Dexter Series Discussion *Spoilers*

The continuity of Dexter himself and the core characters is fine, but the plots outside of that seem unnecessarily encapsulated sometimes. The survival of a villain doesn't mean constant, exhausting, a-plot suspense over them, depending on the kind of balance going on in the story at various points.

Chase could've survived if he hadn't been carrying the Idiot Ball towards the end, and his influence and background development could've been very richly mined in the future. At the least, two seasons instead of one wouldn't have been overkill. That's the same episode count as a single season of a lot of great hour-long dramas anyway.
 
Chase could've been carried over, yea. I would've liked to see that. Not only was he a monster himself but he turned them out, too. Cultivated them. It could have been cool to see Dexter taking down Chase's "products" until he finally took down the big bad. Unfortunately, the crafty Chase was given a rushed end because they wanted to wrap Lumen's story up. He was a manipulative mastermind that was a high profile target for Dexter to take down but that was brushed off for a clean ending at Harrison's first birthday. Who knows what will be next for Dexter... I still say bring in Michael Emerson or Zachary Quintos and let them do damage down in South Beach.
 
I think those two are way too on-the-nose. Quinto's most famous role is a serial killer and Emerson was recruited to Lost after playing a recurring one on The Practice.

Anyway, this is what Season 5 made me think of:

Fan-fiction.

Specifically, fan-fiction written by a teenage girl.

It wasn't bad fan-fiction, and I may not have even noticed the signs if I wasn't so immersed in the internet and TV Tropes for years, but once I did(around the 9th or 10th episode), it significantly coloured the season for me.

Rita is suddenly and shockingly killed off and the kids move out to their grandparents'. Dexter is alone again. He rescues a young woman from a group of white-collar rapists, who insists on being a part of his life. She couldn't take her bland, white-bread home life and parents who wanted her to marry a bland college guy anymore, so she ran away. Dexter is initially aloof to these advances because he's Dexter, but comes to accept her because he sees she understands him. She doesn't think he's a monster, but a hero. She gets his "darkness", and even shares it. She won't screw up and go too far like Lila and Miguel. Dexter decides to make her his partner. He gets her a set of black leather gloves like his own(which she reacts to like they're iconic) and teaches her terminology used officially among the show's fans, but usually just informally in his head on the actual show and novels("....what do you call it again?" "A Kill Room"). Eventually, after she gets to personally kill a target, they sleep together and become a couple.

If I read that summary, I would automatically assume it was one of the countless Dexter fanfics that are probably out there, and that the author was a possibly-emo teenage girl. That fact that it still managed to work pretty well and reach what I feel was a moving, if not entirely satisfying, emotional climax by the finale is testament to the skill of the writers. It was certainly a surprising and risky direction to go in, but I guess the show has always had aspects of wish-fulfillment as part of its appeal. Again, a lot of this is just going to ride on where it goes next....
 
The villain for season six: Ray Liotta as a 60-year-old drug kingpin named Tommy Vercetti.
 
So I've finally caught up on five seasons and am able to comment on this. I've ranked the "villains" (It's always hard to consider an antagonist a villain considering who he's going up against in our main character) and I've ranked it according to my feelings about each season.

#1. Trinity Killer
Jon Lithgow owns in this season completely. Seeing the complete epitome of what Dexter wants to become transform into the tyrannical monster that he knows is possible is a great look into the character. Lithgow chews every bit of scenery that he can get in this season and the 'Thanksgiving' episode is probably the best episode that we get this entire series. The decision to kill off Rita is also daring as ****. Caught me completely off guard.
#2. Ice Truck Killer
This killer just caught me off guard right as I was getting into Dexter. We're introduced to a killer who's better than everyone else at what he does and then five minutes later we see someone who practices murder as an artistry. the Ice Truck Killer challenged Dexter immediately and readily by pulling at every mental string we could think of. A true rogue to start the series.
#3. Bay Harbor Butcher
And this is where we got into the true psychology of the show. I love how they didn't wait for this season (any other show would've waited till the 5th or 6th season for a revelation like this). This season made it feel closer and more personal to the core. Dexter was the Punisher in this season practically and seeing him personified as a hero was perfect to the theme of the series and its morality. Another great season.
#4. Barrel Girl Killers
I'm glad that something like this happened after Rita died. We got the obvious love interest that was to come after Dexter's wife died but we got her as a victim. I enjoyed the Barrel Girl Killers because as opposed to a singular lunatic we got a fraternity of rapists and killers. I wish we got something a bit more memorable than the five we got though. Jordan Chase was charismatic as a rogue but the other four were pure meh. I wish we'd gotten something more like a fraternity of sadists.
#5. Miguel
I honestly thought season 3 was the weakest of the whole lot and 'Dexters about to be a daddy and get married' was pure series fodder. Miguel was good (all because of Jimmy Smits) but we knew right away what his arc was going to be. They fixed the partner dynamic with Lumen last season but it was completely wrong with Miguel. It was a forgettable season with a forgettable villain.
 
His most adult definitely. I just remember him from Orange County. haha.

One thing that they did do with that promo included in the link is gloss over season 5. I don't know if that's a good thing.
 
Colin Hanks as the young upstart FBI agent brought in to hunt Dexter after his identity is revealed.
 
Mos Def in season 6. He'll be an ex-con who has found religion and is supposedly a pacifist until Dexter brings out the bad in him.
 
tumblr_lp7f7tRBo31qze6ibo1_400.jpg


Angel of Death.
 
I'm not really feeling this religious angle they're pushing.
 
Planet-man said:
I'm not really feeling this "head superimposed onto a different body by a 14-year-old with a pirated copy of photoshop, despite having a multi-million dollar marketing budget" angle they're pushing.
Click to expand...

This is hilarious for reasons I am legally obligated not to talk about.
 
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