"Dexter" Season Finale, Deb Makes a Fateful Decision in Last Episode of Season 7

Hannah McKay lives and Maria LaGuerta dies.

That's the takeaway from the morally-wrought seventh season finale for Showtime's acclaimed "Dexter."

Hannah fakes a medical emergency to escape from jail before she disappears. Expect her to at least make a guest appearance next season, else the writers would have just left her in jail.

But now that she's a fugitive, is there any hope for her relationship with Dexter? Or will she continue her efforts to kill Debra?

After LaGuerta nearly catches Dexter during a kill, he manipulates evidence, baiting her into a false accusation. But rather than back down, LaGuerta doubles down, pulling Deb into crosshairs.

Dexter's imaginary father Harry makes a big deal about taking out LaGuerta, but Dexter's already broken his code this season, when he killed Hannah's abusive father. So Dexter concocts an elaborate plan to make it look like LaGuerta and Hector Estrada killed each other in a shootout.

But when Deb intervenes to stop him, she's confronted with a choice: either shoot Dexter or shoot Laguerta, and blood is thicker than an antagonistic working relationship.

This episode saw wonderful cameos of Erik King as James Doakes in flashbacks before he died at the end of Season 2. Doakes was a fun and interesting character, and it always seemed wrong that he ended up taking the fall as the Bay Harbor Butcher.

LaGuerta, who started off ice-cold, warmed in later seasons, but the past few years have seen her steely exterior return after her divorce from Angel Batista.

Honestly, it's a relief to see her go, as she went from a love-to-hate character to just hate. Lauren Velez played her ably, and its due to Velez's acting chops that LaGuerta made audiences so angry; it's too bad the character couldn't be salvaged.

And, or course, the big question for next season: how will Deb cope with her new role as murderer? Will she become an active part of Dexter's nighttime activities? Will they become Wonder Twin vigilantes? Or will they be found out? It is a little suspicious that every time someone thinks Dexter is a killer, they end up dead.

Season 8 begins in September, and it will be the final season, so the writers have only 12 episodes to wrap up the entire storyline. No word yet on what will happen or who will guest star, but series creators have said they know how it will all end.

It will be a long nine months.