“Dexter by Design” is the fourth and most recent installment in the novel series by Dexter’s creator, Jeff Lindsay. It details Dexter’s honeymoon with his newly married wife, Rita, and his subsequent dust-up with a bizarre whack-job who fancies himself an artiste.
It was fun. It was entertaining. It was head and shoulders above the previous installment which took the series right off the rails with the ill-advised, gothic horror notion that Dexter’s “Dark Passenger” is not a psychological manifestation of his id, but a genuine ancient dark god.
But it was nothing compared to the gut-wrenching fourth season of Dexter’s Tv incarnation, which was partly ruined by Showtime’s ill-advised promotions warning you that the most shocking moments in the episode were the last few seconds. Major spoiler discussion follows because, well, there’s no way around it. So I’m seriously warning you. Especially my sister who hasn’t watched any of the fourth season yet. Beth, if you’re reading this: Stop reading.The writers did a magnificent job of putting the viewers completely off guard. Trinity, who developed over the course of the season into a sort of mentor for Dexter (and the portrayal of whom practically guarantees an Emmy nomination for John Lithgow) had met his inevitable fate upon Dexter’s table. Ghostly Harry’s warnings that Dexter’s family would not be immune from the fallout of Dexter’s homicidal activities seemed groundless. Dexter was back at his home, preparing to head off and meet his family for vacation. All was well. All was peaceful. But the dámņëd Showtime warnings assured any viewer with a memory that Something Bad was still in store.
And they were right, because Dexter subsequently finds that Trinity had the last laugh: Dexter’s own wife, Rita, lying dead in a blood filled bathtub and, in a horrific re-creation of the circumstances of his own “creation,” Dexter’s son, Harrison, is crying while sitting in a pool of his mother’s blood. In one terrifying picture we are presented with a snapshot of the birthright Dexter truly presents his son: A future of mental instability leading to destruction, tragedy and death. The sins of the father visited upon the son. It seemed that Trinity had lost; instead he had won. He had really wanted to die, to be free of the demons that drove him, while at the same time he had exacted revenge upon his slayer without Dexter even knowing it. For the first time in the series, Dexter was beaten. The man whom he had dismissed as being unable to learn anything from had instead taught him exactly how a true monster gets it done.
Imagine the horrific second-guessing in which Dexter will be indulging. Trinity actually tried to kill himself earlier on by throwing himself off a roof and Dexter himself had saved him, because he wanted Trinity to die on his, Dexter’s, schedule. The monster to be fed here was not merely Dexter’s Dark Passenger, but his ego, and Dexter’s ego killed Rita, because if he had simply allowed Trinity to fall to his death, Rita would still be alive. (Yes, on a practical level, if the story had played out that way, you’ve got no season-long arc, but that’s not the point.) Three children have lost their mother because of Dexter’s need to feed his own beast, and now he’s a single father having to deal with the consequences of his actions. Plus he’ll be dwelling on what Rita’s last moments were like, sitting naked in a tub with Trinity, wondering if, as she bled out, he whispered in her ear, “This is all your husband’s fault.”
This of course leads to the inevitable question of: What now? I’m not thrilled with the knowledge that not even the writers know–reportedly they have no substantive plan beyond the end of this season and will only first be discussing what to do now when February rolls around. It’s never a good idea to do something that shocking, that disruptive, that game changing, without having SOME idea of where you’re going next.
I very much doubt they would go this far, but I wouldn’t be at all bothered if they jumped the series forward a bunch of years. Cody and Astor are grown, Harrison is just hitting puberty, and we’re seeing the blossoming of what Dexter’s son is transforming into. Is that a hassle in terms of aging the actors? Not at all. In a post-episode interview, Michael C. Hall was sporting a buzz cut and beard and looked very different. Just do something dramatic with the way the cast looks and the viewer will accept that time had passed. Sure, it would suck for the actors who play the kids now, but that’s show biz. How much does it suck for Julie Benz, after all, having her character killed off? Although there are, of course, ways around that. After all, Dexter’s father, Harry, has been dead since the series began and he’s a regular. So why not Rita, literally haunting him? Imagine Dexter caught between two ghosts: His father, representing his brain, and Rita, representing his heart. It’s Kirk, McCoy and Spock with a power saw and sheets of plastic. And Julie Benz has experience haunting people anyway; she did it in a number of “Angel” episodes back when she was Darla.
Plus there was the other major development: Deb, his sister, figured out Dexter’s origins. But that hasn’t led her to the discovery that he’s a serial killer. Is that next on the docket? In the books, Deb knows and has made her peace with it; would the television Deb do the same? No one knows…including, as noted, the writers.
All I know is that I’ll be back next season, ready to find out.
PAD
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Jumping ahead in time? I like it. Although I do have a ton of questions.
Dexter has no alibi during his wifes murder. If he was smart he would spin a story that Trinity was after Rita because he thought she was the Debra Morgan who was the top cop in the case. Perhaps Debra leading the task force against Trinity caused him to try and hurt her by hurting her family? This would lead to some great moments for Debra’s character as she suffered through the guilt, and a story arc where she realizes it might not be all her fault as she learns more about her brother.
