Dexter Review: “Monkey In A Box” (Season 8, Episode 11)

You know what? Hannah’s not exempt either. She’s been a serial killer for so many years, and she still can’t hide herself any better than an elephant with two legs could. When Elway shows up to look for her, she hides what she’s cooking, but not her bag and shoes? Really? He’s going to guess it was you from your beautiful cuisine, but never your belongings. Hannah is just as guilty of acting stupidly this season.

That’s just one of the many problems this season is facing, and it’s been ripping wide open the holes in logic that have popping up since the season premiere. It’s amazing to see how far the writers will push for something to happen, even if it doesn’t make sense for anybody to act as they did. Astor and Cody were name dropped a lot in this episode, so wouldn’t it make sense for Saxon to go after them, far away from where Dexter could help them? Maybe stall his flight, test his devotion to his stepchildren and Hannah?

There’s really not that much to say about this episode because it doesn’t feel like we’re anywhere close to the end yet. Past seasons have had more climactic finales than this one, and this season especially, Dexter has never been able to escape the ghosts of better seasons past. Even Sylvia Prado (!) returns to help Dexter sell his apartment, which is kind of a slap in the face for longtime fans. Dexter even tries to sell his boat, but since he’s leaving in a matter of hours, he might as well sail it out to sea and leave it for the storm to deal with.

Had this season been nestled somewhere in the middle of the series, it would be a flawed yet enjoyable time. To save it for the grand finale of a show that knows it’s seen better days, however, is just wrong. It’s tiring watching characters risk everything for reasons that aren’t that convincing, especially since we’ve seen all of these characters in their prime before. Rather than come full circle, this final season is going to lengths to only wrap up its contained story. There’s a lack of closure looming ahead. Hey, kind of like a tropical storm or something!

Only the series finale remains, and it looks like it’s going to be a white knuckle affair (hopefully). I know that Dexter can still shock audiences, and faithful fans deserve nothing less than an ending that will have us talking for months. Now would be a good time to reveal that Doakes is still alive, writers. That’s the real surprise, muthaf***a.