For the penultimate episode of a series, we’re usually propelled head first into the end. The very next thing we’ll be seeing is the very end, so there should be a lot of tension built into whatever happens. And Monkey in the Box ends Dexter literally walking away from a kill, which isn’t terribly interesting, and Deb shot, bleeding out, which… we’ve sort of seen before.

There’s a bit that happened in this episode. Unfortunately for us viewers, not much of it was terribly compelling. But let’s start at the beginning. Dexter is dealing with the aftermath of Vogel’s murder. He erases every trace of him from her life, which is (1) smart, and something of a new direction for this season, and (2) almost very defeating for the legacy of Vogel, though if the reality of her career ever came to light, she’d be stripped of whatever honors she did hold and blacklisted.

Dexter was her greatest success, and in her ultimate moment of defeat, her greatest success is wiping away every trace of that success. Dexter has to find every piece of information Vogel had on him, which reminds us that at least Dexter can still think about consequences, and it also serves as a small reminder for exactly how much Vogel has done for Dexter throughout his life.

Now, as for Dexter’s reaction to her death, I don’t know. Certainly, it’s difficult to accept that us viewers would give much stock to it, seeing as how she’s only been introduced in this season, and her story hasn’t been all that interesting. But if we don’t care for us, perhaps we can care for Dexter. Again, I didn’t find myself caring all that much. I found his initial reaction of despair somewhat inauthentic, seeing as how he didn’t even have that reaction when Rita died (though I supposed it could be argued that her death had an even greater effect on him, reverting him even further back emotionally).

Her funeral was the barest blip of a scene. Indeed, we didn’t even see her actual funeral, just everyone coming out of it, and Matthews saying it was a nice service. Which is just lip service. I don’t think for a second Matthews actually cares about anyone other than himself.

We deal with the middle chunk of an episode in a few different scenes. We see Dexter and Hannah preparing their future together, and Dexter preparing an end for Saxon. In order to do this, however, he has Harrison spend their final night Miami with Jamie. And this brings up an interesting idea. How is it that Harrison is not mentioning Hannah to anyone? Seriously, this kid is drawing pictures of her, but when he’s with Jamie, he’s seriously not mentioning the woman he thinks is his mom?

Deb’s back on the force, and given the shaky grounds of her previous promotion in the precinct, I won’t worry too much about her return to a lower rank. Maybe that’s a real thing. I just don’t know. She and Quinn have a scene together in which we get that they’re more than a little interested in maybe continuing a relationship. And here’s the thing about Quinn: This is actually the first season I don’t actively hate him. In Season 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, I actively hated the character. He did nothing and served no purpose. And when he was “serving a purpose,” it was poorly written and didn’t further the show at all. But, for whatever reason, this season, he’s acting like a sane, rational person, and I find myself really liking him, and really wanting him to be away from Jamie, who’s taken every chance to remind him why Deb was so much better for him. And with all of the terrible luck Deb has had in relationships with people who aren’t named Dexter, fine, I’m guilty of wanting her to not be so damn miserable.

I remember in Season 5, while literally on their hands and knees cleaning up Rita’s blood, they decide right then would be a good time to bang. Right there, at a murder scene, cleaning it up, literally hours after Quinn’s previous girlfriend was revealed to be the daughter of a notorious serial killer and also literally hours after she blew her brains out, Deb and Quinn decided to bang. And it was right then that I knew something was awry with the writers.

I really didn’t like their relationship to begin with, and I thought Deb storming out of the relationship was in poor taste, but then so was Quinn’s next season and a half downhill spiral into complete douchbaggery. So at this juncture, fine, if they want to be happy with each other, I wish them the best.

With that out of the way, we get to the real meat of this episode, which is the cat-and-mouse interplay between Dexter and Saxon. With Dexter releasing that footage of Saxon’s murder of Zach, the hunt is now on for Saxon, which also pretty much put an end to the one-sided truce the two of them had going.

And so Dexter sets the trap in his apartment, which is also vaguely familiar, because we’ve almost this exact scenario play out at the end of Season 1, which Rudy baited to Dexter’s apartment to kill Deb, BUT SURPRISE! Yes, in this instance, as well, the serial killer is baited to kill Dexter, and Dexter is ready for them. This time, the surprise is that Deb is ready to jump out for the assist.

And in the end, we get Dexter and Saxon in a kill room, discussing their philosophies in regards to murder, and who exactly should and shouldn’t get it, and who is going to get it in this room. And while Dexter is going through the motions of a kill-room speech, he realizes that not only does he wish he were actually with Hannah, he doesn’t even really want to go through with the deed of killing Saxon at all. Which, you know, is something of a curve ball.

And, despite everything we’ve seen up to this point, this is really where the episode lost me. At the point in which Dexter declares that Saxon will die, but in the electric chair, I actually stated my displeasure with this development out loud, alone in my living room, which is something that I just don’t do. He’s gone through all of this trouble for this one moment, and while I appreciate that this is sort of a character redefining moment for Dexter Morgan, what follows next is idiocy.

His new plan is to just turn Saxon in over to Deb. Which, in itself, is an awful plan. Doakes is dead because of Dexter’s inability to come to a decision over this exact plan. And while Dexter decided that he was okay with living with the accusations of being a serial killer then, the idea that it’s not even brought up now with Saxon, who knows literally everything about Dexter Morgan, is sloppy writing, and it’s a disservice to fans who are wondering why the characters aren’t concerned about this in the least.

So he gets Deb outside and turns Saxon over. In the meantime, he’s left a violent serial killer alone in a room with Dexter’s kill tools right next to him. And, of course, U.S. Marshal Lemansky (I’m aware it’s not Lem, but c’mon, I need this) comes in at just the right moment, and somehow doesn’t recognize Miami’s new #1 Most Wanted practically gift-wrapped for him. So he unties the captured serial killer, and of course is killed, and the audience is left with the feeling of, “Wait, so why did that guy matter?”

We then get a shootout, which as was noted by our co-blogger, had the poor misfortune of essentially following up Breaking Bad‘s shootout from the end of “To’hajillee” and beginning of “Ozymandias,” which if you haven’t seen it, trust me, those two episodes pretty much blow the lid off of the entire series of Dexter.

So Deb is shot (!!!) but manages to get a round off to injure Saxon. And we’re right back to where the review began, opining about a potentially mortally-wounded Deb. And while we’re going into the finale, and I don’t doubt that there’s a very real possibility that Deborah Morgan could die, I’m still left with the cynical outlook that we’ve already had a cliffhanger in which Deborah Morgan was potentially mortally wounded with the very real possibility that she might die in the next episode.

Also, if this asshat of a serial killer is the one to manage to off Deborah Morgan, what a shitty character exit for Deborah Morgan.

Quick Thoughts:

– This is the second time this season that a conflict is brought up between Masuka and his daughter, and then essentially resolved off screen. Why are we even getting these dust-ups in the first place?

– Elway has turned out, thus far, to be another useless character that time was wasted on in this final season.

– I’m fully aware it’s been address to death everywhere on the internet, but I’ll just chime in. Is it just impossible for Hannah to try a disguise? Cut her hair, dye her hair, wear some sunglasses? Maybe a goddamn hijab?

@kent_graham