Dexter Morgan/Season 8

Dexter Morgan is the antihero in the Showtime series DEXTER and the Dexter Novels.

In the eighth and final season, Dexter learns more about his past when he meets Dr. Evelyn Vogel, an expert on psychiatry. He also hunts a new serial killer - The Brain Surgeon. Meanwhile, he tries to reconnect with Debra who is deeply depressed due to her actions in the previous season.

Summary
Six months after Maria LaGuerta's death, Dexter has no regrets as her death solved his problems. He feels a sense of accomplishment as he has coached Harrison's soccer team to the championship and helped his bowling team get back together. However, Debra is guilt-ridden. She quit her job as Lieutenant at Miami Metro and now works as a private investigator for Jacob Elway. At this point in her life, she feels nothing but hatred for Dexter. Not caring much whether she lives or dies, Debra drinks heavily, takes various drugs, and sleeps with a criminal named Andrew Briggs. After Dexter learns that Briggs is targeted by a hit man, he tries to convince Debra to leave him. However, Dexter then gets into a struggle with Briggs and ends up killing him in front of her.

Dexter's tackles a threat when a new serial killer takes Miami as his playground. The killer is soon dubbed The Brain Surgeon because he saws into his victim's head, cuts off a chunk of skull, and scoops out a piece of the brain that processes empathy.

Miami Metro Homicide enlists the help of an expert in the minds of psychopaths when a neuropsychiatrist - Dr. Evelyn Vogel - offers her assistance on the case. Dexter is instantly suspicious of her presence and feels that she may be there because of him; more so, when she asks his thoughts on The Bay Harbor Butcher.

Later, when Dexter is sitting outside on a bench, Dr. Vogel hands Dexter a few of his gruesome childhood drawings, which baffle him. He angrily demands an explanation, but Vogel simply tells him that he cannot kill her because she does not fit Harry's Code.

After this, Dexter pays a visit to Dr. Vogel's home and she reveals that she knew Harry and helped create The Code. She is also aware that he is a serial killer. She says The Brain Surgeon has been leaving brain parts on her doorstep and he may be one of her former patients. She feels threatened and asks Dexter to "take care of him."

Dexter vets Vogel's list of ex-patients, and does find some killers (including a cannibal), but not the Brain Surgeon.

Meanwhile, Debra agrees to have dinner with Dexter and he shows her the video of the time she saved the lives of innocent people during a restaurant shoot-out. However, it only influences Debra into going to the police station (in an intoxicated state) with the intention of confessing to Maria LaGuerta's murder. Joey Quinn calls Dexter and he and Vogel quickly drive to the station. In the interrogation room, Dexter quickly injects Debra with a small dose of M99. When Quinn enters the room, Dexter tells him that Debra passed out. Then Dexter carries her out and he and Vogel take her home. Dexter asks Vogel to help Debra deal with her problems.

Dexter comes across a Brain Surgeon suspect, A.J. Yates. Upon vetting A.J., Dexter finds out that he has a strange scar on the back of his head. After questioning Vogel about it, she explains that A.J. was highly violent and she had requested surgery to remove a lesion on his brain.

Vogel questions Dexter about his feelings toward Debra and states that psychopaths don't have emotional responses. Dexter replies that she is underestimating him. Meanwhile, Vogel treats Debra for PTSD, even taking her to the shipping yard where the latter murdered LaGuerta.

When Dexter returns to Yates' house, he finds the place apparently vacant. Upon searching the house, he finds and rescues a nearly-dead captive woman. Then Dexter calls Vogel to A.J.'s house and they discover Vogel's patient files on Yate's computer. When Dexter opens one of the files, it reveals that Vogel is using him to write another book. In anger, Dexter tells her to stay out of his life once he deals with the The Brain Surgeon.

A calm and friendly Debra shows up at the police station and asks Dexter to go for a ride so they can talk. While Dexter is driving, Debra asks him if Harry committed suicide and, if so, was it because Dexter is a killer. When Dexter affirms it, Debra grabs the steering wheel, which sends the car into a lake. A bystander witnesses the car sinking and he saves Debra. When Debra observes Dexter drowning, she dives back in to save him. Afterward, in a therapy session led by Vogel, Dexter is extremely upset with Debra's attempt to kill them both.

Soon after, A.J. Yates kidnaps Dr. Vogel. While Dexter and Debra search for her, they reconcile. They find Vogel tied up in a closet in an empty house, and Yates hiding under a bed. Dexter promptly thrusts a curtain rod through the mattress, impaling A.J.

Debra and Dr. Vogel are present on the Slice of Life when Dexter disposes of Yates' body. Evelyn Vogel is now viewed by Dexter as a member of his family.

