*SPOILER WARNING*
If you are a Dexter fan but haven’t seen the season four finale, stay away from this entry. If you haven’t seen Dexter at all, you suck at television.
Season Four
Like many fans who found Dexter’s third season to be lackluster in comparison to the thrilling first two, I was happily blown away by the sharp, unpredictable, and ballsy fourth season.
John Lithgow was easily Dexter’s most formidable featured killer, a perfect foil for Dexter, and a symbol of everything that he has both desired and feared. In his Golden Globe-nominated (and hopefully Emmy-winning!) turn as the psychopathic “Trinity” killer Arthur Mitchell, Lithgow scared the crap out of me. It is a cold-hearted bastard who kidnaps and murders little boys, strangles and bleeds out young women in bathtubs, forces mothers to commit suicide, and bashes in the skulls of fathers. Holy crap. He was evil and deserved everything that was coming to him… and more.
The Finale
The heartbreaking season four finale “The Getaway” has polarized viewers with the “twist” ending that had Dexter returning home after successfully dispatching the Trinity Killer, only to discover his wife Rita brutally murdered in the bathtub and Trinity’s final victim. Some viewers have expressed outrage that the writers went “too far” in the murder of Rita and that the series has now “jumped the shark”… Riiight. Because in a series about a serial killer, someone getting murdered is in fact an “absurd storyline” and “out of character” with the general story development.
I am one of the majority who think that the writers made a bold decision to shake up Dexter’s world in such a devastating way. The series has grown too comfortable with Dexter as killer/husband/father of three, but without Rita as one of his links to humanity, Dexter will likely regress, slipping away from the morally-gray and once again succumb to the dark passenger that he was beginning to leave behind him.
I cried when Dexter discovered Rita’s body and baby Harrison sobbing in a pool of blood. I admit to letting nagging wife Rita get under my skin earlier in the season, but post death, I feel only sympathy for this woman who did her best to be a good mother and sympathy for the three children who had their mother stolen from them. But most of all, I pity Dexter. I am optimistically hopeful that his character arc will end in redemption, but by making Dexter pay for his crimes so dearly, the writers have made his transformation that much more difficult.
On Monday morning (a mere twelve hours after Rita’s shocking demise), I was devastated to discover that absolutely NO ONE in my office watches Dexter. I have spent far too many hours since then browsing Dexter message boards to fill the void at the water cooler, and I am now officially tapped out on speculations/theories/rants about where the series is heading, especially since it’s going to be a full nine months before we actually get there.
And yet, I imagine it will only be another day or two before I follow up with another blog on the psychology of Dexter and the ramifications of the brilliant and unflinching “The Getaway”.
Game changer, indeed.
For more on “The Getaway” and the future of Dexter, check out this great interview with Michael C. Hall, star of Dexter, on EW.com’s Hollywood Insider blog.
EDIT (12/21/09):
I forgot to mention that I really hope Rita returns in season five to join ghost Harry in Dexter’s subconscious. Devil’s advocate Harry hasn’t had much to contribute since season two, and I’m dying to see Dexter interact with ghost Rita. How would Dexter envision Rita’s reaction to his secret life as a killer of killers? Would gentle wife and mother Rita approve or condemn?
Will the writers dare to go there? I hope so! Rita has been an important part of Dexter’s life for years, and as Buffy fans know, Julie Benz deserves more of a role that she can sink her teeth into.
Tags: Crazies of Dexter, Dexter, Season Finale, Season Four, Serial Killer, Showtime
[...] yeah, he totally deserved it! The fourth season’s Trinity Killer (as portrayed by Lithgow) chilled me to the core, as few TV villains ever have. Mere minutes later it was Michael C. Hall himself climbing the [...]