TV Review: Dexter Season 7

Hey everyone, I've been on a bit of a hiatus to help get ready for my dad to return home from the hospital, but I should be posting regularly from now on.  

WARNING: I will spoil a lot of Season 7 but not much from previous seasons.  Do not read further if this sounds like something you want to avoid!  I will say that this was a GREAT season, up there with Season 1 and Season 4 as the best the show can offer.  The review begins after the jump.

With the way the show ended last season (Deb walking in to Dexter murdering Travis Marshall and thus becoming an accessory), this season was bound to be a high stakes affair.  It seemed inevitable that Deb would eventually find out Dexter's secret, and I thought it should've happened much earlier, around Season 5.  However, we got a major curveball added to the mix when they also revealed that Deb was in LOVE, like not familial love, with Dex.  Way to pour lighter fluid on a combustible house of cards y'all.  These are two major balls to juggle at once, and show did it admirably, and it even throws in the first true love interest for Dexter to boot.  

I loved how Deb coming to terms with Dexter's true self forms the foundation of the season, in place of a villain whose arc would take up all 13 episodes.  This opened the door for them to include multiple bad guys, some more menacing than others, for the duo to deal with.  There's Isaak, the fearless Ukrainian mobster, who has a personal vendetta with Dexter.  Eloquent and philosophical, he provides some of the best dialogue of the season.  Ray Speltzer is a horrifying demon, who sets up mazes for the women he brings back to fill them with fear as they try in vain to escape.  His death was HILARIOUS, I had to pause the show because I was laughing so hard at Dexter's mocking.  Here's the scene: 

Your beautiful face makes it hard for me to kill you.

Throw in the guy who burns people to death and you've got quite the collection of evil doers to work with.  Unfortunately for the Morgans, they also have to deal with Lt. LaGuerta and Matthews (so glad he was back), whose investigation into the Bay Harbor Butcher case has the potential to gag them all. The most intriguing of all the storylines was the introduction of Hannah McKay, one of the best characters in the show's history.  Watching her, Dexter, and Deb head down the rabbit hole into some kind of twisted love triangle was great TV.  

Dexter again contemplates his life and what it all means over multiple episodes, and his conclusions are very interesting this season.   Meanwhile, watching Deb try to reconcile her feelings for Dexter was fascinating and sort of heartbreaking.  Thankfully, the show retains it's lovable characteristics: Deb swearing, Dexter never taking care of Harrison, Quinn being a quasi-honorable dumbass, and plenty of "BS, they could never get away with that" moments.  There are some incredibly shocking scenes towards the end of the season as well, plus Doakes flashbacks!   After two enjoyable yet underwhelming years, Season 7 finally brings Dexter back to life in terms of story and entertainment.  

GRADE: A