So, I've watched the first four seasons of Dexter on Netflix...

[Mr Light]

Spoiler: final episodes

It just utterly bewilders me that they never had his cop buddies find out he was a serial killer and hunt him down. That is the ultimate Dexter story and it never got told. The entire season just felt like another season and not the ending of the story. It makes me wonder if they thought they were going to do a movie after or something. Because they seem to be saving all the good ideas for some future incarnation.

And I've always felt that this story had to end with Dexter's death, so I quite disappointed to learn he survived. Again, it feels like they're planning on doing a movie or something. I never had any great complaints about this series in general, but man the way it ended really really bothered me. Especially when compared to Breaking Bad's ending.

 

[Aragorn]

Spoiler: final episodes

It just utterly bewilders me that they never had his cop buddies find out he was a serial killer and hunt him down. That is the ultimate Dexter story and it never got told. The entire season just felt like another season and not the ending of the story. It makes me wonder if they thought they were going to do a movie after or something. Because they seem to be saving all the good ideas for some future incarnation.

And I've always felt that this story had to end with Dexter's death, so I quite disappointed to learn he survived. Again, it feels like they're planning on doing a movie or something. I never had any great complaints about this series in general, but man the way it ended really really bothered me. Especially when compared to Breaking Bad's ending.

Spoiler: fake season 8 spoiler that never happened

There was a fake spoiler going around that the final episode would have Quinn reveal that he knew about Dexter and didn't have a problem with it, and he wanted Dexter to get revenge outside of the justice system for the life the Brain Surgeon took at the end. But instead, it's Quinn who "kill tables" the bad guy and he basically becomes the next Dexter, who fled the country with Hannah. Sure, it would've been out of nowhere and made no sense whatsoever, but at least it wouldn't have been as comatose as the finale we got.

 

[Skellington]

Spoiler: final episodes

It just utterly bewilders me that they never had his cop buddies find out he was a serial killer and hunt him down. That is the ultimate Dexter story and it never got told. The entire season just felt like another season and not the ending of the story. It makes me wonder if they thought they were going to do a movie after or something. Because they seem to be saving all the good ideas for some future incarnation.

And I've always felt that this story had to end with Dexter's death, so I quite disappointed to learn he survived. Again, it feels like they're planning on doing a movie or something. I never had any great complaints about this series in general, but man the way it ended really really bothered me. Especially when compared to Breaking Bad's ending.

Spoiler: the Dexter and Breaking Bad finales.

I did get the feeling that there was still potential material for a miniseries or something, but without Debra it would probably be like a dog with three legs. I'd watch it, though.

I didn't compare the ending with Breaking Bad's, but I would have much preferred it if they'd ended it on a more upbeat note, which would actually have made it a close equivalent of Breaking Bad's ending in a way. BB's was a satisfying ending that arguably brought the major story threads to where they were always going to go; and its treatment of Jesse, although it doesn't leave him in a happy place, feels narratively right. Dexter's treatment of Deb in the finale has its merits, but IMO the better and more natural ending for that character would have been to have her settle down with Quinn, with Dexter himself no longer being an issue. Still, what's done is done.

 

[Caligula]

Over the last eleven days, I've watched the final four seasons.... and I don't regret it! I was especially fond of Season 5. I liked the character of Lumen, and was sad to see her walk away, even though that was the smartest thing she could have done. Season 6 could be annoying at times, but it couldn't have closed out any stronger. Season 7 looked like it was going to be a carbon copy of Season 3, and then it took a few unexpected twists and turns that really impressed me, and the finale features for me the most satisfying kill of the entire series... and it wasn't even Dexter's kill!

And then, there's Season 8. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it overall, but I do have some problems with it. Masuka's storyline feels forced, isn't terribly interesting, and doesn't go anywhere. A lot of what happens comes as a result of bad decisions on Dexter's part. This is nothing new to the series. He'd made similar mistakes in Season 4, but it was never this blatant, especially in the final three episodes. And that ending... ugh.

If I had to sum up each season in one word:

Season 1 - Origin
Season 2 - Obsession
Season 3 - Friendship
Season 4 - Family
Season 5 - Vengeance
Season 6 - Faith
Season 7 - Truth
Season 8 - Family (Part II)

Ranking each is just as easy. From best to least:

1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 3, 6, 8

Despite whatever slight missteps the series took, it has grown into one of my all-time favorite shows. The trouble with watching it on Netflix is that it's over too quickly. I will revisit it VERY soon.

 

[Mr Light]

<<Masuka's storyline feels forced, isn't terribly interesting, and doesn't go anywhere. >>

I loved that storyline. She was gorgeous and took her top off.

But seriously, I thought it was a funny story for him, making him regret being a pig and all.

 

[Aragorn]

There were a few funny things in the final season:

1. Harrison and the treadmill.

2. Angel's declaration in the first episode that is never brought up again.

3. Dexter surprised the guy he's following saw him even though Dexter was standing in the same spot out in the open for an hour.

 

[Caligula]

There were a few funny things in the final season:

1. Harrison and the treadmill.

2. Angel's declaration in the first episode that is never brought up again.

3. Dexter surprised the guy he's following saw him even though Dexter was standing in the same spot out in the open for an hour.

1. It would have been funny if he hadn't gotten hurt enough to go to the hospital.

2. Seemed like a throwaway line to me. Unless I'm thinking of something other than the memorial bench.

3. That WAS pretty stupid. He was off his game that day (actually, the script writer was). If he'd been that sloppy more often, he'd have been either dead or in jail long before the events of Season 8.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

1. It would have been funny if he hadn't gotten hurt enough to go to the hospital.

No it was still funny.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

My major complaint about the series is when Dexter delays killing the Big Bad and then they kill more people. I found this most egregious in Season 4, which apparently is most people's favorite season.

That's exactly how I feel about season 4. Dexter had to be incompetent the entire season for the story to turn out the way it did. (I stopped watching after season 4).

What happened to Dexter is like a much more extreme version of what happened to The Sopranos in the later seasons. It became more and more obvious that the fabric of reality was warping around itself to protect the lead character. People behaving savagely out of character, making obvious mistakes, moral compromises they would have never made earlier in the series, strokes of luck falling in the lead character's favor to make all his enemies die, all with the poorly hidden motive of preserving the status quo. When the hero's victory and consequent deaths stop seeming like a natural result of the story and start seeming like just what the writers wanted, the 4th wall shatters and you start to feel super-manipulated.