Do You Take Dexter Morgan? Season 3 Finale and Recap

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The Season 3 finale of Dexter managed to wrap everything up neatly, if a bit hurriedly, concluding with a big, happy wedding scene and the same words the season opened with: “Life is good.” Dexter has grown into a new role, the supporting cast have all had their own personal triumphs, and the dangers set in motion by rogue elephant Miguel Prado have been defeated. This is the first truly happy ending the series has had, and all things — save for that single spot of crimson that dripped from Dexter’s sliced arm onto the white of his bride’s wedding dress — seem to point toward a rosy new beginning for all concerned. Of course, that won’t really be the case, and already the set up for next season promises to by an interesting one.

But what of the season we’ve just finished? Opinion seems divided on Season 3, and I think I understand mostly why that is. Each season has had its own tone. Season 1 was our introduction to Dexter, and here he is at his darkest and most dislocated, and perhaps most plausible. Season 2 was a thrill ride, with the discovery of Dexter’s crimes and his dangerous relationship with Lila threatening to push him beyond the code. Season 3, then, is the season in which Dexter’s place in the world is examined. Like the first two seasons, the writers refuse to leave Dexter standing in one place for too long by creating some real changes in his life.

In the finale, Dexter watches the dead body of Miguel Prado being loaded into the back of a coroner’s van and reflects that you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their best friend. In many ways Prado is the motive force of this season, once Dexter himself early on loses control of events through the accidental encounter with Prado’s youngest brother. This feels a bit different than the first seasons where, although Dexter has always had to react to the likes of the Ice Truck Killer, or a hyper-vigilant Doakes, Dexter remained the pivot point upon which everything teetered.

Of course, once Prado steps outside the code by killing Ellen Wolf in ‘The Damage A Man Can Do,’ the ball is firmly back in Dexter’s court. The next three episodes were the best of the season, as Dexter and Prado volley back and forth in a battle of wills that gradually built into a lethal crescendo. I really enjoy what the writers have done in handling the two primary conflicts of the season, Prado and the Skinner, as their refusal to do the obvious — certainly in the case of new guy Quinn — kept me guessing to the end. More importantly still, the lack of outlandish twists of the kind posited by some fans — Miguel’s wife is the Skinner! Masuka is another serial killer! — kept the show grounded in a way that is vital if we are to take the premise at all seriously.

‘Do You Take Dexter Morgan?’ was in many ways a fitting end to a quieter season. With Prado dead in the penultimate episode, our thunderous climax had passed. But, the clean up was at least as interesting as it reinforced those things the season truly was about. Dexter’s conversation with an imprisoned Ramon, for whom he approached a kind of empathy by channeling his own brief experiences of brotherhood, was an unexpected scene, perhaps my favorite of the episode. For the first time we see the similarities of these two adversaries, how they were both damaged by Prado, and how both of them had come to learn the truth behind the facade.

And again, it is Dexter’s insight into the mind of his opponent that informs his second showdown, this time with the Skinner. I felt the build up to this was a bit rushed, and I personally wasn’t completely on board for the conversation with Harry, but I loved Dexter’s taunting of the Skinner. He hit him exactly where it hurt, and his willingness to break his own hand to escape nicely highlighted his practical ruthlessness. Yes, he did turn into super-Dexter, but he always does — he has, after all, basically trained himself to be proficient at killing at an intimate distance — and his prowess is no more implausible than that of any other action hero.

There were a few things that I found mildly disappointing in what was otherwise a fine, and necessary, season. One very simple thing I wanted to hear from Prado was his realization that Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher — but those words were never said. Too obvious and important a thing to miss in my opinion, and it would have been a nice tie-in with the previous seasons as well as a touch of reality in the relationship between Dexter and Prado.  I also felt the Skinner was a bit bland — surely an ex-member of a South American torture-squad could have more oompf? Another thing I felt could have been handled with a bit more flare were the appearances of Harry in nearly every episode. The focus was on fatherhood, which was good, but I felt the dialogue was sometimes flat and perhaps a bit oversold in places. Previous seasons made excellent use of Harry in flashbacks with a young Dexter and Deb — let’s hope we see those again, as I think they work much better than the ghost of Harry, and I don’t need to be reminded of Six Feet Under by having Michael C. Hall talk to yet another dead father — especially when Six Feet Under did it better and more organically.

Dexter is not an ensemble show, that much is very clear, and at times I found the sub plots of the supporters less than interesting. I should care about these characters, but for the most part I don’t get much beyond merely liking them. All of them are in fact far more interesting in relation to Dexter himself than when they are doing their own thing. For example, Batista’s few exchanges with Dexter this season, congratulating him on marriage and fatherhood, or contemplating a vigilante attack on the man who beat his girlfriend, were far more compelling and emotionally-charged than any of his relationship woes or his admission to LaGuerta that he’d been chasing hookers. The same goes for Deb and LaGuerta. Rita I have never found particularly interesting as a character, and in a season building up to her marriage with Dexter she still never really found a chance to shine. I don’t think any of this has to do with acting, as there aren’t any performances that draw attention to themselves as flawed, in my opinion, and there are certainly more than a few good ones among the supporting cast. I’d have to chalk it up to writing, but moreso to the essential framework of the show.

And that framework is, of course, all about Dexter. Which is what makes this season a winner, because it explores the character in new and unexpected ways, and refuses to let him become a caricature of himself as would be all too easy in a show of this kind. Dexter creeps toward developing his own moral compass, working outside the code to, first, protect his new family, and then to spare a friend’s suffering. He reaches out too in a very human way to Miguel Prado — sharing the dark part of himself in a bid for real, if admittedly pretty damned twisted, friendship. He took the chance on Miguel, and in the end found himself manipulated and used, but it was as much his own reasoning as it was the dictates of the code that guided how he dealt with the situation. He wonders as he mimics the right words and actions (in particular in the brilliant ending of episode 4 in which Dexter proposes with the words just uttered by an obsessed murderess) if he might one day become something like a normal person — if by acting out his role, he can become it. So, in the ultimate expression of that desire for normality, we see Dexter not only married but soon to be a father — a big change in his life, and one that opens all sorts of possibilities for next season.

Of course, it seems Deb might be poised to find out more about her brother as she investigates Harry’s infidelity, and the contrast between Dexter’s more-than-likely constrained nocturnal pursuits and the prosaic demands of his new life should make for some interesting television. But one does have to wonder, as Dexter did upon contemplating marriage, just what will he do if they move into a house with central air? The real challenge for Dexter has always been the keeping of his secret, and I’m looking forward to Season 4 in which I expect that secret to again be threatened in new and interesting ways.

• Dexter Season 3: Still to Die For
• Dexter Season 3: The Damage a Man Can Do