The question up until now had been who a Dexter spinoff could focus on, with many of us guessing Yvonne Strahovski's Hannah McKay. When asked the question today about who a new series would include, Nevins replied, “It would have to involve Michael [C. Hall].” Asked to clarify whether he meant as a producer, Nevins said he meant onscreen, remarking, “I think if we were to do it, I would only do it if it with Michael.”
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KirbithI appear to be made of delicious cake. Registered Userregular
I don't think he knows what spin-off means.
Also do they really think that people want more Dexter after the Lumberjack finale?
It's possible that the idea would be something like "Young Dexter" with MCH narrating and/or bookends with him in the present, and not necessarily MCH being the main character, but...meh.
I hope they don't do anything with Dexter at this point, the show is dead. They killed it and mutilated the remains. There's no need to lash what's left to a stick and parade it around.
The question up until now had been who a Dexter spinoff could focus on, with many of us guessing Yvonne Strahovski's Hannah McKay. When asked the question today about who a new series would include, Nevins replied, “It would have to involve Michael [C. Hall].” Asked to clarify whether he meant as a producer, Nevins said he meant onscreen, remarking, “I think if we were to do it, I would only do it if it with Michael.”
I've only recently begun watching Dexter. I've heard many things about the show from people whose opinions I trust. They say the first 4 seasons are the best. They say the show gets worse as it goes on. They say the final season, and the series finale were awful. I have been advised to just stop after the Trinity case, and to remember only the good parts.
I just started season 5 and have watched episodes 1 & 2 so far.
I know everybody's tastes and opinions are different, but so far I think s05e01 is the single best episode in the show thus far.
I honestly didn't care for season 4 and the Trinity killer case. Too many inconsistencies with previous seasons, and Dexter is so much of an idiot sometimes that it really irritates me.
The show is over, and I'm sure there are probably spoilers all over this thread, but I'll go ahead and spoil my thoughts on the first few seasons anyway, in case other people are just starting out like myself.
So season 1 was pretty decent. The Ice Truck killer was a good intro to the show, the characters, and to Dexter's screwed up family. Brian Moser was a great villain, and the reveal that he was the Ice Truck Killer really caught me off guard. I was honestly surprised by that first reveal, because they worked him so casually into the show as the prosthetics doctor. It was so sly and unassuming, and such a great twist.
Season 2, I felt was premature. The Bay Harbor Butcher case came far too early. Since Dexter is a serial killer, there was never any doubt that at some point in the show, he would get found out and the police would be on him. I just feel like they jumped the gun on this and should have probably saved it for season 5 or 6. Having not seen much of 5, or anything past that yet, I don't know if they ever revisit this or not, but s2's main plot just seemed premature to me.
And season 2 is where I feel like the show already is starting to unravel.
So Harry's number 1 rule was "Don't Get Caught." And everything he taught Dexter was how to uphold and abide by rule #1. And yet Dexter keeps a trophy case and he keeps his murder tools in his apartment. Then Doakes finds it.
The Doakes stuff in season 2 is some of the best drama I've seen, and while I felt that season 2's story was premature, it was still well executed and still a very compelling season.
However, after such a close call, one would think that Dexter would realize that his trophy case especially, but also his methodology needed to change in order to uphold rule number 1. And that's my biggest beef with the story. We have a character who has been groomed from an early age to be a serial killer and to carefully and methodically cover his tracks. And yet he leaves a whole stash of evidence in a fairly un-secure hiding spot.
His hiding spot is found out, and after the close call with Doakes, he goes back to doing the same exact thing. And he also went back to the same exact murder procedures.
So we get to season 3. I actually found the whole Miguel Prado story to be quite good. I don't have much issue with season 3. It felt like a fairly self-contained story, and in that regard, it is fairly air-tight.
However, some aspects of season 3 were completely butchered in season 4.
First and foremost - Angel Batista was dating the undercover cop from Vice. And then in the first episode of season 4 they wrote her out of the show with a simple one-liner about how they wanted different things and it didn't work out. Then they immediately launch into one of the worst forced office-drama relationships I've ever seen. The crap between Batista and LaGuerta is awful. It feels forced and unnatural, and it is very obviously just a forced attempt at drama. And from what I have seen from the beginning of season 5, it doesn't get any better, as Batista discovers LaGuerta's huge retirement savings and goes crazy over it.
