Dexter...first time watcher

If someone asks for show recommendations many people here will recommend a show (or comment on another’s recommendation) but also add in a comment that the last season or last few episodes sucked. For example, if I rated the first 6 seasons of Dexter 9/10 on average and the final 2 seasons 7.5 or 8/10 I would still recommend the entire series to people without any comment on the 2 final seasons. Others are much stricter in how high their rating of the final season(s) or episode(s) need to be before not needing to comment about them.

 

OK, thanks. I think a lot of series flame out much sooner than eight seasons so I guess Dexter had a good run. I did drop out in season eight though.

 

I’d maintain that Dexter went on too long. Many successful shows have this problem.

I’m almost finished with “Mad Men” after never seeing it when it ran. I think this is another example of a show that probably should have wrapped it up after S5.

 

It's just mindless entertainment, while you're waiting to die. Not to be taken seriously.

 

Never saw that one.

That was a good show, but I lost interest at some point and never really got back into it. I did check out the finale, though.

 

I’m two episodes away from the finale. I’m hoping Don Draper becomes DB Cooper

 

Jennifer Carpenter’s role, towards the end, was to simply act hysterical and cry. I hated that. Hugh Dancy (as Will Graham) did the same thing for the entire run of Hannibal.

 

If we’re doing Mad Men, I’d say it lost something after the flashbacks stopped but that it was only in season 3 where it felt like the writers were treading water.

 

Heck, just the premise of an "ethical" serial killer was too much of a stretch for me.

 

Well, it was what the season called for, but she could act with a surprising degree of professionalism when in policing mode, whether detective or chief after her promotion. After all, her character was hugely conflicted about her brother.

I thought the writers maintained a phenomenally high level of quality and character dev -- the best consistently since Sopranos (not surprising due to Weiner's involvement in both). There was no reason for the flashbacks after the show revealed Draper's true identity and he finally reconciled with the past, which cost him his marriage. A terrific crucible of the shifting social norms of the '60s.

 

Yeah, that was always kind of an eye roll.

 

But his "ethics" were merely a means to an end. Dexter needed to kill and his "code" of only killing murderers (and his process of disposal) was mainly a way of keeping himself from being caught. It wasn't so much "only kill bad people" as it was "only kill people who the police won't worry about finding".

 

Dexter was a cop, his dad was a cop, as was his sister. He was doling out 'justice'!

 

All I’d say is that if you think the rationale offered up by TV show is hard to swallow, keep away from the books.

 

One of the issues with the later seasons was how careless he got. They made a point from the start what a careful killer he was, always following Harry's rules to make sure all evidence was gone so he could never get caught, but he committed quite a few murders later on that were sloppy, ones that he should have gotten busted for, but the showrunners were obviously content on him never caught, which ultimately was the biggest disappointment. The payoff of him getting outed never came.

 

WOW, that’s some of insightful stuff.

/blown away

 

I just finished a full binge of Dexter, to quote Deb on the series finale "WTF"......

 

The final season was sketchy at best, but the final episode ranks as one of the worst ever in the history of a tv series; just an utter mess.

 

It occurs to me that when a great show goes bad, like Dexter or GOT, it affects it's re-watchability! These shows ended SO poorly, it makes me NOT want to see them again! I haven't seen a single episode of either show since their finales!

 

There are so many problems with the finale that I don't even know where to start, it's just one wtf moment after another, almost like the episode was written and directed by a different crew taking the **** on the entire show. Season 8 had some good ideas but it was cluttered, messy and it had far too many illogical/stupid moments.

Two examples
- is Dexter a world class swimmer? how did he get back after driving his boat into a freakin hurricane miles offshore??
- how convenient that he could park his boat right outside the hospital and get away with Deb's body

 

Sorry to hear you wasted so much of your time. After S4, it’s like going out of the ISS without a space suit or tether.

Calling the final season sketchy, is like calling Garrett the Carrot a winning coach.

There are no words to describe how terrible the final season was. Not to mention the finale. And Deb. And the final scene.

You are absolutely correct Sir! As great as I thought S1-4 were, I doubt I will ever watch them again due to the series finale.

And if I live infinite lives, in infinite universes, in none of them will I ever watch S5-S9 again.

 

Honestly, nine seasons was pushing the envelope hard. They should have bailed after four. Sometimes less is more.

 

Good show, at least seasons 1-4. Genre conscious, tongue-in-cheek dumb fun like Breaking Bad.

"A gross english titty-vampire!"

I don't know if you're serious, but the intro is most likely a reference to the title sequence of American Psycho.

 

Dexter as a single father with the hots for his step-sister got old pretty quick.

 

I started a rewatch of this entire series. I loved every season the first time I watched it and can’t even remember the finale so it couldn’t have been that bad.

Just wanted to point out that Amazon has 1,800 reviews of both S7 and S8 and the average rating of each season is 4.5 stars out 5. Both seasons rate 8.6/10 on IMDB from thousands of ratings.