My thoughts on Dexter per season now that I just finished it:
By far the best season out of all of them and the best antagonist (yes, even Trinity)
Love how Dexter is introduced, probably one of the best character introductions I’ve ever seen
The flashbacks sequences are sooo good. The haunting feeling they give, even the happier ones like Laura playing hide and seek with Dex and Brian. 10/10
The foreshadowing for Brian’s reveal in Father Knows Best was brilliant: Dexter thinking no normal person wakes up at that hour while Rudy is there, the focus on Rudy when Dexter says nothing connects him to the house, Rudy’s insistence that Joe was Dexter’s real father.
That scene in the Hotel room was probably one of the top three scenes of the entire show, the way they portray Dexter´s panic as his memories are returning. 10/10
I´m torn because I like both versions of where Brian confronts Dex with Deb (the container vs. the house).
While I understand the narrative choice of having Dexter kill Brian to protect Deb, it felt rushed. Brian was such a compelling character, and his potential was wasted (even more since the later seasons use him in a weird way. They don’t let him haunt the narrative for more than 2 episodes and sometimes he´s outright avoided). They should have waited a bit more if they really wanted that ending, it felt extremely rushed to suddenly have Brian come right back to Dex´s apartment and Dex to go well now you die in the last 10 min of the episode.
Love the concept of Season 2 because Dexter is the one being hunted and technically being the villain if we compare it to other shows or even this one
I actually liked Lila at the beginning of the season and she actually gave Dexter pretty sound advice pre-dating
I like how the moment Rita suspects that Dexter might not be a good influence for her kids, she keeps Dexter out of her life. She’s grateful for his support, and that may be why she is giving him a chance. But she won’t let slide anything that might hurt her or her kids. Love her character
Wish the addict storyline wasn´t ditched
Hated that Dex and Lila had sex… this man has intimacy issues c’mon. I don’t mind the cheating storyline but it could’ve been better if they kept it to emotional, because those can be just as devastating
Doakes and Dexter’ interactions is so fun, love their bickering
Kinda wish that Dexter kept researching his bio fam. Literally, Joe was just mentioned one episode and was never brought up again and we barely know anything about him and Laura beyond the incident
HATED that they introduced the concept, that Dexter was sabotaging cases before the show began (undermines his code)
I liked Gabriel as Deb’s love interest and I’m not gonna lie and say that her falling for Lundy didn’t raise my eyebrows, but I understand it from a character’s perspective. She didn’t realize she was dating the serial killer she was chasing, why not hook up with the guy that identifies them for a living
Both scenes where Dexter confronts Santos Jimenez, man. You can feel how Dexter´s anger and grief over what happened and how unused he is to feel like that
The scenes with Doakes in the cabin were incredible. Michael C. Hall’s portrayal of a sinister Dexter is chilling. Shame he was toned down after this season. (a bit understandable for S3-4, but c´mon)
This season should have been the one with the FBI hunt and Season 2 should’ve been the one with Miguel Prado/the skinner (minus Rita being pregnant and getting married, that stays in S3)
I haven’t read all the books, but I prefer Astor and Cody as resilient kids who inspire Dexter over having them being serial killers on training wheels (also I love how this is an example of how signing off a kid as fucked up instead of believing in them can make the difference. I mean it’s Astor/Cody vs Brian/Dexter)
I was frustrated a bit when Rita asked if Dexter knew anything about his family and he says no, she takes it at face value. Like girl, you helped to pack his bio dad’s stuff when he died and told you his mom was murdered months ago (ngl, kinda wish he confided in Rita about who Rudy actually was and the shipping yard massacre.)
I like Dexter and Miguel’s relationship, but it got better and more interesting once they started fighting and going with their power plays
Rita and Syl have such a good relationship, I was surprised how much the writers decided to develop it. Wish Syl appeared more in S4.
This season has the only good Angel romance story (his eventual relationship with LaGuerta isn’t bad, but I really liked more Gianna)
The way I gasped when Dexter told Deb about Harry cheating on Doris with a CI (even if I found odd that she never asks for Dexter´s help with her research or to get more info from him)
I felt robbed when the “Dexter getting kidnapped” scene was a fake out. Wanted to see Dexter vs another serial killer, but now he´s the one caught. The one from the next episode was cool, but a bit rushed, especially how Dexter gets his chance to escape because the skinner had to go to the other side of the factory for his tools, lol
I loved that scene with Ramon in ep.12 and funnily enough Dex opened up more to him in that scene than he ever did to Miguel (emotionally at least), wish he was kept around for a little while after that
I like the scene where Dexter forgives Harry and decides he wants to be a good father for his son. It was such a heartfelt moment
I think that this season is carried overall by John Lithgow’s performance as Trinity. The rest of it is a bit overrated.
Wanted to see more of Dexter juggling being a father of three and a serial killer and not him stalking Trinity
Felt sad when Lundy was killed. Didn’t like that Deb cheated and broke up with Anton to rekindle with him, but he was a great character.