So we circle back to Dexter. Season 2 he almost gets caught for being the Bay Harbor Butcher. Doakes actually finds his slide case, and the slide case falls into police custody. And what does Dexter do? He gets an identical case and starts doing the same exact thing again. And then Rita gets on his case about lying to her and keeping his apartment. So what does he do? He moves his stash of murder weapons and murder trophies into the shed beside the house. And then Cody falls in and Dexter almost gets caught for the second time.
And finally, let's talk about Dexter's relationship with Rita.
It is established that Dexter feels detached, emotionless, and unable to connect with other people on the same level as most normal people do. I get that. But I also know that Harry taught him to fit in, and taught him to fake it.
And yet Dexter never tries to fake it with Rita. He's always sneaking off, coming up with terrible lies and alibis, and pretty much everything he does is wrong.
For a character who is portrayed to be so brilliant and methodical and careful, I just don't see it. I see Dexter as a total idiot.
I had several different friends tell me that Rita's death at the end of season 4 was the highlight of the show. I strongly disagree. Rita was fine. Sure, she was annoying (to Dexter) but that's because she wanted a normal life, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Dexter tried to give her that normal life, but it was his own doing that he sabotaged it time after time with his terrible mistakes. I'm not talking about killing people either. I'm talking about the way he handled his cover and his secret life. It was so unbelievably transparent and suspicious. Whenever Rita started snooping because she thought he was up to something, I wasn't annoyed with Rita. I was annoyed with Dexter for being such a dumbass.
I felt that Rita was really the only good thing he had going on in his life, and if she wasn't suspicious, and if she wasn't snooping, he would just fall off the deep end. Rita was what kept him grounded.
I'm only 2 episodes deep on season 5, but I can see this spiraling way out of control now that he doesn't have her and the kids.
And again, I'm not talking about him killing people. That's the point of the show. Dexter murders people. But he's going to lose everything else. Deb. His kids. His job. His friends. His life.
Should I just stop now? Is it really that bad as time goes on?
One part of me is curious. I have steeled myself in anticipation of being sorely disappointed, and I kind of want to ride it out, just to satisfy my own curiosity. But at the same time, I don't know if I can take much more of this poor writing. Some of it is so good, such as s05e01, but then they turn around and ruin that with such poor characterizations and drama just for the sake of drama.
It's not about "guy who kills people". It's about "guy who is fundamentally different and does not understand the world in which he finds himself".
But, no, the writing does not get any better. I enjoy the series, I think the last season is better than we all thought it was at first, but, yeah, the writing is definitely not of a West Wing quality.
Should I just stop now? Is it really that bad as time goes on?
One part of me is curious. I have steeled myself in anticipation of being sorely disappointed, and I kind of want to ride it out, just to satisfy my own curiosity. But at the same time, I don't know if I can take much more of this poor writing. Some of it is so good, such as s05e01, but then they turn around and ruin that with such poor characterizations and drama just for the sake of drama.
Yea, it absolutely gets worse. There are bits and pieces of 5 and 6 that I quite liked but then I liked the guest stars of those seasons. Much less so 7 and any decent parts of 8 is just obliterated by the last few episodes. It is a wonder to behold, like a car crash that somehow everybody saw coming but everybody just accelerates into.
I'd suggest watching it until you get a couple episodes that you don't like. Then feel completely fine stopping.
It's not about "guy who kills people". It's about "guy who is fundamentally different and does not understand the world in which he finds himself".
I much prefered it when they were toying with:
It's about "guy who is told he is fundamentally different and can not understand the world in which he finds himself but now begins to question what he was told."
Should I just stop now? Is it really that bad as time goes on?
One part of me is curious. I have steeled myself in anticipation of being sorely disappointed, and I kind of want to ride it out, just to satisfy my own curiosity. But at the same time, I don't know if I can take much more of this poor writing. Some of it is so good, such as s05e01, but then they turn around and ruin that with such poor characterizations and drama just for the sake of drama.
I usually recommend stopping after Season 5. Mostly because I doubt most people could stop after Season 4's finale, especially knowing there is more to see.
