A Beautiful Day

Hollywood script writers/developer's love of the dark hero/antihero. It became a hit theme with The Crow and "dark Batman" and so forth in the 90s, and by the time Dexter came along, it seemed everything beyond it was no longer in the thought process for any script development.

Whatever you thought of Dexter for its early seasons, you could feel it slipping away by season 7, and for this final season, it became evident the series had overstayed its welcome. The writers seemed to be throwing darts blindly for potential plot points at random, and "yeah, that could work, let's go for it." The entire premise of Dexter Morgan's character and "code" had eroded by S7, and the series was now hurtling recklessly toward what has been dubbed one of the most disappointing series finales of all time.

It was always a stretch, to put it mildly, to reason Dexter would worm his way out of most of the messes he had been written into. But of course he had to escape without repercussion, he's the lead dude, right? But the morph from the end of S7 to the start of S8 {"6 months had passed"} was inept and absurd.

Characters are just lost here. Past development now leads to nothing. Batista seems a mere shell of himself. Joey is a cardboard cutout, standing around in scenes with nothing to do. Jamie, one of the few remaining likeable characters, we dont know what to do with her either, so hey, lets have her and Joey doing the bedroom bump every 20 minutes. Lazy and weak.

Charlotte Rampling was an accomplished actress but this story line with her materializing from Dex's past seemed very ill conceived. And Debra, whose foul mouth became tiresome before season 1 had ended, now a train wreck, has lost all her appeal. Really there was - by this final season - no one to care about.

I suppose if Dex had gotten his comeuppance or they had explored more intrigue in that direction, an 8th season might have been worth a look. Instead, it was just confirmation that the show was, by S8, about as fascinating as that old drunk on the park bench: Rancid, unappealing, and best avoided.

Deb/jennifer carpenter is on screen...especially if she's trying to talk through tears.

I'm ok with dexter being a sometimes slightly better than mediocre show...and that's what it is.

It ain't breaking bad. It's got a lot of baggage to deal with in order to get through. It's like how I met your mother.

Is it good?

Its fine. Some highs,some lows...lot of take or leave it. Lot of episodes that are just moving the story along but not memorable at all. Thats what this episode is.

There is a memorial service for the sixth month of LaGuerta's death and many things have changed in Miami Metro since then. Angel has returned as lieutenant and Tom Matthews as deputy Chief; Debra has quit the police and now she is working as private investigator. Dexter tries to contact her, but she avoids him. Debra is involved with a drug dealer and thief and is sort of crazy. The police are investigating the death of a man that had part of his brain removed and the psychopath expert Dr. Evelyn Vogel joins the team to help them. Dexter meets Debra expecting to protect her in an unfortunate encounter. Then Dr. Vogel meets Dexter and talks about Harry's Code, showing that she know about Dexter.

"A Beautiful Day" is a strange beginning of the last season, with Debra completely out of control. Out of the blue appears a new character, Dr. Evelyn Vogel, knowing Harry's Code. Does everybody know about Dexter? I did not like this beginning of season. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Um Lindo Dia" ("A Beautiful Day")

I couldn't wait to watch this episode and was not disappointed! The writers get off the blocks with a bang and we could literally see the beginning of the end for our beloved serial killer from the very first episode.

The star performer? I would say it was Jennifer Carpenter. Playing the guilt wracked Deb on a path to self destruction, she fits the role to a T. The clarity with which Dexter opens the episode couldn't end with a bigger contrast towards the end of the episode as he starts losing control and lets his "dark passenger" take over more than just once. Which leads us to the question, "Who is truly on their path to self destruction?" Not even his projections of Harry could rein him this time which sets up an interesting season ahead.

Who is this Dr.Evelyn Vogel? How does she know so much about Dexter? How many of Dexter's acts is Deb willing to cover up? How long before Dexter cracks for good and lets his dark side take over? How and when is Hannah coming back? We are left with so many questions... Looking forward to a bloody interesting end to this wonderful series. Pun intended.