THE DARKEST CUT OF ALL? 'DEXTER' SEASON EIGHT

Shrink-wrapped! Is DEXTER (Michael C. Hall) ready for the slaughter? Images: SHOWTIME. 

He thought he could have all his bloody cake and eat it- enjoy his family life and stay within that disciplinarian personal "Code" showcasing his gregariously murderous, yet blackly heroic, self-gratification against the worst serial killing scum inhabiting the sunshine state of Florida. But now it's all falling apart for DEXTER, in Michael C. Hall's curtain call as the titular star, as his eighth and final season from SHOWTIME begins its exclusive run on the UK's FOX HD channel this month.

Doggedly pursued by police woman boss Detective Maria LaGuerta (Lauren Velez), determined to avenge and clear the tarnished name of her late department friend Detective Doakes (who had been unintentionally but conveniently framed by Dexter as the so-called Bay Harbour Butcher), she had finally cornered her prey in last year's gripping season finale. But she hadn't reckoned on the rogue element presence of his devoted sister, Debra (Jennifer Carpenter), recently discovering the horrific truth about her brother and his "little ways", resulting in her personal integrity and sense of duty as a cop now tarnished, but ultimately having no choice but to protect him, instinctively shooting her boss and once rival in a shocking but series decisive moment.

Tables turned? How will things play out for sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) this season?

Set sixth months on from the warehouse horror, Season Eight has to deal with the fallout of their actions. Dexter may have finally regained a spring to his steps once again, now that he can get back to his dedicated life's pursuits as Blood Splatter Analyst and ardent blood splatterer, but things aren't so-great for heart-broken Debra, who wants as little to do with him as possible, now part of a private investigation company and subduing the pain and guilt of LaGuerta's death with an intense and seemingly unending menu of drugs and alcohol. But it surely won't be too long before a series of violent events and unusual coincidences bring the pair back to face their final choices and consequences together.

Guest starring British film legend Charlotte Rampling as Dr. Evelyn Vogel, a top neuro-psychiatrist specialisng in child psychopaths, who might know more about Dexter than she's letting on, plus former YOUNG INDIANA JONES star Sean Patrick Flannery as a private detective, with Kenny Johnson alongside him as a US Marshall, both likely after Dexter's hide, as well as seeing a blistering return from Yvonne Strahovski as Dexter's loyal and caring poisoner girlfriend, Hannah McKay, will the Morgans get out of all this alive? Or have the sands of time finally run our for blood stick, trophy collecting hero, and his beleaguered sister, as well as any persons who even dare to love them?

Dexter Season 8: Official Trailer - YouTube

To all the kills I've loved before... Dexter with his gallery of slain nemeses.

Overall, the show has been a tremendous career opportunity to relish for star Michael C. Hall, consistently excellent in the role of one of modern TV's boldest, funniest and violent series characters, despite mixed success from the series behind the scenes writers in coming up with sustainable plots and nemesis for him to fight. The show peaked in its third and fourth years, and perhaps should likely have ended with its sixth run. But with this two season-long planned for end finally starting to bear fruit, lets hope that Dexter's fans are well served with some surprising, game-changing, perhaps life-altering last episodes for the blackly comic anti-hero, who truly made audiences like and root for a serial killer!

Official FACEBOOK page: Dexter

THE (BLOOD) TIES THAT BIND! 'DEXTER' SEASON SEVEN ARRIVES ON UK TV

The deepest cut yet? DEXTER (Michael C. Hall) is back. Image: SHOWTIME.

You can’t choose your own family-that’s a fact of life!- and Detective Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) will find this out the hardest way possible in the seventh and penultimate series of the dark comedy drama with a killer attitude, back tonight on the UK’s FOX channel.

The fairer sex continues to be our Dex’s Achilles Heel-most notably with his confused feelings for his sister, and vice versa, as she tries to come to terms with his killing ethics and simultaneously battling against her dedication as a policewoman in not arresting him straight off the bat, and just as a new relationship enters his life in the form of Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovsky).

The family man killer with a heart of gold and a twinkle in his eye, so well personified by Michael C. Hall, is going to feel the pressure of his life, career, and those he cares for when additional bloody friction comes via the arrival of several deranged newcomer baddies from Eastern Europe with their own personal code of honour and brutality (with hopefully another terrific TV success for Ray Stevenson after his fine work for HBO on ROME a few years back), as well as the police reinvestigating the previously thought case-closed work of the Bay Harbour Butcher from the series recent past, which had once successfully shielded Dex from further pursuit. Now it looks like Dexter’s handiwork and cover-ups will be coming back to haunt him big time this season!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R9LI8yAp4c

DEXTER just wouldn’t be the same without the oncoming high body count and its harmonious, often symbiotic, black humour and clever, often never see it coming dark twists and turns. Though let’s hope that the show is firmly back on form this year by the writers/producers, after last year’s mixed story-telling success.

KOOL TV CLASSIC IMAGE: 'AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM's BAD SANTA!

And what do you want for Christmas, little girl? Ian McShane brings menace and terror to AMERICAN HORROR STORY. Image: Ryan Murphy.

The season to be jolly is not always enjoyed by everyone, as the 1960's residents of the doomed AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM particularly found out tis week with the re-emergence of a man they all thought they had very definitely under lock and key forever: Lee Emerson, a sexual sadist and serial killer of families who makes his horrific mark dressed as Santa Claus. Released for a little "festive spirit" over the holiday period by the devil possessed Sister Mary Eunice (Lily Rabe), the iconic Brit star of LOVEJOY and DEADWOOD gave a brilliant, deranged and highly brutal performance that wouldn't have been out of place in a Quentin Tarantino film, as he very definitely kissed the girls (and boys) and made them cry. The sequence where he ultimately tried to gets his revenge on his incarcerator (Jessica Lange, who has been pitch perfect in her performance this year as the all-seeing, all-knowing Sister Jude) was easily one of the second series shows most potentially harrowing moments and very well played. Thankfully, the spirit was behind our determined Jude and Santa's rein of terror was soon over.

Up to no good at all with the inmates decorated Xmas tree... Image: FOX.

Right now, though, with the shows mid-season break, all manner of classic horror icons are still at liberty throughout the Briarcliff institution: there's an alien of some kind lurking in the basement, grotesque horrors, created by former Nazi Doctor Alden (James Cromwell), running about the grounds, visitations from the Angel of Death (a sublime performance from Season One's Frances Conroy) and the return of the dreaded Leatherface, capable of giving the cast of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE a run for their money, in a truly wicked performance from STAR TREK and HEROES star Zachary Quinto. Just who, or what else, will be coming through those doom-laded doors next, when the show returns to the UK's FOX channel in early January, remains to be seen, but one thing's for sure it won't be pleasant...

Happy Christmas and sweet dreams...