6 is pretty bad all around, aside from maybe Brother Sam.
7 actually is better than 6 in my opinion (especially the "big bad" of the season) but they make a couple of blunders during the season.
8 showed potential at a few points, and made people think they might avoid the cliff they were driving towards. Then they set themselves on fire and hit the accelerator.
The final season is unquestionably the worst. I found things to enjoy in almost every season besides the final one, even though the season with Colin Hanks was got-caught-jerking-off-in-the-middle-of-Central-Park stupid. The "twist" in that season was so obvious that it almost became a twist for real because everybody thought it was too obvious. It was like... a... double twist? We need a word for something that's telegraphed way too overtly and makes you think that it can't possibly be true for that reason.
@Lucascraft I agree with you on most of your points. Season 2 was good, but came far too soon, and basically wasted the show's best character (Motherfucking Doakes). Season 3 is way better than most people give it credit for (and the Camilla scenes still break my heart). Season 4 has the best acting in the series... but it should, given that it has John Freaking Lithgow in it. Season 5 was a really good breather season after the heartwrack that was Season 4, and I like the Lumen character a lot. Unfortunately, by the end of the season, she might as well have never existed, as she's gone and most characters, including Dexter, forget about her completely.
The final season was not as stupid as people are saying. The guest star, Charlotte Rampling, is great as she is in everything. The worst season is 6, with its weird religious terrorism overtones and super schticky schticks. The police procedures are also the worst that season ("We didn't inspect the crime scene immediately because if we did, Dexter would be caught and the show would end").
I say you've come this far, stick it out to the end.
@Lucascraft I agree with you on most of your points. Season 2 was good, but came far too soon, and basically wasted the show's best character (Motherfucking Doakes). Season 3 is way better than most people give it credit for (and the Camilla scenes still break my heart). Season 4 has the best acting in the series... but it should, given that it has John Freaking Lithgow in it. Season 5 was a really good breather season after the heartwrack that was Season 4, and I like the Lumen character a lot. Unfortunately, by the end of the season, she might as well have never existed, as she's gone and most characters, including Dexter, forget about her completely.
The final season was not as stupid as people are saying. The guest star, Charlotte Rampling, is great as she is in everything. The worst season is 6, with its weird religious terrorism overtones and super schticky schticks. The police procedures are also the worst that season ("We didn't inspect the crime scene immediately because if we did, Dexter would be caught and the show would end").
I say you've come this far, stick it out to the end.
Did....did you watch the finale? Don't make me break out the "Which of these did NOT happen in the finale?" game.
Season 6 absolutely had stupid police shit but they clearly tried to beat it out with the finale.
Edit: Because it's an awesome game and I wanted to reread it anyways....
I had a similar idea, only it goes "Which of these does NOT happen in the final episode?"
a) Dexter abandons his son, leaving him in the care of his fugitive murderer girlfriend in Argentina
b) Dexter goes on the run after Miami Metro Homicide discovers he is the Bay Harbor Butcher
c) Dexter fakes his death by driving his boat into a hurricane
d) Dexter becomes a lumberjack
e) Dexter murders someone in a police station, on camera, and is not even arrested.
f) Dexter steals Debra's body from the hospital by just walking out with it and dumps it into the ocean.
I'm thinking it is impossible to pass without seeing the episode.
I honestly don't know if the books are intentionally funny or not. You might think the alliteration in the titles is just a gimmick, but no, it happens in the books a lot.
Doubtful Dexter dreadfully drinks down, dousing his dehydration.
@Lucascraft I agree with you on most of your points. Season 2 was good, but came far too soon, and basically wasted the show's best character (Motherfucking Doakes). Season 3 is way better than most people give it credit for (and the Camilla scenes still break my heart). Season 4 has the best acting in the series... but it should, given that it has John Freaking Lithgow in it. Season 5 was a really good breather season after the heartwrack that was Season 4, and I like the Lumen character a lot. Unfortunately, by the end of the season, she might as well have never existed, as she's gone and most characters, including Dexter, forget about her completely.
The final season was not as stupid as people are saying. The guest star, Charlotte Rampling, is great as she is in everything. The worst season is 6, with its weird religious terrorism overtones and super schticky schticks. The police procedures are also the worst that season ("We didn't inspect the crime scene immediately because if we did, Dexter would be caught and the show would end").
