The original final season for "Dexter" left a bad taste in the mouths of many fans. In fact, the finale episode holds the lowest score for the series' original run on IMDb. AV Club's Emily St. James wrote, "The show cannot have its title character portrayed in anything other than shades of brilliant white. What was once a horror program became farce." The response from William Thomas at Empire was similarly downbeat, writing, "Dexter has been on the wane for years now, but even those who stuck it out this long will have a hard time stomaching the killer's last hurrah."
In these final episodes, Season 8 introduced psychologist Evelyn Vogel, played by Charlotte Rampling. In a stunning revelation, Vogel reveals to Dexter (Hall) that she was the one who helped his adoptive father, Harry (James Remar), to create the code that Dexter lives (and kills) by. The show also brings back Dexter's love interest, Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovski), and the two rekindle their romance.
While the series finale confounded its loyal viewers, one of the biggest objections to Season 8 was its treatment of a fan favorite, Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter). After killing Maria LaGuerta (Luna Lauren Velez) in Season 7, Deb begins to sink into a spiral of self-destruction. She quits the police department, becomes a private investigator, and stumbles through her messed-up life in a haze of drugs and alcohol. Deb is then shot, suffers a stroke while in the hospital, and ends up brain dead. Fans were not happy, to say the least.
