Dexter (TV Series)

[gmillerdrake]

Blasted through S5 and the whole 'barrel girl' killings, Lumen and Liddy discovering Dexter. It was pretty good. I was curious as to if they were now going to have Dexter and Lumen be this killing couple or if something was going to happen to her. I'm wondering if she will make an appearance at a later date/season but I can't see that she's any real threat to turning Dexter in being that she's killed a couple people as well.

Anyway, started S6 and it looks like Tom Hanks kid and William Adama (Ed Olmos) will be the focus for a while. I'm in it for the long haul....gonna jam out these last three seasons so I'll be paying attention to try and sense when the downturn begins to take place. I liked S5...so I'm still waiting for this change of quality I've heard about from many people.

[MirrorMask]

I've liked Season 5 as well and I never found it as week as people claim it to be. Probably it pays a change of showrunner and having come after a fantastic and memorable season 4 - After the Trinity Killer you can only go down. But yeah, I overall enjoyed Season 5 (and Season 6 as well).

And I still think Season 7 is fantastic and was bringing us to a great finale, before they suddenly Game-of-Throned us with Season 8.

[gmillerdrake]

I really can’t wait to see this S8 that everyone hates. It’s been built up as so utterly bad I’m almost more excited to get to see it that I have been watching the show this far.

[soupytwist]

Season 5 was more forgettable than outright bad (similar to season 3 really) hampered by a poor performance by Julia Styles.   Season 6 however is total trash - arguely trashy enough to be entertaining if you can forgive it's utter stupidity and plain bad writing in places.  Season 7 is a return to form of sorts.....but Season 8 is just strangely flat and boring.   It's also round this period (5 onwards) where they started giving the secondary characters really tedious subplots, Batista (who never did anything important in the entire show) in particular gets given some real dross.

[gmillerdrake]

Finished S6. The Doomsday Killer plot line was pretty bland and rather disappointing trope of the dude just seeing the guy he Murdered and being ‘crazy’ in that way. There were multiple plot holes in that scenario.....couple of which Dexter being fooled that badly by an Amateur.....there’s a scene where Dexter sees the professor walk in the building.....the lady they let go reported there being two people....it was just a pretty lame storyline I thought. Not bad per say but certainly sub par.

So....Deb seeing Dexter kill someone and now after one episode of S7 knowing it all.....there’s just no way he’s not going to be forced to kill her at some point. That’s if he doesn’t want to go to prison. She’s too good a cop to let it go on and is just in denial right now. If I’m had to guess he’s gonna kill this lab geek guy that’s Fn with him and she’s going to find out and he will have to kill her to save himself. Probably justify it by saying Harrison needs his dad.

[MirrorMask]

The first episode of season 7 was fantastic. Dexter thinking on the fly and gaslighting Deb, Deb thinking over and over about it just like we all do in uncertain situations, and then finally took the matter upon herself.

The final scene of the episode is absolutely perfect in its simplicity, I remember urging Dexter to say it and finally let it all out.

"Did you kill all these people?"
"....Yes...."
"Are you..... are you a serial killer?"
Me: Say it! say it! let it out! finally say it!
Dexter: "Yes"

Yay!

[DTA]

I really can’t wait to see this S8 that everyone hates. It’s been built up as so utterly bad I’m almost more excited to get to see it that I have been watching the show this far.

It's really quite amazing how they managed to fuck it up so spectacularly.

[MirrorMask]

I'd say the season itself is pretty bland. It's not that every episode sucks - was it just another season, it would have just been an average one.

It's the knowledge that it was the last coupled of course with the actual last episode that make everyone hate it. It's not a complete crapfest where you have to struggle to get through the episodes, it's more 11 episodes of "Yeah, ok, but this is the final season, when shit is gonna go down?" and then a complete clusterfuck of an ending.

[gmillerdrake]

The first episode of season 7 was fantastic. Dexter thinking on the fly and gaslighting Deb, Deb thinking over and over about it just like we all do in uncertain situations, and then finally took the matter upon herself.

The final scene of the episode is absolutely perfect in its simplicity, I remember urging Dexter to say it and finally let it all out.

