Dexter Season Five - What Will Happen? (contains season 4 spoilers)

Amtmann

I think Season Five will have to kick off right where season four ended, and I think it might be the season where it all catches up with Dexter.

1) Rita is a bathtub murder victim. Why was she targeted? (And what is Dexter's alibi? Because he does still need one!)

2) Batista saw Trinity speaking with Dexter at the station. Useless cop that he is, he didn't twig it later when they put Arthur's picture up beside the Trinity kill photos, but he certainly should later.

3) Dexter was at the Mitchell's house before the cops even entered it.

4) Trinity's family are still to be interrogated - surely they'll tell that 'Kyle Butler' was at the house moments before the cops arrived; and surely this will tally with the seemingly senseless homicide of a real Kyle Butler in episode 11, and the fact that Trinity looked for a Kyle Butler at the station, asking at the reception; AND that Dexter was already in the Mitchell's garage when Angel/Deb and Quinn entered the garage. If they examine this again, it doesn't quite stack up.

5) Debra needs to step back from the situation and reconsider the events of season one. She cannot be content to know that Dexter was the Ice Truck Killer's brother and leave it at that.

Whatever way you look at it, Dexter was responsible for Rita's murder. He brought death and danger into the lives of her and her children: 1) Paul's death in prison; 2) Lyla's abduction of the children; 3) luring Zoe Kruger to the house; and finally 4), the Trinity Killer himself. Dexter cannot raise the children. I think that must be the lesson here. As for the idea that his kids might all develop Dark Passengers now, I think that would be uber lame and I don't want to see it happen. Just because your parent gets murdered doesn't mean you become a serial killer.

Krieg

You bring up a lot of good points.

2) Batista saw Trinity speaking with Dexter at the station. Useless cop that he is, he didn't twig it later when they put Arthur's picture up beside the Trinity kill photos, but he certainly should later.

I didn't even click about batista seeing trinity, though after watching it again, batista doesn't actually see trinitys face. So I dont think anything will be made from it.

3) Dexter was at the Mitchell's house before the cops even entered it.

Yeah they rolled past this way too easily and will surely be swept under the carpet, like many things in the season. Such as dexter killing an innocent man, but with very little reflection on the incident, just a crappy excuse for Dexter to talk to trinity in the following episode.

4) Trinity's family are still to be interrogated - surely they'll tell that 'Kyle Butler' was at the house moments before the cops arrived; and surely this will tally with the seemingly senseless homicide of a real Kyle Butler in episode 11, and the fact that Trinity looked for a Kyle Butler at the station, asking at the reception; AND that Dexter was already in the Mitchell's garage when Angel/Deb and Quinn entered the garage. If they examine this again, it doesn't quite stack up.

Again, a great point. But no doubt will be swept under the carpet again. This one actually pisses me off, its a major plot hole and an obvious one. Im sure everyone was thinking about what the family are going to say as they were being escorted to the police station.

5) Debra needs to step back from the situation and reconsider the events of season one. She cannot be content to know that Dexter was the Ice Truck Killer's brother and leave it at that.

Im actually going to watch season 1 again because of this. Im 99% sure that there was some evidence/proof that Dexter and Brian were suspiciously linked regardless of their past, in the eyes of Deb. The kind of proof/evidence that when their childhood past is added, alarm bells should ring.

Whatever way you look at it, Dexter was responsible for Rita's murder. He brought death and danger into the lives of her and her children: 1) Paul's death in prison; 2) Lyla's abduction of the children; 3) luring Zoe Kruger to the house; and finally 4), the Trinity Killer himself. Dexter cannot raise the children. I think that must be the lesson here. As for the idea that his kids might all develop Dark Passengers now, I think that would be uber lame and I don't want to see it happen. Just because your parent gets murdered doesn't mean you become a serial killer.

I agree about Dexter and about the 'how to guide' in becoming a serial killer. But I personally wont find the development of the dark passenger in his son to be a bad thing. I dont think we'll see much of that story developed unless the next season takes place 10 years later. His son is only 1 y/o, he wont be found murdering the neighbours dog for a few years yet.


