When a show lasts more than five or six seasons, there can often be a dip in quality in those late stages. It’s hard to keep a consistent level of entertainment for such a long period. Showtime’s Dexter was kind of an anomaly in this case. The series lasted eight seasons, with the final one grabbing the highest ratings. And yet, the seasons told an odd story in terms of quality.
Dexter wasn’t a show that fell as seasons progressed. Instead, it had plenty of ups and downs. It would frustrate you with a season that didn’t live up to expectations, but then follow it up with something stellar. Dexter is one of the toughest shows to nail down when ranking the seasons, but that’s just what we have done.
Season 8
So while Dexter didn’t consistently decline over time, it did end with its worst season. After season seven ended with one of the best cliffhangers in the show’s history, season eight failed to capitalize. Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) started this final season in an interesting and dark place, but her issues with Dexter (Michael C. Hall) were quickly wrapped up in just a handful of episodes.
Season eight also introduced a pivotal new character in Dr. Evelyn Vogel who felt shoehorned in. The supporting cast we spent so much time with was shoved off into their own side stories that were separate from everything. And then there was that ending. The series finale went off the air in the most unsatisfying of ways, with Deb dying and Dexter leaving his son with his girlfriend so he could go be a lumberjack. Yeah, there’s a reason it was a widely panned ending.
Season 6
By all rights, season five should have ended with Deb catching Dexter in the midst of a kill. Though they missed the opportunity, the showrunners gave us that moment to close out season six. Unfortunately, getting there proved to be a bit of a chore. It focused on the idea of Dexter exploring religion and that never quite clicked despite a fun little guest-starring role by Mos Def.
The biggest issue with season 6 was the villains. Dexter hunted down killers Travis Marshall (Colin Hanks) and James Gellar (Edward James Olmos), yet a majority of the viewers figured out that Gellar was just a figment of Marshall’s imagination. It was an obvious twist and the fact that Dexter didn’t see it when audiences did, it made him look stupid. Hanks tried, but he never came off as intimidating. And let’s not even discuss the storyline of Deb being in love with Dexter.
Season 3
After two seasons that put the show on the map, Dexter hit something of a roadblock in its junior year. The idea of this batch of episodes was solid. Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits) discovered Dexter in the middle of a killing, giving us a rare moment for the young series. Smits and Hall played well off each other and it set up an interesting dynamic.
However, Prado was clearly unhinged and the way he tackled Dexter’s killing plan should’ve let our anti-hero know something was off. Their relationship sometimes felt a bit forced. Also, the Skinner proved to be one of the lesser villains in the show’s history. This season wasn’t bad, it just struggled to live up to the lofty expectations of the first two seasons. We did get the fun of Dexter learning he’d become a father and Deb was in a fun relationship.
Season 5
Season four ended with the shocking revelation that Dexter’s wife Rita (Julie Benz) had been murdered. Dexter is left to pick up the pieces with his new baby in season fivr. While struggling with this, he met Lumen (Julia Stiles), a victim of rape by a group of vile men. She had a darkness in her that Dexter helped soothe and tracking down these men worked as a distraction for a grief-stricken Dexter. The romance that blossomed out of this felt earned and it felt like Dexter had a true partner.
The place where this season missed a step was in the conclusion. Deb, hot on the heels of these vigilante lovers, came incredibly close to catching them. Instead, she chose to let them go without discovering what her brother was up to, frustrating fans. Furthermore, Lumen decided that she was over her “darkness” and left Dexter, never to be seen again on the show. It felt like a lackluster way to end a strong season.
Season 1
The one that started it all. Right off the bat, viewers were thrown into an intriguing mystery. Dexter became fascinated with the Ice Truck Killer, a serial murderer who preserved his victims’ bodies by chilling them. We were then given the incredible twists that the killer was not only Deb’s fiancé but also Dexter’s long lost brother Rudy/Brian (Christian Camargo). He felt a kinship to this fellow killer but ultimately chose to save Deb and kill him.
This season also set the stage for what Dexter would be going forward. The supporting cast didn’t get a ton to do but felt more likable than in later seasons. We were given a lot of insight into Dexter’s backstory and why he became the vigilante that he is. It was deranged and it hooked us immediately.
Season 7
In between the two worst seasons was this gem. Season seven saw Deb peel back the layers of everything her brother had done. She called him out for almost every act of murder he committed during the show’s history as she uncovered everything. It was breathtaking to watch because Deb was ultimately right, but was conflicted because of her brother. Carpenter gave the best performance of her career here and helped make this an exhilarating batch of episodes.
Season seven also shined in terms of the supporting characters. Isaak Sirko (Ray Stevenson) was an awesome “mini-boss” and Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovski) proved to be a worthy partner for Dexter. Strahovski and Hall had great chemistry and their romance added another layer to it all. Plus, you had Maria LaGuerta (Lauren Velez) closing in on Dexter, only to get killed by Deb in one of the show’s best moments.
Season 2
Honestly, this show could’ve culminated with season two and it would’ve been cool. That’s how good this season was. Sgt. James Doakes (Erik King) was the only member of the police department to notice something was off about Dexter and he became obsessed with him. It made Dexter’s kills harder to come by and set the stage for some nerve-wracking episodes, especially after a bunch of Dexter’s victims’ bodies got discovered underwater.
Dubbed the “Bay Harbor Butcher,” Dexter was a wanted man but did everything in his power not to get discovered. Doakes ultimately caught him and, realizing his defeat, Dexter was ready to turn himself in. Of course, his psycho side girlfriend Lila (Jaime Murray) arrived and killed Doakes, wrapping things up in a fiery way. The hunt for Dexter and the addition of Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine) were both highlights of a great season.
Season 4
John Lithgow was so outstanding as a guest star in season four that he took home a Primetime Emmy for his efforts. He played Arthur Mitchell, better known as the Trinity Killer. Dexter hunted him, noticing that he killed in threes and had been doing so for decades without getting caught. But Dexter stopped when he found out that Mitchell was a family man. He wanted to learn how to balance his killing and his family from Mitchell, so he formed a bond rather than killing him.
Though Dexter ultimately got the Trinity Killer, his mistakes cost him. We found out that Rita was murdered by Mitchell before his death, giving us a shocking ending. This season also featured the jaw-dropping twist that Quinn’s (Desmond Harrington) reporter girlfriend Christine Hill (Courtney Ford) was actually Mitchell’s daughter. Throw in a juicy mystery for Deb to solve and this was 12 episodes packed to the brim with some intense stuff. And again, Lithgow as Mitchell is one of the greatest performances on TV in the past few decades.
