'Dexter' executive producer discusses the fifth-season finale's heartbreak and healing

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't watched the fifth-season finale of "Dexter," you should probably stop reading right now. But thanks for stopping by!

We knew that Dexter Morgan has a way with a knife, but, boy, did he stab readers in the heart at the end of Sunday's season finale when, as he held his little boy in front of his first birthday cake, he looked at us straight in the eyes and said: "Lumen said I gave her her life back, a reversal of my usual role. Well, the fact is she gave me mine back too, and I’m left not with what she took from me but with what she brought -- eyes that saw me, finally, for who I really am and a certainty that nothing, nothing is set in stone. Not even darkness. While she was here she made me think for the briefest moment that I might even have a chance to be human. But wishes, of course, are for children."

Wishes are for children. Cue the tears. Lots of them.

The genius of this Showtime series and Michael C. Hall's Emmy-nominated performance has always resided in how much viewers love and root for this serial killer. Last season, we were punched in the gut when Dexter discovered his wife murdered in their bathtub. Now, after a season of mourning and grief, again there is pain. But this time, it's arguably more profound.

We've spent five years hoping that Dexter indeed will be able to experience human connection, and to love and be fully loved. And he came so close with Lumen, played spectacularly by Julia Stiles in her first TV role. But the death of Jordan Chase (the strikingly creepy Johnny Lee Miller) brings Lumen closure and a realization that she is not like Dexter and cannot be his life partner. Their goodbye scene was absolutely heartbreaking.

"When he says, 'Don’t be sorry your darkness is gone. I’ll carry it for you. Always. I’ll keep it with mine,' I thought that's the most romantic thing a man's ever said to a woman," executive producer Sara Colleton said in an interview. "It is very sad. But he realizes that she did leave him with the knowledge that he can be seen without someone running in horror, which is such a basic human emotion because I think we all think the same thing — that if we ever really expose ourselves completely to our loved ones, they’d go 'yuck' and run.

"And she also left another gift, which is that nothing -- no darkness -- is set in stone," she continued. "One of the simmering worries for Dexter all season long has been — have I doomed my son to repeat my life because of Rita’s death? He’s seen now that his is permanent — he’s got to accept that his dark passenger will never leave him alone. But that Harrison is not doomed to that. And if he’s a good parent he can have a good life because Lumen went from victim to an avenging angel and once her need for justice was vanquished, she was freed. It passed through her. So she left some gifts and Dexter is aware of those, brokenhearted as he is.  But he’s also healed in a way at the end of this year."

‘Dexter’ recap: Don’t be sorry your darkness is gone

Those who tuned in to the “Dexter” finale hoping to see a jaw-dropping cliffhanger to top last season’s may have been disappointed. I admit I am not necessarily always a fan of “full circle” season finales (so neat and tidy), but despite my initial “That’s it?” reaction, I realize it was actually a very solid finale. In some ways, like with the finale of the show “The Big C,” I liked the finale more than the majority of the season.

The episode begins with Dexter tracking down Jordan and Lumen, but before he can even leave the apartment, his entire family shows up to surprise him with Harrison’s birthday party. It was a rather ridiculous scenario but it set up a theme for the first half of the finale: Dexter’s going to have to let a lot of people down. Astor, suddenly friendly and polite, asks Dexter if he’ll have breakfast with them, and if she and Cody can live with him for the summer.  Sorry, Astor, Dexter doesn’t have time for your love — he needs to find Lumen. 

Dexter gives Jordan Chase a call and the two have a sassy little conversation, just two smooth criminals, that reminded me a little bit of the give-and-take between Sherlock and Moriarty in PBS’ “Sherlock.”  Dexter doesn’t know where they’re going but a fruit vendor hears Lumen kicking and hollering in Jordan’s trunk as he zooms off in his jerky black BMW. 

The next scene tied more of the season’s story lines together, as Dexter finds Deb, back at work, watching the torture videos from Jordan and Co., obsessed because she too had experience at the hands of a psycho — Rudy, Dexter’s brother. Dexter ponders, again, “Is this what I do, curse everyone around me?”

