Decline? It has its up and downs. Season 2 was better than season 1 and season 4 was much better than 3. Besides its just the season premiere but one thing for sure is that I cant see anyone topping John Lithgow's performance

season 2 is by far the worst season of the show.

I dont really know how you can say the show is on a decline when Season 4 was probably equal to Season 1. Of course Magnus is always over dramatic

I thought Season 4 of Dexter was by far and away the best season yet. Just brilliant from start to finish. Can't wait to watch the S5 premiere.

Season 2's plot mainly revolved around Doakes being suspicious about Dexter so you cant just take Doakes out of the equation and says it sucks. I think some people dislike S2 because the writers killed off one of their favorite character. Besides season 2 had higher ratings than any other seasons with the exception of the season finale of 4

Personally season 3 is the worst

With the exception of that scene between Dexter and Astor by the car I thought it was a really good premiere. And Deb was actually interesting!

While the Dexter/Lithgow stuff was great last year, the Angel/LaGuerta (spelling?) and Deb parts were equally bad. I really liked season 2, being one of the few people who thought Lyla was a good addition. I'd rank them in order 1 > 2 > 3 > 4.

It was a bit of a nothing first episode, but hopefully it'll build into something better. I expected more conflict and less of everyone giving Dexter the benefit of the doubt.

Season wise, what's everyone's beef with season 2? It's one of the best, most suspensefully plotted seasons of television I've ever seen! My season order preference goes: 2 > 4 > 1 > 3

1=4>3>2

I'd say that I don't like the kids being written out with the easy "they're off the with the grandparents" but neither of the child actors seem to have what it takes to handle the heavier stuff, so I guess it's a must. Dexter/Harrison is a good dynamic to deal with, and babies don't have to act so thank goodness for that.

The Deb/Quinn stuff doesn't bother me. It could be some setup for him looking into Dexter like some lesser Doakes only to be torn due to his relationship with Deb etc etc, but I think it could be interesting if Quinn actually found out about Dexter and what he does (and who he does it to)--only to then keep his mouth shut. I can't remember, so just shout if there were any examples, but has Quinn ever really demonstrated that he would entirely disagree with Dexter's M.O.? I mean, I know it isn't fair to equate his personally askew police code with what Dexter does, but has he ever come down hard on the side of simply "killing=bad"? I got the impression from him it was more about the injustice of what happens to the innocents of any given scenario. If there's some example that blows this whole theory out of the water that I'm blanking on, feel free to let me know.

Angel's a moron. I find his immaturity and macho-ness so, so unappealing. Maria made good points about her money, but enough of the relationship shit. Everyone doesn't need to be fucking someone and just because they are doesn't mean we care or that it's relevant. I don't watch Dexter for the relationship drama of secondary characters, but maybe I'm alone there.

I'm all for a respectful wrap-up to Rita and her life, but these first two episodes have been on the boring side. Were we supposed to be surprised that there were bodies in those barrels? I thought that was kind of assumed. Hopefully things pick up next week. I hear that's the Julia Stiles intro, so perhaps she'll jolt a bit of freshness and energy in here.

The kids would only weigh the show down. I'm glad they're gone (for the time being).

The show has always been at its best when Dex is at work, and these first two eps have been sorely lacking that. Hopefully that's gonna change soon.

I think Quinn's too much of a douche to keep his mouth shut, but we'll see. I don't want him turning into Doakes pt. 2.

The less said about Angel and LaGuerta the better. At least with them together we get one lame romantic subplot instead of two.

They really should do away with the Angel/Laguerta subplot. It definately serves no purpose for the show. It was already played out the last season

Agree about the Angel/LaGuerta relationship. Instead of the Dexter/Angel friendship, we get a boss/underling one. Yawn. It would have been interesting had they explored the Dexter/Angel relationship and given it a new plot such as Angel finding out about Dexter.

Thank goodness the kids are gone. Now the show can get back to what it does best: plotting and executing a murder of a felon.



