Sorry, I've been wanting to use that line for a while..
The show stopped being heart racing after season 2 with the death of James Doakes. Season 4 aka the Trinity killer is the closest the show came to regaining the magic of the first two seasons.
Season 1 was fantastic and like all new shows, immerses you in the world of Dexter Morgan, who we quickly find out is one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history. What makes it even more interesting? He works as a blood spatter analyst in the Miami Metro HOMICIDE dept., the irony is definitely not lost.
On the surface and to nearly everyone except J. Doakes, Dexter is a good looking, oddly charming, and efficient worker. It's cool to see the transition from forensic analyst to cold blooded, psychopathic killer all in one fowl swoop. The supporting cast are all hilarious, lovable, and in the case of LaGuerta and Cpt. Matthews, hate-able. One character who really sticks out is Debra Morgan, Dexter's sister, who plays a potty-mouthed, blood hound of a detective. Vince Masuka also frequently provides comic relief to the show.
With no further ado, I'll mention a brief synopsis and critique of each season...
Season 1 - Great season. Everything including the characters and story line is fresh. It is fascinating to see Dex hide his dark passenger from his girlfriend, sister, and coworkers (who's sole job is to catch killers). The Ice Truck killer being Dexter's brother was a surprising twist and he proved to be a bone-chilling killer.
Season 2 - Fantastic season which really took the best things from S1 and ran with them. James Doakes, Lila, and Frank Lundy all appeared to be closing in on Dexter. I truly believed he was going to be captured. Lundy was a fantastic character and made a great addition to the cast. This is easily my favorite season.
Season 3 - I love Jimmy Smits, so I thought he was a great addition, but this season was rather lackluster. Although I like Rita as Dexter's girlfriend, the whole getting married and settling down thing wasn't entertaining, but it is a logical progression. Overall, there were some entertaining moments like the cat and mouse game between Miguel and Dexter, but the other subplots were boring.
Season 4 - This season was the closest to Seasons 1 and 2 in excitement and intrigue (at least in my book). John Lithgow was genuinely scary as Arthur Mitchell aka the Trinity Killer. Lundy made a special appearance to track down Trinity, but was gunned down too prematurely. I think it would have been interesting to have Lundy, Mitchell, and Dexter all hit a crossroads. Season 4's final twist is a shocker that no one could have predicted.
Season 5 - Probably the worst season I watched. I didn't find Lumen, Jordan Chase, or any of the 5 rapists and killers in the least bit interesting. This is where I started to also notice the writing start to slouch as far as dialogue and story line. There was no suspense or element of mystery to this season.
Season 6 - The kills made by the Doomsday Killers were probably the most interesting kills in the whole series, but unfortunately the killers played by J. Edward Olmos and Colin Hanks turned out to be dull and uninspiring after the first few kills. The only interesting thing to come out of this season was Dex being discovered by Debra as a serial killer.
Season 7 - This season was pretty bad overall. Dexter wasn't Dexter anymore because he had Deb breathing down his back and the main villain, Isaak Sirko was way too suave to be taken seriously. The main gist of season 7 was Cpt. LaGuerta figuring out that Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher (which ultimately resulted in her murder by Deb). Season 7 was better than 6.
Season 8 - I did not watch anything after the first episode of season 8. I looked up a synopsis because the show had declined so much.
Some of the things that bothered me about the show...
Quinn. He had some potential to really rattle Dexter's cage, but he kind of just faded back into his cement head detective role. He also got weirdly skinny and got a Donald Trump tan after season 3...Wtf?
Dexter's seeming immunity. The closest we got to seeing Dexter get unraveled was season 2, but then the writers took a step back. After that, you NEVER really sensed that Dexter was in any kind of danger. How Batista and Quinn could overlook the events of season 6-7 is BEYOND me. A more interesting season 8 would have seen a final confrontation with Deb and Dex which would have made me cream my pants.
Hannah McKay. I simply did NOT find her interesting in any way, shape, or form. Lila and Rita were fantastic, but the love interests should have stopped there. Lumen and Hannah were just annoying subplots that distracted from what IMO could have been more tension between Dexter and Miami Metro.
Overall, The acting was mostly first rate, writing was good for about 4 seasons with flashes in some of the other seasons, and the premise was in general a good one. Do you ever really know what's going on in someone elses' head? If a team of homicide detectives don't, how are you supposed to know? Dexter could be anyone, that's the scary thing.
Alright it's time to M-99 this review.
P.S. I had a great review but the 1,000 word limit really messed that up. Good going, IMDb.
