‘Dexter’ Series Finale Recap: Deb Dies; Dexter Goes Into Exile

by UInterviewSeptember 23, 2013, 12:00 amNews >

Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) arrives at the Miami airport with Harrison to meet up with Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovski) so that the two serial killers can start a new repentant life together in Argentina in the opening moments of Dexter’s series finale.

Hannah is hiding in a bathroom at the airport, having realized that Elway (Sean Patrick Flannery) has figured out the trio’s flight plans. After she tells Dexter the bad news, her resourceful beau configures a fake bomb package with goods from an airport store and tells a TSA agent that Elway had been the one to plant the suspicious backpack. According to plan, Elway gets put into custody – but a side effect sees the entire terminal shut down.

After attempting to arrest Saxon aka The Brain Surgeon last week, Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach. Riding in an ambulance, she tells Quinn (Desmond Harrington) that she thought she was going to die, and vaguely references her past misdeeds by saying something about deserving it. He consoles her and Deb tells him that she loves him before heading into surgery.

Dexter is finally made aware of his sister’s run-in with Saxon by a phone call from Matthews. Instead of figuring out his travel plans, Dex takes off to the hospital to see Deb and tells Hannah to take Harrison to a hotel. When Deb awakens after surgery, she finds her brother at her side. Slightly loopy from anesthesia, Deb teases him about their youth. Dex has a hard time with the lighter conversation and tells her, “I screwed up your life.” Deb won’t have his apologies or guilt, and beckons him to go off into the sunset with Hannah and raise Harrison in Argentina as a new and happy man.

Outside in the hallway, Dex runs into Elway, who has a sneaking suspicion that he’s been helping Hannah avoid the law. Dexter is more concerned with Deb’s safety than getting off to Argentina with Hannah at the moment, and bids her to take Harrison on a bus to get to the other airport for their new flight.

A wounded Saxon pays a visit to a veterinarian, who he threatens successfully to not only give him stitches but to give him a lift to the hospital so he can finish off Deb. Although Saxon had promised the vet he wouldn’t get hurt if he was obedient, he slices out his tongue. Dexter witnesses their arrival and realizes Saxon was using the vet as a distraction so he could get to Deb unnoticed and makes his way to her room. Saxon didn’t fool Battista (David Zayas) either, who holds a gun to his head while he stands outside the room of his intended victim.

When Dex goes to enter Deb’s room, she’s not there. She suffered a blood clot and had a massive stroke, which has left her brain dead and on life support. Dexter is at a loss for words, while Quinn dissolves into tears.

On the bus, Hannah is trying to put Harrison at ease. He’s inquiring about Argentina and what it will be like, and an increasingly impatient Hannah is running out of ways to avoid the real reason they’re all packing up and skipping town. Elway somehow managed to get himself on the bus and sidles up to Hannah to inform her that once they get to Daytona he’s going to have her arrested. After offering some tea, which he wisely refuses, she jams a syringe into his thigh that knocks him out.

At Miami Metro, Saxon is sitting calmly in the interrogation room. After some heated moments between him and Quinn and Battista, Dexter enters with his lab kit. Poised, he begins to administer the test, explaining to Saxon that he knows that he has to blame himself for Deb’s death more than anyone else. But he adds, “I’m here to kill you with that pen.” Saxon grabs it first and plunges it into Dexter’s shoulder. Dex pulls it out and rams it into Saxon’s throat, killing him almost instantly. Calmly, he then heads over and hits the panic button.

Batista and Quinn watch the video recording of the scene with Dexter, who shows no hint of remorse. Quinn applauds the act, but Batista is both confused and concerned about how the department will explain the suspect’s death.

Permitted to leave after murdering Saxon, Dexter heads back to his apartment. Figuring out his next move, Dexter’s voice over provides a clear end to Dexter’s emotional arc. “Now that I [feel], I just want it to stop.” He then goes back to the hospital, says goodbye to Deb, and pulls her plug. He sneaks his sister’s body out of the hospital and takes her out on the Slice of Life where he swaddles her in white. Dexter drops Deb, his last victim, into the bay. A hurricane is on the horizon as Dexter calls up Hannah, telling both her and Harrison that he loves them before driving out into the storm.

In the aftermath of the hurricane, Batista and Hannah, in Miami and Argentina, respectively, learn that Dexter’s boat was wrecked and he’s nowhere to be found. Then there’s a fade to black.

When the picture returns, there’s Dexter. He’s a logger out in Oregon, swapping his cleanly shaven face for a full beard and his modern apartment for a sparsely decorated room in what appears to be his ultimate fate of self-imposed exile.

Dexter aired a total of 96 episodes over eight successful seasons on Showtime. Though spinoff rumors have been circulating for the last year, after last night's episode, one following Deb is certainly out of the picture.

– Chelsea Regan

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