Pajiba

it doesn’t answer the question of how Deb knew Dexter was in the abandoned church

She asked him to take one last look at the Church so the police could clear the crime scene, and then knew he was going to be late because he told her about Harrison's pageant thingie.

This was a pretty rotten season, but I still prefer it over the Jimmy Smits one. I seriously can't believe they did that to Deb. It's just...wrong, especially as Hall and Carpenter had that failed relationship off-screen that was equally unnerving. I guess I'm interested in seeing what happens next, but they'd better not pursue a romantic relationship between them. Ugh.

I can't think of another instance where the phrase "jump the shark" was more appropriate.

I echo much of what has already been said. The whole Deb "love" thing is just plain gross and wrong. It makes me have to think how they were married in real life, and considering that I find her distasteful altogether (hello stick bug), I don't like being reminded of this. There were way too many plot holes this season, and while there does need to be some continuous cause and effect narrative they pushed it to the point of contrived. But I was truly surprised by the ending and will be tuning in next season to see how it plays out. I have lost faith in the story line, but not Michael C. Hall. He's awesome always. And then there's the planted hand. There's no way Deb is going to be able to believe that Travis was, 'just this one time, baby'.

(Apologies for the rant that follows -- I have a lot of feelings about this season of Dexter that kind of exploded everywhere after that finale.)

This was by far the most disappointing season of a previously good show that I've ever seen. And I say that as someone who actually liked season 3, and who wasn't totally turned off by season 5.

The Gellar reveal became obvious around the second or third episode of the season, which made the rest unbearable to watch. But even if you didn't know it was coming, the bigger problem was that it was stupid and served no point. The entire reason for it to be there was that the writers wanted a big shocking reveal. It added nothing to the season that we wouldn't have gotten from Travis thinking that god talked directly to him rather than through the professor.

Beyond that, Dexter got unbearably sloppy this year. He *called 911 and told them where DDK was*. Gee, do you think that one of the cops on the case might at some point want to listen to a 911 call from an anonymous source who knows all about this big scary serial killer who's on the loose? Do you think they might recognize the voice of someone they work with every day who made no effort to disguise how he sounds? Not to mention Dexter's brilliant decision to send a *video of himself to Travis' phone*. If Travis had any sense at all, he would have just mailed the phone to Miami Metro and let them lock up Dexter while Travis went about his business unhindered.

And then there were a littany of smaller but still painful problems -- from the all-too-obvious Matthews' subplot to the detour with Brian that went absolutely nowhere to the incredibly ham-fisted religion references jammed in at every turn to Quinn's ridiculous descent into drunken idiocy. Deb's nauseating and out-of-nowhere hard on for Dexter ranks about #118 on my list of things I hated about this season, and it wasn't for lack of trying (and good god do I feel sympathy for Jennifer Carpenter, who must want to die on a daily basis when she's forced to act out a storyline that both destroys her character and requires her to make eyes at the guy she just divorced).

And then the finale. Oh, the finale. It's totally believable that Deb would go from being disgusted at the suggestion she had feelings for her brother to trying to declare her love to him in less than two episodes. And definitely, schools will just let anyone walk out with kids (yes, they said Travis had a mask on, but he's also half Dexter's size and had on different clothing). And when cops arrive at a house and see two dead bodies just inside the door, they definitely stop right there and wait until the blood spatter guy has had a few minutes alone inside -- it's not like they need to check whether the killer is still there, or whether there are more victims, or y'know do any other police work since blood spatter analysis is not actually something that requires all other work to wait until it's done and the cops have never waited for Dexter before entering a crime scene before.

And above all, I'm glad that super-careful Dexter decided to stage a big dramatic kill in an open crime scene that his sister told him to go to and that he told his babysitter he would be at. No need to lock the door, I'll just be up here at the altar killing this guy in case anyone wants to wander in and take a look.

They could have skipped this whole season and had Deb learn about Dexter at the end of season 5 -- she actually earned that reveal, and it would have saved us all a truly terrible season of television along the way. The only redeeming point in this season was Mos Def, and I credit that entirely to him rather than the writers.

