Dexter (Use spoiler tags for anything that hasn't aired yet)

Oh heck, yeah. No Dexter feature film.
I don't really want him to be caught with consequences that would end his vigilante-ism. I'd prefer that we left him after the dust settles doing business as usual--even if drastic changes have occurred leading up to the close.

In re: The Shield, I've heard so many times what a great show that was. It's on my TV bucket list.

 

Laurie Holden fangirl here--am totally watching this over the winter. Thanks for the heads up!

 

the thing with dexter is the same thing that doomed the x files, and if the x files is any indication, we might never get any closure. It is just the nature of the business to reward longevity and stagnation. It doesn't matter if people don't love it as they once did as long as they watch it, and a formula is a way of keeping things going without ever threatening the core audience.
The wire and breaking bad are the best shows of all time and avoided any formulaic seasons, but also were always on the low end of ratings because shows like that are simply hard to get into midway. Anyone who starts watching dexter on season 6 isn't really missing much, other than the occasional ITK reference.

 

If I may politely hit a couple points.
When you say the 'nature of the business' of television you are talking about not only a business that is in a state of flux unheard of in it's history, but you are speaking very broadly about the television business.
Dexter on Showtime, though owned by the CBS Television corporation, is premium cable (as I'm sure you know). It is not necessary to reward longevity and stagnation. I believe a clear example of this is from HBO with The Sopranos. The show ended when they were on top--or at least not heading south, not because HBO wanted them to but because the showrunners wished it. Sure, Showtime wants to make money off of Dexter but if Michael C. Hall had not chosen to work 2 more years on the show this would have been the last season. It came down to whatever criteria he employed when he chose to do so.
On the other hand, FOX, a basic cable station who made the decisions for the X-Files fate, did exactly as you say.
The Wire and Breaking Bad? Again, basic cable rules are being employed in programming choices. Premium cable has luxuries that networks with smaller resources just don't have. A premium cable show can be a 'boutique' show so to speak, a feather in the network's cap and not make money but still manage to exist.

 

Actually, longevity is rewarded in cable in many of the same ways it is in network tv. Certainly there is the aspect of a guaranteed revenue stream that allows them to take more chances on low rating shows like the wire and breaking bad. But many of the revenue streams are the same, in ways that do reward longevity and the stagnation that a long running formulaic series require. Not to mention that a whole set of issues and regulations, like contracts with writers, residual rules, FCC regulation and the like are the same for cable and networks. Domestic syndication may not be an issue for Dexter the same way it is for Sex and the City and other shows like that, given the subject matter, but international syndication is still an important revenue stream, same as DVD sales and the like. So while the stakes may be altered a bit by the competition of cable and the certainty of the subscription base, the incentives present in the American TV model still reward long running series. That is why Michael C Hall can command 24 million dollars for an additional 2 seasons. Not because there is any other project out there willing to pay him that much, but because at this point Showtime can make a ton of money by simply putting out substandard dexter material instead of starting a new series. And given his centrality for the show, he can simply threaten to leave, even if no one else is willing to pay him anywhere near the same ballpark, and he will get his payday.

That is something unique in the American tv market, be it cable or network: revenues for a show are generally larger the longer it is on, even if audience numbers are declining from its peak. So even if cable shows don't have the same need to reach 88 or 100 shows like broadcast shows do in order to rake in domestic syndication profits, once these series get established in international syndication serious money can come in, and it pays to keep it going (instead of trying a new series and having to sign international syndication deals anew).

 

I think the reason this season is so terrible could be the fault of M.C. Hall himself. He's listed as an executive producer and that's often the kiss of death for a franchise since you essentially hand over control of the show to an actor (who also wants to produce and direct). In any case, the big mistake was casting Colin Hanks as the main bad guy. Has this guy really done anything worthwhile (acting wise)? He seems better suited to play the guy running into walls while being flustered talking to a girl. Maybe his dad can get him a romantic comedy?
Big things coming in the last couple episodes?? Isn't there always? Anyone that's more than a couple seasons can make a confident prediction of how this plays out.

 

If there's one thing they were good at in the past, it was a jawdropping ending that could make or break an entire episode/season (e.g. Trinity and ITK). On that reason alone, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they manage to do the same here.

 

I dunno, I'm disappointed with this season. The fact that they put that wooden plank Hanks as the main antagonist alone instead of Olmos is beyond me.. And that last twist was just lame.

But I do like the fact that Deb got promoted, and the side plot with that nerdy game programmer guy.

 

Did anyone else not see

the whole Deb being romantically attracted to Dexter

thing coming? That really surprised me.

 

I definitely did not see that. It kind of disgusted me when she had that dream. Ironically enough, they're together in real life (at least they were for several years, I don't stay too updated on these kinds of things.

