Category Archives: Dexter

Comedy, Crime, Dexter, Drama, FRONT, Sci-Fi, TV

My Love/Hate Relationships With Flawed Characters.

Image
Dexter Morgan, Jackie Peyton and Walter White

Having only just recently finished watching the entire run of Breaking Bad, a friend asked me what my thoughts were on the show and in particular the finale.  My first immediate response was “I hated Walt”.  Apparently that was a pretty natural response as my friend replied “You’re supposed to by the end”.  It got me thinking how I could become so involved and enamored with a show in which you literally despise the lead character for all the bad he or she does.

That said, this does this not apply to every character that expresses dark behavior.   Take for instance Dexter Morgan (Michael C Hall).  The guy is a serial killer (who only kills bad people) whose actions led to the death of his wife Rita (Julie Benz) and several other innocent people along the way (Doakes, his sister Deb and LaGuerta to name a few) yet we are rooting for him to evade the law and continue on his merry killing way while, watching Breaking Bad, all I wanted was for Hank to get his man and put Walter White (Bryan Cranston) away for good.

Nurse Jackie’s Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco) is another prime example of a love/hate relationship.  The pill popping superstar nurse all but ruined her marriage, her career and treated friends and co-workers like trash all while downing copious amounts of pills and having an illicit affair and all I wanted was for her to get what she had coming.  I disliked Jackie Peyton for all the horrible she brought to peoples lives.

Melrose Place's Sydney Andrews and Kimberly Shaw
Melrose Place’s Sydney Andrews and Kimberly Shaw

Yet going as far back as the 90’s with the Aaron Spelling soap Melrose Place.  Two of the show’s most devious characters Sydney Andrews (Laura Leighton) and Dr. Kimberly Shaw (Marcia Cross) both slept and blackmailed and even bombed their way through a decent run of the series, but in true form, all I wanted for these crazy ladies was to come out on top.

What I can’t get my head around is what is the difference between Walter White and Dexter Morgan and Jackie Peyton and Sydney Andrews? Each are flawed, each have done inexplicable acts and yet i’m divided as to who I root for and whom I want to receive their comeuppance.

Part of it, I think, is because we go into a show, say like Dexter, knowing he is a serial killer.  There’s no surprise shock act that makes us question our feelings towards him.  Same applied to Kimberly and Sydney on Melrose Place.  The two made a splash on their entrance, letting us all know they were here to cause trouble, while on the other hand, when we meet Walter White, he’s a married science teacher who’s discovered he has cancer.  We want to resonate with his less than perfect life situations and we do….but then we witness his actions of atrocity (including poisoning a little boy) and suddenly we begin to question.

It’s this tickle on our emotions that makes characters like Walter White and Jackie Peyton so different from those like the Melrose duo, Dexter Morgan even American Horror Story Coven’s Fiona Goode (Jessica Lange) or Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and Mad Men’s Don Draper (Jon Hamm).

Big Brother, Channel 7, Channel 9, Comedy, Crime, Dexter, Drama, Fantasy, Foxtel, FRONT, Homeland, Local TV, NBC, Netflix, Orphan Black, PayTV, Pretty Little Liars, Reality Television, Sci-Fi, Soap Opera, The Walking Dead, TV

Top OMG TV Moments of 2013

1 Comment

Image

There’s no denying that there has been some shocking and incredible “OMG” moments this year on television.  From Game of Thrones to The Walking Dead and Pretty Little Liars, these moments immediatley incur bouts of crying, laughing, anger, yelling and everything in between.  Check out my list of my top OMG moments from 2013!

RICK SENDS CAROL PACKING: The Walking Dead

20131103_100938_walkingdead1103

After admitting to Rick (Andrew Lincoln) that she was the one who killed Karen and Dave, Rick takes it upon himself to tell Carol (Melissa McBride), while out on a supply run, that she is no longer welcome to stay with the survivors within the camp grounds.   We’ve seen Carol, who has been a member of the group from the beginning, emerge as a strong player this season and Rick’s decision and her subsequent absence split fans right down the line.

