Dexter Finale: WHAAAAA?????

I watched the Dexter finale last night.

I still haven't recovered.

Normally with season finales, you're inclined to believe it'll be the most exciting episode of the season, with cliffhangers up the wazoo. With the exception of last season's Private Practice, and arguably Mad Men, finales generally do not live up to our expectations. The episodes are just aiiight. Somebody gets pregnant, somebody gets married, somebody declares their feelings for someone else. Finales have become so predictable, almost nobody needs to watch them live anymore. They tape them, and two weeks later, if they remember, and they're bored, they might watch them. And then forget about them.

That ain't happening with Dexter.

The last few episodes had been so stellar, so gripping, I thought there was no possible way the finale could be better. Just as good, maybe, but not better. Still, I went the whole day praying I wouldn't hear a spoiler, thinking maybe, just maybe, the episode would turn out to be stupendously awesome, the way we wish all season finales would be.

It was. And so much more.

The first 45 minutes or so were classic Dexter. Dexter is going after Trinity. Right in the middle of the car chase, he gets a phone call from his wife Rita who wants to know if they can go on their honeymoon this weekend. I'm trying hard not to get annoyed at her the way other viewers have, because I happen to like Rita and I think she is wonderful to Dexter. But I wish she would hang up the dang phone already. Can't she hear he's in traffic?

Dexter eventually catches up to Trinity and stabs him with the needle. Then he gets arrested for side-swiping someone's mirror during that car chase. By the time he gets out of jail, Trinity is gone. Now Trinity is onto him. Trinity goes to leave town. But not so fast--Dexter has tampered with his car and it breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Dexter slams the hood on Trinity's head and takes him to the killing spot. He executes Trinity, appropriately, with a hammer.

After dumping the body, Dexter drives home to get his stuff to meet Rita and the baby for their vacation. Rita has left him a voicemail telling him to check out the full moon. He calls Rita back. Except her phone is ringing in the house with him. Strange. Then he hears the baby crying. He follows the sound to the bathroom and sees the baby sitting on the floor, crying in a pool of blood. AHHHHH.

Then he sees Rita.

Lying in a bathtub full of her own blood.

She is dead. Trinity got to her before Dexter got to Trinity.

I don't remember what happened after that. I sort of blacked out.

Now, less than 24 hours after seeing the finale, I'm still stunned. I read an interview with one of the show's executive producers, and he confirmed Rita really is dead. It wasn't a dream or hallucination.

I honestly have no idea how the show will move on from this point. What happened was so terrible, so incomprehensible. I can't imagine Angel's reaction. Deb's. I can't fathom what the new Dexter will be like, how he will go on. I don't want to think about Astor and Cody.

Dexter. What a shocking, devastating finale. And who saw that coming???