Dexter trails a young psychopath (Zach Hamilton) who bludgeoned a woman to death. Dexter notes how Zach is attracted to the sight of blood at crime scenes. After definitely proving Zach's guilt, Dexter tranquilizes and captures him. However, after he puts Zach on his kill table and hears him out, Dexter decides to release Zach and take him on as an apprentice. As Debra and Dexter are having a discussion at her beach house, Debra suddenly feels woozy and she passes out. As Dexter goes to her aid, he too begins to collapse. He looks up to see Hannah McKay at the door. Hannah greets a fainting Dexter and asks him if he remembers her. Dexter wakes up on the side of a road and phones Debra to pick him up. Later, when Dexter meets with Hannah, he learns that she has returned to Miami to ask Dexter to kill her new husband. They begin to rekindle their relationship. When Jacob Elway suspects that Hannah is back in Miami, he sends a Deputy Marshall to find her. In order to keep Hannah safe, Dexter makes plans to move to Argentina with her and Harrison.

Meanwhile, Zach is brutally murdered by the real Brain Surgeon. Dexter manages to find one of the killer's hairs in Zach's studio and he tests it. To his surprise, it reveals that The Brain Surgeon is related to Evelyn Vogel.

When Dexter questions Vogel, she admits that she did have two sons, Daniel and Richard, but both are deceased. She says that Richard drowned at the hands of his brother, and Daniel perished in a fire at a mental facility. Dexter believes that Daniel probably set the fire himself and survived.

Using age progression facial tests on an old photo of Daniel Vogel, Dexter recognizes Oliver Saxon (a guy who dated Cassie Jollenston). After Dexter informs Vogel that her eldest son is The Brain Surgeon, she secretly meets up with Daniel. However, her devotion to Dexter leads to her own fate. While she stands at a window, Daniel cuts her throat in front of a stunned Dexter. Before Dexter calls the police to report Vogel's death, Dexter clears her house of all files and videos relating to him.

When Saxon breaks into Dexter's apartment to kill him, Dexter injects him with M99. Dexter takes Saxon to The Treatment Room and straps him to his own kill table. Showing no signs of fear, Saxon lies there in amusement to await his demise. Dexter begins to realize that he would rather be with Hannah and Harrison. After he tells Saxon that he's still going to die but by an electric chair, Dexter phones Debra to come and arrest Saxon. When she arrives, the two say goodbye outside the hospital. Unfortunately, Deputy Marshal Max Clayton has followed Debra and he goes inside the hospital where he finds Saxon being held captive. Not realizing who Saxon is, Clayton frees him and Saxon immediately kills Clayton with one of Dexter's knives. As Debra enters the room, Saxon takes Clayton's gun and shoots her. Before Saxon escapes, Debra manages to fire a shot into his arm.

Finale

 * "Remember the Monsters?"

Hannah and Dexter are forced to divert to another airport. Dexter receives a call that Debra was shot by Oliver Saxon and he rushes to the hospital. It appears that Debra will recover. When Saxon creates a distraction in the hospital, he is arrested by Angel Batista. Meanwhile, Debra suffers a stroke due a blood clot caused from her earlier surgery. The nurse informs Dexter that Debra is comatose and that it would be a miracle for her to survive. Dexter exits the room, believing that there are no miracles.

Meanwhile, Hannah and Harrison make it onto a bus heading to a different airport. Elway catches up with them and tells Hannah that he is going to turn her in. When Hannah offers him some tea, he turns it down, believing that it's poisoned. When he turns away, Hannah quickly injects Elway with a dose of M99 and manages to escape.

Saxon is incarcerated and Dexter enters his cell to perform a GSR test on him. Taking out a pen, Dexter tells Saxon that he is going to kill him with it. Saxon grabs the pen and lunges towards Dexter, who uses his reflexes to dodge out of the way so that the pen only pierces his left shoulder. Dexter yanks out the pen and stabs Saxon's left carotid artery, causing him to fall to the floor and bleed to death. As Dexter presses the alarm button, he feigns distress. Using camera footage, Dexter is able to convince both Angel and Quinn that it was in self-defense. Dexter then returns home to change into his hunting outfit and retrieve some needed items.

With Hurricane Laura approaching Miami, Dexter docks his boat outside of the hospital. Not wanting to leave her in a vegetative state, Dexter turns off her life support, after telling her that he loves her. Dexter uses the chaos of the evacuation to take Debra's body to his boat. As he leaves Miami behind, he makes a phone call to Hannah and Harrison and then tosses the phone into the water. Dexter turns to Debra, gently picks her up, and walks to the edge of his boat. Here, he lets her go into the sea. Feeling that he must protect the ones that he cares about, Dexter drives his boat straight towards Hurricane Laura,

The storm clears out and the wreckage of the Slice of Life is found by patrol units, who report this to Angel Batista.

Forensic Tech's Wreckage Found - No Sign of Life, an article about Dexter,is posted online. Hannah reads it as she sits at a cafe in Argentina with Harrison. Upon reading that he's deceased, Hannah hides her emotions so as not to worry Harrison.

