Spoilers ahead -
Wow. A lot to digest here.
I'm rewatching the final scene now, with Dexter and Harrison, and for one of the first times in the show's history I felt like I was viewing something that was incredibly poignant.
The entire ending sequence feels dreamlike, art-housy, as though it's ignored the typical conventions of Dexter in favour of a more metaphorical or symbolic conclusion. The background is blurred out in an almost surrealist manner for a few of the shots focusing on Dexter. Pair this with the quick montage of the innocent lives he's destroyed, and I finally feel like I understand the ending.
I'd like to preface this review by stating that I believe what Dexter did to Logan was fully in line with his character. In my opinion, the show has established that Dexter is willing to claim the lives of innocents or cops that are onto him, e.g. LaGuerta and Doakes, to stay alive and free. Before anybody says he didn't kill either of them, he was planning to give Doakes the death penalty by framing him and certainly would have killed LaGuerta himself without Deb's intervention. He may claim to have been pushed to do this out of love for his family, so Rita and the kids didn't find out, so Deb wouldn't have to see him get the electric chair etc, but the truth is that it's all for his own self-preservation. He's a psychopath and his own freedom is his priority. Rule Number 1: Don't get caught.
Dexter has also been shown to kill people out of self-defence, exploiting a sort of 'loophole' in the code. Miguel's brother, the man who tried to blackmail him for money in Nebraska, he even killed the redneck for doing nothing but insulting Rita and being pissy towards Dexter.
He kills innocent people, people who he had no way of knowing whether or not they fit his code at the time of their deaths, and he is responsible for the deaths of many innocents around him. Including Rita and Deb. He is chaos and violence personified. Death follows him everywhere he goes, and he cannot escape it because he brings these situations upon himself. His own lust for blood and freedom has cost plenty of innocent lives. But suddenly when it's Logan, I expect people to lose their minds as if Dexter has any sort of morality. He doesn't. He lost that a long time ago if he ever had any.
It's also worth nothing that Dexter was suffering with extreme psychosis to a degree never before seen in the show. Whereas Harry's ghost led Dexter to morality in a calm, father-like manner on multiple occasions, Deb's ghost constantly berates and torments him, and this is a clear sign that his psychosis has reached boiling point. He kills Logan directly after an episode of this psychosis.
Finally, Dexter had every right to be frightened about his future, combined with his psychosis this offers plenty of justification for him to want to escape rather than await trial. They not only have limited evidence to tie him to Matt's murder, which he probably would have gotten away with, but they now have MULTITUDES of coincidences to tie him to the BHB case. And with Angel getting involved, it would only be a matter of time before they could construct a case that could prosecute Dexter. He has everything he needs to convince a jury that Dexter was consistently tied to the BHB case or other murders, his boat being docked at the marina where the bodies were dumped, his connection to Liddy's death (Quinn + the cover-up that Quinn is aware of), his composite matching Kyle Butler's + Jonah Mitchell still being out there, his brother being the Ice Truck Killer, the blood slides linking to him being a blood-spatter analyst, LaGuerta's investigation into him followed by her coincidental death. It would only be a matter of time before they could look back on the entire BHB case with Dexter in mind and find something as evidence. Shaky alibis etc. Also, he's faked his death and reappeared in a town where BHB-like killings or attempted killings have taken place. It's too much coincidence for a jury to not believe he's guilty.
And now, the final scene. This is why I believe the ending is far better than I'm sure many will suggest. To clarify, I believe that Dexter is dead and the scene was not a dream or a hallucination or whatever. I believe that it was purposefully staged to look dreamlike to convey that the viewer should look more at the symbolic meaning of Dexter's death, its poetic nature.
The way Dexter tells his son that he did well after shooting him, the way he feels love at its most purest and strongest when Harrison is ready to kill him. His letter that begged Hannah to let him die so his son could live. Powerful.
Dexter was willing to make the sacrifice so Harrison could have a normal life. Dexter, deep down, knows he deserves to die. But he's a sociopath and he cannot feel enough empathy to want to hand himself in. He doesn't understand morality without the Code to guide him, and he only ever breaks the Code through the cleverly constructed loopholes I spoke of before. But he knows he doesn't deserve his freedom. And in his final moments, he knows that he can break the cycle, by letting Harrison go on without him. Because if he were to raise Harrison the way he was raised, he would simply create another monster in his own image in Harrison. And Harrison is similar to Dexter in the sense that he lacks empathy, perhaps not as extreme as in Dexter's case, but he is capable of killing his father. And he is only willing to do so when Dexter encourages him, telling him to take the safety off. Dexter wants to die, to protect Harrison, to free his son from his own malignant presence. Nothing good can come from Dexter raising his son, or venturing out into the world alone to continue wreaking havoc. He has to die.
Yes, I understand the execution of Harrison killing him might not be the finest. I believe that he should have handed himself in and died in the electric chair. But this was the showrunners' way of making Dexter's death poetic, poignant, beautiful, and I feel like it worked. And Deb holding his hand as he went broke my heart. I loved Dexter, I loved his character and I wanted him to survive/gain his freedom. I wanted him to have a good life with his son. But he doesn't deserve one, and he wouldn't have been able to have a good life with Harrison without making his son into a monster, and he wouldn't have been able to have a good life without Harrison in it.
Dexter has broken down, mentally and physically throughout New Blood, and his son was his final hope of gaining happiness or the prospect of a happy life. But acknowledging that he deserved to die for the betterment of Harrison is the most noble thing he could have done, and it almost brought a tear to my eye.
The ending is polarising, controversial, love it or hate it. But some of the best ones often are. It will be studied and analysed for years to come, and I hope people who dislike it so much may come to like it more someday. Farewell to an amazing show, and an amazing character.
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