As for other predictions in season5, Dexter will keep the kids, Deb will play part-time mommy. Much of the filler will be how Dexter juggles 3 kids, though its already been done in this season. It will be interesting to see how they work a new serial killer protagonist as I feel like they have used up all angles of serial killer now.

Hardrain

I think Dexter is slowly cracking up and it will become more and more visible as the pressure mounts. Anyone notice how much swearing he did this season?

Amtmann

It's also worth remembering that the hunt for Trinity isn't over. As far as the FBI know, he's still out there, fresh after killing Rita (possibly). This makes Dexter a person of interest to them...as well as Trinity's family. Their paths must cross in season 5. I think season 5 will be more a continuation of season 4 than anything else.

Amtmann

jayteecork from another thread wrote: »

I think it's the police Chief, the guy that wanted to fire LaGeurta and Angel.

Something about him doesn't seem right, he also had one of those "tv faces" after Deb left him that implies he knows a lot more about Dexter than previously thought.

Personally speaking, it was he, along with Harry, that decided Miami is overrun with scum and normal police work cannot sort out the mess.
So when they found Dexter they decided that they'd mould him into a serial killer that targets the city's vile muderers.
So dex grows up and everything works great. However the police chief(what's his name again) has noticed that dexter's admirable work has gotten sloppy of late/ The reason? Rita.

So he kills her. Maybe not him personally but one of his minions. He kills her in the manner of the Trinity so as to have Rita's murder open and shut.
Now Dexter can return to be the efficent killer he once was.

But that's not all. He knows Dexter won't be around forever. So he leaves Harrison in exactly the same bloody situation as young Dex. It would have been impossible for Arthur Mitchell to know the circumstances of Dex's mother's death.
The reason? So Harrison can fit snugly into Dex's shoes when the time is right.

While I think jaytee is very wrong about Matthews killing or having anything to do with the death of Rita (it was Trinity; we don't have to see it happen for it to be true), I think you're definitely onto something. It was quite a revelation actually to discover that the deputy chief of police knows that Dexter was the brother of a major serial killer, particularly when it was subsequently determined in season two that another mass murderer, the Bay Harbour Butcher, was probably working within the police department. Matthews should have made that information known to Lundy.

][cEMAN**

Trinity's family was a bit of a loose end, but then it could be revisited. His son could come looking for Kyle Buttler and stumble across the same points his father did, while trying to find answers.

If there were crime scene investigations for the house, dexter may be called to court to testify. He might try to get out of it, and raise more suspicion from Quinn.

Debs already shattered Quinn's relationship, and I think he might secretly hold a grudge against debs. Not her fault, but just at the back of his mind. So taking Dexter down wouldn't be a problem for him as payback.

Now that Quinn and Debs are both single again, could happen. Other relationships we didn't necessarily see happen, have happened.

Harry was supposed to have killed himself through flashbacks. What if Harry didn't, but that he 'was' working with the police chief (his partner iirc), and that they both worked together on it. But when Harry thought he couldn't go through with it, he killed him and made it look like a suicide.

Personally I think Dex has had too many loose ends (people who know his secret), get tied up. As I mentioned in other threads, the fact that he had someone watching over him in series 1, not knowing who it was, and being almost on the run the whole time, was great. If it turned out that the police chief was involved more than he's letting on, debs might get close to him trying to find out more about Harry.

Consider it as well that when they mentioned that dex's bloodwork has been sloppy a few times before, and resulted in the release of murderers, who then ended up on the slabs when Lundy was looking for the bay butcher. He might have been covering up in the background.

Others mentioned they'd like to see Lundy's case files showing up regarding dex's relation to trinity, or showing them linked somehow. Now that the FBI's in on the case though, they might bring up all of the case files Lundy had relating to Miami. Maybe he mentioned Dex to others, and they're going to follow up on all leads now?

Maybe this'll be another cat & mouse series of dex getting hounded by the FBI while trying to deal with getting rid of his dark passanger for the sake of his kids. With help in the background becoming more apparent, and eventually turning on him when he has to cover his own back regarding past sins.

amacachi

Surely Rita's murder would be a pretty big news story and the Mitchells will see it?

