Spoiler Alert! "Dexter: New Blood" finale

Ever since the finale of “Dexter: New Blood” aired fans have been comparing it to the disappointment of the ending in the original series. While I don’t necessarily think it was as bad as the original finale where Dexter sails off into a storm, drops his sister, Deb’s, body into the ocean and goes on to become a lumberjack, I do think the writers should have gone in a different direction.

A few years ago, I read an interview with the creator and they said that originally, they wanted the finale to be Dexter being executed for his crimes, which I thought would have been a much better choice than the original ending. However, apparently, the network would not allow them to kill off their title character even if it was the series finale. Remembering this, I was surprised at the direction they took with the finale of “Dexter: New Blood.”

The finale started out solid. The overarching villain of this season, Kurt Caldwell, the serial killer who killed hundreds of women and embalmed their bodies for a museum-like display, is finally killed by Dexter. Harrison, Dexter’s son, finally knows who Dexter really is and accepts him for it. Harrison is excited to become a vigilante with Dexter who kills killers and bad guys after Dexter teaches him what his father called the code. However, Dexter’s girlfriend, Angela, who happens to be the chief of police, puts the pieces together and figures out exactly who Dexter is. Someone finally knows that Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher. When she arrested him, I really thought that the writers were going to go in the direction that the creator had wanted for the original ending of the series and I was excited. I always thought that would have been a better ending than what they gave us. However, the show quickly pivots.

Dexter breaks out of jail by killing the cop on watch who happens to be Harrison’s wrestling coach. When Dexter meets Harrison so they can flee together, Harrison quickly realizes that Dexter didn’t follow the code and killed an innocent. This makes him question everything, and he ends up shooting his father with a rifle at Dexter’s request, which kills him.

While I don’t necessarily think the ending was as bad as a lot of other viewers feel it was, I would have gone in a different direction had I been in the writer’s room. I thought that when Dexter was finally arrested that we would get to see the trial and his execution. I personally don’t understand why they instead decided to kill him. Had they not killed him, it would have left things open for a season of watching Dexter grapple with prison and the things that he’s done. I think it would have made a compelling second season. While they still left things open enough to have a second season with Harrison taking the lead, I feel like this was officially the last we’ll see of the Dexter Morgan story.