towards trying to help teens deal with suicide and understand that it happens, but maybe it was a little too heavy, so they decided to go the murder route. I'm not really sure as I was a late comer to this show, and those that are more die-hard fans can enlighten this subject better than I can. Either way the death of Alex was both shocking and sad for me, and thus the reason he's on the list.

5. Kutner on House

Speaking of suicide...Nobody and I mean nobody was expecting this death. The show producers, writers and cast were held under the utmost secrecy on this one, and it paid off. I still remember watching the episode when it originally aired, and yelling "Serious???" when they found his body. The most interesting part of Kutner's suicide was watching how it affected House. He is one who always has to have an answer for everything and this time he didn't. He tried so hard to find a reason to Kutner's decision that he drove himself crazy. Literally.