One thing about Dexter's sloppiness is that cops don't work like in CSI, not every detail is picked up in every case. Though there is the matter of Debs' leaps in logic and excellent work in other cases which works against that and makes it hard to explain why she and others can't do it with Dexter.

5starpool

Dexter to be exposed in season 5 which would be the last? Quite possible I think, although as far as I know it is a very successful series for Showtime and Michael C Hall personally.

There really are a lot of questions left open. It will be a bit disappointing if they let them all slide, but it would not surprise at all to see season 5 as just a direct continuation of this. The FBI involvement, Rita in a bathtub (unless Dexter alters the crime scene, although that would show in autopsy if he changed the distinctive trinity wound) and Debs finding out the link to the Ice truck killer. These are all things that the series could sprout from, but I dont want it to turn into another season 2, even though that was my favourite so far.

goodolegill

http://www.seattlepi.com/tvguide/413268_tvgif14.html

jor el

I think Dexter has an easy enough "out" from suspicion. When Christine was arrested, they could assume that Trinity (her father) found out, and then when she killed herself, he could also have found out. He then went to the police station where she had been brought, and may well have been looking for Deborah. He found Dexter instead, and after making up a fake conversation with him, left the police station. He then followed Dexter home, and killed Rita the next day.

All the links between Dexter and Arthur could be easily explained, and put on Arthur. The only one that kind of stands out, would be why was Dexter in Arthur's house so quickly, though that has been brushed over now.

If the Mitchell's ever get to meet Dexter, or find out about him, they could cause problems.

Amtmann

jor el wrote: »

I think Dexter has an easy enough "out" from suspicion. When Christine was arrested, they could assume that Trinity (her father) found out, and then when she killed herself, he could also have found out. He then went to the police station where she had been brought, and may well have been looking for Deborah. He found Dexter instead, and after making up a fake conversation with him, left the police station. He then followed Dexter home, and killed Rita the next day.

All the links between Dexter and Arthur could be easily explained, and put on Arthur. The only one that kind of stands out, would be why was Dexter in Arthur's house so quickly, though that has been brushed over now.

If the Mitchell's ever get to meet Dexter, or find out about him, they could cause problems.

Kyle Butler remains the achilles heel of the alibi, though. His name must come up during numerous FBI interviews: all the family will mention him, including the fact that he seemed to know something about Arthur (this will come from Jonah), as well as the fact that he was at the house moments before the police broke in the door. This undermines all of Dexter's other excuses. The FBI will also learn that Arthur was recently in Tampa ("Road Kill") and will learn from other workmen when they interview them (which they would), that he was saved from falling to his death by Kyle Butler.

JP Liz

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Dexters-Season-Jump-1013111.aspx