'Dexter' finale leads to 'Shameless' start with William H. Macy

Fans of "Dexter'' who stick around following this Sunday's season finale will see the first 20 minutes of the first episode of "Shameless," a new Showtime comedy that will premiere Jan. 9 at 10 p.m.

"Shameless" stars William H. Macy as the flawed working-class patriarch of a brood of six kids whose eldest daughter (Emmy Rossum) oversees while he is out carousing. The series, which is based on the long-running U.K. hit and is produced by John Wells ("The West Wing"), also stars Joan Cusack ("Working Girl").

-- Greg Braxton 

 

Photo: William H. Macy Credit: Jeff Christensen / Associated Press

Dexter does Christmas

This clip of “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” makes us wonder when we’re going to see the all-singing very special Christmas episode of “Dexter.” In case fans of the series weren’t aware, Michael C. Hall is an accomplished Broadway singer in addition to serial-murderer-portrayer. See him show off his musical skills as he channels Dexter getting into the appropriately menacing holiday spirit:

-- Claire Zulkey

 

'Dexter' renews for Season 6

In a move that should surprise no one, Showtime announced Monday morning that it will be renewing "Dexter" for a sixth season.

“Dexter” is the best suspense drama on television,” said David Nevins, president of entertainment for Showtime Networks.  “This is the easiest decision I’ve made since I got to Showtime.”

"Dexter" had its second-highest ratings ever with this season's 10th episode (Nov. 28), delivering 2.54 million viewers, up 44% from the Season 5 premiere (1.77 million). The telecast came behind the Season 4 finale (2.57 million).‬‪

There is no word yet on when the new season will premiere or which guest stars will be appearing. Season 6’s episodes will go into production next spring in Los Angeles.

The “Dexter” Season 5 finale airs Sunday at 9 p.m. Pacific time.

-- Claire Zulkey

Photo: Michael C. Hall as Dexter. Credit: Showtime

'Dexter' recap: Pretty messed up but kind of beautiful too

Last week’s episode of "Dexter" wasn’t my favorite, but I had no complaints about Sunday night’s, which was thrilling and tense with just a touch of creepiness and humor, which is the ideal "Dexter" formula.  

Of course, the thrill came from the hunt, of which there were several. Dexter became aware that his apartment was being bugged, and he first suspected Jordan Chase, but when he realized that the equipment came from the Miami Police Department (and after Deb told him about Quinn’s now-dead suspicions of Dexter), he figured it was Quinn. After trying to chase Quinn down, though, Dexter ultimately stumbled upon Liddy, who managed to trap Dexter until Dexter was able to free himself and murder him.

 Was I the only person who sort of wanted Quinn, who was responding to Liddy’s phone call to come and bust Dexter, to discover Dexter with Liddy’s body, just to see how he’d react?  Since Liddy’s blood ended up on Quinn’s shoe, he may get an idea of what went down after all.  In the meantime, Deb was on Jordan Chase’s tail for the rape-club murders, but before she could get to him, Jordan used Emily to lure Lumen to him, which left us with Dexter chasing Jordan down for the season finale. All this made the episode fly by with thrilling tension.  

But what I really liked were the surreal little touches to the episode.  Let’s start with Jordan Chase, who actually used to be a fat kid named Eugene Greer but lost weight, changed his name and his life and had plastic surgery to become someone else.  I hope we find out exactly why he underwent the drastic transformation and that the reasons why are appropriately creepy.  