"Did you kill all these people?"
"....Yes...."
"Are you..... are you a serial killer?"
Me: Say it! say it! let it out! finally say it!
Dexter: "Yes"

Yay!a

Yeah.....that was pretty intense. I was expecting him to kill her right there.

[KevShmev]

Season 6 was weak, but the Travis kill is one of my favorite Dexter kill scenes in the entire series. The way he mocks him is so awesome.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes."

"Good for you."

[MirrorMask]

Season 6 was weak, but the Travis kill is one of my favorite Dexter kill scenes in the entire series. The way he mocks him is so awesome.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes."

"Good for you."

"Everything is God's will!"
"Then it's God's will that you are on my table, uh?"
Travis: Sad Pikachu face

 

Yeah, Dexter owned him pretty hard in the entire speech.

[KevShmev]

Yeah, good luck trying to outwit Dexter conversationally when on his kill table.  A few gave him a run for his money and made him pause for thought, but Travis was not one of them.  The car salesman (S2, I think) was another that made me chuckle.  He kept running through lie after lie until Dexter, who had the correct answer every time a lie was thrown at him, finally just laughed at him.

[MirrorMask]

Also Dexter vs. Bail Organa (big bad of season 3, forgot his name, Jimmy something? EDIT: the character was Miguel Prado) was epic.

"I am like you Dexter"
"No. I know I am a monster" (which was really one of the defying character traits of him, having no illusions at all about what he was doing)
"... I accept you, Dex. I accept you like a brother"
"I killed my brother. I killed yours too"

Guess I'll have to find a compilation of the best Dexter table conversations on YouTube 

[KevShmev]

Oh man, I remember seeing that episode for the first time.  In the pause between "I killed my brother" and "I killed yours, too," the realization quickly hit me that he was going to go there, and it was like instant gratification literally a second later.

[gmillerdrake]

Finished S7. I don’t know.....I didn’t think it was all that bad. I enjoyed it. It was better than S6 for sure. Curious to see the aftermath of the Finale.

My largest complaint is that you can tell the only time the actor for Dexter and the kid who play Harrison spend together is the time on camera. Zero chemistry. I get that kid actors are tough to come by but it’s painful to watch scenes with them given how bad it is.

[MirrorMask]

I'm a strong defender of Season 7 and I still think it's the best post-Trinity (and post change of showrunner).

Now get ready for the clusterfuck 

As I said: don't expect every single episode to horribly suck. It's just that there's never the "oh boy, shit is really gonna go down" like one has during the last season of Breaking Bad, and the ending is just 

[soupytwist]

I'm a strong defender of Season 7 and I still think it's the best post-Trinity (and post change of showrunner).

Seasons 2 is the GOAT season.
Seasons 1,4 & 7 are the good seasons.
Seasons 3 & 5 are the so-so seasons.
Season 6 is the trashy season.
Season 8 is the boring season.

That's how I'd rate them anyway. 

[MirrorMask]

I remember rating them based on Metallica albums 

Seasons 1, 2 and 4 are Ride / Master / Justice, the classic stuff.
Season 3 is either Kill 'Em All or the Black Album, not the best but still the golden era.
Seasons 5 and 6 are Load and ReLoad - yeah, subpar, but in retrospect they don't suck THAT much.
Season 7 is Hardwired, who knew that this late in the game they had such a good album (season) in them?
Season 8 is St. Anger. Or Lulu 

[gmillerdrake]

Finished!

I will say this......I really enjoyed the series as a whole. S6 was the only season I didn’t really care for, it was boring and just a horrible idea for the ‘bad guy’. But I’m glad to have finally watched this.

And, outside of the last 15 minutes of the final episode I really didn’t have a problem with S8. It was clear they were ready to get the show over with but it wasn’t the huge pile of crap i had heard so much about. But maybe having the luxury of binge watching it removed some of the disappointment I had heard about.

I’ll probably have more to say but I’m tired. Just watched 7 episodes to close it out 

[gmillerdrake]

The way they end the series was really bad. I get they were in search of a reason for Dexter to not be allowed to have a ‘happily ever after’ ending......he was a freaking serial killer after all.....but killing off Deb sucked. I was fine with him abandoning Hanna and Harrison, but Deb dying sucked. I felt like her character deserved better. 