I say you've come this far, stick it out to the end.
Did....did you watch the finale? Don't make me break out the "Which of these did NOT happen in the finale?" game.
Season 6 absolutely had stupid police shit but they clearly tried to beat it out with the finale.
Edit: Because it's an awesome game and I wanted to reread it anyways....
I had a similar idea, only it goes "Which of these does NOT happen in the final episode?"
a) Dexter abandons his son, leaving him in the care of his fugitive murderer girlfriend in Argentina
b) Dexter goes on the run after Miami Metro Homicide discovers he is the Bay Harbor Butcher
c) Dexter fakes his death by driving his boat into a hurricane
d) Dexter becomes a lumberjack
e) Dexter murders someone in a police station, on camera, and is not even arrested.
f) Dexter steals Debra's body from the hospital by just walking out with it and dumps it into the ocean.
I'm thinking it is impossible to pass without seeing the episode.
I'm not sure what you're getting at.
Nothing there is worse than (season 6)
We saw blood, so we didn't enter the crime scene before you, though we've never done this before, and conveniently don't see the giant painting of you as the Devil.
That final episode... there's a flaw in your logic.
The series finale had Angel making a bad call based on his friendship with Dexter. It wasn't precisely bad police work, at least not procedurally. Angel made a conscious decision to go against protocol for his friend. The previous 8 seasons of the show support Angel's decision there. They've always been bros.
The season 6 episode with the giant Dexter painting on the wall was horrifyingly bad police procedural work, which wasn't supported by anything previous (aside from just how incompetent Miami Metro had always been, and explained to be as such from the series premiere...).
@Lucascraft You raise an interesting observation with Rita. Dexter's relationship is laughably incompetent. But when I ask myself "why" it gets even funnier. Most of his mis-steps and meanderings are the kind of business that, in a comedy or even a drama, would be the "hilarious misunderstandings" of your standard tv-show relationships, where "dose vimmen, dey be crazy!" *laugh track* and "dose men, dey just don' get vimmen!" *laugh track*.
So even though Dexter is a master manipulator of emotions and social interactions because he's just so smart he's completely flummoxed by the vagaries of estrogen and romance because it's just impossible to understand, even for him. Which makes it many times worse (and hilariously tragic) in my opinion.
What's that trope about the super-genius master of "Just as planned" who is completely flummoxed by boobs?
I did continue into season 5. I'm actually really enjoying this season. It has my two favorite episodes out of the whole run of the show. (That I've seen so far).
I just finished the episode of s5 in which Aster and her friend, Olivia, show up at the house where Lumen is staying, and they were being drunk and rebellious. It ended up being one of the best episodes of the whole show. I loved how Dexter handled the situation with Olivia's step-dad, and I also loved the bonding moment between Dexter and Aster at the end. This episode, plus the first episode of the season, in which we dealt with the death of Rita are my favorite two episodes I've seen in the whole series (thus far).
In general, regarding season 5, the Lumen story is fantastic. I am loving the way Dexter has come alongside this girl and is helping another human being deal with her trauma. This is easily the best season so far for "A Plots" in my opinion. I also like the evolution of the Jordan Chase story. They have done a great job of building it over the entire season, rather than vomiting it all out at once.
However, it also has some of the worst "B Plots." I still hate the crap between Batista and LaGuerta, and LaGuerta keeps getting worse and worse. And none of it is necessary. They could easily fill that time with something that isn't so contrived.
I never did understand what almost any of the B plots were for in Dexter. Very few of them show any kind of character development you care about or have any tie in to the themes in the season.
I have one episode to go in season 5, and I have one complaint about this season. And really, it isn't a fault of just this show, but really it's a complaint about almost all TV.
That complaint is this: special guest stars.
As a general rule of thumb, whenever a show has a special guest star, that person is almost always the villain, or the principle character in the story arc. Sometimes both, like in the case of Miguel Prado in season 3.
And the complaint is this: because it is a guest role, there's never any sense of permanence, and it is almost always predictable that something bad is going to happen to that guest star, hence why they're conveniently only around for 1 season.