TRAVIS AND LAURIE KISS: Cougar Town

tumblr_mm82l7T3KU1r6r1abo1_500

Travis (Dan Byrd) and Laurie (Busy Phillips) have always had a fun and flirty kind of relationship, but it’s always been that one where the guy likes the girl more than vice versa but when Laurie decides to explore her growing feelings for the teenage son of her best friend, it results in a rather awkward feeling kiss between the two.  We’d all been hanging for Travis to finally get his, but now it’s happened, most of us were wishing it didn’t.

THE BIG TWIST: Homeland

92538-carrie-and-saul-in-homeland-season-3

Well were we all not played for fools!  Here we all are bitching and moaning about how bad Homeland had become.  We couldn’t figure out why or where such a great show had gone wrong.  Brody (Damien Lewis) was MIA and Saul (Mandy Patinkin) had Carrie (Claire Danes) committed to an asylum and we were getting too much focus on Dana only to have it all turn around and be revealed that Saul and Carrie were in fact working together all along in a bid to draw out a foe that could become an ally.

ASHLEY MARIN HITS DETECTIVE WILDEN WITH HER CAR: Pretty Little Liars

Screen_Shot_2012-10-10_at_5.06.05_PM

Poor Ashley Marin (Laura Leighton) found herself on the receiving end of some unwanted harassment from an overly inquisitive Detective Wilden (Bryce Johnson) who demands that her daughter Hannah (Ashley Benson) keeps quiet about an indiscretion she witnessed involving him and a young lady.  never one to listen to demands, Ashley finds herself in a screaming match with Wilden before suddenly putting her foot to the pedal and throwing him over the bonnet of her car before speeding off!

THAT TAMPON SANDWICH: Orange Is The New Black

tampon-sandwich

New inmate Piper learnt the tough way not to piss off the lady who rules the prison kitchen!  When word get’s back to prison chef Red (Kate Mulgrew) that Piper (Taylor Schilling) has been less than impressed with the food on offer, Red takes it upon herself to ensure that Piper will never make comments like that again by serving her up a bloody tampon sandwich!  The scene itself was highly unsettling and intentionally confronting.

DEBRA MORGAN DIES: Dexter

Dexter-s8-ep12-Dexter-with-Deb-as-she-dies-in-hospital

In the series finale, we knew someone was going to die.  Most of us expected it to be Dexter, or even Hannah, perhaps Quinn…it was never meant to be Dexter’s sister Deb.  After being involved in a shoot out with Oliver Saxon, Deb is wounded and is rushed to hospital.  The doctors all seems to think all should be ok but complications following the surgery lead Deb to have suffer a massive stroke leaving her in a permanent vegetative state.  It’s here Dexter lands the final blow, removing Deb off her life support effectively killing her.

RAYMOND DENIES BEING LIZ’S FATHER: The Blacklist

blacklist102813c

It’s the theory that everyone seems to have – Raymond Reddington (James Spader) is actually Elizabeth Keen’s (Megan Boone’s) birth father.  It’s been hinted at right from the get go…his selecting her to be the only one he deals with, his wanting to know more about her life, his knowing certain things about her husband, but in the closing scenes of the final episode of the first series, Liz flat out asks Red over the phone “Are you my father?” to which Red replies “No.”

THE BOMB: Home and Away

1472785_10151715349196612_858623555_n

Known for it’s annual end of year shake-up, Home and Away offered up one heck of an explosion involving fan favourites and unexpected faces and leaving us not knowing who has survived.  After continuously butting heads with her boss Bianca (Lisa Gormley) and Bianca’s husband Heath (Dan Ewing) Jade (Tasma Walton) decides to get her revenge in the form of a bomb placed inside Bianca’s laptop bag.  We then spent the whole episode wondering when the bomb will go off as the bag changes hands numerous times before going off inside the hospital in which pregnant Ricky (Bonnie Sveen) is being treated.  Irene (Lynne Mcgranger), Bianca, Heath and Doctor Nate Cooper (Kyle Pryor) are also there when the bomb goes off.

