‘Dexter’ Review: “Goodbye Miami”

‘Dexter’ season 8 slices up the 10th episode of its final year with “Goodbye Miami,” as Dexter continues his pursuit of Daniel Vogel (Darri Ingolfsson) while making the round of goodbyes with Miami Metro, and Deb considers her future with Quinn after making a decision to return to the force.

Last week’s ‘Dexter’ episode, “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” saw Dexter uncovering Zach’s killer and the true “Brain Surgeon” to be Dr. Vogel's son, while Deb debated returning to Miami Metro, and Hannah’s security became threatened by a U.S. Marshal (‘Sons of Anarchy”s Kenny Johnson). So how does “Goodbye Miami” continue the 8th and final season?

Read on for your in-depth recap of everything you need to know about ‘Dexter’ season 8, episode 10, “Goodbye Miami”!

Over breakfast, Dr. Vogel insists to Daniel that she wants to make up for past mistakes and get him the care he needs, though Daniel refuses to endure any kind of incarceration, and instead wants to learn as Dexter did. Over at Deb’s place, Dexter informs Hannah that Clayton seems to be off the case, and they’ll start life in Argentina after he finally kills Daniel. When Deb arrives, Dex takes her aside to tell her of his and Hannah’s plans, assuring his sister he’ll visit.

Quinn and Jamie share lunch, where Jamie brushes off a potential job opportunity in Atlanta, something Quinn urges her to reconsider. Elsewhere, Vogel meets with Matthews and denies any knowledge of where Zach Hamilton might have disappeared to. Dexter pulls her aside to advise killing Daniel, though Vogel insists she wants to help him, first by establishing trust.

Quinn gets called away from lunch with Deb to a crime scene, wherein Dexter photographs the body of a cyclist, before telling Batista of his intent to leave Miami. Elsewhere, Daniel ushers Vogel into his car with intent to show her something, driving her to the abandoned hospital in which he set up his kill room to resemble his old institution. Daniel asks to be taught to live and murder freely as Dexter has, urging his mother to choose him over Dexter, as she had previously chosen his brother Richard over him.

Dexter sneaks into Vogel’s house, using Daniel’s own spyware on Vogel’s laptop against him, and downloading a kill video of Zach Hamilton. Back at the station, Clayton informs Batista that his leads on Hannah have turned up nothing, before overhearing that Dexter suspiciously soon intends to leave Miami and travel abroad. Meanwhile, Quinn returns home to find Jamie waiting, before he suggests that things aren’t working out between them, though it has nothing to do with Deb.

Deb returns home to see Dexter, Hannah and Harrison together, the sight of which causes her to lament to Dexter that she doesn’t want him to leave. The next day, Vogel drops by Dexter’s apartment and urges him to quit pursuing Daniel, so that she might help him. Dexter shows her the video of Daniel killing Zach, assuring her Daniel can’t change his ways, before Vogel finally relents to set up a meet for Dexter to capture Daniel.

Hannah just inside, Clayton arrives to Deb’s house to ask if Dexter might have gotten back together with Hannah, given his sudden decision to leave Miami. Deb attempts to throw the agent off the trail, before going inside to warn Hannah about laying low. Afterwards, Deb drops by Elway’s office to announce her decision to return to Miami Metro, though Elway had already assumed as much and coldly bids her farewell.

Harrison’s continued foolishness playing with Deb’s treadmill leads to the boy sustaining a large gash on his chin, for which Hannah finds herself forced to rush Harrison to the hospital, risking exposure. Meanwhile, Dexter sets up his kill room for Daniel, though Harry urges is son to be careful with his expectations about what happens next in his life.

Deb officially accepts Batista’s offer to return to Miami Metro, in the process learning Quinn recently dumped Jamie. Deb drags him outside and forces Quinn to admit he dumped Jamie at least partially for her, to which Deb admits she returns his feelings, and the two share a kiss by the water. Meanwhile, Clayton questions the hospital receptionist who definitively identifies Hannah as having brought Harrison in, signing her name as Debra Morgan.

Later over dinner, Dexter expresses his regret over not being around to take care of Hannah and Harrison, before Evelyn calls and reveals that Daniel agreed to meet her at home, rather than in public. Dexter rushes out to save Vogel, though quickly finds himself unable to decide between protecting Hannah or Vogel, while Harry urges him to finish things with Daniel.

Vogel nervously serves her son coffee, insisting she only wished to meet for more casual purposes, though Daniel quickly realizes her to be hiding something. Dexter pulls up to the house, before Daniel calls, and forces Dexter to watch him slit Vogel’s throat from outside. Dexter rushes in, missing his chance to pursue Daniel, as Dexter cradles the dying Vogel in his arms.

A cosmic coincidence to be sure, but we can't help considering 'Dexter''s poor timing to air its final season opposite the final episodes of 'Breaking Bad,' which similarly herald the ultimate downfall of its amoral protagonist in entirely different ways. 'Breaking Bad' manages to elevate its tension to near-coronary levels, where 'Dexter's final hours continually leave us disappointed by a messy barrage of baffling logic.

It simply isn't enough to hinge Dexter's debilitating choice on Vogel's life and the pursuit of Daniel, considering neither have existed in the series long enough for us to form any tangible attachment, and Dexter would have risked relatively little to follow through on starting a new life with Hannah and Harrison. If anything, we've have expected Daniel to represent a larger threat to Deb as a means to hurt Dexter, though the idea curiously never surfaces over the course of the hour.

Instead, final hours of 'Dexter' have been positioned toward a final showdown between Dexter and an antagonist we have little regard for, while the new life in Argentina dangles too obviously as a pipe dream even Harry warns (us) might not be in the cards. Of course, nothing beyond Hannah's potential capture suggests that anything else about Dexter's secret life might come to light, placing remarkably low stakes on the climax to an unevenly-plotted season.

So, what have we to consider going into the final two episodes of the series? Deb's equally-abrupt return of Quinn's feelings? Masuka's daughter's pot habit? Unplugging the treadmill when not in use? Vogel's death and a sense of the approaching end add a glimmer of consequence to these final episodes perhaps, but none that could likely redeem the series for playing far too safe up to now. Sigh.

What say you? Did you get your fill of darkly dangerous ‘Dexter’ drama? What did you think about the latest episode of the final season? Stay tuned for the latest from ‘Dexter’ season 8, and join us next week for a new episode recap of “Monkey in a Box” on Showtime!