In the case of Dexter, it was quite obvious with John Lithgow in season 4 that he wasn't going to make into season 5. That's part of why I didn't care for season 4 very much. Sure, Lithgow played the part of Arthur brilliantly, but he was given an entirely predictable story to participate in. People praise season 4, but I think it was probably the lowest point so far in the series, out of the first 5 seasons. Arthur was a fine villain, but the framework of the story was weak, predictable, and honestly not very tense. There has been much higher tension in almost every other season.
The same is true now, with Julia Styles in season 5. Do I love the character of Lumen? Absolutely. But there's a predictability that comes with guest stars on shows, and without even seeing the final episode of season 5, I already know that she's going to die. It's the nature of TV.
I honestly don't have a solution, other than to never use celebrities in guest roles, and to never hire just one guest per season.
Using Breaking Bad as a counterpoint to Dexter, that show handled itself brilliantly. It had almost no guest stars at all. Any major character who was introduced was around for at least two seasons. Nobody showed up out of the blue as the special "big bad" of the season. Every character was worked in over time, and because of that, there was an air of unpredictability that doesn't exist in Dexter. Dexter, for as hard as it tries to convince us otherwise, is just a procedural cop drama. It follows a formula, and that formula is its biggest flaw.
I have one episode to go in season 5, and I have one complaint about this season. And really, it isn't a fault of just this show, but really it's a complaint about almost all TV.
That complaint is this: special guest stars.
As a general rule of thumb, whenever a show has a special guest star, that person is almost always the villain, or the principle character in the story arc. Sometimes both, like in the case of Miguel Prado in season 3.
And the complaint is this: because it is a guest role, there's never any sense of permanence, and it is almost always predictable that something bad is going to happen to that guest star, hence why they're conveniently only around for 1 season.
In the case of Dexter, it was quite obvious with John Lithgow in season 4 that he wasn't going to make into season 5. That's part of why I didn't care for season 4 very much. Sure, Lithgow played the part of Arthur brilliantly, but he was given an entirely predictable story to participate in. People praise season 4, but I think it was probably the lowest point so far in the series, out of the first 5 seasons. Arthur was a fine villain, but the framework of the story was weak, predictable, and honestly not very tense. There has been much higher tension in almost every other season.
The same is true now, with Julia Styles in season 5. Do I love the character of Lumen? Absolutely. But there's a predictability that comes with guest stars on shows, and without even seeing the final episode of season 5, I already know that she's going to die. It's the nature of TV.
I honestly don't have a solution, other than to never use celebrities in guest roles, and to never hire just one guest per season.
Using Breaking Bad as a counterpoint to Dexter, that show handled itself brilliantly. It had almost no guest stars at all. Any major character who was introduced was around for at least two seasons. Nobody showed up out of the blue as the special "big bad" of the season. Every character was worked in over time, and because of that, there was an air of unpredictability that doesn't exist in Dexter. Dexter, for as hard as it tries to convince us otherwise, is just a procedural cop drama. It follows a formula, and that formula is its biggest flaw.
Without going into spoilers, there is a special guest star that makes it into two seasons, so you can't necessarily predict what's going to happen based on that.
For the most part, you are correct, however. I missed Lumen when she left the show. I thought, at the time, that she could be part of Dexter's "way out." An indication that his Dark Passenger wasn't all-consuming.
Finished season 5 last night - easily my favorite season so far.
Started season 6 this evening after work. My first thought: "Really... another Batista relationship written off during the season break?"
I mean, I'm not surprised that he and LaGuerta split. It was stupid to begin with and was obviously a contrived source of drama for the seasons they were together. But now we have yet another relationship status change that was simply hand-waved away in the first episode of a new season. I'm getting tired of this.
Finished season 5 last night - easily my favorite season so far.
Started season 6 this evening after work. My first thought: "Really... another Batista relationship written off during the season break?"
I mean, I'm not surprised that he and LaGuerta split. It was stupid to begin with and was obviously a contrived source of drama for the seasons they were together. But now we have yet another relationship status change that was simply hand-waved away in the first episode of a new season. I'm getting tired of this.
This annoyed me, too. Its like they didn't really know what to do with those characters, which was a bummer.
