Current Events > Is Dexter any good? Should I watch it?

(+) Yeah! (+)

And so the killer turns out to be the incredibly obvious sinister creepy guy who everyone was ignoring for no reason the entire time that show implied was the killer every 4 seconds...

I was so so so hoping that was a misdirect. This is dumb.

Is this my fault? I kinda assumed the show was going to be intelligent but seems more fun if you view it as a "Switch your brain off and just enjoy trash TV" kinda thing like Mortal Kombat Conquest.

It has some great lines but the characters and plots are all so 2D and silly. Literally everyone on the show is an idiot with only 1 personality trait doing nonsensical things.

Is it like TNG? Does it pick up after Season 1?
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People really hated S3 but I liked that season.

The first 4 seasons are must watches though that's for sure. Even S5/6/7 have their own moments here and there despite progressively dropping in quality.

S8 is just awful. There's no amount for preparing how bad it is. I could only stomach like the first 3 episodes and had to read what happened in the end.

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*Travels to Dexter's dad's house to be there all weekend uninvited*

5 minutes later

"I want nothing to do with this guy!" ;_;

Fucking wat....This is some serious shoe horned in drama. Why the fuck would she even care?
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First 3 seasons were great

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People still compare Dexter to Game of Thrones when arguing about which was worse at the end.

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If you don't like season 1 you may as well quit watching. Season 1 is the second- or third-best season.

Season 1: 9/10
Season 2: 8/10
Season 3: 6/10
Season 4: 10/10
Season 5: 7/10
Season 6: 4/10
Season 7: 7/10
Season 8 (excluding last two episodes): 5/10
Last two episodes: 2/10

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jumi posted...

If you don't like season 1 you may as well quit watching. Season 1 is the second- or third-best season.

Season 1: 9/10

oh boy
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"My ex-husband who beats and rapes me and I have a restraining order against broke into my house and tried to rape me so I hit him with a bat and now he's pressing charges agaisnt me."

That doesn't make any sense... The police would rung that out inside an afternoon.
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"Well he has injuries and you don't. That means the court will be on his side, so you have to give him visitation rights to the children."

WHAT

This is the dumbest shit.

Did they fucking FORGET that this guy has a restraining order? And right now they would not let him near the kids during this shit.

No wonder this is set in Florida, every single person acts like Florida man.
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4 really good seasons to start, and then a descent into horse**** for the last 4 seasons.

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I watched most of season 1, found it enjoyable enough, but just dropped it for some reason, guess I was more interested in better shows at the time

I'm tempted to start rewatching again, part of me actually wants to watch the whole thing purely out of curiosity of the finale being THAT bad

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There is a little suspension of disbelief required

For example, the Miami PD would have easily caught on to Dexter's act years ago

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Tired-Insomniac posted...

There is a little suspension of disbelief required

For example, the Miami PD would have easily caught on to Dexter's act years ago

NO SHIT!

There's that line in the pilot, something like "A room full of expert veteran cops and psychologists who are great at reading people and Doakes is the only one who ever was suspicious of me... Funny that..."

And it's like "Yeah.... Why the fuck hasn't anyone else noticed? You're a massive fucking weirdo who acts really creepy ALL the time, everyone would be suspicious of you."

It's so dumb.... The show is so dumb.

I'm actually enjoying it more now I've accepted that but for some reason I assumed the show was smart due to it's following and rating. But it feels like a small childrens show just with adult content in it.
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It also didn't help that Dexter was up against Breaking Bad on Sunday nights. On the one hand you're seeing great stuff. On the other, a trainwreck is unfolding. Both finales were a week apart.

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UnfairRepresent posted...

NO SHIT!

There's that line in the pilot, something like "A room full of expert veteran cops and psychologists who are great at reading people and Doakes is the only one who ever was suspicious of me... Funny that..."

And it's like "Yeah.... Why the fuck hasn't anyone else noticed? You're a massive fucking weirdo who acts really creepy ALL the time, everyone would be suspicious of you."

It's so dumb.... The show is so dumb.

I'm actually enjoying it more now I've accepted that but for some reason I assumed the show was smart due to it's following and rating. But it feels like a small childrens show just with adult content in it.

Personally I do enjoy the first season but the second is my favorite in the series.

I'd probably go with 2 > 4 > 1 > 3 > 6 > 5 > 7,8. I don't remember 7 and 8 enough to rank them properly so they're tied for last.

Edit: though to be fair I haven't watched the series in a couple of years. Might do a rewatch soon


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I mean, one of the running...themes?...in the books is that Dexter claims to be some highly proficient killing machine but only escapes most situations due to pure dumb luck and other people's stupidity.

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tommybel89 posted...

It also didn't help that Dexter was up against Breaking Bad on Sunday nights. On the one hand you're seeing great stuff. On the other, a trainwreck is unfolding. Both finales were a week apart.

Breaking Bad is amazing.

I haven't seen the finale of Dexter obviously but the writing/characters of Breaking Bad are 4 leagues above S1 of Dexter IMO and people are telling me it's down hill from here.

Even Season 5 of Breaking Bad is better than this. Marie is more complicated than any character in this show, freaking Marie.
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First 4 seasons are decent to great, then it falls off hard. You can watch the first episode of S5 and then skip to the last episode of S6 and you're literally caught up with anything meaningful.
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If you like upscale, trashy TV programming, it'll be your jam. But don't expect anything really great after season 1.

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Its kind of the same thing every season. I enjoyed it for the first 4 season but season 5 was terrible and I gave up on the show halfway through that season. I looked up spoilers for the series finale after that and its laughably bad
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I haven't watched a second of Dexter since the finale. In hindsight it probably is "trash TV". Similar to True Blood around that time. Breaking Bad was on another level entirely. And even THAT has some really stupid s*** in it.

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tommybel89 posted...

I haven't watched a second of Dexter since the finale. In hindsight it probably is "trash TV". Similar to True Blood around that time. Breaking Bad was on another level entirely. And even THAT has some really stupid s*** in it.

What's hilarious Better Call Saul (A great show BTW) has dedicated a considerable amount of screen time to trying to make the stupid shit in Breaking Bad less stupid.

I think Vince Gilligan was embarrased about it lol
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UnfairRepresent posted...

What's hilarious Better Call Saul (A great show BTW) has dedicated a considerable amount of screen time to trying to make the stupid shit in Breaking Bad less stupid.

I think Vince Gilligan was embarrased about it lol

Can you elaborate on that? (I haven't watched half of BCS S5 so don't worry if it involves those episodes)

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Joenage posted...

Can you elaborate on that? (I haven't watched half of BCS S5 so don't worry if it involves those episodes)

Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul Spoilers:

Mike dedicating his life to his granddaughter and having friends in the police force who he trusts to make up for abandoning her in a playpark and running off like a wuss. Something the actor absolutely loathed because it made no sense.

Entire seasons dedicated to why Gus had a James Bond superlab in his pants and how it was built

There's more too but those are the big ones off my head. There's a lot of shirt tugging and "Yeah about that... actually ..." in BCS
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Doakes just said the thing!

"Surprise motherfucker!" was the only thing I knew about Dexter before going into it. Other than the premise I mean
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Spoilers, in case TC doesnt want to be spoiled:

Its really a shame they killed Doakes off so relatively early into the show. He could have easily been the Hank to Dexter's Walt but with the added twist that Doakes always suspected Dexter instead of being oblivious.

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I know it would make people sad but if this show had balls he would have killed his sister

That would be interesting

Every time they try to make Dexter heroic or sympathetic the show falls apart.
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Something to be made aware of is how the first season tries to follow the book, but eventually drops it. This is especially true with Laguerta who has a crush on Dexter which just vanishes at one point.

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So_Hajile posted...

Something to be made aware of is how the first season tries to follow the book, but eventually drops it. This is especially true with Laguerta who has a crush on Dexter which just vanishes at one point.

lol yeah I noticed that.

Laguerta's entire character is all over the place. She loves Dexter, hates his sister, is in a rivalry with the chief of the police....and it's all dropped
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Little Chino is a hunk
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Hell yeah doakes is great

Youll notice the production quality gets better as it goes on

im waiting to see what you think of a particular scene but youre not there yet

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Doakes is probably my favorite character for the pure reason that he's the only person in the show who appears to be in posession of half a brain.
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Holy shit. He bled that much from a skinny girl's backhand?

Dexter's sister is Mike Tyson
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UnfairRepresent posted...

Doakes is probably my favorite character for the pure reason that he's the only person in the show who appears to be in posession of half a brain.

Yes, it was quite the... surprise.

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Dexter writers... A cop pulling a gun on a little kids' face and screaming at him isn't an "opps guess things are hard." moment it's a "This person cannot be a cop and needs mental help/prison" moment...

I would say this dated badly but even at the time this is insane. They're acting like she kicked a puppy. She didn't she put a gun in a little kid's face
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For a sociopath, Dexter is awful at lying
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I feel like Lila is supposed to be attractive but she's not...

She looks like she got hit with a greasy frying pan and sounds like someone doing a really bad Harry Potter impression.

It's like a dollar store Elizabeth Hurley, Jessie's girlfriend in breaking bad was hotter
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UnfairRepresent posted...

For a sociopath, Dexter is awful at lying

He's really not. He just pretends to not care about things.
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UnfairRepresent posted...

Laguerta's entire character is all over the place. She loves Dexter, hates his sister, is in a rivalry with the chief of the police....and it's all dropped

Like the other guy said, it's because Laguerta was based more on her book character in S1. From what I've read in plot summaries, book Laguerta is a manipulative bitch who mostly just cares about office politics rather than actual police work.

Of course, the biggest difference between the two of them is that she dies in the first book.

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LOL @ that cartoon Tom and Jerry "Splat" sound effect when Dexter headbutted Doakes.

Was Doakes covered in custard or something?
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Dexter's sister loves 60 year old FBI guy because he reminds her of his dad is a fucking weird as fuck storyline

Is there anything in this show about Dexter's Sister that doesn't revolve around her vagina?
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UnfairRepresent posted...

Is there anything in this show about Dexter's Sister that doesn't revolve around her vagina?

The only one off the top of my head is season five.

But season five has perhaps the most egregious example of her character revolving around sex.

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So Doakes found the blood

I want to see his reaction when he saw the one with a the smiley face in it
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I take back what I said about Doakes having half a brain

They are all idiots
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UnfairRepresent posted...

Dexter's sister loves 60 year old FBI guy because he reminds her of his dad is a fucking weird as fuck storyline

Wait'll you see what she does later.
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Phantom_Nook posted...

Wait'll you see what she does later.

I'm sure she'll be fucking corpses and horses by season 7
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It's a dumb show that starts out with a lead who seems mercurial and interesting until you slowly realize it is all an emperor without clothes, and by the end it's a dumpster fire.

Some people might find some entertainment in that, but it's not "good".

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I'm glad they finally realized Harry was evil and stupid.

Although I'm not sure how "he was so horrified by what I became that he killed himself!" matches up to when his dad was begging him to kill Tasha Ya less than year before he died.

But I'd take the retcon on the chin since Harry was a monster and it was sick that the show as pretending he wasn't
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It took Doakes at least 2 days inside a tiny cell to consider the plan of kicking the door....

I'm not a special ops vet with years of police and military training and I would have tried that inside 14 seconds

At this point all the people Dexter kills deserve it. Not because they are evil or anything but because they are all so stupid
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