I also enjoyed Liddy’s rationalization that if he made the right bust on Dexter, he’d get his job back as a cop. First of all, I don’t think that blackmailing various people and breaking several lines of protocol is how you do it, but moreover, why would he want to become a legitimate cop again when he was so good as a nasty P.I.?  Finally, I strangely enjoyed the sick relationship between Jordan and Emily. After Emily lured Lumen over, Jordan was upset with her that Dexter didn’t come too. Emily whined, “Are you mad at me? It’s not my fault!”  After proclaiming the situation “profoundly distasteful,” Jordan took a poker to her and beat her to death.  Even though their interaction together this season was brief, the relationship was perfectly relayed as sick and twisted (can someone say Stockholm Syndrome?), and I wish we had seen a lot more.  Dexter and Lumen’s relationship didn’t bother me as much this episode as it has previously, but oh, what if it were as nasty and disturbing and codependent as Emily and Jordan’s?  

Finally, the humor, which basically consisted of Dexter and Lumen finding the flatulent, burping cat at the same time on Quinn’s computer.  It was such a random little throwaway gag for Dexter, but I liked it, especially the mental image of Quinn enjoying the video at home.  I also thought it was humorous that Dexter’s street just happened to be lined with vans and RVs once he realized that his apartment was bugged and he needed to find the source, but I don’t think that was supposed to be funny.

After Sunday night’s strong episode, I have high hopes for the finale.  I think the straightforward, rather predictable plot would be for Dexter to kill Jordan and then for Lumen to finally head home, but my fingers are crossed that the season will end on a much more twisted note, like perhaps Deb learning the Lumen killed Alex Tilden, or as I said, Quinn finding that Dexter offed Liddy. What do you hope happens in the finale?

-- Claire Zulkey

Photo: Michael C. Hall as Dexter and Jennifer Carpenter as Debra Morgan.  Photo: Randy Tepper / Showtime

'Dexter' recap: There's no coming back from something like this

I figured out a problem I have this season with “Dexter,” although I’m worried that admitting it might make me look like I’m filled with bloodlust.  While we were listening to the screams of Jordan Chase and Co.’s victims being tortured during Sunday night's episode, I’m afraid to say I wanted more.  We don’t know exactly what happened to Lumen and the other blond victims before they were murdered, and this gap in my knowledge lessens my interest a bit in the storyline. We know “something” happened to Lumen and the others but what exactly?

I don’t think I want to know just because I’m a sicko, but because with this series, we’re accustomed to a certain level of gore: Remember the Ice Truck Killer’s grisly clues?  The skinner? Call me crazy, but I want specifics.  The show previously had trusted that its audience was able to handle gory details, but lately it feels like it just wants us to use our imaginations, and if I wanted to that, I would read a book (kidding).  

I’m also not a fan of Dexter and Lumen hooking up, which was what happened Sunday night after Dexter let Lumen murder Alex Tilden, a member of Jordan’s crew (played by Scott Grimes, who to me will always be that snotty bad doc on “ER”).  I’ve been dreading this moment all season.  I know some of you are Lumen fans, but I think there’s so little going on with her character, which is not Julia Stiles’ fault. Her character has two settings, basically: traumatized and boring.  I still don’t get what Dexter sees in her: the chance to make things right in the universe by saving a would-be blond victim like Rita? A Supergirl-type sidekick?  A vengeful feminist goddess?  And how do any of those things lead to sex? 

In all, the Lumen storyline is a retread of two previous ones that I never found compelling in the first place: Dexter has a partner (which we saw with Miguel Prado) and Dexter has a lover (the annoying Lila).  I didn’t mind Rita so much as Dexter’s love interest because, in the beginning anyway, it was clear why he was with her: because she was damaged and could help him lead a normal life.  But just because Dexter says things like, “Here we are, hunting as a pair: it’s all become so natural,” it doesn’t mean that it feels natural to the audience.

I love “Dexter” so I don’t want to give the impression that I’m just picking apart this major theme of the season for fun.  Thank goodness for Stan Liddy, at least.  Although it feels to me like each new element of the Jordan Chase storyline doesn’t really go anywhere (we all know there’s going to be an inevitable showdown with Jordan and Dexter and Lumen), Stan Liddy’s in there, now forging Quinn’s signature to get surveillance equipment to spy on Dexter and Lumen.  My longshot prediction is that Liddy will die in a horrible fire along with all of his notes on Dexter, but in the meantime Liddy’s muddling around will indicate a huge mess for Dexter, Lumen, Quinn and Deb, and I can’t wait for that. 