HELENA CUTS OFF OLIVER’S TAIL: Orphan Black

500x1000px-LL-f5857f6a_sp3220130513131519

Things got a bit weird when it was revealed Neolution club owner and believer in self-directed evolution Oliver (David Richmond-Peck) was actually sporting a real life tail.  After coming to Sarah’s (Tatiana Maslany) aid while in a fight with Oliver, psychotic clone Helena wins the upper hand and swiftly chops Oliver’s tail off…then makes her way back to the dancefloor to partake in a rather ghastly dance with said tail still in her hands.

TULLY CHEATS ON HER GIRLFRIEND: Big Brother

600487-c47cf89e-3ac1-11e3-a826-323d4d841c99

Fun and funky social media expert and lesbian Tully quickly turned into a sullen and sobbing mess after entering the Big Brother house.  She missed her girlfriend Tahlia but thankfully she had housemate Drew to lean on and talk to.  Quickly though that talking turned into sleeping in the same bed and sharing sneaky kisses when suddenly the two swapped secret “I love you” bombs leading to Tahlia to make a very public break-up via twitter.

MATT AND KIM’S FIRST ROOM REVEAL: The Block

49

Not ones to be left hidden among the pack, West Australian couple Matt and Kim had planned to something controversial when it came to styling their first room – the guest bedroom.  Their inspiration?  Artist Jackson Pollock, he of the abstract expressionist movement (or paint splash era).  While the final result was clearly shocking, it was more ‘kids gone wild’ than Pollock admiration.

THE RED WEDDING: Game Of Thrones

game-thrones-red-wedding

I don’t watch Game of Thrones, but even I found myself on YouTube watching the events that led to THAT video going viral showing fans reactions to the wedding as it aired.  While I may have no idea who was who or why everyone was being killed, but the red wedding sure stuck to it’s name after half the people in the room celebrating were slaughtered, including a very heavily pregnant woman!  “May the rivers run red with the blood of the non-believers.”

Dexter, Drama, FRONT, TV

Dexter Series Finale Brings Tears and Questions

Image
Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C Hall

THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS FINAL EPISODE SPOILERS~!

So…the Dexter finale.  Yeah.  Talk about a really dark closing to a series right?  After having watched the final episode last night and feeling super snarky and negative about the whole thing, I tried to write a post, but it wasn’t happening.  So, i slept on it.  Have my feelings changed?  Somewhat.  Let me explain…

I trolled through social media after the finale to find a general consensus about the episode and what I found, was fans (and myself) were asking “Did the right person die and the right person live?” making me question ‘did the writers get it right?’

We were never expecting a finale full of sunshine, unicorns and stickers, I mean, come on, it was a show about a serial killer.  The ending was never going to be good…..for Dexter that is, and that said, why was there not a single ray of sunshine for any character in that closing episode?

I was shocked and annoyed that Deb was killed off.  Cheap shot in my eyes.  A pure cop out.  Reading an interview with executive producer Sara Colleton, she says “It was never about Deb’s story. It’s about Dexter’s story. Just like in Season 4, when Dexter played fast and loose with Trinity (John Lithgow) … and Rita (Julie Benz) died. Here, Deb is the most meaningful person in his life and he’s the most advanced he’s been as a human being. The price you pay for being a fully alive, aware human being is the true nature of his crimes.”  Really Sara?  It was never about Deb’s story?  Sure Dexter was the main character, but to just throw away Deb’s entire progression throughout the series (which we followed and became invested in) simply by saying it was Dexter’s story just slaps me and fans alike in the face.

What also annoyed me was the feeling that side characters were treated like this was just a season finale and not a series finale.  Masuka’s all important secret daughter story-line, Quinn and Jamie, Angel and Miami Metro…these played important parts throughout not only the final series, but the show in general.  Each had story lines we followed and became involved with only for us to be left thinking “Wait, these guys don’t even get an ending“

What about Hannah and Harrison?  Poor love now finds herself playing mom to a kid that’s not even hers in a foreign country without the man she was expecting to spend the rest of her life with. Was Dexter really THAT selfish to just ditch them both – granted she thinks he’s dead.

Which makes me want to come back to the whole ‘did the right person die?’  I think, we as viewers, would have felt much more at ease with the finale had the roles been reversed and Deb lived and Dexter had died. I’m sure the writers are arguing that Dexter is now paying the ultimate price, a life alone in solitary working as a logger with no real human contact, but in the end, isn’t that the perfect life for Dexter?

