As is the way of most people who work in television and film, in talking about what’s in store for Dexter in season eight, Scott Buck said a whole lot while actually saying very little. So little that I almost feel a spoiler warning is unnecessary to discuss what he let slip. Unless you’re behind on the show, what follows isn’t about to make it so you can go without watching the eighth season altogether.
More than anything, what Buck gave readers was the vaguest of outlines, one that could be fleshed out in any number of ways. In translation, the writers don’t really know what’s going to happen either, but that won’t stop them from acting as if they do. That being said, reading his comments didn’t prove to be a complete waste of time as a couple noteworthy things did come to light.
First, it sounds like Buck is satisfied with the job Dexter and Deb did covering up their murder of LaGuerta in the finale. “At this point,” Buck says, “we’re not following that story line in a big way. Towards the end of Season 7, no one was believing anything that LaGuerta was saying about this and it looked like Dexter has effectively put that to rest.”
It’s also because, like always, Dexter’s position as blood spatter analyst is seemingly the answer to every problem that arises. “This is someone who has covered up a lot and is a forensics expert and will know how to deal with this,” Buck says. And in the event that he doesn’t, it doesn’t matter because his coworkers pose no threat to him.
Unless, that is, the writers want them to, like with Doakes and LaGuerta. So, in short, “[Dexter’s] in the clear.” One would think that people would start to suspect Dexter of something. As crazy as LaGuerta got in her dogged pursuit of him, she made a convincing argument that should’ve at least been given some thought.
Dexter’s brother, who turned out to be a serial killer that bore an alarming likeness to the Bay Harbor Butcher, went through the same traumatic childhood experience as he did. The BHB’s victims are all cut into pieces, much the same as his mother was. On top of that, how many times has someone believed he was guilty of something? After so long, such constant suspicion becomes damning in and of itself.
Look at Ben Roethlisberger, for instance. He wasn’t convicted for a single one of the crimes he was accused of, yet the sheer number of them leads people to believe he’s guilty anyway. So when two coworkers ride him as much as Doakes and LaGuerta did, how does that not trigger any alarm bells? With that in mind, I honestly have no idea what it’s going to take for the characters to look at him seriously as a potential criminal.
Based on how the series has gone thus far, it’ll probably end with him being caught and all of his former coworkers regurgitating the same stock responses you hear people say all the time in real life when they find out that someone they knew was a killer all along. Comments about how he was always so quiet and kind, probably with a mention of how he brought them donuts every day, a habit we actually haven’t seen much of lately. Following that, he’ll break out of jail and murder them all for their sins of stupidity.
Except for Masuka. For Dexter’s last meal, he’ll pull a Masuka and ask for two prostitutes, then find a way to sneak the little perv in so he can get in on that action.
Ok, there’s unfortunately no chance whatsoever of that last bit happening. But I’d bet everything I have on the first part, about Dexter not being caught until the finale, and everyone reacting with complete surprise, being true.
Moving on, Buck also talked about the possibility of Hannah returning. He gave no definitive answer one way or the other, but it does sound as if her character will be returning unless something prevents it. “Hopefully Yvonne will return,” Buck says,” but we’re also talking about a couple other big characters who will have a huge affect on Dexter next year.” Furthermore, if she does, it appears that it won’t be for the reason Dexter would likely think: to finish the job on Deb.
“I think Dexter has far exceeded anything that Deb may have done to her, so if Hannah comes back for anyone, I think it’s going to be Dexter first and Deb would just be an afterthought,” says Buck.
Other than that, Buck didn’t really fill in any blanks that viewers couldn’t fill in already for themselves. For one, Dexter and Deb will be brought together in a sense by their murder of LaGuerta. “They’re not just bonded in their complicated brother-sister relationship anymore,” Buck explains. “Now, it’s imbued with this tragedy they both share.”
Dexter will continue to self-examine. Deb will be hit hard by what she did because, as LaGuerta and Dexter told her in the finale, she’s a good person. And season eight will supposedly bring with it “someone unlike anything we’ve seen in Dexter’s life before,” which will probably end up being a lot more familiar than they’d let us believe.
To sum it all up, the status quo will remain the status quo, and the show will end how it always was going to end. As Buck says, “When you examine any serial killer, there are only so many endings you can have and serial killer’s don’t generally end on a happy note.”