I still contend that Season 3 was the worst in the series run. I have my hopes up for next season--like you said, Season 4 followed up the ridiculous Miguel Prado of it all.

They did a lot to damage Deb as a character in the last two episodes and it didn't make any damned sense. We would have bought that her decision regarding Dexter's other life would be complicated without her wanting to fuck her brother. Weird and unnecessary and made so much the worse by how awesome their brother/sister relationship had been on the show prior to the last several episodes. Maybe now they'll just have her forget about that lust. Bigger issues and all, I'm hoping.

I agree that Jennifer Carpenter wasn't the best in season one, but she's improved so phenomenally since then that she's one of the better actors on the show. And she OWNS that role. This was Deb's season way more than Dexter's. While Dexter seems to ask if he's good or bad or of that even matters to him every year (and always ends with the same "eh, fuck it" attitude) Deb has grown exponentially. Goddamn those last two episodes.

I think that Dex will be forced to come clean--the kill was the BHB's MO. They knew he used plastic wrap on his victims due to the skin indentations, they knew that it was someone in the Department, Doakes "committed suicide" before he could be brought in, and Dex has a whole damned kitchen set laying on the table in that church. Deb isn't a moron; she'll be able to put 2 and 2 together.

The only thing I see him holding back on is his knowledge from season 1 finale who the ITK really was, years before Deb "told" him, which would damage her way fucking more. And possibly not telling her everything about Harry's parenting skills to try and protect her. Then the ITK hand from Louis/possibly Brian's son will come back to bite him in the ass.

(Apart from the odd filler episode with Rudy and Jonah Mitchell), I thought I was enjoying this season through the Gellar reveal. But with this Deborah business and a little retrospection, I realized that the show jumped the shark.

And was Colin Hanks always such a terrible actor? He was capable enough as the Travis Marshall of the first half of the season, but Hanks *cannot* portray anger at all. His mad face made me laugh out loud; he looked like a petulant child for the entirety of the last few episodes of the show.

I usually don't mind the voice-overs so much (and I definitely prefer them to the ghost dad scenes), but if I hear the phrase "dark passenger" one more time next season, I might throw my remote through the television. Or just stop watching...depending on the way the Deb storyline plays out.

This season was a disappointment, but nothing can rival the black hole of worthless suck that was Season 3. NOTHING that occurred in that season resonated past the finale, because all of it was crap. This season at least set up a possible crazy big bad for next season in Lab Gamer Boy and the moment I think we've all been waiting years for, Deb finally seeing who Dex really is.

That being said, the Deb's in love with Dexter thing is a GIANT PILE OF SHIT. That is really pathetic storytelling. You don't need for her to think she's in love with him to make her discovery an incredibly complicated thing for her to deal with. Fact is that Dex has always been there for her, and has been the one constant good thing in her life - that's enough. Their relationship has always been sooo good to watch and taking it in this direction perverts that in the worst way (and I don't mean perversion in the incest way - they aren't biologically related, so the facts of that don't bother me, the way they relate to one another is what makes the problem). It just popped out of no where, and suddenly Deb's all on board with that. Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever.

I'm still looking forward to next season for the same reasons voiced above - I need to watch Deb and Dex handle this, and I'm hoping that it makes the type of rebound that 4 was after 3. Here's hoping that with a definite end in sight, the writing staff can get their shit together and wrap this up right.

Oh, one final final thing.
The only way Goober Hanks could have slightly redeemed himself was if he had tossed Goober Harrison off the roof.
Weak sauce, writers.

It didn't as much jump the shark as rape it.

I'm the shark, by the way. I think I might actually finally be done with it.

Jeff Lindsay should be sacked. Only the TV adaptation of Dexter is good and now it's ruined by the stupid revelation that she is in love with Dexter. Where the hell was that in Deb's character arc?

Kate, I was going to ask the same thing. In the novels Rita is still alive, so I highly doubt Jeff Lindsay is pushing a Deb/Dexter relationship in the books.

This season was awful through and through, but the Deb loves Dexter bit was easily the worst part. Also, how many times can someone question whether they are essentially evil or good and not come up with an answer? It seems a bit dragged out after 6 seasons.