1911 - Dexter: season eight

Somewhere in the second season of this series I remember being so amazed at where they were going with it that I had to keep asking "Where are they going to go with this show?  How are they going to keep up how solid this is?"  And now we have the answer.  They didn't.  Or maybe they just couldn't.  The third season of this show was it's first valley after a series of peaks.  The fourth season (Trinity) was a return to form with what ended up being Dexter's best adversary that culminated in the series strongest moment.  After that it was a lot of waiting around to see if it would get back to greatness, and it never really did.  The 6th season was terrible, and the beginning of the 7th showed a lot of promise - in general I liked the 7th season, but this last season… geez.

Now - if you haven't finished watching this series - stop now.  Spoiler heavy shit coming below.

First off, let's start at the end.  What a terrible ending for this show.  Although, to be fair, there was no good ending for this show.  It was almost an impossible task.  But watching the finale was like watching a bad fan-boy script.  Having the final thought of the show being that all the work Dexter had done to become a rounded human was pointless?  That he couldn't changed, despite evidence that he was changing?  It all felt a little random.  It made me feel like I'd wasted my time watching this show all together.  And the fact that the show never put Dexter's feet to the coals in the end and exposed him to his world… what a missed opportunity.  We got to see Miami Metro be bumbling idiots for years, it would have been amazing to watch them go toe to toe with Dexter and Debra caught in the middle… but alas… instead we get Oliver Saxon - as boring as they come.

The writing on this season was terrible.  Just little things like the idea that Hannah has come back, and is a wanted woman.  You'd think the first thing they'd do is cut and dye her hair.  Something, ANYTHING to change her goddamn appearance.  But no.  Whatever cleverness was in the writing early in the series has long since evaporated.  The stuff with Masuka and his daughter was such a last ditch effort to give that character some depth - and the fact that it resulted in… nothing.. what a waste.  

And Debrah… fuck it… at that point it just felt like the whole thing was being written by a fan who didn't really understand the show.  I like that it was Dexter that took her out and was protecting her, that he put her in the water, and that he "died" there as well.  

I could go on and on, but I'm not entirely sure the point.  This last season was such a wasted opportunity given how strong this series started.  But… well at least it's over… 

1793 - Dexter: season seven

It takes a lot to come back from something that was the shit-show of season six of this series, but I'd argue that Dexter has done it.  I've read complaints that this was a half-solid season and a half slippery slope.  I can't imagine you're reading this without already having seen the show, but let it be know that there are SPOILERS BELOW...

The only decent thing about season six was, literally, the final few seconds where Debra walked in on Dexter - changing the fate of the show forever.  This season was all about Debra coming to grips with who Dexter is, and also more-or-less becoming his sidekick in a weird way.  All that fueled with a bizarre love-triangle with the fantastic Hannah and you've got a pretty solid season - top that with a half-season villain of Isaac Sirko and it's even stronger.  A lot of people complained that Isaac was taken out too early - I'd argue that it would have been hard to keep him up and build towards this season's climax.  I was actually hoping that Hannah would be the one to take out La Guerta and thereby protecting Dexter and making Debra owe her one - possibly the one way to get her off her back and make it so that Dexter and she could be together - although turning Debra into a killer is a pretty smart move forward for the show.  Will she spin out of control?  Should be interesting, especially since Hannah is still in play.  Could the two of them still have a happy ending?  I'm interested to see where the final season will take us since things have (somewhat) been brought back to a status quo.  I have to say that I want a final season that sees Dexter, somewhat, on the run - how else can this end on a happy note without him faking his own death? 

We shall see in the fall of 2013...

1663 - Dexter: season six

So we're six seasons in, which means that this review is going to be extremely SPOILER HEAVY.  If you want to know my thoughts on previous seasons, click the link at the bottom of this.
Let's get the worst of it out of the way… this was a terrible season of Dexter.  I'll defend the last (Lumen) season quite a bit, but I have a hard time doing so here.  That's not to say that the entire thing was worthless.  Mos Def was a great addition to the cast - shame he wasn't used more - and there was a lot of fun in having Dexter's deadly brother take over for Harry as his voice-over partner in the middle of the season.  I don't know about others, but I hate the Harry character (he was absent in the season finale - thankfully), he seems to be there just so that the writers can fill in bad exposition.  Often they misuse the voice-over to do the same thing. I don't like to think that the writers think we're idiots but… well… you listen and tell me what you think.
The big-bads this season was pretty lame.  I like the idea of tackling a religious fanatic, but it was pretty clear, pretty early on that Gellar was not alive and just a figment of Travis' imagination.  But it treaded along and then tried to shock us with the reveal, which was just kind of sad by that point.  I think that they tried too hard to make Dexter feel a personal connection to the killer, whereas other seasons it was quite organic.  This felt like a stretch, and a majority of this season felt like filler.  There were some great moments - the four horsemen, etc… but all-in-all it felt like they were treading water.
Have I written the show off?  No.  Because they've made a great move at the end.  First, I'm curious as to where they're going to go with creepy Louis.  But, as everyone is, I really can't wait to see how they deal with Deb having witnessed Dexter killing Travis.  On one hand she's going to be relieved that the DDK case will be closed, but on the other hand, she's just found out something about her brother that's going to change their relationship far more than them hooking up romantically.  Rita's death was a huge shock, and a great one, but this is actually a far better game-changing-ending for the season.  Lots of different ways that it can go, so it'll be interesting to see what they do with it.  This could be a chance for the show to return to greatness, putting Dexter under intense pressure, or they could just as easily screw it up the way that they have the rest of the season.  We'll have to wait till next fall to find out.  With at least two more seasons left the show has an opportunity to go out on a great note, or just slowly die.  Hopefully it's the former. 
If the writer's are reading this I have but one request for next season - kill Quinn - and make that annoying asshole suffer.  LaGuerta can go too if you'd like.  Oh, and find a purpose for that new detective 'cause he just kind of stood around this season.  Boring.  Touch Jennifer Carpenter and we'll have issues - I'll probably stop watching.  She annoyed me when the series began, but over the last few seasons she's shown how talented she is, especially in this season finale when she's battling her feelings.  I'm fine with an incest subplot so long as they keep Carpenter around.
So all in all, a very very bad season, but I think that there could be light at the end of the tunnel.  Or it's an on-coming train.  We'll see...