The Dexter Storylines That Went Too Far

When the "Dexter" series finale aired in 2013, many fans were left unsatisfied by its open-ended conclusion. The final episode sees Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) abandoning his child and sailing into the eye of a hurricane on his boat after the death of his adoptive sister Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter). Dexter's friends at the fictional Miami Metro Police Department are left to assume that their blood-spatter analyst was dead — but it's revealed in a surprise ending that he's very much alive, living in a log cabin at some mysterious, wintry place in Oregon. (In the "Dexter" revival, he's living in upstate New York, according to TVLine.)

If we're being honest, the show's final episode isn't the only mistake the show's writers made — and in a series known for some seriously shocking moments, it often seemed like nothing was off-limits in "Dexter." However, the minds behind the show made some seriously unpopular calls throughout its run. Here's the scene — and overall storyline — that "Dexter" fans think went way too far.

There's no doubt that Dexter Morgan is a psychopath, forced to learn how to convey emotions he doesn't actually feel. He rarely lets anyone get close, not even his wife Rita (Julie Benz) — although he realizes too late that he does harbor some loving feelings for her only after she's brutally murdered in Season 4. But there's one person in Dexter's life who has always been there for him — the one person that Dexter himself once says, "If I could love anyone, it would be her": his adoptive sister Debra.

"Dexter" fans loved Deb's smart mouth and no-nonsense attitude, which is why they didn't love what the writers did to her character in later seasons. Many fans are in agreement that Deb's character arc took a turn for the worse by Season 7 of "Dexter," when Deb suddenly expresses that she's in love with Dexter. This was made even more unbearable by the fact that in real life, Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter were married. (They divorced in 2011, before Season 7 even debuted.) As one Reddit user put it, "Say 'Holla' if you think Deb falling in love with Dexter was the worst story arc in the series."

As if that wasn't enough, Deb's total meltdown in Season 8 was the final straw for many. After killing her boss Maria LaGuerta (Lauren Velez) in order to save Dexter in the Season 7 finale, Deb becomes a completely different person by the time we see her again in Season 8. Once known for her strong morals, Deb turns to drugs and heavy drinking to cope with the trauma of murdering her superior.

In a Reddit thread titled "Debra Morgan's character arc assassination," user u/Rashcist wrote, "The only thing she had for herself from s1 is her motive to be a good cop and her desire to bring justice. That motive was totally compromised by s7 start and destroyed by s7 end ... It really felt like many of her actions in s7 & s8 are unexplainable and it's not something normal Debra Morgan would do." 

In the same thread, Reddit user u/EyesOnly41 detailed Deb's underwhelming development: "In love with Dexter. Finds out Dexter's secret. Kills former boss. Not in love with Dexter. Actually okay with Dexter ... Mild reaction to Dexter leaving for Argentina with his son and another serial killer. How the hell does someone just get through all that? The writers just messed with her character for the sake of convenience to the story and it's pretty hollow." 

Meanwhile, u/jfk31989 noted the real-life complications of Deb's arc, writing, "I found it strange they gave Deb that plot of Being in love with Dexter right around the time Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C Hall would have been divorcing. Deb was always one of my favorite characters and she deserved better."