My bf finished the show out of some completionist need even knowing it goes to shit
I really cant believe how bad it got
Slomo throwing his phone in the water? Sitting on fucking calm seas with no swells while a hurricane is supposed to be blowing? Plus the dialogue is the worst I've heard on t his show and it's had some baaaad dialogue
The finale of Dexter was good, as a way of being able to evaluate the endings of other shows in comparison. Because there are few that sink to the abysmal depths of the Dexter finale.
It made me ashamed to have created this thread. For a long while there, Dexter was just a fun show and didn't really trigger the WTF sensors in my brain because I recognized that. But by the finale, the show had long since gone over the line into being so poorly acted, directed and scripted that it pissed me off and I was no longer willing to suspend my disbelief.
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http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01/16/showtime-says-dexter-spinoff-is-still-possible-and-would-be-about-dexter-himself
Also do they really think that people want more Dexter after the Lumberjack finale?
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It's possible that the idea would be something like "Young Dexter" with MCH narrating and/or bookends with him in the present, and not necessarily MCH being the main character, but...meh.
I just started season 5 and have watched episodes 1 & 2 so far.
I know everybody's tastes and opinions are different, but so far I think s05e01 is the single best episode in the show thus far.
I honestly didn't care for season 4 and the Trinity killer case. Too many inconsistencies with previous seasons, and Dexter is so much of an idiot sometimes that it really irritates me.
The show is over, and I'm sure there are probably spoilers all over this thread, but I'll go ahead and spoil my thoughts on the first few seasons anyway, in case other people are just starting out like myself.
Season 2, I felt was premature. The Bay Harbor Butcher case came far too early. Since Dexter is a serial killer, there was never any doubt that at some point in the show, he would get found out and the police would be on him. I just feel like they jumped the gun on this and should have probably saved it for season 5 or 6. Having not seen much of 5, or anything past that yet, I don't know if they ever revisit this or not, but s2's main plot just seemed premature to me.
And season 2 is where I feel like the show already is starting to unravel.
So Harry's number 1 rule was "Don't Get Caught." And everything he taught Dexter was how to uphold and abide by rule #1. And yet Dexter keeps a trophy case and he keeps his murder tools in his apartment. Then Doakes finds it.
The Doakes stuff in season 2 is some of the best drama I've seen, and while I felt that season 2's story was premature, it was still well executed and still a very compelling season.
However, after such a close call, one would think that Dexter would realize that his trophy case especially, but also his methodology needed to change in order to uphold rule number 1. And that's my biggest beef with the story. We have a character who has been groomed from an early age to be a serial killer and to carefully and methodically cover his tracks. And yet he leaves a whole stash of evidence in a fairly un-secure hiding spot.
His hiding spot is found out, and after the close call with Doakes, he goes back to doing the same exact thing. And he also went back to the same exact murder procedures.
So we get to season 3. I actually found the whole Miguel Prado story to be quite good. I don't have much issue with season 3. It felt like a fairly self-contained story, and in that regard, it is fairly air-tight.
However, some aspects of season 3 were completely butchered in season 4.
First and foremost - Angel Batista was dating the undercover cop from Vice. And then in the first episode of season 4 they wrote her out of the show with a simple one-liner about how they wanted different things and it didn't work out. Then they immediately launch into one of the worst forced office-drama relationships I've ever seen. The crap between Batista and LaGuerta is awful. It feels forced and unnatural, and it is very obviously just a forced attempt at drama. And from what I have seen from the beginning of season 5, it doesn't get any better, as Batista discovers LaGuerta's huge retirement savings and goes crazy over it.
So we circle back to Dexter. Season 2 he almost gets caught for being the Bay Harbor Butcher. Doakes actually finds his slide case, and the slide case falls into police custody. And what does Dexter do? He gets an identical case and starts doing the same exact thing again. And then Rita gets on his case about lying to her and keeping his apartment. So what does he do? He moves his stash of murder weapons and murder trophies into the shed beside the house. And then Cody falls in and Dexter almost gets caught for the second time.
And finally, let's talk about Dexter's relationship with Rita.
It is established that Dexter feels detached, emotionless, and unable to connect with other people on the same level as most normal people do. I get that. But I also know that Harry taught him to fit in, and taught him to fake it.
