Just rewatched the Dexter finale and my opinion is somewhat changed since I first watched it, I didn’t fully understand the symbolism and buildup to his conclusion at first but I have some thoughts and reasoning for this being one of Dexter’s highest peaks, if not his highest

The ketamine/m-99 plot line is slightly illogical, and there was no where near enough evidence for Dexter to be convicted of the BHB’s crimes, could be argued that he was sloppy after 10 years and his mistakes caught up to him but I don’t fully agree with that - however that is my only complaint with the episode, the rest is perfect:

First of all, people arguing that Dexter wouldn’t kill to save himself need to rewatch the show, a perfect example of this is in season 5 where Dexter kills Stan Liddy (an innocent in terms of his code) to save himself from being found out - killing coach Logan to escape the jail cell is not something out of the ordinary for Dexter… as rule number 1 of the code is “don’t get caught”, he thought he had no other option

The white deer earlier on in the season shows the symbolism between Dexter’s good vs bad side, when Matt killed the deer the dark passenger took back over after the 10 years in which both sides were balanced

The buildup of Dexter’s complexity and inner conflict with Harrison finding out about his past all adds up to the final scene in this episode…

They both realise that Dexter will never change, his dark passenger will always be a part of him and will continue to hurt innocent lives due to his actions

Harrison was never like Dexter, as much as he wanted him to be, in 8x12 we see Dexter try to take accountability for his actions however when given a second chance he repeats the same mistakes again and affects innocent lives

“Open your eyes and look at what you’ve done”

Dexter comforts Harrison and they both accept that for Harrison to live, he has to die… 

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“I’ve never really felt love, real love, until now.”

My two interpretations:

1. Dexter questioning his “human” emotions all his life lead up to this moment, throughout the seasons we see Dexter always questioning whether he can feel emotions - in the early seasons we see Dexter accepting he doesn’t - for example in the scene between Doakes and Dexter at the cabin “You can’t play on my feelings, I don’t have any”, then with Rita he’s always questioning whether he does truly love her which is explored perfectly in 5x1, as the seasons progress Dexter starts to believe he has feelings but never properly expresses that he does (could be argued against but he’s never explicitly showed that he does truly love)

In his final moment he realises that he loves Harrison and is at peace, he can die happy knowing he can never hurt anyone again whether that being directly with his dark passenger or indirectly affecting everyone innocent around him (Rita, Deb, Doakes etc)

2. The other interpretation is that real love is Dexter expressing no one has truly ever loved him, only the mask… Rita and Deb only ever loved the version of Dexter that he put on to hide his darker side

Brian, Hannah and Lila loved the darker side… but didn’t love him enough to end his cycle…

Harrison however realised that even if he had saved countless lives, he never did it to be some hero, only to suppress these urges… realising that the only way for the cycle to stop, is for him to end it himself and get closure with his father, and that being the first feeling of love Dexter has ever had freeing him of these urges and accepting his actions

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In S4, Dexter talks to Jonah about breaking the cycle of his father (Trinity), otherwise it will continue indefinitely

Ghost Deb throughout the season reinforces the idea that what Harry did to Dexter was abuse, and that Dexter shouldn’t put Harrison through what Harry put him through, Dexter completely invalidated Harrison’s feelings and didn’t try to control his supposed ‘urges’ in a healthy way

Dexter throughout the show makes all of his victims look at what they had done, and in a sense Harrison made Dexter realise his actions in that moment and what he had done

The final scene with the letter is such a beautiful ending to the show, Harrison can now go onto live his own life, free from the sins of his father…

“I want what every father wants

For his child to be happy

To live and love without fear

To share his gifts with the world

But we both know that with me around 

A normal life for Harrison won’t be possible

This is not an easy decision

Sometimes I wish the hurricane had taken me

Released me from the burden of my own urges

Instead it showed me

I have to bear them alone

That’s my fate

So unless Harrison starts showing any dark tendencies

I beg you… let me die, so my son can live”

💔

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This is such an overhated conclusion to my personal favourite character - it would’ve been nice to see Batista and everyone finding out who the BHB truly was from a show perspective but in terms of character conclusions this fits perfectly

Easily in my top 5 eps oat (may be bias due to my love for the show but I just love this episode and character conclusion)