Though the sting of Dexter's season finale is still fresh, it's time to think about next season. Executive producer Sara Colleton tells TVGuide.com how far in time the show may jump ahead, who the No. 1 suspect in Rita's murder will be and how much the Trinity Killer will play a role in Season 5.
TVGuide.com: Did you feel that you had to push the limits with this finale?
Sara Colleton: It's something that comes so organically with the storytelling of where Dexter URL="http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/michael-c-hall/190587"]Michael C. Hall[/URL is in his life and what he's learning and what he needs to learn. Of course, when it first comes up, you think, oh no, we can't do that, because we've created these characters and we love them. It became self-evident as we progressed that this is where Dexter needed to be taken.
TVGuide.com: Why exactly did Arthur (John Lithgow) kill Rita (Julie Benz)? Was it just revenge?
Colleton: It's complicated. We left it that way so everyone, based on their own life and their own experiences, would interpret it so it made sense for them. One way to interpret it is that in some bizarre way, Dexter gave Trinity a finality in his situation, that he does this in a bizarre way to trigger Dexter to deal with who he really is. You can only fake it for so long.
TVGuide.com: Do you see Trinity playing a role next season though? Questions will be raised by Rita's murder and Arthur did show up at the police station.
Colleton: All of those things are legitimate. All those questions will obviously be a part of next season. Dexter can't say that he knows Trinity killed Rita and that he just killed Trinity. There are a lot of possibilities and they will all be thrown out in the room to be discussed.
TVGuide.com: Is there a chance that Julie Benz or John Lithgow might return next season to appear to Dexter in his conscience?
Colleton: Anything is possible on this show because it is a theatrical invention, so any of those devices are possible, but again, none of those have been discussed yet.
TVGuide.com: What are the odds that Arthur pushed a woman to her death before killing Rita and being bludgeoned, thus completing the cycle?
Colleton: But did he break the cycle? If you really examine his death scene, Dexter is giving him an opportunity to break the cycle. Rita is the tie-breaker because he says, "It's all over now." Trinity's thing is tied up with the way he hid the reality from himself. In his master plan, this is the gift he has left behind for Dexter. It can be interpreted, if you look closely at the script, in any number of ways.
TVGuide.com: Dexter can't get vengeance for Rita's murder because he already killed Arthur. Is he going to become more bloodthirsty?
Colleton: That's an instinct he may have, but he may not. Hopefully it will be in what we call the "Dexterous response," which is based in human behavior, but uniquely put through the prism of Dexter's special needs. The fact is that he has children now that he is the sole parent of, and how that affects what he does and the choices he makes.
TVGuide.com: Were Paul's parents introduced as an easy out for Cody and Aster to leave Dexter's care?
Colleton: We needed to have the children not be there for this finale. We're trying to find the most interesting way to have to handle this situation because obviously they can always go with their grandmother or their paternal grandparents, or Dexter can take custody of them. It just opens up a variety of ways we can have Dexter deal with his grief.
TVGuide.com: Are you nervous about writing or casting a villain that can live up to or surpass John Lithgow? Might you do without a villain this season?
Colleton: That's something that's on the table to discuss because of the awesomeness of what Dexter has to deal with on an emotional level. Obviously there's going to be an investigation into who killed Rita and the number— and Dexter is going to be involved in that.
TVGuide.com: Were you about to say that Dexter might be the No. 1 suspect in his wife's murder?
Colleton: If you know anything about crimes, usually a spouse is involved. We may jump ahead six months and it could be all handled. What we wanted to do is give ourselves something that gave us the widest range of possibilities. It's so intense on a show like this, so emotionally draining, and we have a scant couple of months before we get in a room again, so all of these things are up for discussion.

weeder

Dexter wakes up in a motel room somewhere X amount of time later after losing his job and becoming depressed or something, then we see him starting fresh, with a stronger dark passenger and not being a member of any police force so he doesnt have access to files anymore, could be interesting but i doubt the writers would go down that road

J-blk

Seems the showrunner, Clyde Phillips has decided to leave the show:

Clyde Phillips, the show's long running showrunner, has decided that the fourth season of the show which ended Sunday will be his last.

Phillips said he made the decision during a long drive to his family's home in Connecticut and is leaving so he can spend more time with them. He described it as a "hugely difficult decision" and that he had "complicated feelings about it."

http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/12/15/dexter-has-lost-its-showrunner/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weblogsinc%2Ftvsquad+%28TV+Squad%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

I hope this won't affect season 5 negatively, but he's personally choosing a good time to go, on a pretty high note...

Amtmann

Hmm, not sure if this will be good or bad for the series. Daniel Cerone who was very heavily involved in season one left after that, too. I have very high hopes for season 5 but I hope it's the last one for the sake of the show. I don't think it can run for six or seven seasons and still be convincing.

sweetie

yeah, MJH's previous show 6 Ft Under ran for 5 seasons and was all the better for it

5starpool

weeder wrote: »

Dexter wakes up in a motel room somewhere X amount of time later after losing his job and becoming depressed or something, then we see him starting fresh, with a stronger dark passenger and not being a member of any police force so he doesnt have access to files anymore, could be interesting but i doubt the writers would go down that road

I really hope this does not happen tbh.

weeder

yes but it is a possible angle that could be taken, personally i want to see the aftermath and how dexter deals with what happened

valor

lol theres no way thats the storyline

Samba

Dexter will definitely be exposed, but the question is, to what extent?