I’m interested to see this new season they’re going to do. Whether it’s a return to Miami and thing’s familiar or if it’s a semi reboot.

[MirrorMask]

I'm all for a semi reboot that erases the lumberjack ending.

It was the wrong Morgan sibling that died. Dexter should have been caught. The other characters should have known the truth and, in the hand of a brilliant writer, it would have been EPIC to see people we followed for 8 years confronting him in jail and asking him why, how he could betray them after all this time etc..... his coworkers, Angel, Masuka, Rita's children who didn't even come back for the final season....

I don't know how I woud have ended it, but I would have made Dexter give up his life to protect someone, possibly Debra. Until he was the perfect monster, he was untraceable. The unstoppable killing machine. The more and more he became humanized, the  cracks started to show. The complete opposite of a sociopath monster without emotions that is unstoppable at killing would be him losing his life for the most human thing to do, sacrifice yourself for a loved person. He should have been exposed for both his natures, the human one and the monstrous one.

[gmillerdrake]

I'm all for a semi reboot that erases the lumberjack ending.

It was the wrong Morgan sibling that died. Dexter should have been caught. The other characters should have known the truth and, in the hand of a brilliant writer, it would have been EPIC to see people we followed for 8 years confronting him in jail and asking him why, how he could betray them after all this time etc..... his coworkers, Angel, Masuka, Rita's children who didn't even come back for the final season....

I don't know how I woud have ended it, but I would have made Dexter give up his life to protect someone, possibly Debra. Until he was the perfect monster, he was untraceable. The unstoppable killing machine. The more and more he became humanized, the  cracks started to show. The complete opposite of a sociopath monster without emotions that is unstoppable at killing would be him losing his life for the most human thing to do, sacrifice yourself for a loved person. He should have been exposed for both his natures, the human one and the monstrous one.

Totally agree. It was too ‘nice’ of an ending for him. He basically got off scott free and everyone that knew and loved him either died because of him or now is in grief over him ‘dying’   

[MirrorMask]

One tiny thing I save from the ending, is the sublte realization of.... aaah, forgot his name. Guy who replaced Doakes in season 3 and has been there ever since, and that was involved with Debra. When Dexter killed discount Ryan Gosling with a pen and he was viewing the footage over with Angel, he stressed that it was self defense but his face indicated otherwise. He totally realized that Dexter did it on purpouse, and maybe realized that Dexter was capable of even more - he just didn't care, he wanted revenge for Deb. But I'm sure he realized that Dexter planned it carefully.

[gmillerdrake]

One tiny thing I save from the ending, is the sublte realization of.... aaah, forgot his name. Guy who replaced Doakes in season 3 and has been there ever since, and that was involved with Debra. When Dexter killed discount Ryan Gosling with a pen and he was viewing the footage over with Angel, he stressed that it was self defense but his face indicated otherwise. He totally realized that Dexter did it on purpouse, and maybe realized that Dexter was capable of even more - he just didn't care, he wanted revenge for Deb. But I'm sure he realized that Dexter planned it carefully.

Yep. Noticed that. He completely caught on that Dexter set him up. Then he said he wished he could have been the one to do it.


I think an interesting premise for the new 10 episodes would be for him or Batista to randomly be turned on to evidence of Dexter being not who he said he was. Then hunting him down so to speak. I’ll be disappointed if it’s just another 10 episodes of Dexter ‘outsmarting’ people a f getting lucky not getting caught.

[MirrorMask]

I guess the writers burned themselves with season 2. On one hand, I applaud them from going all the way in - it was ballsy to not dumb down Doakes and pile up on his suspicions (I remember reading interviews where they stated esplicity this, "It wouldn't be fair to have Doakes continue to be suspicious for 5 seasons and not acting on it"), and making him discover Dexter as the Bay Harbor butcher. But in insight, that should have been the endgame.

