hprashantarora

Watching the last 18-20 minutes of Dexter: New Blood was like realizing your parachute had malfunctioned just one thousand feet from the ground. You get a lump in your throat because even if you somehow steer yourself into a hurricane and be resurrected ten years later, you now face another lousy ending. Great show, terrible ending!

Ladies and gentlemen, if you are a fan of Dexter and hated the new ending, I present you with an alternate ending. If I were the writer, I would have pitched this to the producers.

Dexter: New Blood Season 1, Episode 10 Climax

Dexter Morgan is in jail. Sergeant Logan leaves him with tuna sandwiches and goes to the nearby motel to share his meal with Dexter's son, Harrison.

While having dinner, Harrison has an argument with Logan since he is upset with him and police chief Bishop for putting his father in jail. But it's a ruse. As Logan gets worked up, Harrison removes a needle from under the table and attempts to plunge it into Logan's neck (like father, like son). But Logan is no slouch; he grabs Harrison's wrist, and they struggle. Not knowing what to do next, Harrison's survival instinct kicks in. He grabs his fork and stabs Logan's leg. Or was it his suppressed Dark Passenger urge that made him do it? As Logan reaches for the fork, Harrison sees an opportunity and thrusts the needle into his neck. Logan collapses, hits his head on the bed frame, and passes out.

Harrison grabs the keys from Logan's belt, rushes to the police station, jail brakes Dexter (he is visibly shocked), and they both get into the truck. While Angela Bishop discovers Kurt Caldwell's crimes and calls in the cavalry, Dexter and Harrison escape from Iron Lake in the early hours of the morning.

Fade to black

We see Harrison vending a bag of whatever from a vending machine at a rest area just outside Iron lake (You've got to pee-it's cold out there). Dexter comes out of the bathroom, turns left, and...hold it! Background music starts playing. Dexter's eyes are wide and fixed on something. Harrison looks at him and turns his head in the direction where Dexter is looking. We see Captain Angel Batista walking into the rest area Lobby in slow motion (While interviewing Dexter, chief Bishop tells him that Batista is on his way. So maybe he took a red eye, landed at the nearest airport, rented a car, and stopped at the rest area to take care of business).

Dexter gently grabs Harrison by his arm and starts walking towards the exit. After ten long years, Batista and Dexter's paths cross. Dexter keeps looking straight. As they pass each other, Batista stops. Did he see someone familiar among the small crowd? He thinks for a second and then turns around. Harrison looks back and locks eyes with Batista. Harrison gets the feeling that something is not right. At that moment, Harrison removes his cap and puts it on Dexter's head. They appear to be just another father-son duo on the road.

The music gains momentum.

As Dexter and Harrison appear in the parking lot, they see chief Bishop's cavalry - a cavalcade of police cars - rushing towards Iron Lake. Dexter looks at Harrison and eyes a vehicle parked next to their truck. The driver-side door is open, and an elderly couple is seen feeding their dogs. Harrison smiles.

We see the old couple standing next to Dexter's truck, not knowing what had just happened. Dexter and Harrison are nowhere to be seen. Next, we see a drone-eye, wide-angle shot of the parking lot, the freeway, and the old couple's car heading west.

Music continues

Credits roll

Now, wait for the next season. NOT!

Rambo: Last Blood - a strange amalgam of "Taken" and "Home Alone," and a sorry excuse for an action movie.

Do yourself a favor and don't watch the movie; in fact, avoid reading this review if you are prone to retching or descending into fits of fury at having wasted your senses reading about the latest iteration from a movie series (that you once loved) being reduced to the smell of a horses' behind.

Rambo, now domesticated, lives a quiet life in the Arizona countryside caring for his horses and two women, who, in turn, provide the normalcy that he had always craved. Being on the farm is dusty, smelly, but at least Rambo has clothes on his back - clean ones. So far, so good. But, Rambo being Rambo, spends his free time digging dimly lit tunnels under his property. For what nefarious purpose? I don't have to tell you.

Whereas "Rambo: First Blood" had heart, originality; "Rambo II" thrived on jingoism, cheesy but great action; "Rambo III" saw him fighting the dirty Russians; "Rambo" (2008) had shock and awe of the highest degree, "Rambo: Last Blood" has...nothing! Rambo is just there, in pictures on the wall, cleaning horses and keeping a lid on his second nature, which if you haven't guessed by now - is to kill, and kill he will. Where? You already know that.

What was Mr. Stallone thinking? The latest sequel in the Rambo series is devoid of any soul, substance, surprise, or self-respect. There is gratuitous violence for the sake of gratuitous violence. Why does the world need a mentally scarred, aging white soldier (again) to save civilians from the Mexicans in the most gruesome manner? The answer is simple - to get the audience to pay to watch a botoxed Mr. Stallone (with a weird-looking hairline) play the character of their fantasy a fifth time. The sad part is - John Rambo, a fictional Green Beret and a Vietnam veteran character from David Morrell's novel, a reluctant hero, who can fight his way out of extraordinary circumstances, has been reduced to a John Smith-looking-for-trouble-from-anywhere-town (as pointed out by an equally disappointed David Morrell, the creator of Rambo).

From script to direction, cinematography, action, acting, dialogues, everything about this production is atrocious. The fact that Mr. Stallone, a capable screenwriter, and film director himself, chose to be part of this ill-conceived sequel should be reason enough for him to retire from Rambo's character.

Best performance by Rhea Seehorn. Bob Odenkirk - priceless, as ever! But it was Ms. Seehorn's moment to shine. Her searing performance gave me goosebumps. For a moment I thought Walter White was gonna pop out of her screaming "Fooled Ya!" She and the writers deserve an Emmy just for this episode alone.