I think Deborah will be the first to discover the dark passenger through Ritas murder enquiry, what she does with that knowledge (and the extent of it) should be interesting to see....

He may end up being her no.1 suspect!


A small and possibly irrelevant detail that's annoying me is, why does Dexter only receive that text message hours later, moments after arriving in the house? I mean the writers could have had him check the messages on the house phone, or he could have switched his phone on and then the msg comes, but no, we hear beep beep and he takes the phone out of his pocket?!

While it's widely accepted now and I believe the writers have even confirmed it, Rita does appear to be Trinitys final victim.

There's heated debate on whether it was a dream, or how the time line doesn't add up and how Trinity couldn't be the killer etc

I think all of these scenarios are far fetched as we clearly see Arthur leaving town with a sense of accomplishment and rejuvination, he'd taken care of all his business.

For Trinity not to be the killer none of the above makes sense, why was he so cheerful leaving town then?

For all the theories there is one that has yet to be mentioned...

The Neighbour did it and he's taken to Trinitys style of killing based on the the Lundy files he may have seen in Dexters Cabin. When Cody fell through the roof he was around help.

The man lost his wife, gets shot down by Rita and then gets a humiliating blow from Dexter.

It all points to Trinity though.

Pepe LeFrits

The Mitchell family does seem like a difficult loose end for the writers. I suppose there is the issue of the Mitchell family's credibility, but all it takes is for them to mention that 'Kyle Butler' ran out the back door and there's a pretty small leap for Quinn or Debs to make from there, especially seeing as both are suspicious of Dex now.

I'm trying to think, is there a way Dexter could paint a picture to the cops whereby he found Rita earlier in the day, and went after Trinity (going to the Mitchell's house) for revenge? Is there a way Dexter could explain how he got to the house before the cops?

valor

Dexter got the message then because his phone was off while he was taking care of Trinity [I assume]

Necronomicon

The video that was pulled from YouTube of Michael C. Hall and John Lithgow talking has been uploaded again. I was going to post it in the finale thread but it's pretty relevant here, they speculate quite a bit how Dexter will go on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi7hpA70tIM

Paddy@CIRL

There is quite an easy out for the Mitchell family that we're overlooking. Since Arthur is presumed alive and on the run with a known history of violence against the members of his family, it's surely not too much of a stretch for them to be put under Witness Protection and never heard from again ?

Monkeybonkers

Necronomicon wrote: »

The video that was pulled from YouTube of Michael C. Hall and John Lithgow talking has been uploaded again. I was going to post it in the finale thread but it's pretty relevant here, they speculate quite a bit how Dexter will go on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi7hpA70tIM

I know this is a bit off topic but M.C.H. is the spit of Wayne Rooney in that video!

amacachi

Paddy@CIRL wrote: »

There is quite an easy out for the Mitchell family that we're overlooking. Since Arthur is presumed alive and on the run with a known history of violence against the members of his family, it's surely not too much of a stretch for them to be put under Witness Protection and never heard from again ?

Witness Protection is usually given for full co-operation, something which could easily land Dexter in it.

Snake Plisken

What I want is for the whole last 3 minutes to be some kind of dream sequence and for Rita to be ok and for Dex to lead some kind of normality

pajodublin

As for the idea that his kids might all develop Dark Passengers now, I think that would be uber lame and I don't want to see it happen. Just because your parent gets murdered doesn't mean you become a serial killer.

have you read the books?

tinner777

Snake Plisken wrote: »

What I want is for the whole last 3 minutes to be some kind of dream sequence and for Rita to be ok and for Dex to lead some kind of normality

me too, i still feel a little weird after the ending.....

][cEMAN**

I really just don't know how they can justify the idea that Dexter didn't know Arthur went to his house, and has spent long enough trying to track him down, to then suddenly be in the back of his car, and have had time to sabotage it. All whilst in a cloudy dream sequence like scene.

At what point did dexter find him, **** with his car, and then climb in the back, after he thought he'd already have skipped town.

Amtmann

It's been announced that season 5 will pick up immediately after season 4 ended. Link: http://laist.com/2010/03/05/last_night_at_paleyfest2010_dexter.php