Mostly perplexed: Dexter television series set to return in a limited series capacity
My knee-jerk reaction to this was, whyyyyy??? But then I stop for a few minutes and think about how much I enjoyed the television series, in spite of its ups and downs throughout the season, the staunch survival through the writers’ strike(s), the awkward behind-the-scenes relationship between Deb and Dexter and their season six storyline, and of course, the head-scratching ending that spoiler alert it’s only been six years, resulted in a bearded lumberjack Dexter, in exile in the Pacific Northwest, and wonder… maybe? Maybe this isn’t going to be one of those cringe-worthy reboots, like just about every old ABC network TGIF sitcom?
I mean, there’s a lot of terminology to define television shows these days. Reboots, spin-offs, revivals, etc. Even the linked article uses the term “revival” to define what the return of Dexter would be, and I guess among most available definitions, it’s the closest thing that might apply, but considering it’s more or less seemingly going to be a continuation of the series, it might as well just be a very late and overdue, ninth season.
Michael C. Hall will be reprising the role of Dexter Morgan, and frankly that’s all that there really needs to be. I imagine there will be a bunch of flashback sequences to re-acquaint those who might have forgotten a lot of the past which might result in some paydays for the actors who played Debs, Angel, Masuoka, LaGuerta and hopefully Doakes. And honestly, depending on how well the series performs, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see an appearance by Yvonne Strahovski, which would probably kick the label of “limited” off of the series, and next thing we know, there are two additional seasons ordered by Showtime.
The thing is, the series didn’t really end in a manner in which it would be difficult to pick back up where it left off. Considering the nature of the general concept, it doesn’t matter if it’s in Miami, Florida or Tukwila, Washington, there are murderers and psychopaths everywhere, and Dexter would never be at a loss for murderers for him to murder, righteously.
He’ll probably discover that one of his new logger colleagues has a shady side hobby, and then need to kill him, and it’ll reignite the dark passenger. As Doakes revealed in his obsessive dossier on him, Dexter lived a life in a manner that would appear easy to remain fluid, with liquid assets and no real loose ends. Whatever his new alter-ego might be in the Pacific Northwest, he probably would assimilate seamlessly into whatever community he’s in, and it would only be a matter of time before he’s back to gleefully murdering murderers in the Seattle area while developing a taste for the large availability of Asian cuisine in the region.
So when I stop and think about it, a continuation of Dexter really doesn’t seem like it would be all that bad. It’s not like an entire generation has passed by, and Michael C. Hall will have changed from looking like Dexter to looking like the dad from Family Ties or anything, he probably looks just like old Dexter, with maybe a little bit of age to him. The premise of the show, much like the character was fluid, and could easily pick back up. And as long as the restart of the show doesn’t try to get too nostalgic and lives more in the present and keeps moving forward, I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be entertaining.
If anything at all, this provides the opportunity for the show to have a second chance at a better ending than the original, which is a massive luxury that so many shows and stories before it never get. Ultimately, it can’t be any worse than how the book series ended, because shit, Jeff Lindsay was practically begging for a shotgun to write into book-Dexter’s mouth, and couldn’t have been more eager to pull it. Say what you will about how you felt about the original Dexter’s ending, it was still 100 times better than the way the books wrapped things up.
