Copy and pasting what I wrote about the finale on reddit:
I enjoyed much of the season, though thought the ending was entirely unsatisfactory. Plot holes don't bother me all that much because Dexter has always been hit-and-miss when it comes to airtight plotting, but what frustrated me was setting up Harrison killing Dexter as him freeing himself from his father. For me, a more satisfying but less bombastic ending would have been Dexter pushing Harrison to kill him, but Harrison resisting and allowing Bishop to take him into custody and answer for his crimes, also allowing a face-to-face with Batista to wrap that dangling thread up. Dexter has always deluded himself into believing he is a force for good and an avenging angel, as the conversation with Harrison about his dark passenger being in the driving seat alluded to. Dexter playing the martyr, ostensibly for his son's benefit but in reality just feeding his son's dark impulses, is very much in character for someone so narcissistic and self-righteous. By having Harrison kill Dexter, Dexter's 'dark passenger' (really just Dexter) essentially won by making Harrison take the option Dexter always took: murder. Had Harrison resisted, it would have represented him rejecting the darkness supposedly inherited from his father and truly freeing himself from that legacy, allowing him to remain in Iron Lake with Angela and his friends and live a normal life. Dexter surviving to stand trial is less showy and hashtag-friendly, but would be more dramatically and thematically coherent and give the series a proper conclusion where Dexter's belief in inherited darkness, and evil as destiny, is shattered and him forced to recognise that his 'dark passenger' was always an excuse. Instead, it finishes with open-ended 'MIGHT HARRISON BE A KILLER TOO?' ambiguity, which the writers might think is great for seeding a possible spin-off (which I'd be surprised if it were a success, given it doesn't offer many other avenues than repeating Dexter without Dexter) but feels like a cop-out completely missing (to me) the point of who Dexter is - ironically, since it is stated so clearly a moment prior to his death.
(Of course, a theoretical next season could always start with Dexter waking up in a hospital having survived the gunshot and going from there, but that'd be even worse.)
(Of course, a theoretical next season could always start with Dexter waking up in a hospital having survived the gunshot and going from there, but that'd be even worse.)
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