Hot Girl of Horror #30: Yvonne Strahovski

I first saw her on Dexter... if only the ending to that show wasn't so terrible. I did actually like her character though. She was also in Chuck and now 24. Besides her two-season stint with TV's most infamous serial killer, she also appeared in Gone, a 2006 Australian movie (not very surprising since she was born in the "land down under"), and I, Frankenstein. Not the best horror movies by any means, but Gone doesn't sound too bad. TV tends to be far better than film these days anyway with Breaking Bad, Dexter (except the finale), Game of Thrones, etc. Hopefully, she'll do more horror in the future or I wish they could fix that Dexter finale (update: New Blood was a much better ending I thought although they didn't bring back Hannah). Yes, she's gorgeous but I think she's really a fantastic actress and she has shown she has a lot of range too. Alright, enough of my lame rambling.

The End of Dexter

No spoilers here. I can't believe it's over... the final episode. I loved the show. Sure, some seasons were better than others (how do you top the Trinity Killer?), but I never thought any season was flat-out awful. Michael C. Hall was always phenomenal and kept Dexter interesting even through some of its weaker moments. All the actors and characters were pretty amazing. I really liked Doakes. "Stop grinning like a fuckin psycho and get back to work." Their scenes together in the first season were some of my favorites. He never fell for the phony smile or the box of donuts. Of course, I liked Deb too despite how crazy they made her in the last couple seasons, but everybody was great: Batista, LaGuerta, Masuka, even Quinn, and James Remar was perfect as Harry. It's so nuts how they got you to root for a serial killer and made him someone you can relate to... obviously, the fact he only killed bad guys (at least, that was his code) went a long way. Seeing him take out complete and utter scum was definitely a highlight. His uncertainty at how to handle fatherhood, his difficulty with human interaction and human emotions, the playfully ironic (and sometimes quite funny) voice-overs, watching him always talk to his dad for advice and care about his sister, etc. all helped show different sides of him so he wasn't just a one-dimensional monster. Then of course, placing him next to the worst psychotic killers out there who murdered and raped innocent people made Dexter seem almost like a saint in comparison. I don't think any adversary came close to John Lithgow's character Arthur Mitchell. He was so fuckin good, and the parallels to Dexter's own life gave it another level. That season was incredible. I want to re-watch it.


Ok, spoiler time. I kinda like the ending and I kinda don't. I didn't see it coming at all. I was actually hoping Dexter would get away with Hannah and Harrison. I hated Deb dying. I know Dexter is a serial killer obviously, and he did get good innocent people murdered like LaGuerta, but they did so well with the character that by the end, you're really on his side except yes, there's still the LaGuerta thing (and Doakes and Prado's brother and quite a few others you forget about, which is definitely bad). But seeing Dexter finally feel so many emotions and care about people, not wanting to kill but to just be with Hannah and his son, I really wanted them to be happy together. Harrison needs a father even if Dexter is screwed up (no father is perfect, and if Dexter stops killing, they shouldn't be in danger especially in a foreign country far away where no one knows them). But I understand why they ended it that way, and killing LaGuerta really was wrong so they shouldn't just get away with that. Plus, from Dexter's point of view, he hurt Deb really badly when she found out the truth about him yet even when he decided to not kill Saxon, Deb still ended up dead so to him, it must seem like no matter what he does, he hurts the people he loves, but Deb told him not to blame himself. It was kinda comically funny how easy it was for Dexter to steal Deb's body to put on his boat, but I guess everyone was focused on the hurricane, he did wheel her out on the bed, etc. I did love him killing Saxon with that pen. I read about the other proposed ending where Dexter wakes up at the end to a lethal injection as he sees all the people he murdered watching from the other side so the whole show was his life flashing before his eyes as he died, but I don't really like that either. Isn't death too easy of a way out? And you expect him to be dead or in jail. I just don't think Dexter would abandon his son since Harrison really does need him, but again, I kinda do like Dexter all by himself, completely alone and avoiding any human contact. I don't know how I feel about a spin-off or a new series. I wish the end was the end, but of course, if something makes a lot of money, they got to milk it for all they can. I would watch more, but Michael C. Hall would have to come back, and I hope the motivation wouldn't be purely financial.