I think the kids are gone from the show. The two kids will be carted off to Grandparents. Harrison might stick around, although if the show wants to show us how Dexter copes with being a single dad while working and killing, they didnt need to kill Rita, because it was the same dynamic with him being a husband, working and killing (he still needed to get home for his family).
I think the writers made a mistake in killing Rita. It was interesting to see him make all these horrible mistakes as he juggled too much. It would have been more interesting (to me) to see him get past his learning curve and be a better husband and perhaps the love of Rita and family actually would combat his dark passanger. Perhaps the last show would have shown Dexter cured. Now we have a Dexter who seems to be doomed to being hunted down by his family and friends.
I’m in the “Best Finale Ever” camp. While it would have been nice if Quinn were clubbed by a sledgehammer and Dexter was able to go on a second honeymoon with Rita, this is a violent, tragic show by design. The true lesson that Dexter learned regarding The Mitchell Family is that you can’t have it both ways without paying a terrible price. He learned it BIG TIME IMHO. As for the writers not knowing what happens next, I don’t think of it as a writing flaw so much as the TV creator keeping his options open depending on how long the series will last. We still don’t know whether Season 5 is the last one. It’s not like Babylon 5 or Farscape where a book-type format was in place and the TV creators had a pre-set idea as to how the series would end. Of course keeping it open ended for possible film sequels would be possible, but look what happened to the Star Trek franchise? I wouldn’t want a re-boot for this series as well, so I’ll just patiently wait to see what happens next with Our Favorite Serial Killer.
Worse than Deb knowing — the Mitchells know Dexter nearly as well as Arthur/Trinity did. His face is going to be in the news over his wife’s killing. Are they cowed enough by their missing patriarch/psycho to keep quiet about Dexter?
In another Miami, David Caruso would already be pulling off his sunglasses and aiming his gun at Dexter’s head.
Thanks for the heads up Pete! I skipped right to the leave a reply section to write this.
I am actually about 3/4 of the way thru Dexter in teh Dark (the 3rd book) but I needed to read less than 10% of that to realize where Lindsay was heading. And I totally agree with PAD that the whole notion was incredibly ill advised. The rationale behind the two young protoges that have popped up to learn from Dexter also seems a bit contrived. Some of the mentorship is well done, as Dexter tries to pass on Harry’s code, but some things just don’t fit quite right.
I tend to like TV Dexter a little bit better.
“I tend to like TV Dexter a little bit better.”
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I think the author Jeff Lindsay once commented on the difference between the novels and the TV show saying that the Dexter in the novels is a bad man pretending to be good man whereas the Dexter in the TV show is a bad man trying to learn how to become a good man. Sounds like a good description of why the TV Dexter is a little more…well, likable isn’t exactly the right word for a serial killer, but something like that.
I think the term “politically correct” is what you’re looking for. I strongly agree.
I’ve only read the first 3 Dexter books, not the 4th for the reason that Peter gave earlier: Lindsay’s dalliance with voodoo/demonology to describe The Dark Passenger as opposed to “The Ghost of Harry Morgan” on the TV series.
While JR Ewing, Tony Soprano & Vic Mackie managed to sustain the balance of “The Man I Love to Hate” and “The Bad Boy I Secretly Wish I Was,” I doubt that we the viewers would care as much about TV Dexter if it weren’t for his emotional innocence being in conflict with his uncontrollable impulse for violence.
Definitely an excellent finale. That ending left an awful lot of what-if’s for me. How is he going to explain Trinity going after Rita? Will Arthur’s family recognize Dexter, who is now the husband of one of Trinity’s victims, as Kyle Butler? As much as I wanted Dexter to have his happy ending what an amazing ending for the character. You’ve already mentioned John Lithgow’s performance, but how about Jennifer Carpenter! the writers have really been putting Deb through the ringer. As far as the books go, I only read the first one, and wasn’t especially keen on the direction the books were going, so i can’t say for sure, but I don’t see TV Deb just being okay with learning that Dex is a serial killer. She’s not quite like her dad… not yet, at least.
Thankfully, I caught no promos at all. That ending was appalling. And powerful.
Note that Dexter’s showrunner, Clyde Phillips, has just announced he’s leaving the show. It appears the new showrunner will be 24 co-executive producer Chip Johannessen according to the article I read. So in addition to any changes to the status quo from the ending, there could be a different style to the show as well.
As a side note, Phillips was the co-creator/producer of Parker Lewis Can’t Lose. I had the opportunity to visit the set of that show, and found him to be a nice and interesting guy.
> So why not Rita, literally haunting him?
Oh, please no! I find the “ghost Harry” scenes really grating – for me it is the one detraction of the series. The flashbacks in season one were brilliant and very apropos, but they should never have brought in ghost Harry after the flashbacks had run their course.
E.