-- Claire Zulkey

Photo: Peter Weller as Stan Liddy and Michael C. Hall as Dexter. Credit: Randy Tepper / Showtime

Jennifer Carpenter Talks About Her Brotherly Love on 'Dexter'

Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter, who play half-siblings on Showtime's "Dexter," knew they were taking a risk when their off-screen relationship a few years ago started developing into a romance.

"We were just friends, and it was very easy to be friends," Carpenter said. "We were both surprised when this other thing happened. We did a lot of talking about it -- can we kiss, what will that mean, will we damge the credibility of our characters? We were very practical."

She smiled: "But in the end, the heart wanted what the heart wanted."

For more on Carpenter and how she has helped make "Dexter" one of TV's top dramas, check out this feature.

 --Greg Braxton   

Photo: Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall of "Dexter." Credit: Matt Sayles/AP

'Dexter' recap: Running in place

Readers, who do you think is a better bad guy this season, Jordan Chase or Stan Liddy?  From a practical perspective, I guess the answer is Jordan since it appears that he was involved with the grisly torture and murder of several girls, plus the whole motivational-speaking thing is just weird and cult-like.  But Stan Liddy, crooked cop and difficult private eye of Quinn, is scarier to me.  Obviously, he cackles and threatens and winks like a cartoonish bad guy, but he seems so good at what he does -- yet unpredictable.  Liddy might be the bigger creep.

Sadly, we didn’t get to see too much of either of them Sunday night, as Dexter was playing father once again when his stepdaughter Astor and her friend Olivia showed up drunk at the house, coming face to face with Lumen.  Astor was convinced that Lumen was Dexter’s replacement for her mother, and Dexter was convinced that Astor was on a bad-girl path.  Then he learned that actually she was protecting Olivia from the abusive boyfriend of her mom. I’m glad that this storyline gave Lumen a way to meet more of Dexter’s family (and vice versa), but of all the facets of Dexter’s life, his role as a father has never been the most intriguing.  I groan a little bit when he says his most important role is as a father. No! Your most important role is serial killer!  That said, I did enjoy the way Dex was surrounded by women in this episode and had to tap dance his way past most of them.

The most intriguing part of the episode for me was Deb meeting Lumen.  Deb knows something’s up, that Lumen’s not just Dexter’s renter, but what I ultimately want to know is where their mutual acquaintanceship will take them. Will Deb need to rescue Lumen at any point? Accuse Lumen of any wrongdoing?  Or will Lumen just ride off into the sunset at the end of this season?  

In the meantime, Dexter slowly stalked Jordan during their odd treadmill therapy sessions, stealing a bit of blood from a vial Jordan wears around his neck. (Did anybody else here automatically think Angelina Jolie? Jolie, it so happens, was married to Jonny Lee Miller [Jordan Chase].) Things are tense between Quinn and Deb as she reacts strangely when he tells her he loves her, and then she’s further alienated when she learns (and he tells her) that he wasn’t on vacation from work, he was suspended for stalking Dexter. Quinn has bigger stuff to worry about too: After trying to get Liddy to go away, Liddy seems like he’ll do as he pleases, which is potentially make things difficult for Quinn.

Now that Dexter’s settled his family business, next week it seems we’ll get back to the big story of the season, namely what exactly Jordan was doing with Lumen and all those women in the barrels (and the still-living woman whose blood he had in the vial) and if Dexter can find the answers before the Miami police do.

