Dexter Series Finale: I Got 99 Problems But Wood Ain't One...

I thought it was one of the few ways the show could have ended. I would have been disappointed with a "happy ending" where everything works out - that's not what Dexter has been all about.

I personally thought he was going to kill himself to save everyone else from his "dark passenger", but I thought the ending was just as appropriate.

That said, there were a few instances where I had to suspend my belief to continue watching (cameras surely would have caught Dexter placing the backpack in the airport, how the hell did he manage the escape the storm - did he swim???, the stupidity of his nonchalance when pressing the alarm button after killing Saxon when he was supposed to be scared for his life - if he had gone to trial and the video was used as evidence for self-defense, etc), but I got over it real quick when I realized that this was the last episode of Dexter I'll ever watch...

If anyone hated the ending or this past season, I ask what would have been better way to finish Dexter off?

Side note - who watches Ray Donovan? Thought the season finale was great. Wonder which direction the show will take next season.

it sucked, sucked so bad. This season had so much potential.

Yeah - I wasn't a big fan of how they chose to end it. I agree that a happy ending wouldn't have been true to the form of the series but in a way, maybe I just pull for Dexter more than other people. I think everyone harps so much on him being the destructive force in everyone's life (and he is - that's accurate) but it was never really his fault and if the focal point of this entire season was his struggle with his own humanity and the clear development of a conscience and eradication of his need to kill, then he actually does have a path forward. You can think of it two ways. One is that he doesn't deserve a happy ending because he has caused so much devastation around him. Another is that he has reached a point where he has resolved his inner conflict. Ironically, the ending the chose in many ways flies in the face of everything they were trying to develop with him internally in this season. The episode was rife with logical inconsistencies -- to the point of absurdity. Apart from the plot holes and obvious oversights (how were Saxon, Dexter, and Hannah all able to move freely about Miami without disguises when their faces were out there). Why show that Dexter has undergone a complete change in character (deciding not to kill Saxon) and then determine that because he is too selfish and destructive, he cannot be happy... which results in him being selfish (leaving Hannah all by herself to raise Harrison in a foreign country, depriving Quinn and Batista the opportunity to say goodbye to Deb).

I think a better way to end the series that still would have accomplished the tragic downfall / lack of a happy ending but that would have also tied up every single loose end would have been to end it the way Clyde Phillips had envisioned it. That would have also been more grounded in reality. You still would have been able to see the conflict from all the peripheral characters trying to reconcile the Dexter they thought they knew with the Dexter who actually was. And that ending would have been devoid of absurd circumstances: i.e. superhuman ability to steal a human body from a hospital in broad daylight, Olympic level swimming ability, and comparisons to the Brawny Man.

I think everyone can agree that the quality of the writing of the show declined massively after the Trinity season. I just don't like how they baited the audience with redemption for so long, why they chose to take everything out on Deb, why they bothered bringing in Masuka's daughter (most pointless character in the history of this show and all shows), and why they spent so much time on bullshit instead of tying up loose ends and brining closure to side plots that they opened (Quinn gets screwed over pretty hard despite pulling a complete 180 in character). My message to writers would be if you can't handle the heat of finishing what you started, then don't start it. You don't get to put out a half-baked ending like you did and not take heat from it. All the frustration is warranted.

I am confident I could have written a better series and ending than that.

Wasn't the biggest fan of the ending, but can't really think of a better way it could've happened... He couldn't fade into the sunset with his happy new family cause that just wouldn't be true to the show, and he couldn't be killed because the point of the series has always been that he's two steps ahead and more badass than everybody. I bet the writers had a lot of sleepless nights over that one..

It doesn't surprise me they screwed up the ending. The last few seasons have been so horrible and annoying it was clear that this season would be horrible and annoying. The show just could not live up its earlier promise.

Debra getting shot and then having complications was too much in my opinion. She either dies instantly or gets better after but I just didn't like the way things ended and I have to agree with most of you. Dumping her body in the ocean and Dexter "dying" in the ocean, did he teleport back to the coast when his boat broke? Dexter was one of my favorite shows (until the last season) and I'm glad that Breaking Bad, on the other hand, is incredible. I know what I'll be doing sunday night.