Clyde Phillips, Original “Dexter” Showrunner, Shares the Finale He Wanted

Like many fans of Showtime’s confident and darkly charming, Dexter Morgan, I thought last night’s series finale was pure horse shit, complete, unadulterated horse shit. All these seasons and this is what I have to show for it? I’m having a difficult time articulating how fucking deep this formerly brilliant show tanked. To think this is the same powerful series that spawned The Trinity Killer. Wow.

Anyone with half a brain knew this show was dead on its feet after Dr. Vogel was introduced. This dull and lifeless Dexter Morgan was made the victim with Vogel’s confession of working with Harry to find a way for Dex to kill and keep himself out of the electric chair. Horse-shit, I say. While Vogel and Harry Morgan are responsible for the mess they made for Dexter, Showtime and their joke of a creative staff are ultimately responsible for the death of an amazing character. This article could take all night at this rate, so I’ll jump right to Phillips’ finale that never was. You have to admit, this ending is tremendously better that the slop fans got last night; anything with heart or conviction would have been. I should just get to the point before I’m reminded that Vince’s daughter served absolutely zero purpose except filling up worthless screen time.

“In the very last scene of the series,” Philips explained, “Dexter wakes up. And everybody is going to think, ‘Oh, it was a dream.’ And then the camera pulls back and back and back and then we realize, ‘No, it’s not a dream.’ Dexter’s opening his eyes and he’s on the execution table at the Florida Penitentiary. They’re just starting to administer the drugs and he looks out through the window to the observation gallery.”

“And in the gallery are all the people that Dexter killed—including the Trinity Killer and the Ice Truck Killer (his brother Rudy), LaGuerta who he was responsible killing, Doakes who he’s arguably responsible for, Rita, who he’s arguably responsible for, Lila. All the big deaths, and also whoever the weekly episodic kills were. They are all there.”

“That’s what I envisioned for the ending of Dexter. That everything we’ve seen over the past eight seasons has happened in the several seconds from the time they start Dexter’s execution to the time they finish the execution and he dies.  Literally, his life flashed before his eyes as he was about to die. I think it would have been a great, epic, very satisfying conclusion.”

Pissed now? Yep.