"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Monday, December 17, 2012

Dexter Season 7 Finale: The Surviving Triangle

Dexter's superb season 7 concluded tonight with an episode that was, well, just superb.  It was also predictable, in a satisfying way,  at least to me.

Superb to see Doakes back again, in newly created flashbacks.  His presence tonight provided some crucial, specific reasons that he came to be suspicious of Dexter in the first place.  This is a superior epitaph to Doakes and Dexter than Doakes just had a feeling about Dexter.

Dexter's relationship with Hannah was worked out with perfect logic and emotion, too.  He put her in prison as the only way he could think of to save Deb.  But he still loves Hannah, as much as ever.  And Hannah's escape was also satisfying and well-grounded - she used her expertise in poison, and her capacity to manipulate people, to effect her escape.  Good to think we'll see her again in some way, I hope major, next season.   That scene on Dexter's table earlier this season, where he moves from putting his knife in her to putting his ... well, Freud would have been proud of this scene, as good a portrayal as ever there was of the two sides of the coin of thanatos and libido.

The predictable part concerned LaGuerta, and who would play the essential part of putting her down.  It had to be Debra, who's been moving all season to increasingly acting on her deep, multi-faceted love for her brother.  And her devotion to Dexter had to be stoked by his sacrificing Hannah to prison. That scene when she had the gun on Dexter, and LaGuerta was urging her to kill Dexter, just had to end the way it did, with Deb killing LaGuerta.   The lead-ups to this, with LaGuerta gyrating from having the upper to lower then (almost) the upper hand were also excellent.

And so the table, for want of a better word, is set for next season.  Dex and Deb have never been closer.  But Hannah's still out there.   And it no doubt won't be clear until Dexter ends for good who will survive in that lethally dangerous triangle.



And see also Dexter Season 6 Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 6.4: Two Numbers and Two Killers Equals? ... Dexter 6.5 and 6.6: Decisive Sam ... Dexter 6.7: The State of Nebraska ... Dexter 6.8: Is Gellar Really Real? .... Dexter 6.9: And Gellar Is ... ... Dexter's Take on Videogames in 6.10 ...Dexter and Debra:  Dexter 6.11 ... Dexter Season 6 Finale: Through the Eyes of a Different Love


And see also
 Dexter Season 4: Sneak Preview Review ... The Family Man on Dexter 4.5 ...Dexter on the Couch in 4.6 ... Dexter 4.7: 'He Can't Kill Bambi' ... Dexter 4.8: Great Mistakes ...4.9: Trinity's Surprising Daughter ... 4.10: More than Trinity ... 4.11: The "Soulless, Anti-Family Schmuck" ... 4.12: Revenges and Recapitulations

And see also reviews of Season 3Season's Happy Endings? ... Double Surprise ... Psychotic Law vs. Sociopath Science ... The Bright, Elusive Butterfly of Dexter ... The True Nature of Miguel ...Si Se Puede on Dexter ... and Dexter 3: Sneak Preview Review



                                                     

2 comments:

Inv1ctus said...

I like the review apart from when you say that Dex and Deb have never been closer. I actually think they have never been more apart. She sacrificed everything she believes in for him. And although she did it because she loves him, she must ultimately hate him somewhere down deep for it.

Paul Levinson said...

Why were the holding hands at the very end? :)

But, in any case, thanks for liking most of the review.

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