Dexter And Californication...To Be Continued?

SPOILERS AHEAD....GO AWAY NOW!!!

First off, YES, I know they'll continue with both shows, but I'm kinda hoping the next year is the last for each.

First let's get to Dexter.
I want to say before anything else, that I LOVED the season finale of Dexter...mostly because I HATED the character of Rita. If you recall back to the first season, Dexter specifically chose Rita as a partner because she was damaged, and didn't require the usual maintenance that you wimmens require.
She was mousy, didn't want sex, didn't ask questions.
All of those things fit the needs of a serial killer who needed to *look* normal to other people.

But then, her character became something that resembled the rest of you, bellyaching, "what have you done for me lately?", menaces, that there is NO WAY a serial killer would continue to deal with. Think about it....her character could evolve...but an emotionally void, killing machine could NOT. If he could, then he would defy the very nature of a serial killer. His unalterable pathology would be...well...altered.
Dexter's uncontrollable internal drive would forbid him from continuing the relationship if it detracted from his killing time.

So, good riddance, Rita.

What was truly spectacular about the ending was Trinity's acceptance of his fate. His instructions and life lessons to Dexter....the way he found absurdity in Dexter's suggestion that they were somehow different, and the haunting visual of him watching the toy train go by, and singing along with "Venus" as Dexter was about to bring the claw end of a framing hammer down into his face.
All while KNOWING what he had done, and what Dexter didn't yet know.
And even the murder of Rita, that fact that you didn't see it happen, brought it home more.
You're left imagining what he said to her as they lay in the bathtub together...if he explained that this was all happening BECAUSE of Dexter, as her life drained into the warm bathwater?

That was brilliant stuff.

BUT, my problem with it all, is that I feel overall the show has run it's course.
I find the repeated premise of the show to be bordering on absurd at this point. I mean, how many serial killers ARE in the Miami area?
Is it like some sort of a magnet for them all?
It just seems silly at this point.

But I'm sure you disagree with me.


Again with Californication....fantastic ending.
The idea that JUST as Hank was going to have the life he seemingly wants so badly, it gets ripped away from him, was awesome.
But the build is what set it off.
Beginning with his daughter's revelation to him during their walk, that she had sex for the first time and wanted to tell him first. His daughter wanted him to know that even through all the crazy things that had happened, he hadn't ruined her, and that somehow she clearly felt more bonded to HIM as a result.

Then, after speaking with Mia and her manager, Hank realized there was no other way but to tell Karen about Mia....the audio of their voices cut out, and Elton John's "Rocket Man" began to play....calling back to last season when they would use My Morning Jacket's cover of "Rocket Man" whenever Hank would do something that would throw a monkey wrench into his life with Karen.

The scene was very powerful, with Karen's eyes welling up with tears, and her eventually physically lashing out at Hank.
BUT, what brought it home was when his daughter saw her father being put into a police car, her attempt to run to him, and her mother holding her back. Her loyalty STILL lying with her father, even though he once again caused the foundation of her life to crumble.

Hank had destroyed everything again, just as he was finally ready to put his demons behind him once and for all.

Now, I LOVE Californication.
It's one of my favorite shows of all time, and the Hank Moody character is the quintessential whiskey swilling, entering a room with swagger, ladies man, that every red blooded American male should thank God has come along in serial television.

BUT....

Where do we go from here?
Do we begin again with Hank buried in the booze and the vagina, and watch him try to rebuild his life?
Is that really gonna cut it again? Seriously, how many times will that storyline suffice?
At what point will WE finally have enough of him being a fuck up, and want to turn him off?

The thing I'm noticing about the Premium Channel original programs, is that they have a short shelf life. Look back at The Sopranos....after Season 3, EVERYTHING was shit.
Oh stop, you know I'm right.
Is it the whole theory about the brightest flames burning out the quickest, that we're seeing here?
Don't get me wrong....I'll watch again....especially Californication.
I can't give up on Hank yet....picture Jake Gyllenhal saying "I just wish I could quit you!" to Heath Ledger in "Brokeback Mountain"....except I don't want to gay Hank Moody....ever.....not even after a few cocktails, or a towel snapping incident that went a little too far.

It's just that I feel like we've already seen everything these shows have to offer, and I'm a huge believer in ending something when it's still good, before you run it into the ground.

Maybe it's just me.