Still, they managed to go back to it with Season 7, and blew it all out. I thought LaGuerta's death would have made at least someone scratch their heads - Dexter is the perfect guy, everyone's buddy and bro, and yet his wife was killed by Trinity and now LaGuerta dies as well. Batista should have been the one to think about it, all it took was a "hey, seriously: why not?" moment, maybe an off hand joke from Masuka, to make the gears in his head starts running. Out of the remaining characters, our good friend Batista deserved to be the one to bring Dexter down. Problem is that Dexter was so tactically overpowered, that nobody would have been able to outsmart him, at least out of the cast. But someone deserved to discover him.

[gmillerdrake]

I agree about Doakes. Plus, he was a cool character. I’d liked to have seen Deb not discover Dexter until the final season and have been the one to either lock him up or kill him. Maybe the last scene being her dumping his body into the ocean.....as if she figured it out but didn’t want others to know.

Nonetheless.....a very enjoyable series and I’m looking forward to see what/how they approach the story now.

[axeman90210]

Ah yes, the series finale, aka "Surprise! You've been watching 8 seasons of origin story for the Brawny man"

[KevShmev]

Yep, when they saw the footage of Dexter killing Saxon, Quinn totally gave that glance like, "I knew it all along," but he was so thrilled that Deb's killer had been murdered, I don't think he cared all that much in the moment.

I, for one, am looking forward to the reboot.  The return of the original showrunner (the guy who ran it from 1-4) means we are likely to get a better and more proper ending.  I could see Jennifer Carpenter returning to play the same role the father did all along, as a vision Dexter is constantly in communication with in his subconscious.  Or maybe they will pull a Dallas and pretend that seasons 5-8 never happened and they will pick up right after Rita's death.  Haha, if only. 

[MirrorMask]

Or maybe they will pull a Dallas and pretend that seasons 5-8 never happened and they will pick up right after Rita's death.  Haha, if only.

Sign me up for that!

[gmillerdrake]

Or maybe they will pull a Dallas and pretend that seasons 5-8 never happened and they will pick up right after Rita's death.  Haha, if only.

Sign me up for that!

Show Dexter leaving a mental institution years later after having suffering a breakdown from Rita’s death.....everything since has been a delusion.

[KevShmev]

The new season of Dexter begins tonight.

I am cautiously optimistic. I cannot say I am thrilled about the look of the show being so different (going from warm and sunny Miami to cold and dark NY), but I am sure Michael C. Hall will be awesome as always and make this worthwhile if nothing else.

[MirrorMask]

Or maybe they will pull a Dallas and pretend that seasons 5-8 never happened and they will pick up right after Rita's death.  Haha, if only.

Sign me up for that!

Show Dexter leaving a mental institution years later after having suffering a breakdown from Rita’s death.....everything since has been a delusion.

It's not like everything was to throw away after that.

Season 5 was dark and heavy, but compelling. I totally see Dexter teaming up with a victim of abuse.
Season 6 had that weird thing with Deb falling for him, but the discovery was a long time coming.
Season 7 was great, actually, and the fallout of the discovery was well played and the climax with Laguerta was the heartbreaking conclusion.
It's Season 8 that got it all wrong, Dexter had to be discovered, we should have seen the reaction of all people finding out about him. One of the soundtrack songs for the teasers of the final season was a Blue Saraceno cover of Johnny Cash's "God's gonna cut you down", with lines such as "You can run for a long time, you can run for a long time, sooner or later God's gonna cut you down", there was more foreboding and tension in those lyrics than in the entire actual season.

[KevShmev]

Who else is keeping up with this?  Five episodes in, and it is good, but not great.

Deb yelling her head off non-stop as his Dark Passenger is annoying, and I could do without the cliched characters (the lady podcaster and the clueless cop with the awful 'stache), but Michael C. Hall is phenomenal as always, and Clancy Brown is doing a really good job thus far as well. 

And it is starting to get good given the way the last episode ended.

[gmillerdrake]

Letting them build up then gonna jam it all out at once.

[chknptpie]

I kinda enjoy the new Doakes lol Next episode is gonna be super interesting based on the cliffhanger they left us with. I've been super annoyed with Dexter going after the drug dudes. He knew the cops were on the trail, so stupid to try to go after them.