And yet Dexter never tries to fake it with Rita. He's always sneaking off, coming up with terrible lies and alibis, and pretty much everything he does is wrong.
For a character who is portrayed to be so brilliant and methodical and careful, I just don't see it. I see Dexter as a total idiot.
I had several different friends tell me that Rita's death at the end of season 4 was the highlight of the show. I strongly disagree. Rita was fine. Sure, she was annoying (to Dexter) but that's because she wanted a normal life, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Dexter tried to give her that normal life, but it was his own doing that he sabotaged it time after time with his terrible mistakes. I'm not talking about killing people either. I'm talking about the way he handled his cover and his secret life. It was so unbelievably transparent and suspicious. Whenever Rita started snooping because she thought he was up to something, I wasn't annoyed with Rita. I was annoyed with Dexter for being such a dumbass.
I felt that Rita was really the only good thing he had going on in his life, and if she wasn't suspicious, and if she wasn't snooping, he would just fall off the deep end. Rita was what kept him grounded.
I'm only 2 episodes deep on season 5, but I can see this spiraling way out of control now that he doesn't have her and the kids.
And again, I'm not talking about him killing people. That's the point of the show. Dexter murders people. But he's going to lose everything else. Deb. His kids. His job. His friends. His life.
Should I just stop now? Is it really that bad as time goes on?
One part of me is curious. I have steeled myself in anticipation of being sorely disappointed, and I kind of want to ride it out, just to satisfy my own curiosity. But at the same time, I don't know if I can take much more of this poor writing. Some of it is so good, such as s05e01, but then they turn around and ruin that with such poor characterizations and drama just for the sake of drama.
But, no, the writing does not get any better. I enjoy the series, I think the last season is better than we all thought it was at first, but, yeah, the writing is definitely not of a West Wing quality.
Yea, it absolutely gets worse. There are bits and pieces of 5 and 6 that I quite liked but then I liked the guest stars of those seasons. Much less so 7 and any decent parts of 8 is just obliterated by the last few episodes. It is a wonder to behold, like a car crash that somehow everybody saw coming but everybody just accelerates into.
I'd suggest watching it until you get a couple episodes that you don't like. Then feel completely fine stopping.
I much prefered it when they were toying with:
I usually recommend stopping after Season 5. Mostly because I doubt most people could stop after Season 4's finale, especially knowing there is more to see.
6 is pretty bad all around, aside from maybe Brother Sam.
7 actually is better than 6 in my opinion (especially the "big bad" of the season) but they make a couple of blunders during the season.
8 showed potential at a few points, and made people think they might avoid the cliff they were driving towards. Then they set themselves on fire and hit the accelerator.
The final season was not as stupid as people are saying. The guest star, Charlotte Rampling, is great as she is in everything. The worst season is 6, with its weird religious terrorism overtones and super schticky schticks. The police procedures are also the worst that season ("We didn't inspect the crime scene immediately because if we did, Dexter would be caught and the show would end").
I say you've come this far, stick it out to the end.
Did....did you watch the finale? Don't make me break out the "Which of these did NOT happen in the finale?" game.
Season 6 absolutely had stupid police shit but they clearly tried to beat it out with the finale.
Edit: Because it's an awesome game and I wanted to reread it anyways....
It does not improve over time.
Doubtful Dexter dreadfully drinks down, dousing his dehydration.
Also RoboDoakes.
I'm not sure what you're getting at.
Nothing there is worse than (season 6)
That final episode... there's a flaw in your logic.
The season 6 episode with the giant Dexter painting on the wall was horrifyingly bad police procedural work, which wasn't supported by anything previous (aside from just how incompetent Miami Metro had always been, and explained to be as such from the series premiere...).
So even though Dexter is a master manipulator of emotions and social interactions because he's just so smart he's completely flummoxed by the vagaries of estrogen and romance because it's just impossible to understand, even for him. Which makes it many times worse (and hilariously tragic) in my opinion.
What's that trope about the super-genius master of "Just as planned" who is completely flummoxed by boobs?
@Lucascraft: Let us know your thoughts as you go, especially if you continue.