 

Well,

the therapist did make an interesting point that Deb and Dex aren't related by blood. Their relationship has always been strong, with Deb working through her jealousy of Dexter getting all of her father's attention, and it does seem like, despite what's really going on, Dexter is her strongest relationship. And Deb does have a history of picking problematic dudes to be with, from married Sean to Dexter's psycho brother to that asshole at the gym to 60 year old Lundy to informant Anton and finally complete asshole Quinn. In that crowd, Dexter really doesn't seem as nutty a choice. I mean there's going to be an ick factor no matter what, but in the world of Dexter, I suppose it's not as crazy as it might be on, say, CSI or something

.

 

So are the previews where

Travis kidnaps Harrison

shocking enough for you?

It was as subtle as a swarm of bees riding in on motorcycles considering the ham-handed writing the past couple seasons. and

Their being raised together as brother and sister is what forms the sibling bond and repulsion toward sex between siblings, not blood relation.

 

Well, obviously something was coming and that wasn't subtle. Still, when the reveal actually happened, I was thrown.

 

I was thrown at how sudden it's clicking for Deb but she's in therapy multiple times per week, she's zipping right along. Stuff like this that had been percolating since season one with Dexter stating that if he could 'love someone it would be Deb,' has pretty much been on the back burner. It's coming now because we are moving to the endgame of Dexter.

My guess is that Deb is going to discover that Dexter is a serial killer next season or at the end of this season. I think this emphasis on how strongly bound she is with him will help explain why she won't (initially, anyway) turn him in. I don't consider a weird sex dream a reveal. That and her 'confusion' about her feelings is just her working this out--seriously doubt there will be actual gross-out stuff for the audience to sit through.

 

I'm used to the Something Awful Dexter thread, where people have been joking that it's inevitable for almost as long as the show has been around. With so many more people, someone guessed Gellar as Travis' ghost mentor during the first episode and it took off a few episodes in.

Anyone remember when the show was a drama about a sociopathic serial killer rather than a comedy about a serial killer in the world's most incompetent police department?

 

I definitely agree that this season has been particularly weak, but I don't think the series is lost without possibility of redemption (though this season may be).

Hall has been executive producer since season 3, so I don't think that's it. If I had to guess, I'd say it's most likely Scott Buck, the new showrunner. Since they now have some sort of plan for the end, they may decide to stick with him. I hope, instead, that they get someone else to see the plan out. Then again, everyone makes mistakes, so maybe Buck is very talented and just had a flop with this season. I haven't watched Six Feet Under, but he worked on that as well and I've always heard it was a great show.

Specific thoughts on season 6:

I didn't have much problem with the first half of the season, though I never really cared for Colin Hanks. The storyline with Mos Def was interesting and provided some nice character development. This thing with Deb and Dexter annoys me, though. If Deb realizes that her therapist is a hack and that she irresponsibly planted these thoughts through the power of suggestion, then I'll be happy to have that thread end. If Deb takes more than this next episode to realize that her therapist was full of it or, worse yet, concludes that her therapist was correct, then I'll have serious problems with it. Not because I think it's gross (though MSD rightly points out that growing up together is what's most important, not the blood relation), but because it's just a bad plotline that doesn't fit the character at all.

Thoughts on how the show may end:

Setting aside Deb's confused feelings toward Dexter, I do like that they seemed to be working toward her looking at their relationship more objectively (before this most recent fiasco). I could see Deb starting to realize that there's something "up" with Dexter and eventually discovering his secret. I think that might be interesting.

Personally, while I tend to love sad endings, I'd like to see Dexter's end be a happy one. I don't really like the idea of him continuing to kill, because there will always be that implied risk of being caught and we wouldn't know if and when he was. They've hinted a number of times at his ability to change (or at least suppress his Dark Passenger), even if he has a hard time realizing and accepting it. Most recently, they've used his desire to be a good father as a possible reason he might find the will to stop killing. I think that would be a nice ending for Dexter. On one hand, he is not brought to justice (legally or through an adversary), so the show avoids placing clear judgement on his character for what he's done. On the other hand, he learns to be a better person, avoiding the sense that his actions are condoned.

 

Would love to hear what you (and the other posters) have to say about tonight's episode.
I came across the recap of the finale episode with detailed spoilers which I posted on my blog but won't do so here out of respect for the (NO SPOILERS) warning. Cheers!

 

the finale:

Boring for 50 minutes, ridiculous for 1. Deb finding out because she went to a crime scene she sent Dex to with the explicit intention of going there and revealing she is in love with him is all sorts of incredible. If, however, it advances the plot by making deb aware of who dexter is, I am all for it. Hopefully they won't treat this like they treated Rita's death, which had potential to be ground shaking and led to nothing. So hopefully Dexter won't be able to spin this as a one time thing.

 

Oh, God.