1. Dexter Morgan: Destined To Kill
Since the beginning, Dexter has always been a serial killer. It's who he is, and it's what he does. Ultimately, by the series end, it was also what defined him, but not without an honest attempt to seek out his humanity and let go of his dark passenger. The final season explored this very, final element of Dexter's being; it's because of this exploration that the final season was a success. Dexter's humanity, or mostly lack thereof, was the last piece of his great puzzle that had yet to be confronted as we started the final season. Over the many seasons, he had many relationships come and go, and he had love come and go as well. Or at least what he thought could be love. Dexter was never fully comfortable sharing his entire life with someone else, from living alone in his apartment (when Harrison and Jamie were there, Dex rarely was), to killing on his own, in seclusion. No matter how little he longed for a life with someone like himself, he could never fully trust himself fully to others, and the trail of blood and death he left in his nine-year wake was a prime example of just that. With the final season, Dexter was pulled even closer to his past as Dr. Vogel came into his life, a parental figure that Dexter still longed for after Harry's passing many years ago. Her subsequent death right in front of his eyes only reaffirmed who he really was, severing his final connection to his past, and what he felt was his only real chance at living a normal life. Dr. Vogel, time and again, reminded Dexter that he was the exception to her psychopathic rule, having found a way to try and put a life together for himself, ahead of his desire to kill. But the finale episode revealed that Dexter could never fully escape his dark passenger. Through his time with Dr. Vogel, and his reconnection with Hannah McKay, to his desperate need to kill Oliver Saxon, Dexter could not separate himself from that dark side of his psyche. The finale showed us that Dexter was able to let Harrison go, having bonded with Hannah, as someone who would surely care for him. In the process, Dexter then realized no one would ever be fully safe from who he really is, and in order to protect those he (thought) he cared for, he would have to let them all believe he had died in that cliched disaster that hit Miami. But Dexter had actually moved on, probably unable to take his own life due to his overwhelming desire to suppress his dark passenger; like it was that boss that needs constant pleasing, or a craving that needs consistent satisfaction. Dexter also believed he was always doing society justice while he kept his dark passenger at bay, and this ultimately played a role in his decision to move on from his child, Hannah McKay, and Miami Metro. It can be certain that Dexter knew he had to move on, continuing to take care of those people in the world who had taken a life, or lives - those who fit Harry's Code that had served Dexter so well all these years. So with Dexter going into seclusion and leaving those few that he "loved" behind, we see him in the final scene of the show's finale, having grown a beard and working somewhere up north in a logging community, far and away from the metropolitan life he had thrived in for so many years. A stark contrast, to be sure, from how he had lived for so long, now being somewhat locked away in a remote area of the country and separated from everything he had known. The finale of Dexter was beyond satisfying. It brought it's own perverted style of closure, like only our favorite serial killer could. Leaving the door open for Dexter to live on was absolutely the right call, his own sense of twisted purpose rightfully leading him away from taking his own life, so he could carry on and continue to carry out Harry's Code. Dexter fans, let's argue, discuss, and relive this great final episode! Sound off below in the COMMENTS section, and find me on Twitter: @davyshrader