I just finished the episode of s5 in which Aster and her friend, Olivia, show up at the house where Lumen is staying, and they were being drunk and rebellious. It ended up being one of the best episodes of the whole show. I loved how Dexter handled the situation with Olivia's step-dad, and I also loved the bonding moment between Dexter and Aster at the end. This episode, plus the first episode of the season, in which we dealt with the death of Rita are my favorite two episodes I've seen in the whole series (thus far).
In general, regarding season 5, the Lumen story is fantastic. I am loving the way Dexter has come alongside this girl and is helping another human being deal with her trauma. This is easily the best season so far for "A Plots" in my opinion. I also like the evolution of the Jordan Chase story. They have done a great job of building it over the entire season, rather than vomiting it all out at once.
However, it also has some of the worst "B Plots." I still hate the crap between Batista and LaGuerta, and LaGuerta keeps getting worse and worse. And none of it is necessary. They could easily fill that time with something that isn't so contrived.
That complaint is this: special guest stars.
As a general rule of thumb, whenever a show has a special guest star, that person is almost always the villain, or the principle character in the story arc. Sometimes both, like in the case of Miguel Prado in season 3.
And the complaint is this: because it is a guest role, there's never any sense of permanence, and it is almost always predictable that something bad is going to happen to that guest star, hence why they're conveniently only around for 1 season.
In the case of Dexter, it was quite obvious with John Lithgow in season 4 that he wasn't going to make into season 5. That's part of why I didn't care for season 4 very much. Sure, Lithgow played the part of Arthur brilliantly, but he was given an entirely predictable story to participate in. People praise season 4, but I think it was probably the lowest point so far in the series, out of the first 5 seasons. Arthur was a fine villain, but the framework of the story was weak, predictable, and honestly not very tense. There has been much higher tension in almost every other season.
The same is true now, with Julia Styles in season 5. Do I love the character of Lumen? Absolutely. But there's a predictability that comes with guest stars on shows, and without even seeing the final episode of season 5, I already know that she's going to die. It's the nature of TV.
I honestly don't have a solution, other than to never use celebrities in guest roles, and to never hire just one guest per season.
Using Breaking Bad as a counterpoint to Dexter, that show handled itself brilliantly. It had almost no guest stars at all. Any major character who was introduced was around for at least two seasons. Nobody showed up out of the blue as the special "big bad" of the season. Every character was worked in over time, and because of that, there was an air of unpredictability that doesn't exist in Dexter. Dexter, for as hard as it tries to convince us otherwise, is just a procedural cop drama. It follows a formula, and that formula is its biggest flaw.
Mostly because you can't imagine how dumb the writing gets later on.. But still.
Without going into spoilers, there is a special guest star that makes it into two seasons, so you can't necessarily predict what's going to happen based on that.
For the most part, you are correct, however. I missed Lumen when she left the show. I thought, at the time, that she could be part of Dexter's "way out." An indication that his Dark Passenger wasn't all-consuming.
Perhaps I should've known better.
Started season 6 this evening after work. My first thought: "Really... another Batista relationship written off during the season break?"
I mean, I'm not surprised that he and LaGuerta split. It was stupid to begin with and was obviously a contrived source of drama for the seasons they were together. But now we have yet another relationship status change that was simply hand-waved away in the first episode of a new season. I'm getting tired of this.
I'll never watch the finale. I read a synopsis, and am satisfied.
This annoyed me, too. Its like they didn't really know what to do with those characters, which was a bummer.
My bf finished the show out of some completionist need even knowing it goes to shit
I really cant believe how bad it got
Nooo
You have to watch it. You've got to hear them actually say the lines, see the ending acted out.
It's such a glorious train wreck.
Will do.
EDIT: And maybe I'll throw the finale on the other monitor sometime while I'm farming in Diablo or something.
It made me ashamed to have created this thread. For a long while there, Dexter was just a fun show and didn't really trigger the WTF sensors in my brain because I recognized that. But by the finale, the show had long since gone over the line into being so poorly acted, directed and scripted that it pissed me off and I was no longer willing to suspend my disbelief.
I want a Rifftrax of the last season of Dexter.
We have all become Dexter but we kill with the shame that is Dexter rather than knives.
Soon I will go North and shame trees until they fall down.