DEXTER, 7.12 – 'Surprise, Motherfucker!'

written by Scott Buck & Tim Schlattmann / directed by Steve Shill

There have been stumbles along the way, but season 7 of Dexter managed to reorient the show after a calamitous sixth season. It didn't take a genius to realise the show needed to pull itself out of a rut, but thankfully the writers took action when it became obvious more wheel-spinning would lose them more critical respect. Rather annoyingly, ratings for Dexter keep improving despite its struggles post-season 4 (this finale was Showtime's highest-rated show ever with 3.4m viewers), so the producers could arguably have ignored the critical backlash. But I think everyone's relieved they didn't—including fans who somehow enjoyed season 6. "Surprise, Motherfucker!" was primed to become a mould-breaking hour, but didn't quite have the courage to go through with it. There are understandably limits on what producers and executives will allow to happen, so turning Dexter into a dark version of The Fugitive just wasn't viable.

The traditional Big Bad of the season hasn't been clear cut. For some it was Ukrainian gangster Issak Sirko, for others it was pretty poisoner Hannah (Yvonne Strahovski), but the finale put the emphasis on dogged Captain LaGuerta (Lauren Velez). Her season-long investigation into the Bay Harbor Butcher has simmered nicely, before becoming more prominent over the past three weeks. "Surprise, Motherfucker" took its title from a memorable Sgt Doakes (Erik King) quote; the cop who first suspected Dexter (Michael C. Hall) had a secret life, and later deduced that he was a prominent serial killer. In many ways season 7's been an echo of the second, and this finale even included choice flashbacks to early confrontations Dexter had with Doakes when his mask slipped. These were great fun, if a little indulgent, but sold the idea that Dexter's past is now catching him up... and yet, unlike before, the option to flee simply isn't there. As he confides to his memory of father Harry (James Remar), the "fake life" he created for himself has become very real and dear to him, so he can't give that up to escape justice. And with that, some people's secret desire for a season with Dexter Morgan as a guilty version of TV's Richard Kimble goes up in smoke...

Instead, Dexter had no option but to forge ahead with a plan to kill LaGuerta to escape prosecution—pushed into his code-breaking line of thought because LaGuerta has reason to suspect Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) knows her brother's a killer and helped cover his tracks by razing a crime scene to the ground with gasoline. This was a massive shift for Dexter's character—who, until now, has always had a darkly ethical reason for slaughtering those he targets, so the finale reaped a lot of reward for going down this avenue. Even better, of course, was how it resolved itself... with Dexter luring LaGuerta to a shipping container with Estrada (Nestor Serrano) as bait, aiming to frame her as having been killed by Estrada during a gun fight, only for his sister to walk in on his setup. Faced with a clear choice (shoot Dexter to save her boss's life and maintain her principles, or shoot LaGuerta to help her murderous brother escape justice), it was genuinely edge-of-your-seat stuff to see what Debra would do. Given the efforts of this season in general, it wasn't entirely predictable what Deb would choose to do. But in deciding to save her brother and kill LaGuerta, Debra's taken a very dark step. She's killed an innocent person to protect herself and her family, which means she isn't so different to the likes of Estrada or Hannah.

Everything else about this episode was mostly in service of that singular storyline. It was incredibly entertaining to see LaGuerta arrest and interrogate Dexter, parading him through Miami Metro as the Bay Harbor Butcher, as that's a scene fans have imagined happening from the start... and character's reactions felt very plausible, with the likes of Angel (David Zayas) jumping to Dexter's defence and having little time for LaGuerta's theory. If Dexter's secret ever does get revealed, unequivocally, I wouldn't like to be in Dexter's shoes now his closest friends have defended him. Even worse, he has no real defence for being involved in the killing of LaGuerta, so the idea he's a helpful vigilante would feel like a much emptier excuse.

The strangest aspect of "Surprise, Motherfucker" was how the episode dealt with Hannah McKay, who was arrested and jailed for poisoning Debra last week. The writers knew there was an obvious issue with this development (that Hannah could easily use her knowledge of Dexter's activities against him), so it was only natural for them to spend some time explaining why she doesn't. The answer, that she loves Dexter too much to do that to him, was sufficient for me. I wish I really sensed the depth of love she must have for him, but I guess there wasn't any other option to explain why she'd keep her mouth shut. And we got a really good scene between Strahovski and Hall as those characters worked through their conflicting feelings, which was appreciated. It was a good surprise to see Hannah escape from authorities (with help from her friend?) by making herself sick enough to be rushed to hospital, before waking up and escaping from her bed. So the character will likely be back next season as a fugitive, which should be interesting. It's rare Dexter keeps guest-stars around for consecutive seasons, so hopefully the writers have something in mind for Hannah. I read an interview where showrunner Scott Buck mentioned the intention is to bring Strahovski back next year, if she's available to reprise her role. Otherwise she'll join season 5's Lumen as a non-family member who knows Dexter's secret and could destroy his life any second. (Incidentally, I guess my season-long theory about Hannah having an issue with children was wide off the mark...)

There were some annoyances that prevented me rating "Surprise, Motherfucker!" any episode higher (like nobody refusing to take the return of the Bay Harbor Butcher seriously after they found a crime scene with a chain saw as evidence of a copycat at least, and wasn't Quinn intrigued by LaGuerta's theory given his own misgivings about Dexter once upon a time?), but it did a great job of making me anticipate season 8 of the show. Dexter's abandoned the existential concept of having a "Dark Passenger" inside him (i.e. he's now taken responsibility for his actions), he's come perilously close to breaking Harry's Code inexcusably (will that continue?), there's another person in the world who knows his secret, his sister Debra's been severely compromised as a law-abiding lieutenant (so would probably go to jail as an accomplice if Dexter's ever caught), and surely someone at Miami Metro's going to have doubts about the circumstances of LaGuerta's death. Maybe Quinn (Desmond Harrington) will smell a rat and go back to his "poor man's Doakes" routine from season 3 now? I mean, hours after she publicly points the finger at Dexter, LaGuerta winds up shot dead by the gangster she had released from jail to act as bait? Does that make any sense really?

This season started with fire and ended with fireworks. It's New Year, and Dexter suspects it could be the beginning of the end. I hope he's right, and that the writers continue the god work they pulled off here. For a show that felt bankrupt of ideas last year, season 7 proved that you just need to keep things surprising and risky for audiences to respond positively. Now let's hope the record-breaking ratings don't inspire Showtime to ask the writers if they wouldn't mind keeping the show going for another few years. Those ratings are big for a reason this time: the return of the feeling that Dexter was more unpredictable and working towards a definite end game. Let them reach it sooner rather than later, and the show go out on a high.

16 December 2012 / Showtime