The show stopped being heart racing after season 2 with the death of James Doakes. Season 4 aka the Trinity killer is the closest the show came to regaining the magic of the first two seasons.
Season 1 was fantastic and like all new shows, immerses you in the world of Dexter Morgan, who we quickly find out is one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history. What makes it even more interesting? He works as a blood spatter analyst in the Miami Metro HOMICIDE dept., the irony is definitely not lost.
On the surface and to nearly everyone except J. Doakes, Dexter is a good looking, oddly charming, and efficient worker. It's cool to see the transition from forensic analyst to cold blooded, psychopathic killer all in one fowl swoop. The supporting cast are all hilarious, lovable, and in the case of LaGuerta and Cpt. Matthews, hate-able. One character who really sticks out is Debra Morgan, Dexter's sister, who plays a potty-mouthed, blood hound of a detective. Vince Masuka also frequently provides comic relief to the show.
With no further ado, I'll mention a brief synopsis and critique of each season...
Season 1 - Great season. Everything including the characters and story line is fresh. It is fascinating to see Dex hide his dark passenger from his girlfriend, sister, and coworkers (who's sole job is to catch killers). The Ice Truck killer being Dexter's brother was a surprising twist and he proved to be a bone-chilling killer.
Season 2 - Fantastic season which really took the best things from S1 and ran with them. James Doakes, Lila, and Frank Lundy all appeared to be closing in on Dexter. I truly believed he was going to be captured. Lundy was a fantastic character and made a great addition to the cast. This is easily my favorite season.
Season 3 - I love Jimmy Smits, so I thought he was a great addition, but this season was rather lackluster. Although I like Rita as Dexter's girlfriend, the whole getting married and settling down thing wasn't entertaining, but it is a logical progression. Overall, there were some entertaining moments like the cat and mouse game between Miguel and Dexter, but the other subplots were boring.
Season 4 - This season was the closest to Seasons 1 and 2 in excitement and intrigue (at least in my book). John Lithgow was genuinely scary as Arthur Mitchell aka the Trinity Killer. Lundy made a special appearance to track down Trinity, but was gunned down too prematurely. I think it would have been interesting to have Lundy, Mitchell, and Dexter all hit a crossroads. Season 4's final twist is a shocker that no one could have predicted.
Season 5 - Probably the worst season I watched. I didn't find Lumen, Jordan Chase, or any of the 5 rapists and killers in the least bit interesting. This is where I started to also notice the writing start to slouch as far as dialogue and story line. There was no suspense or element of mystery to this season.
Season 6 - The kills made by the Doomsday Killers were probably the most interesting kills in the whole series, but unfortunately the killers played by J. Edward Olmos and Colin Hanks turned out to be dull and uninspiring after the first few kills. The only interesting thing to come out of this season was Dex being discovered by Debra as a serial killer.
Season 7 - This season was pretty bad overall. Dexter wasn't Dexter anymore because he had Deb breathing down his back and the main villain, Isaak Sirko was way too suave to be taken seriously. The main gist of season 7 was Cpt. LaGuerta figuring out that Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher (which ultimately resulted in her murder by Deb). Season 7 was better than 6.
Season 8 - I did not watch anything after the first episode of season 8. I looked up a synopsis because the show had declined so much.
Some of the things that bothered me about the show...
Quinn. He had some potential to really rattle Dexter's cage, but he kind of just faded back into his cement head detective role. He also got weirdly skinny and got a Donald Trump tan after season 3...Wtf?
Dexter's seeming immunity. The closest we got to seeing Dexter get unraveled was season 2, but then the writers took a step back. After that, you NEVER really sensed that Dexter was in any kind of danger. How Batista and Quinn could overlook the events of season 6-7 is BEYOND me. A more interesting season 8 would have seen a final confrontation with Deb and Dex which would have made me cream my pants.
Hannah McKay. I simply did NOT find her interesting in any way, shape, or form. Lila and Rita were fantastic, but the love interests should have stopped there. Lumen and Hannah were just annoying subplots that distracted from what IMO could have been more tension between Dexter and Miami Metro.
Overall, The acting was mostly first rate, writing was good for about 4 seasons with flashes in some of the other seasons, and the premise was in general a good one. Do you ever really know what's going on in someone elses' head? If a team of homicide detectives don't, how are you supposed to know? Dexter could be anyone, that's the scary thing.
Alright it's time to M-99 this review.
P.S. I had a great review but the 1,000 word limit really messed that up. Good going, IMDb.