Hmm. I think you could be on to something here. Quinn being a shady cop plus his personality might affect his thoughts about serial killer Dexter. Not to mention the on-and-off relationship with Deb. There's still the money-stealing incident that happened in season 3. It's possible the writers could use this as some sort of leverage to get Quinn to not tell anyone about Dexter. Still, they'll probably go with the relationship route with Deb and get Quinn to use her for limited info.

They need Angel to go back to being the caring/normal detective. This relationship stuff is so stupid and brings down the awesomeness of the show and his character.

It's been boring in terms of action but it's nice to see a few episodes where the action/tension isn't ramped up by 100 and explore the emotional side of things.

I was not expecting that to be Stiles' intro to the show. And I was also surprised when Fowler shot Dexter with the tranq gun. I mean, after his couple "safety first" lines I kind of thought he was going to have a gun--the regular kind--then there would be some scuffle because Dexter didn't plan ahead more and nothing would end up coming from it but perhaps more talks with Harry so I was happy with the tranq gun followed by ambulance/hospital tangent.

Quinn's secrecy about the Dexter/Kyle Butler stuff makes me think more and more what I thought already, but now with this mystery Stiles character already in-the-know about Dexter I wonder if they'd also have Quinn find out about him and not tattle. Hmmm...

I used to not be Deb's biggest fan but I enjoyed her relationship with Lundy in S2 and since last season with his return/final departure she's climbed up into co-favorite character status (with Dexter being the other, obviously) for me. Any scenes with her and Dexter always work well. Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter are a real-life couple, though, so perhaps their chemistry/love is just showing through more and more. Who knows, but I like it.

Oh, and I hope Angel gets fired. That'd actually be a really welcome change-up. He could be transferred if the writers don't want to completely destroy his life, but the idea of losing Angel and then getting a fresh detective character sounds nice at this point. It's not even that I hate his character or anything, he just doesn't really bring anything to table--he's dead weight (hehe)--and he should not be allowed to just beat the shit out of someone because they said something mean and nasty about his wife. Also, there are plenty of guys who wouldn't care if their spouse made more than they did, Angel. It isn't actually a big deal!

For some reason I got it in my head that she was going to be Dexter's nanny. I avoided everything I could about S5 before it started but one of the few things I "heard" was that Stiles first appeared in the third episode and Dexter got a nanny, so I guess I meshed the two and never looked back.

That whole bit about autoerotic mummification which I hate to say puts Dexter in the whole jump the shark category. Way too farfetched for that episode although Masuka's hand gestures explaining the situation is priceless.If theres one character that they should keep permanently other than Dexter, its Masuka

i thought the episode was fantastic. Hopefully the slow build will be worth it.

The autoerotic mummification episode was good, but there were major, major holes in it.

1) It rang completely false that the rapist was able to get a cellphone and who does he call? Not the police. He, conveniently, calls his co-conspirators and enables Dexter and Lumen to get out of the mess.

2) Dexter broke the rapist's neck. Wouldn't the coroner (I guess we are to assume there will be no autopsy for a gun shot victim) notice that the neck was broken and that was how the rapist died and not from a gunshot would? I don't think the neck breaking plays into the whole autoerotic mummification angle.

I second the Batista/Laguerta comments about their uninteresting relationship that we all know will not work.

However, I am happy that Robocop (Jesus does he look old, but that is a good thing) is on the case.

Lumen looked much better in the brunette wig.

As for yesterday's episode, I saw the informant getting shot from a mile a away. The police chief telegraphed it when he said something about LaGuerta not being good with the media anymore and when Deb complained about the informant being sent over to the murderers in the club. It was also a really short episode.

yeah it wasnt very good at all. I wouldnt say the worst season since that title belongs to season 3. Maybe its just the chemistry between Michael C Hall, Julia Stiles and Jonny Lee Miller that didnt work out too well. That didnt seem to be the problem last season when John Lithgow played so well with Michael C Hall

i enjoyed the season but it wasn't the best. I did like Julia Stiles.