I just figured they stopped the flashbacks because it was easier to have ghost Harry than trying to make Michael C. Hall look like he was in his early 20s.
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PAD
No idea what’ll happen in the next season — but that could be a good thing. Lots of shows get stale because the characters stay static (look at MONK until the final episode), but I doubt that’ll happen here. Dexter thought he had it all — a loving wife, stepkids and a biological kid, plus his “hobby” — and now he’s faced with the absolute knowledge that he can’t separate his public and private life. (Plus, y’know, feeling responsible for the death of his wife and his kids’ mother.) This will *definitely* keep DEXTER from becoming one of those shows where you could shuffle the order of the episodes and it wouldn’t matter.
The real villian of this season was the cell phone. I think Dexters cell phone went off roughly 53424 times per episode.
How come nobody thinks Dexter is going to take Rita for a last boatride ? That or he could change the crime scene, he is a forensics expert after all. Just making her disappear is a better choice for him, just don’t know how he’s going to explain how Harrison is with him. Anyhow, looking forward to how everything’s going to play out.
Because Vince was already suspicious when Dexter planted evidence that led them to somebody other than Arthur Mitchell and Quinn already disallowed the other guy when alibis were discovered that ruled him out as “the prime suspect.” Doing what you suggest would only turn Quinn into Doakes II with Vince as understudy, which Dexter would probably try to avoid by not interferring with evidence connected with a crime that he didn’t commit.
Okay, I’m completely new to Dexter; the first place I ever heard of the show was in an issue of “Mad” magazine 🙂
That being said, I’ve gone and watched the very first episode of the show, and I immediately found something that could relate to this season finale:
When he captured the child killer, one of the things he said before putting him on the table was “Kids, that’s something I could never do”.
Now I wonder, if he is truly going to see his own son develop into the monster that he is, would he be tempted to kill him to save his child from that fate (or worse, save the world from an even greater monster that doesn’t have his discretion in victims?).
Also, being the geek that I am, I can’t help but compare this to something else I have seen recently that featured a serial killer that thought he was doing the right thing, but things went horribly wrong: the anime series “Death Note”.
Finally, can anyone suggest a “Most Important Episodes” guide? (I don’t think I’m really up to watching 4 seasons worth of the show 🙂
“Finally, can anyone suggest a “Most Important Episodes” guide? (I don’t think I’m really up to watching 4 seasons worth of the show”
Just rent the seasons one at a time, I have a feeling you may change your mind after a few episodes. 🙂
“Finally, can anyone suggest a ‘Most Important Episodes’ guide? (I don’t think I’m really up to watching 4 seasons worth of the show”
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To be very honest, I don’t think I could suggest specific “Best-Of” episodes for you. More than any other series currently running, I think the episode-to-episode plotting is so tight, so precise in how it builds its suspense, that it wouldn’t be easy to suggest that you should watch only specific episodes. I mean, the season finales of series #1 and #2 were some pretty gripping stuff, but I don’t think you would get the same effect unless you’d watched at least a few more representative episodes of those seasons.
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That said, if you want to get a good sense of the show in only a few episodes (especially as it pertains to this recently concluded season) I might suggest focusing on Season 2, since that’s after they’d established some of the character backstory that you’ve probably already come to know, and since that season introduces at least one character that’s a fairly big deal when he recurs in Season 4.
I usually let Dexter record for at least 10 minutes before I start watching it. Then I skip everything up to the intro. Never been spoiled that way.
I could totally see Dex with his ghost dad on one site telling him to leave the children lest he damages them more, while his ghost wife tells him not to dare abandoning them. Ghost dad telling him he can’t stop killing, while ghost rita says he can leave all this behind and become the good man she always though he was. I think you can see where this is going, need i say more? And ofcourse, while dex is trying to be rid of the dark passenger, someone will most definatelly force him to kill again.that could either be through some sort of blackmail (i know who you are, i will tell e.t.c.) or by endangering his children.
If they skipped a few years, then the show would have to become more of a sci-fi since you can’t have a show set 15 years into the future and not incorporating some changes to the technology etc. It wouldn’t work for dexter. Besides, if they did that, they could only have like a couple of seasons of passable story material, it would be a worst case scenario
Definitely one of the best season enders in TV/Cable history. Will occupy a respectable place in a ‘Ten Best Season Endings’ or ‘Shocking Moments’ list.
As PAD pointed out it was Dexter’s ego (I’ll get Trin later, I have to be the one to kill him, I can learn from him, I can balance family and my hobby, I got everything under control) that ultimately killed Rita.
And while I can see Rita coming back to remind him of his mistake, it would be fair to argue that Harry already fills that role.
However, it was the relationship with Rita – not Ghost Harry – that helped Dexter reach a breakthrough – like anybody who has an ‘addiction’ – to openly admit that he could eventually part with the ‘Dark Passenger’. An emotional threshold he might not reach again.
If or when he falls in love or tries dates again – either due to REAL affection or to cover up behind a ‘human shield’ – I can see her haunting him – instead of Harry – and arguing that it won’t work.