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...

1753 - The Big C: season three

When the second season ended on a cliff-hanger that assumed we might not be seeing Oliver Platt returning, I was pretty impressed by the bold move.  I was instantly unimpressed when they whisked it away right from the get-go in this season.
I'm going to rant for a moment about what I think is an essential issue when it comes to the Showtime series of shows.  It's a company that fosters really bold and original ideas - but doesn't know what the hell to do with them to the point where it just feels like it drags stories on to no end and for no good reason.  It has a laundry list of shows like this one, Californication, Dexter, United States of Tara, Nurse Jackie, wherein these fucked up main characters do whatever is most convenient at that moment to ensure that the series continues on a few seasons more, rather than offering an honest progression.  Some of those shows above do it worse than others - but sadly none of them really feel like the series are going towards anything, or have an over-all game plan.
In a world where almost everyone has been touched by the illness of cancer, I have no idea why I'm supposed to like the character of Cathy who is a bi-polar bitch.  Gotta give Linney props for making her human and likeable in small doses, but you can't fix what's a problem at the core.  We have no reason to care for her, and less for her family as they go on.  The supporting cast has become cartoon characters with quirks.  Andrea (now Ibabu) has absolutely no reason to be on the show outside of being the quirky outsider.  Son Adam is now, for whatever reason, religious.  Paul is a self-help guru, and brother Sean, the character whom had the most morals and dimensions, is not a running gag. 
Will I come back for a fourth season?  I'm sure I'll check out an episode or two, but I just don't know - in a world full of shows I've yet to see, I'm not sure this one is worth my time anymore.  It's a shame since there's a lot of great talent involved.  Alas.

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...

1476 - Dexter: season five

Two things that you should know going into reading this review - first I am in fact a fan of the show - two, this is probably going to be pretty spoiler heavy, so proceed with caution!

Last season ended with a jaw-dropper. It was the first time that they didn't wrap things up with a pretty bow on Dexter, that he hadn't gotten just barely by, that they gave him extreme consequences to his actions. And the aftermath made the possibilities for season five absolutely delicious. And they picked up the moment they left off - a bold and awesome choice. But this season wasn't about trying to solve Rita's murder - it gets pretty quickly slushed off into the ongoing (never to be solved) Trinity investigation. Instead this season is about trying to atone.

There is a line in the season finale tonight from uber-villain Jordan Chase where, upon looking at Dexter's kill tools, he remarks, "When I look at this I see a greatness in you, but when I look at you, I just see a mess." There's a truth to that statement, not about Dexter as a character, but about the series itself. The beginning of this season was... well... it dragged in a weird way. I really really didn't care about the storyline of Batista and Laguerta. Also the two psycho brothers seemed to be just a random occurance and existed merely to get Deb put into the file room so that she could look further into the barrel girls case - seems a bit extreme. I realize that they also used that side story to mess with Deb and Laguerta's relationship as well - but it really truly felt like filler. Dexter does tension extremely well, it does build up in a strong fashion. What they don't do well is putting Dexter into REALLY difficult situations. They spent a great deal of time talking about how difficult it was to get to Jordan Chase, how he's always surrounded by guards - yet they just brush that away and not make the characters have to deal with it whatsoever. That was a bit of a cop-out for me. I was super annoyed about Deb just about finding out and then her letting them walk off. I do buy that Deb is at the place where she would do that, but it felt like a bit of a cock-tease and then a cheat. Having read some interviews the producers are well aware that they have to deal with that storyline at some point (might as well attack it next season, with Hall & Carpenter getting a divorce they'll probably welcome their characters being at odds when the cameras start rolling again next year).
The biggest annoyance is how easily Quinn got off just because of the blood work. What about all of the finger prints? The phone calls (those voicemails he deleted would still be on a server somewhere). That got REALLY quickly brushed under the matt.
This show is a lot of fun, it's quite delicious - I keep meaning to revisit past seasons but I fear for finding holes in it. Maybe it'll be better than that. Who knows. Michael C. Hall is brilliant, and his relationship with Julia Stiles' Lumen was just a thing to behold. Their parting was heartbreaking, but it made complete sense. I like what they did with it - and that it's open ended enough that she may very well find herself on his doorstep down the line. Jennifer Carpenter continues to be fantastic, especially considering how unlikable her character was earlier in the series.

I know that I complained a lot in this review, but I did like this season and I think that they did some interesting things. I'm curious as to how they're going to keep this show fresh now. What's next that's going to challenge and confound Dexter. Just do me a favour and make him actually have to deal with being a father next season and not give him the easy out. You have some talented people on that team, put your characters through hell!

The Walking Dead - Vol 8: Made to Suffer

Spoilers ahead!!!!

Just when you thought this series couldn't get any darker...

I mean... fuck. What happens near the end of this battle puts the ending of the forth season of Dexter to shame. It's jaw dropping insanity - thank you Mr. Kirkman for making me realize that I am not completely desensitized. I can still be messed up by shit like that. I won't go into immense specifics here, but damn. Kirkman runs a sword through the cast here and really cuts down their numbers. Absolutely nothing is going to stop me from reading this series until the bitter end, but I could understand how some people could drop out after what happens in this book.

The nice thing about the ending of this volume is that our surviving characters (few that there are) are actually able to move on and make a fresh start somewhere else.

You're a bold man, Mr. Kirkman. I like it.

1293 - Dexter: season four

Holy fucking hell. I have to force myself not to give away any spoilers - but good goddamn. What a season. What an ending! Hot damn. This season did an amazing job of edging towards Dexter becoming more human and with that he became messier to boot. It was beautiful to watch. And Jennifer Carpenter was stellar this season - shame she wasn't nominated. Lithgow and Hall have already been nominated for Golden Globes. It would be amazing to not see at least one of them take home the prize.

Having now re-watched the episode it's just… devastating to watch. It's effected me deeply in a way I can't recall from storytelling in a LONG time. Emily was a wreck after watching it. Dexter is hands down her favourite show, but she's not sure she wants to watch the next season (which is something considering when she realized this was the season's final episode she was very disappointed). I know that come next fall she'll be all about it.

What they did was a game-changer. It was like pressing reset on the series in a very interesting and challenging way. They could literally do almost anything now. And with their show runner Clyde Phillips exiting, it's a whole new day for Dexter and his Dark Passenger. Can't wait to see where it goes.

1175 - Dexter: season three

After last's years mind-blowing great season I just couldn't imagine how this show could stay fresh and exciting. Good thing the writers had to trouble figuring it out. Wow. Great great season. Lots of good stuff here. Smits and Hall were dynamite together and at one point I was wondering if it was possible that Smits could become a staple cast member. Where they'll go in future seasons I don't know, but I feel like I'm in good hands. Won't say too much in fear of spoiling, but it's a show that continues t be great.