I think they revealed who Trinity was too early (or took too much time to kill him), because the last 3 episodes felt that they were dragging and that the writers had already decided that Rita dead was the last shot.
Dexter feeling only embarrassment for killing an innocent was funny but so odd considering the previous season
The Thanksgiving episode was so good, Dexter being ready to murder Trinity in his kitchen 10/10
The storyline where Deb finds out who Brian really was is so disappointing, like the scene with Dex and Deb in 4x12 is good but the research process... talk about underwhelming. That she learns it just because a newspaper happened to name both kids in Laura’s obituary was weird and kind of a plot hole considering that we know Dexter in S1 researched everything related to the Shipping Yard massacre and that most of the files were destroyed. I think it would’ve been better if she learned Laura had two kids and had to keep digging to learn the second kid’s name, have Matthews reveal it to her or bring it up to Dexter and notice how cagey he gets, idk.
Killing Rita was a mistake. If they wanted to shake up the status quo, they should have had her suspect Dexter’s secret or discover he’s a killer.
This season is so underrated
I do understand why a lot of people rank it lower, tho. Because, Dexter and Lumen’s storyline is the only strong one, the PI side plot was boring as hell and Deb relating to the barren girls because of Rudy was good but ehhh… considering that the show goes back and forth on making Brian relevant and ignoring his existence, it’s just there
I don’t mind that Astor and Cody taking some time off the series, but it sucks that they were practically written out of the story after that
Listen I love Dexter and Lumen’s relationship, but I’m glad she got to move on with her life.
I think this is the only season that gives the villain(s) the proper amount of screen time where he acts like it with full knowledge from the characters and the audience. They weren´t rushed and they didn´t overstay their welcome
Love Dexter and Harrison’s relationship, he’s such a good dad. The amount of warmth and tenderness he shows towards him is the highlight of the season
Brother Sam was a good character and I hated they killed him off, but he´s a bit repetitive in some parts, especially since this was right after the Lumen arc
Brian should have been used more as a manifestation of the Dark Passenger, easily the best episode of the season
Dexter trying to do the same thing as he did with Trinity of doing everything to find the bad guy first sucked and wasn´t even that engaging.
The painting was hilarious, I can´t even be mad, lol
Deb´s therapist sucks at her job, lmao. She´s like: "Oh you´re in love with your brother in a romantic way." And the only evidence she has of it is Deb hugging Dexter after someone attacked the police station with poisonous gas, that she dated Brian and that Deb told her the only constant she has had after all the horrible stuff that happened to her is her brother (yes, they are weird about each other, but the therapist hasn´t seen or heard that)
The first five episodes are sooo good, the rest is pretty bad. Only some scenes managed to pick up a little
That flashback with Harry and Dexter… ouch
Love seeing Dexter trying to escape death traps, I was cheering watching how he was going around that fucked up labyrinth
Isaak Sirko was a better character and antagonist than Hannah, he deserved more on-screen time
Hannah McKay was Dexter’s worst love interest, at first I liked how she interacted with Dexter but after they had him (in an OoC manner) alter his report to "make her trust him" it took a nosedive. Which is a shame since I like the actress when I watched S1-2 from Chuck, she was good in that
Don´t know how to feel about Matthews knowing almost all along about Dexter, I think it would have been better of he suspected something when Brian came around and figured it out after the BHB thing happened
Dexter using the Moser lastname when he confronted Estrada. Oof
Love how Dexter tricked LaGuerta with the shirt, but hate that this basically put a count down on her days in the show
The concept of Vogel was one of the worst ideas the show ever had (Ik that in the book, Harry says he consulted "some people" before he decided to train Dexter. But he probably meant he researched sociopaths and talked to professionals in hypotheticals not that he strait up teamed with a psychiatrist to "create" Dexter)
The Brain Surgeon is the most boring villain of the show (yes, even Travis was more interesting) he was diet!Brian and that´s giving a complement
The show just feels tired and bland, don´t get me wrong that started around S6. But now, it looks exhausted of itself and even cheaper than previous seasons
Bringing Hannah back was forced and unnecessary. Dexter taking her back after everything, especially after she poisoned him and Deb, felt completely OoC, let alone leaving Harrison to be raised by her
Kinda zoned most of the season if I´m honest
Dexter not killing Saxon was stupid, this guy never learns
The ending sucks, as everyone says. Why a lumberjack?
This show was not good… to say the least
DeXter doesn´t come off as out of practice, he´s stupid
Switching Harry for Deb as the main hallucination was the only good idea
Harrison´s trust in Kurt felt so shallow, it was pointless drama
Harrison remembering Trinity is ridiculous (especially since there were two seasons that address how that´s not possible. With Dexter it made sense because he was three, Harrison was 10 months old), he´s probably more traumatized from being raised by Hannah and ending up in foster care.
Dexter used M-99 not ketamine, what were the writers on? This one made me angry because most of Angela´s case is based on that
Angela figuring out Dex is the BHB because she googled it… so frustrating
“Open your eyes and look”, such a cringe scene. HATE IT
