When is series finale of Dexter? How will Dexter end?

When is series finale of Dexter? It’s Sunday, Sept. 22 at 9pm ET/PT on Showtime. But let’s start at the beginning …

In the Disney version of the fairy tale Pinocchio, the little wooden puppet can become a real live boy if he overcomes his penchant for lying, and shows the noble human traits of bravery and self-sacrifice. It takes awhile, but Pinocchio finally gets it right.

A similar desire to become truly human has been a part of Dexter since the first episode. Dexter (Michael C. Hall) has always believed that he lacks the human emotions that allow for love and true friendship and is always in search of them. The first season episode “Love American Style” reveals this as, considering his awkward relationship with Rita (Julie Benz), he questions his victims on how they kept the affection in their marriage even as he gets ready to plunge his knife. The theme of becoming human is repeated as Dexter navigates a potential friendship with ruthless assistant DA Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smitts) and, later, with Trinity (John Lithgow), who on the surface appears to be a good husband and father. Dexter’s rage, when he discovers that Trinity’s love of family was a horrible lie, reveals that he has true emotions — buried so deep within him that he did not realize they existed until they nearly overwhelmed him. They reappear the following seasons with his affection for Lumen (Julia Stiles), his love for his son and, finally, the passion he feels for Hannah (Yvonne Strahovski).

But the act that is most important to his humanity came when he revealed to Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) what he is. This eventually led to her acceptance of her brother’s true nature. Now, though she is back on the Miami police force, she risks her future by hiding his lover, Hannah, in her house.

In last week’s episode, Dexter tries to juggle getting ready to leave Miami with Hannah and Harrison, assisting Hannah in avoiding the U.S. marshals hot on her trail and tracking down Oliver Saxon, the “Brain Surgeon.” In an act that reveals how far he has come, he catches Saxon then tells Deb she can “be the hero of Miami Metro” and arrest the man. The results of that selfless gesture are a dead U.S. marshall; Deb lying in a pool of her own blood; and Saxon running off, likely bent on killing Dexter and those he cares for. The episode closes with Dexter leaving his home with Harrison, unaware of the forces conspiring against him as he contemplates a future in which he moves out of the darkness and into the light. That moment felt like an ending in itself, but could we have expected the Dexter finale to be so sweet?

So how will Dexter end? What can viewers hope to see on Sunday?

I hope that the writers do not fall to the temptation of a morality play in which Dexter is apprehended and has to pay for his crimes, if only because the crimes he committed made his city a safer, better place.

But I don’t expect he will make it to Argentina, either.

My thought is you don’t have a hurricane unless it’s going to be a major player in the finale. Incoming Laura will cancel all flights, ruining any chance Dexter and Hannah have of making it to freedom.

Hannah will be cornered at the airport. It’s unlikely she will be shot as even someone who does not understand the value of scissors and hair dye in creating a good disguise knows not to try to get a weapon past security and is unarmed. When Dexter tries to rescue her, he is apprehended but the charge is fairly minor, considering what it might have been.

With both in separate cells and storm surges battering the precinct doors, the prisoners need to be moved. It’s time for Deb, in spite of her wounds, to do what she can to free her brother. The staff at the station won’t to do much to stop her; as far as they are concerned, Dexter’s is a low-level crime of passion and who’d shoot a friend over that? But Dexter doesn’t leave the area, Hannah is still in custody and he won’t let her go.

Out in the storm, Saxon is lurking, waiting for a chance at Dexter. When he can’t reach him, he takes Hannah instead. He drives to the dock where Dexter moors the boat he did not sell, and waits. With Deb assisting, Dexter goes after Saxon leading to a Cape Fear style confrontation in the storm.

Though I have never been fond of Hannah as Dexter’s love interest, she has shown a purer heart than expected. I hope she does not take the bullet or blade meant for Dexter. I hope Saxon is killed, preferably by Deb, and that Dexter and Hannah take the boat and risk the wrath of Mother Nature, who may or may not let them live.

And I hope the writers do not leave fans hanging, and that there is a bit of an epilogue, with Deb arriving in Argentina with Harrison to pass the boy to his father and stepmother.

More on the finale in next week’s installment of “this blogger eats crow.”