Dexter – The Season 4 Finale And Beyond
Notice: If you have not yet seen the season 4 finale of the Showtime TV series Dexter, you should not read this article. This article contains several spoilers.
The season 4 finale of Dexter was shocking, fulfilling, perplexing, sad, entertaining and opened the doors for Dexter to head in any number of new directions in season 5. As always, the regular cast of Dexter delivered enthralling performances that nicely showcased Dexter and this season’s guest bad guy, John Lithgow.
John Lithgow, as he says in an interview posted on the Showtime website, is fresh in people’s minds as the nutty, funny leader of the aliens on 3rd Rock From The Sun. But John Lithgow is not a stranger to playing bad guys – and playing them well. Everyone saw John Lithgow as the evil-doer in Cliffhanger, and not nearly enough people saw him play opposite Denzel Washington in Ricochet – where he was a truly dark and evil character. See the interview with John Lithgow and Michael C. Hall. The link is in the sidebar.
Followers of Dexter will be caught off guard by the season 4 finale of Dexter – especially the last 90 seconds. Dexter’s wife of one season, Rita, is murdered by John Lithgow’s character, The Trinity Killer. The murder is not committed on camera. That would not have had anywhere near the dramatic impact of what was shown: Dexter comes home to find his wife dead in a blood-filled bathtub, and his infant son sitting in the pool of bright red blood outside the tub. Dexter is bothered by the sight of his dead wife, but he is extremely alarmed that his son, like he himself had been, is left sitting in a pool of his mother’s blood.
I’ll have to say here that about midway through the season 4 finale of Dexter, I figured something horrible was going to happen to Rita. Rita is normally a whiny, nagging, insecure wife who tends to keep her emotional and physical distance from Dexter. But in this show she had a scene where she was adorably sweet, loving and understanding. That sort of character change often heralds pending doom. The writers want us to like the person so their upcoming misfortune is more impacting.
The season 4 finale of Dexter has left some potentially serious consequences for Dexter in next year’s shows. Dexter had befriended The Trinity Killer, and spent a great deal of time with him and his family. Dexter also went to the builds with The Trinity Killer – and was seen with him by countless other people. Dexter killed The Trinity Killer and disposed of his body in the ocean – never to be found. The FBI took the case away from Miami Homicide. This adds up to the fact that the FBI will now be searching for The Trinity Killer, and will no doubt question The Trinity Killer’s family members – which in turn will lead to Dexter.
Another mistake that Dexter made, linking him to The Trinity Killer, was at the bank. Dexter was arrested in front of the parking lot of the bank The Trinity Killer had just visited. The Trinity Killer closed all his accounts out – very suspicious. Add that to the fact that Dexter was apparently his friend, and, well, you get the message.
Of course Dexter has left nothing that links him to any crimes – only to The Trinity Killer. So the FBI may take him in for questioning, but if Dexter can hold his own, he might be able to come up with excuses for the ‘coincidences.’ Dexter does excel at coming up with plausible explanations on the spot.
I think all of season 4 of Dexter was about The Code, and Dexter’s failure to abide by all of its rules. It starts with Dexter having a family, and ends with Dexter making some gross errors – including allowing The Trinity Killer to live for too long, and thus cause harm to other innocent people. Remember it’s in season 4 that we also see Dexter kill an innocent man by mistake. Then he gets arrested – both are huge violations of The Code.
Season 5 of Dexter will start out with Dexter mourning his dead wife; the widowed father of three children; at the very least a person of interest to the FBI; under suspicion by his sister Debra; under suspicion by Debra’s partner Quinn; facing fleeing the scene charges and coping with the fact that he broke the code, and the consequences are mounting up both in his head, and in the real world.
The season 4 finale of Dexter was a joy for Dexter fans. It also provided the writers of Dexter with a cornucopia of options for next season. Now that the season 4 finale of Dexter has come and gone, we fans must muddle through until next year’s season begins. But that is one more great thing about the season 4 finale of Dexter – it gave us lots and lots to talk about and speculate on in the interim.
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