Dexter and I have had a somewhat love hate relationship; what started as (what I described as evil) payback for making my significant other watch Lost has developed into a calm wariness of each other. For every annoying voice over theres a brilliant line from Masuka; from every captivating plot theres an annoying sub plot with La Guerta; for every season 4 there is a season 3. Despite my best efforts to tear my own eyes out during my tenure watching Miamis favourite (and in some case, most inept) serial killer I have found myself quite enjoying the shows progression from interesting concept to involving character study to its stage nowWhere its begging for a quick conclusion. Whilst I have enjoyed Dexter I have become increasingly disenchanted by the contrived and inconsistent way it has managed to drag out its run. Sadly it has suffered from its own success and Showtime being unwilling to let go its major programme (even now Season 9 is still a possibility). That being said its managed to just about hold credibility (even though I believe it should have ended after Season 2) but it cant keep going, Season 8 is its chance to end Dexter in a way that is satisfactory, emotional and with a degree of pace that Dexter has lacked over the years. Here are 5 things that need to happen in Series 8 to send Dexter off with a bang
5. Dexter Needs To Be Reunited With Astor and Cody
One of the best aspects of the Dexters early seasons was the development of his Shield Of Normality into a family unit he cares for on a deep emotional level. Potentially my favourite episode is when Dexter is hunting the Police Officer who killed her family because she felt trapped and the parallels this brought with Dexters life. He had developed a bond for his family in a way no-one ever expected from when we first met Dexter. However then Rita was murdered, Astor and Cody disappeared and have barely deserved a mention until their shocking cameo in Season 7 when they looked all of 40 years older than the last time we saw them. It can be argued that this was a practical decision to avoid the kids aging faster than the story line would allow; however when you consider at the end of season 5 they were seen wanting to move back in with Dexter and at the beginning of the Season 6 (where the show was under a new showrunner) they were hardly ever mentioned at all you have to concede this was a creative decision. A poor one at that. Dexter had become increasingly more human throughout the shows run and his relationship with Rita and her kids was integral to that. It had gotten to the point where it was as interesting to see him develop in to a family man and accept that he can feel emotion as it was to see him hunting lunatics. Killing Rita, pushing Astor and Cody away and ignoring the practicalities of how much money he would have to pay Harrisons nannies has seen Dexter regress back to more of the monster he was in Series 1 and 2, seemingly ignoring the more integral part of the show (which I will discuss later). To conclude the show we need to see Dexter move away from who we met at the beginning into a more well-rounded character, which he was becoming until the first 4 seasons emotional development was apparently left outside the door. Whilst the new storylines which see him spending more time protecting his family than killing people can be seen as an indication of this, his relationship with Astor and Cody was integral to the success of the early seasons and to help Dexter move on and keep progressing as a character they need to be back in Season 8.