Why Dexter Season 6’s Doomsday Killer Twist Just Didn’t Work

Season 6 of Dexter revolved heavily around the Doomsday Killer, wherein the twist regarding the true identity of the killer failed to work in the show’s favor. In season 6, episode 9, “Get Gellar,” it is revealed that the supposed Doomsday Killer, as played by Edward James Olmos, is not real after all, as the true killer was Travis Marshall (Colin Hanks) all along. However, this massive reveal did not have the intended impact on audiences, as the episodes that lead up to it were sprinkled with ample clues that pointed towards this revelation.

“Get Gellar” is in a season rife with startling revelations (in season 6, Debra learns the truth about Dexter), which commences with Miami Metro’s investigations into a string of bizarre ritualistic killings that were heavily inspired by religious apocalyptic symbolism. While the investigation unfolds, the audience is treated to the point of view of Professor James Gellar and his student Travis Marshall, who seek to bring the end of the world via killings based on the Book of Revelation. This was carried out with the aid of Doomsday Tableaus, which reference the events that are supposed to take place before the return of Christ, the most notable of them being The Four Horseman, The Whore of Babylon, and The Angel of Death.

One of the biggest visual cues that hint towards the fact that Gellar is a figment of Marshall’s imagination is the fact that the former was never personally involved in carrying out any of the killings in question. This dynamic is established right from the beginning, such as when Gekkar asks Travis to capture a freshwater snake on a Florida swamp, and the way he hangs back in the car when Travis knocks out his first victim with the Sword of John the Revelator. By eliminating any sort of character interaction with Gellar, who never speaks to anyone outside that of Travis, the show makes it painfully apparent that the professor’s existence might only be the result of a deluded mind — a figment of the character’s imagination. Moreover, the way in which certain scenes are set up, wherein Gellar watches Travis from the sidelines without interrupting the core flow of events, is heavily reminiscent of similar narrative setups, done expertly in films such as Fight Club or The Sixth Sense.

One might also argue that the twist was not that apparent, as James Gellar was indeed a real person who went missing without a trace three years prior to the events of season 6. However, this only added to the Doomsday Killer problem, as it became abundantly apparent that Gellar was simply a twisted manifestation of the real man in Travis’ mind, with whom he shared a teacher-pupil dynamic before murdering him. This is supported by several scenes in which Gellar is “present” in the public eye, such as when in “A Horse of a Different Color,” Travis and Gellar sit inside a restaurant, but the waitress Erin Baer does not look at or acknowledge the latter’s existence. Apart from this, the believability of Gellar’s existence had been somewhat shattered in the scene in which he brands his arm with scorching, hot metal but elicits no physical or emotional reaction in terms of pain.

As Gellar was a man hunted by the authorities in Dexter, it is extremely callous for him to walk around in plain sight, making the issue of his existence all the more suspicious. Moreover, due to the wobbly nature of this supposed twist, Dexter is forced to act in ways that are uncharacteristic in nature. This is manifested in the scene wherein Dexter confronts Travis, who claims that all of the murders were committed by Gellar, which essentially contradicts every visual cue that pointed at the fact that it was Travis who approached all of the victims. Most importantly, the poorly-planned and shoddy nature of Gellar’s presence in the church mars the observant intelligence of Dexter’s character, who fails to realize that it is impossible for a man to move around a limited space without being spotted and then escape without a trace.

About The Author

Debopriyaa Dutta
(328 Articles Published)

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Apart from being a features writer and critic at ScreenRant, Debopriyaa is a news writer at /Film. She is also a contributor to High on Films & Fansided, and an editor at Digital Mafia Talkies. Her poetry has been published in a wide array of journals, such as Gideon Poetry, White Noise Magazine, and Literaria. Find her on Twitter @angelusatani.

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