Dexter (season 8)

The eighth and final season of the Showtime drama series ''Dexter'' premiered on June 30, 2013, and concluded on September 22 of the same year. The season follows Dexter Morgan, who is forced to deal with his past when he comes across Dr. Evelyn Vogel, an expert on psychiatry who returns to Miami. Nicknamed the ''Psychopath Whisperer'', she claims to have structured the code for him alongside Harry. This season also deals with a new serial killer in Miami who removes pieces of the victims' brains, and with Debra, who is trying to deal with her actions in the previous season. Originally serving as the final season, ''Dexter'' returned as a limited series in 2021, titled '' Dexter: New Blood''.

Cast

Main

* Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan
* Jennifer Carpenter as Debra Morgan
* Desmond Harrington as Joey Quinn
* C. S. Lee as Vince Masuka
* David Zayas as Angel Batista
* Aimee Garcia as Jamie Batista
* Geoff Pierson as Deputy Chief Tom Matthews
* James Remar as Harry Morgan

Special Guest Stars

* Charlotte Rampling as Dr. Evelyn Vogel
* Yvonne Strahovski as Hannah McKay

Recurring

* Sean Patrick Flanery as Jacob Elway
* Dora Madison Burge as Niki Walters
* Dana L. Wilson as Det. Angie Miller
* Darri Ingolfsson as Oliver Saxon/Daniel Vogel
* Bethany Joy Lenz as Cassie Jollenston
* Sam Underwood as Zach Hamilton
* Kenny Johnson as U.S. Marshal Max Clayton
* Scott Michael Morgan as Lyle Sussman
* John D'Aquino as Ed Hamilton
* Nick Gomez as Javier Guzman/El Sapo
* Aaron McCusker as A.J. Yates
* Valerie Cruz as Sylvia Prado
* Nicole LaLiberte as Arlene Schram

Guest stars

* Rhys Coiro as Andrew Briggs
* Barbara Tarbuck as Ms. Sussman
* Rebecca Staab as Lucy Gerard
* Andrew Elvis Miller as Ron Galuzzo
* Rolando Molina as Armando
* David Chisum as Kevin Wyman
* Julian Sands as Miles Castner

Production

On March 1, 2013, Jennifer Carpenter reported on her Twitter that Michael C. Hall would be directing the second episode of season 8, which was his directing debut.

On April 18, 2013, Showtime officially announced that the eighth season would be the show's last.

On May 9, 2013, the official Dexter Facebook fanpage posted a behind the scenes photo of a clapper showing that episode 6 of season 8 would be directed by John Dahl.

Episodes

Reception

According to Metacritic, the early response to Season 8 was mostly positive, the first two episodes of the season received a score of 71 out of 100. With a few episodes left in the season, ''Rolling Stone'' opined that ''Dexter'' is still "cleverly written and has a core cast of characters we care for", concluding that "everyone's favorite serial killer still has some gas left in his tank".
However, as the season went on, reception dropped drastically. The post-season reception was extremely negative. IGN gave the season as a whole a 5.5, citing poor writing and the ending as two of the reasons for its poor quality. ''The A.V. Club'' gave the season as a whole a D−.

Series finale episode

The series finale met a mixed and polarized response, although the majority opinion was negative. Mary McNamara of the ''Los Angeles Times'' praised Carpenter's performance as worthy of an Emmy nomination and argued that "the parting scenes between Dexter and Deb, possibly the most powerful sibling bond television has ever seen, gave the show the send-off it deserved". Mike Hale of ''The New York Times'' said he "bought the ending", and fans "may or may not think that Dexter's final resting place is the one he deserves. But it works". ''Entertainment Weekly'' championed the series finale as "the best ''Dexter'' episode in years. ... It was also one of the strangest episodes in the show's history ... It's like watching a different series, one that was more compelling than the show it served to close."

Other responses to the finale were scathingly negative. Joshua Alston of ''The A.V. Club'' gave the episode an "F" and argued that the writers botched "the landing" by choosing ambiguity to avoid the conflict of "whether or not answanted Dexter to get away with it." Frazier Moore of the Associated Press called the ending sappy, sloppy, and a "cop-out". Richard Lawson of ''The Atlantic Monthly'' described the finale as an "unbelievably unsatisfying end hichruins all that came before it", including Dexter's universally acclaimed seasons 1–4.

Showtime president David Nevins praised the series finale, defending it against fan backlash by saying: "The fundamental design of where they ended Dexter was really well conceived. He had to sacrifice the one person who was closest to him in the world, and he had to leave. That was where it was headed for a very long time." Nevins also said there were never any discussions to kill off Dexter, and they didn't just keep the character alive for a potential spinoff series, which as of January 2014 they were discussing making. In October 2020, it was announced that ''Dexter'' would return with a 10-episode limited series starring Michael C. Hall reprising his role with Clyde Phillips as showrunner.

References

Further reading

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External links

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{{Dexter

Season 8
2013 American television seasons