Feelings on Various Subjects

[gothrockrulz]

Finished Season 8 of Dexter last week, and only now do I feel calm enough to write about it coherently. WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. F***. F***ing hell, as Deb would say. It's bad enough that Rudy/Brian duped Deb and tried to get Dexter to kill her with him. It's bad enough Rita had was killed by another serial killer. It's bad enough we had a scary foreshadowing throwback to Rita's death, with Deb's nightmare of a bathtub of blood. BUT DID YOU HAVE TO KILL OFF DEB? DID YOU? I get that after all the stuff on this show, somebody had to take the fall. But. NOT. DEBRA MORGAN.


There were three people I was deathly afraid for and didn't want touched: Deb, Harrison, and Jamie the Rockstar Nanny. AND THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE DIES. I could live with Dexter dying or facing death row; it would be sad, but it would be fair, considering that he is the true destructive force on this show. For me, the whole show was about Dexter struggling to keep his destructive personality from harming his loved ones. And then the writers just decide he has to fail spectacuarly, put Deb in the line of fire, and kill her so she doesn't have to be a vegetable. WAY TO GIVE US SATISFYING CLOSURE. We're all dying for an ending in which a woman is completely destroyed by the man she loved in multiple ways and depended on always. Because that totally doesn't happen enough in real life, and we need it on screen all the time, too.

On a lighter note, my To Be Read List is so long, I'm coping by revisiting Marguerite Henry. She's the reason I get at least one horse calendar every year. My first introduction to her was an old copy of Misty of Chincoteague that my Dad had as a kid. Totally and completely fell in love with her writing style, and her books launched me into an obsession with horses and an appreciation for Will James. This fever lasted through my preteen and early teen years, and only mellowed out after I got a book all about horse care. Then I realized that much as I loved horses, I would never be able to make the time and effort commitment necessary for proper horse care (let alone AFFORD it financially). So now I read about horses, and sketch horses, but devote most of my obsession to fandoms. :)

Comments

[xerinmichellex.livejournal.com]

I TOLD YOU!!!! Now you know why the Dexter fandom is in such a rage. It's going on a year, and many of us are still GODDAMN DEXTER about it!

Ugh. They should've killed Dexter and let Deb live. Although I don't like her with Quinn, I'd prefer a Deb and Quinn situation over what we got. Justice for Deb!

I would've much preferred the ending the original showrunner had in mind.

Just. . . ugh. I've never seen a show decline as fast as Dexter did following Season 4. I pray Hannibal doesn't have the same fate.

[gothrockrulz.livejournal.com]

Yes, you did. Mom and I knew it was coming, we braced for it, and STILL WERE UNPREPARED. Deb is very much like what my Mom was like before she settled down and had kids, so it bothered us even more. And, yes, Deb and Quinn are better than dead Deb, and if anybody should be dead, it's Dex.


What ending did the original showrunner have in mind? When did the showrunners switch?


OMG, if Hannibal degenerates like that, there will be RIOTS.

[xerinmichellex.livejournal.com]

What ending did the original showrunner have in mind?

Originally they were going to play it like the entire show was Dexter flashing back over his life, and in the end, he "wakes up" only you realize he's strapped to a gurney, waiting to be executed for his crimes and in the gallery everyone he's ever murdered (the kills of the week, Trinity, his brother) or those he caused the deaths of (Doakes, Rita, LaGuerta) would be there looking at him. That last part is hokey, IMO, but I liked the idea of the series being centered around Dexter's life flashing before his eyes right before he's executed.


I think they switched showrunners at the end of Season 4. . .maybe it was Season 5? But I think it's 4, because there's a definite shift in quality following Season 4. Actually, they may have switched showrunners twice: Seasons 5 - 6 were one guy; Seasons 7 - 8 was another.

[fatpie42.livejournal.com]

How are you guys hiding spoilers? Is it 'lj-cut' or something else?