-- Claire Zulkey

Photo: Michael C. Hall as Dexter and Jonny Lee Miller as Jordan Chase. Photo: Randy Tepper / Showtime

'Dexter': Deb's dating service

We watched with incredulity this season when "Dexter's" Debra Morgan paired up with Joey Quinn, a shady detective in the Miami Police Department who was not only skeezy but also had a vendetta against Dexter, Deb’s brother.  It’s hard to decide which part of the relationship is worse: dating a co-worker (which has worked out poorly for Deb in the past) or once again dating someone who’s stalking Dexter. Quinn is just one more in a string of Deb’s bad-idea relationships. We like the foulmouthed, tomboyish Deb and think she deserves better, so we present to you an overview of her relationships gone awry and suggestions for boyfriends from other television programs who might be more suitable suitors:

Rudy Cooper / Ice Truck Killer / Brian Moser (Season 1)
Pros: Creepily handsome, is close to Deb’s adopted brother, Dexter, in that he is actually his brother.
Cons: Serial killer, wanted to murder Deb.
Try: Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) from PBS’ “Sherlock.”  He’s gaunt and creepy hot, like Rudy, yet he uses his sociopath brilliance for good, not evil.

Frank Lundy (Seasons 2 and 4)
Pros: Good detective, mature, ever bemused by Deb.
Cons: Workplace relationships are never a good idea, and the May-December thing smacks of Daddy issues. Plus, Frank was murdered by the Trinity Killer.
Try: Richard Wright (James Remar) from “Sex and the City.” Since Remar plays Deb’s deceased father on “Dexter,”  Deb could then work out her Daddy issues (but since Richard Wright is not Harry Morgan, it’s not creepy, we promise). Plus, he’s rich!

Anton Briggs (Season 3)
Pros: Nice guy, musician.
Cons: Is it a great idea for a detective to have a romantic relationship with one of her confidential informants? Plus, he’s no Frank Lundy. Also, Anton narrowly escaped being a murder victim, which wasn’t really his fault, but maybe Deb should try being with someone boring and quiet for once. 
Try: Gabe (Zach Woods) on “The Office.” Boring and quiet, but since he likes the show “Glee,” like Anton, he also appreciates music.

Joey Quinn (Season 5)
Pros: Knows what it’s like to be a cop, has a nice body.
Cons: Has an inexplicable vendetta against Deb's brother, wants to rush the relationship, terrible sweaters.
Try: Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) from “Community.” Like Quinn, Jeff  is arrogant and good looking but, unlike Quinn, does not work for the Miami Police Department and probably couldn’t care less about Dexter other than perhaps to make a sarcastic remark about his name.

Bonus suggestion: Katherine Moennig’s tattoo-artist character on “Dexter.”
Pros: Good looking, seems into Deb, they have Vince Masuka as a friend in common.
Cons: Deb has thus far expressed no interest in being with a women. But there’s always next season...

Do you have other ideas for who could be a good match for Deb? Leave them in the comments!

-- Claire Zulkey

Photo: Jennifer Carpenter as Debra Morgan on "Dexter."  Credit: Randy Tepper / Showtime

'Dexter' recap: “This is all much easier with a partner"

Tonight as Dexter told Deb that Harry had told him that some people deserve to die, I wondered, where has Harry been this season? It feels like we haven’t seen him around for several episodes, and I’m starting to miss him: someone needs to tell Dexter to dump Lumen already, because she’s probably bad news and god knows she’s no fun. 

I said it last week and I feel the same this week: Lumen’s character isn’t doing a lot for me, I think because her character doesn’t give us much to sink our teeth into. What is she really like?   What’s she going to do with herself once her romp with Dexter is over? Meeting Owen, her former fiancé, didn’t shed a lot of light on her either.  All I know is that she presses her lips together in a perturbed sort of way, quite often.  Moreover, as a sidekick, partner, whatever, so far she isn’t taking the show to a new place worthy of following last season. 

In case you couldn’t tell, I didn’t find tonight’s episode to be one of the more edge-of-your-seat installments of the season.  Dexter tracks Cole at one of Jordan’s seminars, and eventually he and Lumen kill him, as they had essentially planned to do in last week’s episode.  I remember when Miguel Prado eventually joined Dexter in murdering there was something giddy and terrifying about the new addition, but I felt nothing with Lumen there, either from Dexter’s point of view or Lumen’s own catharsis.  Sad to say, even if we knew what Dexter and Lumen mean to each other, I don’t think there are boatloads of chemistry between Michael C. Hall and Julia Stiles to enjoy just for fun’s sake.    