1. Season 4
2. Season 1
3. Season 3
4. Season 5
5. Season 2

Is Dexter now Batman and trained in multiple fighting styles and concealment methods? The season kept building up the showdown between Dexter and Peter Weller only to have Dexter easily defeat him within 2 minutes of being captured. Then Dexter survived a car crash (that was utterly ridiculous) only to be captured and again easily defeat his capturer, this time Johnny Lee Miller, with his concealed 8 inch knife (how the hell could that be missed?).

Deb letting Dexter/Lumen go was a total cop-out unless the show is going to reveal Dexter's serial killer side to Deb sometime in the next season.

The only high note was knowing we can have another season of Batista/La Guerta fighting. Fuck them.

The bit between Quinn and Dexter was predictable, but I still liked that Dexter covered for him.

Well...what a disappointing season.

After all that stuff with Quinn they just left it at "he's suspicious of something" re: Dexter? He's been suspicious of Dexter since last season, already. Lame lame lame. Maria and Angel should go back to the S1/S2 level of exposure. Mostly they should just be supporting players to Dexter and if the writers can't find a way to have them be part of Dexter's story then those characters are no longer relevant.

I didn't like that they just shipped the kids off with the grandparents, gave Dexter a nanny for Harrison, AND he found a love interest who's in on his whole secret life. What about some kind of post-Rita breather? The fact that Lumen was played by a healthy female of breeding age Julia Stiles suggested she and Dexter would inevitably fuck, I guess, but I was hoping that wouldn't be the case (as it was quite predictable). I mean, things almost seemed better for him that Rita was murdered--and they didn't even really have Dexter acknowledge it.

It may be entirely unrelated, but thank goodness Chip Johanssen left as showrunner. Scott Buck, who's been writing with the show since S2, will take over for S6 so I hope they learn and grow from this very, very "meh" year.

For me the series stacks up as:

S1/S4
S2
S3
...
S5

My rankings of Dexter's seasons

1. Season 2 - The Bay Harbour Butcher investigation is my favorite of the season long investigations, good stuff with Lyla, Doakes, etc. All around near perfect season

2. Season 1 - Ice Truck Killer storyline is excellent, they build up the Rita bit nice and slow and make it work

3. Season 4 - Lithgow as Trinity saves the season. IMO they make the mistake starting this season of treating the cop supporting characters as characters with subplots, instead of just how Dexter sees them, people at work whom he has nothing to do with otherwise. They need to all follow Musuka's lead and just be 'there' for the show to work best, IMO

4. Season 5 - Really liked the Dexter/Lumen bit, but the problems of this season are a greater version of S4's. Just way too much other subplot stuff happening and more than that, my concern is none of it left a real mark. All the time spent on the beheading Fuentes storyline, where did it lead? Deb killing someone... and getting over it in half an episode. Laguerta being a cunt and costing Deb her job... and Deb getting her job back an episode later. Laguerta and Batista breaking down... and being fine again by the end. Quinn getting backed in a career corner... and Dexter saving him so everything is off the hook with him. They just backed off of having these storylines have meaning, ie. Deb being screwed up by killing someone, Deb not having her job, Quinn not having his job, etc.

5. Season 3 - I liked Smits' performance as Miguel, but overall the whole bit just left me a lot more cold from Dexter's perspective than any of the other seasons. I think part of it is that Dex and Miguel never actually felt like friends, as opposed to S5 where Dex and Lumen feel like they have a connection. The whole skinning case thing is also pretty damn weak, George King is easily the least interesting Big Bad of the series

I'm not crazy about a religious theme in S6 but they're going all out with the guest casting (Edward James Olmos, Colin Hanks, Mos Def).

I never posted in here because I was busy moving. Anyway, I liked 5 quite a bit. Loved the Dexter/Lumen relationship. The final episode petered out, but that's Dexter's MO. Season 4 is the only one that features a final episode that's worthy of the whole year.

Anyway:

Season 4
Season 5
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3