And what does this bring for the supposed spin-off?  Hannah and Harrison in Argentina?  Sara Colleton made it clear that line is not likely stating that Harrison had not exhibited any signs of turning into Dexter because Dexter had ensured Harrison’s upbringing was to be as normal as possible.  So perhaps it’ll be Dexter 2.0 – American Loggers?  All I will say is that i’d be very surprised if a spin-off was brought to life after this finale.

What did you think?  Do you agree that Dexter was right to live and Deb was right to die?

Related articles

Crime, Dexter, Drama, FRONT, TV

A Dexter Spin-Off Theory to Consider.

1 Comment
Image
Jennifer Carpenter as Debra Morgan

As the final season of Dexter begins it’s final decent into saying goodbye, the speculation about a possible spin-off continues to garner talk, mainly about who will the show continue on with.

Episode 806
Sam Underwood as Zach Hamilton

With this final season introducing a new protege for Dexter (Michael C Hall) in the form of Zach Hamilton (Sam Underwood), many began assuming the new series could feature Zach continuing on, in his new path Dexter has provided for him, but those rumors were quickly quashed when it was announced that Underwood has just joined the cast of The Following for it’s second season.

So it brings us back to the original question.  If there is going to be a spin-off, will it focus on Dexter’s sister Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter)?  Carpenter was recently quoted as saying that “she hopes Deb will die at the closure of the series” as it will enable her to “shed the skin of the character and move on as an actor”.  I thought I’d throw out a plausible option for a spin-off that a co-worker and I tossed around with today.

The final 20 minutes of Dexter would see Deb and Dexter having a quiet moment (all seen from Dexter’s perspective) before he leaves to an undisclosed location.  It’s time for him to move on and away, allowing Deb to live her life the way she is supposed to.  After a final drink, she says goodbye, hops in her car and leaves.  A short time later, she receives a call from Dexter, it’s a distress call, he’s frantic, not making sense then suddenly, the call goes dead. – scene end.

We pick up in this new show, 20 minutes before the finale of Dexter, this time from Deb’s perspective, saying goodbye to her brother, getting in her car and driving off.  She receives the call from Dexter, it goes dead, she rushes back to find him dead.  Who killed him?

The new show, season one, follows Deb on splitting her time and resources between both Miami Metro and with Jacob Elway in the hunt for Dexter’s killer while also taking on the day-to-day tasks and crimes of her job.

I think this could be a perfect direction into a spin-off that allows characters and locations we know and love to continue on and also have a direct link to the original show – that being the hunt for Dexter’s killer.

Either way, there’s only three episodes left of Dexter.  How will it end?  Will Dexter die or will he ride off into the sunset with Hannah and son Harrison?  Guess we’ll find out soon enough!

Related articles

Dexter, FRONT

Dexter Season 8 – Teaser Trailer Revealed

Aside 1 Comment
Image
Michael C Hall as Dexter Morgan

It’s here!  The first teaser trailer for the highly anticipated final season of Dexter has been released online by Showtime, and, in true Showtime fashion, they ain’t giving much away!

Season 8 looks set to continue on from the massive cliff-hanger of season 7 which saw Deborah making a life changing decision – shoot Dexter or shoot Maria LaGuerta.  What many are wanting to know is how will the show say goodbye?  Will Dexter, the serial killer who kills bad people continue with his dark path?  Will he be caught out?

We’re not going to know until that final episode, but, Michael C. Hall has himself said that “I imagine Dexter is going to get caught one way or the other. And by that I mean, can we really expect him, at this point, to walk into the sunset? Or get off without a blemish on his conscience or character? In a way, he is already caught. Once Rita dies he is caught. Once Deb is in on the secret he is caught. And what he’s caught by is the undeniable fact that how he conducts himself has an effect on more than just him and his victims. As far as whether he goes to jail, or gets put to death, or gets hit by a bus or whatever it might be, I can’t say. But I think, in a way, we are watching someone slowly but surely get caught.”

Dexter season 8, premieres on June 30th on Showtime in the US.

Watch the season 8 trailer below: