After Rewatching Dexter, I Realized Everyone Is Wrong About the Last 4 Seasons
This article contains mentions of sexual assault.
I’m a huge Dexter fan, having watched the original series when it first started airing back in 2006. I tell anyone who will listen that they should watch. But my recommendation always comes with a caveat; the first four seasons are the best, season four is hands-down the best one, the last four seasons aren’t great, and the series finale is one of the worst. There was a different overall tone to the back half of the series, largely because original showrunner Clyde Phillips left after Season 4. Thankfully, the show has since become a franchise with years later sequels (and a prequel) to right those wrongs, all handled by Philips, including Dexter: New Blood, Dexter: Original Sin, and Dexter: Resurrection.
However, in re-watching the original series today, almost 20 years after it originally aired, I’ve realized that I haven’t entirely been fair. The latter half of the show is not as bad as I remember. Even if some storylines don’t fit with the original tone and feel, Seasons 5 through 8 are still fantastic.
Season 5 Sets Up the Decline of Two Characters
Season 4 was the highlight of Dexter, introducing the tremendous villain Arthur Mitchell, a.k.a. Trinity Killer, portrayed beautifully by John Lithgow. It was a tough season to match, which is perhaps why Season 5 came up short in some many fans’ eyes. Lumen (Julia Stiles), however, remains one of the most unforgettable Dexter characters, a fan favorite. She’s also the only remaining character alive who not only knows without a shadow of a doubt who Dexter (Michael C. Hall) is (Harrison excepted), but has also seen him kill, even participated in it with him. Fans weren’t quite ready at the time to see Dexter with a protégé, and it seemed all too much like a repeat of the Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits) storyline from Season 3.
Nonetheless, watching it back, the acting was superb. Lumen is believable as a woman who was brutally tortured and raped, seeking revenge on her captors. The story is far-fetched, but watching Dexter try to remain one step ahead of his colleagues to stop them from finding out the truth so he can take care of the perpetrators himself is exciting. Further, seeing him lose Lumen marks a change in Dexter: he realizes that despite his efforts, he really is doomed to be alone with his Dark Passenger. However, it also strengthens his bond with his son, because, at least for now, Harrison is all he has.
The moment when Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) finds Dexter and Lumen, but they’re behind a white sheet, so she can’t tell who they are, is unbelievable. In hindsight, however, it makes sense. She went through a lot with Brian Moser (Christian Camargo), a.k.a. Rudy, a.k.a. the Ice Truck Killer. Having to watch a video of the women being tortured and raped over and over again, of course, she would let these vigilantes go and feel a sense of kinship with this mysterious female victim and the unknown man helping her. What’s more, the fact that Debra figured out what was going on long before anyone else at Miami Metro did, yet no one would listen to her theory, solidified Debra’s character as an immensely talented detective. This only made her eventual fall from grace even more heartbreaking.
Season 6 Takes Dexter on a Journey of the Divine
Season 6 is heavily angled towards religious themes with the Doomsday Killer at the center. But there’s a separate story going on whereby Dexter meets and befriends Brother Sam (Mos Def), a reformed criminal (and murderer) who has found God and tries to help Dexter see his light, too. It seems cliché, which is why the season is likely remembered as being corny. It is, in many ways, with Colin Hanks playing Travis Marshall, a sadistic killer who follows the lead of his former professor. He’s the darker mirror to Dexter, Travis’ ghost guide a man who urges Travis to rid the world of horrible people and prepare for the end of days. He’s different but also slightly similar to Dexter’s guide, Harry (James Remar), who tries to channel his urges in a different way.
What fans really didn’t like about Season 6 was the storyline involving Debra realizing that she’s romantically in love with her brother. It crossed a line no one wanted to see crossed. However, it was necessary to justify why Debra didn’t turn her adoptive brother in immediately after discovering who he was and what he did. Still, Debra was already the type of sister who would likely have followed in her father’s footsteps and protected Dexter anyway.
That major storyline blunder aside, the season is both entertaining and layered. A highlight is when Dexter viciously kills someone who does meet The Code, but that he promised Brother Sam he would spare, causing Brian to appear a manifestation of Dexter’s Dark Passenger. As the pair go on a road trip, fans see Dexter in a way they never have before —a version of the person Dexter might have become had it not been for The Code.
Season 7 Marks a Massive Turning Point
That explosive Season 6 finale, when Debra catches Dexter in the act, had fans on the edge of their seats waiting to learn what happens next. Her undying devotion to her brother is tested by her equally steadfast dedication to her job. While it’s clear right from the get-go that Debra knows there’s more to the story than Dexter is telling, Carpenter beautifully showcases the inner torment as she tries to convince herself that it’s not what it seems.
Meanwhile, Hall does a fantastic job grappling with the idea that the one person he feels any semblance of love for is a risk to his safety, making fans wonder if he might do the unthinkable and kill his own sister. The season’s victims, meanwhile, are exciting. The episode with Ray Speltzer (Matt Gerald), also known as the Minotaur Slayer, chasing him through his epic kill maze while dressed as a bull with an axe, was epic. In fact, Speltzer’s eventual death is one of Dexter’s best kills on the show.
The cat-and-mouse game that shifts to include Detective Maria LaGuerta (Lauren Luna Velez) creates a new sense of urgency. The moment Maria finds the partial blood side in the church on the scene of Travis’ supposed death by suicide creates a weight far heavier than when Sergeant James Doakes was on Dexter’s tail. Maria is cold, calculated, manipulative, and resourceful, the type of person who will dot all her “Is” and cross all her “Ts” before she makes a move. There was no doubt from that moment that Maria would discover who Dexter really was, which made fans anticipate her pending death before it even happened.
Meanwhile, Dexter’s interactions with Isaac Sirko (Ray Stevenson), one of the scariest Dexter villains, added another dimension to his understanding of himself. Dexter was confused by the respect he developed for Isaac, even going out of his way to ensure Isaac got his final wish in death to be buried at sea with his love. It was an empathic side of Dexter fans hadn’t seen often, and one that has re-emerged in the sequel series Dexter: Resurrection.
The season might have taken the story in a direction no one ever wanted to see, with Debra finally learning who and what her brother was. There’s also the first real and enduring romance with Hannah (Yvonne Strahovski), a femme fatale type with her own darkness who accepts Dexter for who he is and becomes pivotal to his future storyline. But the story is far more compelling than remembered. Most importantly, the events in Season 7 set the story up for the show’s eventual end.
Season 8 Gives Dexter Time to Reflect
The acting is outstanding in this season; it’s a travesty that Carpenter didn’t earn an Emmy for her performance. The introduction of Dr. Evelyn Vogel (Charlotte Rampling) was a plot twist that changed the entire series, causing the story to take weird turns, as did the introduction of Dexter’s potential (and short-lived) young apprentice Zach (Sam Underwood). But there’s also a realness to the season.
Rather than have Debra dust herself off after the murder of Maria, the season shows her sad descent into a self-sabotaging, dangerous lifestyle, one that eventually gets her killed. There’s no happy ending, no redemption. Debra just becomes yet another innocent victim of her brother’s actions. That reality hits hard but is also fittingly poetic.
The season explores the deeper relationship between Dexter and Debra, Dexter finally recognizing that he doesn’t know who he is without Debra. Dr. Vogel further helps him tap into his feelings of “love” for his sister, an emotion that psychopaths typically don’t have, and that fascinates her about him. She makes him understand that his feelings of love for Debra aren’t selfless; they’re simply about what she can do for him. It’s an interesting way to explain why Dexter, an obvious psychopath, doesn’t necessarily fit all the characteristics like others do.
Dexter is Worth Watching All the Way Through
Overall, there’s no denying that Seasons 1 through 4 of Dexter are the best of the series. I had often recalled Seasons 5 through 8 as being expendable, only marginally driving the story forward in a meaningful way (major character deaths excepted). But in re-watching them 12-15 years later, I realize I was much harder on the seasons than they deserved.
Dexter remains one of the best TV shows to have graced the small screen in the last 20 years. The incredibly positive reception to the sequel series Dexter: Resurrection proves that there’s still an appetite for the vigilante killer. Yes, Phillips had to right the wrongs of a story that veered off course with Dexter: New Blood. But it wasn’t all wrong. I implore you to re-watch Dexter. You’ll enjoy the entire series from start to finish. The original ending is still awful. But the journey to get there through even the back half of the series is unquestionably brilliant and deserves more credit than I had been giving it all these years.
