Listen, shocking is shocking. Nowhere on this list does it imply that shocking means good, or well-received. In fact, in Dexter‘s case, it was quite the opposite.
This is a textbook example of how NOT TO END a show that had enjoyed a pretty solid run. What shocked people about it? The fact that the ending was so, um, not ending like. Yeah, he killed Deb. Cool. We all knew that was coming. But then the fact the he went off and presumably turned into a fucking lumberjack was just silly. You either kill off a character like Dexter, or you keep him doing what he was best known for. You DO NOT just drop an ending that gives fans no real sense of closure and makes many people wonder what the hell just happened?
Yeah, that was a shocker. A shocker as in it was so bad that it felt like a finger in my ass. You want shocking endings done RIGHT? Read the next entry…