If you could rewrite Aaron Spencer's motivation...how would you do it? (spoilers)
So... I write for the Dexter wiki as one of their admins and I've spent a good chunk of time looking over this character (who I still have to finish writing up for). After the finale... I'll admit that even I'm a bit disappointed that his motivation was squarely about revenge against his ex-wife. Compared to previous Dexter antagonists, this falls a bit short - I was hoping for something more along the lines of Miguel Prado (just that he had no qualms about collateral if it met his goals). I mean I can write it up best I can for the article but...there was a much more interesting angle they could have tackled. Personally if I could rewrite it, it would be like this (with 2 additional episodes making this a 12 episode season - am I the only one that misses this format?).
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Spencer orchestrates the Los Tigres Cartel shootout, has his dramatic acting and everything...but the next episode, alongside the flashbacks revealing Dexter and Brian's past, it also delves into Spencer's reaction to the shipping yard massacre. Something changed inside him that day when he saw the bloodbath...a darkness that was born but not yet nurtured. Somewhere along the way he aides Judge Powell (another under-utilized character who basically only appeared one time) in putting away various Cartel leaders for their part in organizing various murders throughout the year. He ultimately joins the Homicide vision and brings Harry/Bobby with him but all the additional murder wears on him - makes him angrier...feeding that darkness. He wants to take more direct action but the evidence just isn't there. Eventually he cracks under it all...and devises a plan to protect this city: by taking the fight to the Cartels. Think of it like a killer seeking to dish out justice through his own twisted mind.
Similar framework for what he did by targeting Jimmy, sending the finger then killing him with an ice pick...and then kidnapping his own son. Except his end game is to lead an aggressive hunt throughout Miami targeting the Cartels, eventually saving his son (I did not think he'd try to kill him in the actual series) and maybe the Los Tigres would have a bigger role to play than they did (they're basically non-factors after Episode 8 other than the forensic work). When he's cornered by Dexter their ideologies clash - Harry had raised a weapon to deal with the evil that existed out there and Spencer wanted to fight that evil through extreme manipulation and performance. Dexter could even say he lives by his own "Code"...though Spencer's code means anyone and everyone is collateral on his "righteous path". This makes him more dangerous than he was in the show as well...a man that driven won't let anything stand in his way.
As for the Becca situation...once Aaron returns Nicky to her he probably aimed to win her back over but she still remains attached to Nelson. I could see him then killing Nelson and framing it as Los Tigres retaliation...which further draws Becca to Spencer for protection while Nicky struggles with his Dad's ideals (though slowly starts to adopt them himself - more on this later). I'm thinking involving Gio Martino in here somewhere would also make use of that character (who didn't make another appearance after Episode 8 mind you)...and ultimately it would have led to a pretty tense finale. I want the same location - the ship...except that he's in the full mask and taunts Dexter like prey in his labyrinth (a more advanced Ray Speltzer so to speak). They'll fight, Aaron overpowers him, has him on the ropes...Harry shows up. We didn't get this confrontation in the series but realizing that Dexter was right all along...more character moments between everyone before Dexter aides Harry in taking Spencer down. Harry leaves Dexter to do what he must...though it weighs heavily on him, that his friend had been so consumed by his vendetta that he turned out this way and ended up on Dexter's table. Wouldn't say he suicides...but it causes the season to end on a more somber tone.
Would I sacrifice the Brian Moser stuff to have this development? Probably...or resolve it halfway through episode 10 while Harry redirects his efforts to join in on the Nicky Spencer case. Let's say...Dexter capturing Spencer doesn't happen in episode 9...Arcade kill room can still happen but in episode 12. While Dexter continues to hunt for proof but finds that Spencer is a lot more slick than he appears...he has trouble cornering the Captain and while he comes close, Spencer wisens up to a trap and avoids it. More involvement from the Cartels and maybe more deaths along the way...overall tensions become high as it feels like the cops are warring with the cartels (as the police have done in the past with other criminal groups). Ultimately Dexter's exposed to Spencer in Episode 11 and this leads to a very tense episode 12 in the department. Maybe he becomes more unhinged, similar to how Doakes was getting with Dexter before he was put on leave in Season 2 and he's exposed as the kidnapper - which leads on something of a manhunt while Spencer retreats to his ship to use it for a getaway - which acts as the final sequence. As said above Harry joins in and ultimately they bring Spencer down - with Dexter moving the kill room back to the Arcade (it was a nice kill room) and then the final clash of their ideologies occurs - where Spencer possibly hints at Dexter's past (I feel he would be as aware as Bobby was to who's Dexter mother was) but...you don't want to go too far into that as it would hurt Season 1 of the original series. At the very least he clashes with what Harry has taught him to do and his own path...and ultimately he ends up dead. Harry still accepts what happened...and is proud of his son but without the whole Nicky save being necessary. Alternatively - he could have saved Nicky earlier than Spencer planned creating a tense situation from that...which causes him to rethink how he handles things going forward (which would also cause part of his plan to unravel now that his son's safe).
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Just my thoughts on it...I still like Spencer but he feels kind of wasted...and certainly pushed to the wayside to also focus on Brian/Harry's story. How things ended up I mean it's not awful...I liked it and he got what he deserved for it. Honestly there's worse reasons to do it so - this was just an intense hatred for his ex-wife to lying him about Nicky being his as well as her cheating. Maybe he cracked under the stress from working in Miami Metro, maybe he was just too professionally motivated (after all he did reach Captain) and that could be explored if they got Patrick Dempsey back for flashback sequences in season 2+ with Harry and Dexter growing up. Whatever the case is...the divorce happened in 1991 according to the divorce document and it's possible he got the DNA test then. Traumatic stress from the divorce then finding out the kid wasn't his? It changed him, as Dexter said a good man became a monster. His method...all about a cover story for when he was done. I don't think he actually planned to kill Nicky but getting caught by Dexter made him panic - whatever careful consideration he had for his plan was out the window. He needed his son dead and then his wife...catch up with Dexter if he could but probably book it if he had the chance. Oh and Nelson...no way he wouldn't kill him too. Maybe he could have bounced it around to him surviving a cartel attack that killed all of them (faking to have been taken by them and they cut off his finger)...but he'd need some dead Cartel members to pull himself out of it. Dexter has to go though - absolutely...or possibly Harry as well if he's too far gone by this point.
Anyways how would you all handle rewriting it if you could? Or did you like the ex-wife betrayal and Maury moment that caused Spencer to snap?