Thankfully this season still has Stan Liddy and Jordan Chase, the two wild cards.  As was suspected, it turns out that Jordan Chase was likely involved with Lumen’s rape and torture.  More enticing of course is Jordan himself, a man so creepily self-assured it seems quite probable that he knows Dexter’s tracking him down and killing his colleagues yet still invites him up onstage with him and lets him know he knows everything about his life.  The show’s writers are obviously having fun with the character, too: I especially liked the buttons for sale at the seminar featuring Jordan wearing his wireless mic. 

Stan Liddy of course is the crooked cop Quinn’s employed to follow Dexter and Lumen on behalf of Quinn.   It’s useful that he and Deb now have a common enemy: Laguerta, who’s  thrown Deb under the bus for the fiasco at the night club.  Liddy’s got Lumen and Dexter on film tossing something (IE, Cole) into the ocean from the boat.  Potentially bad news for Dexter and Lumen, good news for us? 

--Claire Zulkey

Julia Stiles as Lumen. Photo: Randy Tepper/Showtime

'Dexter' recap: Whatever it is, it’s big

Although I initially was a fan of Julia Stiles when she appeared in this season of "Dexter" (I thought she portrayed "wild with fear" well), I haven't been especially enraptured with her the last few episodes. Maybe after the days of Lila I am overly suspicious of women in Dexter's life. Or perhaps I got a little tired of the stiff pattern of "I want to do murder with you" followed by "You can't; you still have a clean slate!" (although after Sunday night’s episode, that might change, as Dexter finally starts viewing Lumen as some sort of partner after they double-team a bad guy). Or maybe I just miss John Lithgow, all-time best guest star. I definitely miss John Lithgow.

Fortunately, although the Dexter/Lumen story line isn't currently gripping me, I thought the other plots in Sunday night's episode were especially compelling -- the show is exciting when Dexter must compete with the police department to get his man, and that's what's happening now. After a truck containing the barrels of Boyd Fowler's dead bodies crashes, the police are on the hunt for the murderer. The truck is registered to Jordan Chase, the same "Take it!" motivational speaker whose tapes Boyd listened to.  Dexter and Lumen and the detectives are all on the hunt for Cole Harmon, Jordan's chief of security, until Dexter throws them off the trail by alerting the police to Boyd's existence, a move that does not go unnoticed by Jordan and Cole.

In the meantime, the detectives are ready to bust the Fuentes brothers in a stakeout, but it goes horribly awry, ending with a dramatic shootout at the club, which Maria takes the flak for -- but at least she looked sexy in her going-out clothes. Plus, Quinn (who wore an especially heinous sweater this episode) has second thoughts about having Dexter trailed, until his crooked private eye, Stan Liddy, (played deliciously by Peter Weller, stealing all the scenes he's in, not unlike Lithgow) shames him for having second thoughts on account of Deb, who he is trying to pressure to move in with him for some reason. (Liddy has discovered the existence of Lumen, and thus so has Quinn).

As if that's not all enough, Dexter and Lumen realize there's something more to her rape and torture than she realized: Cole, Jordan, Boyd, Dan the Dentist and a few others have all known each other since they were teen-agers -- what are they exactly, some sort of death cult? Or the worst fraternity in history?

Speaking of which, although Stiles hasn't been gripping me as Lumen, I am excited to see more of Jonny Lee Miller as oily Jordan (I hope I get the chance to ask him if he had a good time recording those "Take it!" motivational tapes). "Trainspotting's" Sick Boy has grown into a potentially very Sick Man.

-- Claire Zulkey

Photo: Chris Vance as Cole Harmon and Jonny Lee Miller as Jordan Chase in "Dexter." Photo: Randy Tepper / Showtime