"The article reads: 'The search has been called off for missing Miami Police Forensics Specialist Dexter Morgan, who is now considered a drowning victim by Miami Metro Police officials. The U.S. Coast Guard and Miami Police Dive Team have been searching for Morgan since not long after the man went missing in Biscayne Bay during last week's hurricane. According to police officials, Morgan's boat called Slice of Life broke up in the storm and was found adrift just off Virginia Key. There was no trace of Morgan on board. It is still unclear why Morgan was piloting the 24-foot Century boat during such severe weather."

"'The boat was found in open water. Morgan's destination and purpose for being at sea is a mystery', officials said. The boat was found in two pieces drifting away from Virginia Key. 'We're not sure what destroyed the boat - but, in a storm like Hurricane Laura, it is not surprising a boat of that size was turned to kindling.' Letch said. U.S. Coast Guard said no mayday call was made to Coast Guard from the boat. The Coast Guard did, however, report having responded to over 15 distress calls during the storm. Morgan was not one of them."

"The boat was three-quarters of a mile to one mile off shore and the water was about 45 feet deep with a water temperature of about 89 degrees at the surface. Dexter Morgan worked as a Forensic Technician with the Miami Metro Police Department. He was a blood spatter specialist and helped solve many high profile cases in Miami-Dade over the course of several years, including the Bay Harbor Butcher Case. This is... ' (The rest is obscured.)"

Fate of Dexter



During the final scenes, several large logging trucks, loaded with felled trees, arrive at a lumber mill. One of the loggers is the focus as he finishes up his work and returns to his cabin. The man closes the door behind him, takes off a cold-weather vest, and sits down at a wooden table. He looks out the window at his left before he faces forward. Behind his grown-out beard and flannel jacket is the face of The Bay Harbor Butcher, who closes his eyes for a moment and then opens them, staring straight into the camera. It's Dexter Morgan, alive and alone, in an undisclosed location.

Victims

 * Unidentified Victim (opening of "A Beautiful Day")
 * Andrew Briggs
 * Ron Galuzzo
 * A.J. Yates
 * Oliver Saxon
 * Debra Morgan

Released Alive

 * Inconsiderate Driver
 * Zach Hamilton

Killed by Others

 * Robert Bailey (by Oliver Saxon)
 * Javier Guzman aka El Sapo (by Debra Morgan)
 * Leonard Welks (by Lyle Sussman)
 * Lyle Sussman (by Oliver Saxon)
 * Cassie Jollenston (by Oliver Saxon)
 * Norma Rivera (by Zach Hamilton)
 * Shawn Decker (by Zach Hamilton)
 * Zach Hamilton (by Oliver Saxon)
 * Evelyn Vogel (by Oliver Saxon)
 * Dead Cyclist (by unknown driver)
 * Max Clayton (by Oliver Saxon)

Related Pages

 * Season Eight
 * Brain Surgeon Case
 * Arlene Schram
 * Debra Morgan
 * Dexter Morgan
 * Dr. Turner
 * Ed Hamilton
 * Gate Attendant Casey
 * Harrison Morgan
 * Hurricane Laura
 * Jacob Elway
 * Jamie Batista
 * Janet Thorton
 * Mr. Yates
 * Norma Rivera
 * Sylvia Prado

Locations

 * A.J. Yates' House
 * Andrew Briggs' Apartment
 * Argentina
 * Arlene Schram's Houses
 * Buster's Self Storage
 * Debra's Beach House
 * Dexter's Apartment
 * Dexter's Rented Room
 * El Mercado
 * Elway Investigations
 * Evelyn Vogel's House
 * The Fish Shack
 * Gulf Stream
 * Harrington Youth Facility
 * Italia
 * King's Bay Cafe
 * Lagoon Park
 * Locations of Dexter's Kills
 * Lucky Pete's
 * Lyle Sussman's House
 * Lyle Sussman's Hunting Cabin
 * Miami
 * Miami Central Hospital
 * Miami International Airport
 * Oliver Saxon's Apartment
 * Papa's Cafe
 * Pink Motel (Fort Lauderdale)
 * Red Coral Club
 * Rendall Psychiatric Hospital
 * Ron Galuzzo's House
 * Saint Alexis Catholic Church
 * Shipping Yard
 * Skate Park
 * Slice of Life
 * Sundance Motel
 * The Treatment Room
 * Windy Keys Motel
 * Zach's Photo Studio

Episodes

 * 1) "A Beautiful Day"
 * 2) "Every Silver Lining..."
 * 3) "What's Eating Dexter Morgan?"
 * 4) "Scar Tissue"
 * 5) "This Little Piggy"
 * 6) "A Little Reflection"
 * 7) "Dress Code"
 * 8) "Are We There Yet?"
 * 9) "Make Your Own Kind of Music"
 * 10) "Goodbye Miami"
 * 11) "Monkey in a Box"
 * 12) "Remember the Monsters?"