I have never seen seasons 5 to 8, but haven't shied away from spoilers since negative reactions have been pretty much united. And there was a revelation about Debra (in season 7 I think) which caused an enormous facepalm from me.

Of course, the last time we spoke about this, you guys told me that Peter Weller and Angela Bettis weren't a good enough reason to check out season five. I'm a bit sad about that...

[xerinmichellex.livejournal.com]

It's <*lj-spoiler>SPOILER TEXT HERE<*/lj-spoiler>

Just remove the "*".

you guys told me that Peter Weller and Angela Bettis weren't a good enough reason to check out season five

If you're a big fan of them, then they really aren't worth checking out Season 5. Weller is in a supporting role and only shows up in a handful of episodes. Bettis is in, like, one or two episodes for 15 minutes max.

I mean, out of the last 3 seasons, 5 is the least problematic. But it is nowhere near the same quality as Seasons 1, 2, and 4.

[gothrockrulz.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, that ending is SO much better.

Oh, okay. Too bad the new guy(s) didn't have better ideas that wouldn't make the fanbase mad as hell.

[dunderklumpen.livejournal.com]

But you can combine fandom and horses in such a brilliant way. *gg*



*swoonsaboutrpj*

[gothrockrulz.livejournal.com]

True that! Now you've got me in a mood for a Persuasion re-watch (though the Ciaran Hinds version is my fave).

[dunderklumpen.livejournal.com]

I'm torn! I love, love, Luv RPJ and Sally Hawkin's Anne is marvelous plus Harville is the best BFF ever! My favortie scene in the new adaptation actually is the extra one at the shore when Harville and Wentworth talk to each other and Wentworth discovers that he's free to persue Anne in the end. But I hate that they changed the ending and all the running is ridiculous. Plus IMHO the actors for the 1995 version fit the actual charcters better. As Austen work I prefer the 1995 version but as eyecandy goes... *isashallowfangirl*

[gothrockrulz.livejournal.com]

But I hate that they changed the ending and all the running is ridiculous.

Agreed! It basically ruined that adaption for me, good though RPJ and Sally Hawkins were (really, really liked Sally Hawkins).

IMHO the actors for the 1995 version fit the actual charcters better.

Oh, yessssssss. And you're perfectly entitled to be a shallow fangirl. :D I watched the later seasons of Spooks (MI-5 here in America) purely and entirely for Richard Armitage, as he took over Studly Brit Role from . . . RPJ, interestingly enough. :)

[nekobob-chan.livejournal.com]

Ugh, the killing of Deb felt like such a cop-out tragedy. Just to throw a little extra pain in at the end. And the way Dexter went down, well I guess they just wanted to give him the "worst" ending by making him live through it all, but to become a lumberjack? Come on. That leaves hope. Like if you want to condemn him, then just get him arrested and throw him into the slammer to live out his days in true misery. Or follow what SEEMED to be the theme of the last 3 seasons and explore how he started to change. They basically threw away all of his character development for a tragic ending for both him and Deb. Bad writing. Did not like. :/

[gothrockrulz.livejournal.com]

They basically threw away all of his character development for a tragic ending for both him and Deb. Bad writing. Did not like. :/

Agreed. If anybody had to live, but live with some regrets, it should've been DEBRA OUR DARLING.

[titania.livejournal.com]

I stopped watching Dexter in the middle of season 5 - couldn't really get into it and just watched it because Brad loved the show.
but what? they killed off Deb? :( What the hell, she was like, my favorite character in that show.

[titania.livejournal.com]

Oops. I don't really know how to ~spoiler alert~ my comment! D:!!

[gothrockrulz.livejournal.com]

That's okay! You can always type "spoilers, don't read past here", or if you want to use the special tag, xerinmichellex explains how to use the spoiler tag here.

Deb was tied for my favorite, but since she was basically a younger version of my mom, it was really painful to watch.

[ismara86.livejournal.com]

When he killed her I was all WTF GUYS? They should have thought of something else :/

[gothrockrulz.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Did they expect any of us to like that ending?