Dexter Season 5 sucks

[Strider77]

I didn't like Lila either, but I liked Doakes being on his ass and that he found out Dexter ect. It was that boiling point at the end that was a lot of fun to watch. That and the reward of Lila getting hers in the last few minutes of the season.

[StarCreator]

So I was reading more stuff about the series and was reminded something else about season 5 that I couldn't figure out: who are the "grandparents" Astor and Cody are staying with for most of the season? They can't be staying with Dexter's adoptive parents (both dead), and they're probably not staying with Rita's mother (wasn't she living in Michigan or something?). This bugged me every time it came up.

The only conclusion I can come up with that makes sense is that they were staying with Paul's mother and father, but Paul's family has never been mentioned before now and it seems a little strange they would want anything to do with him after everything he did.

EDIT: Wikipedia claims they are indeed Paul's parents, who were shoehorned into the story at the end of season 4.

[t0yrobo]

I thought it was on par with Season 4, which was arguably the best.

S1>S5>S2>S3>S4

This may be down to the number of times I've watched 3rd Rock From The Sun - John Lithgow simply cannot perform menacing for me.

EDIT: Also, Dexters character becoming soft didn't gel with me. I understand the need to humanise him for mass consumption, but it deviated too far from the "fake human" he's supposed to be.

I'm always glad to see other people that though S4 blew. I think the shows been on a pretty steady decline since the first season, but I liked that they got rid of Rita (she wasn't doing much anyways) and changed up the formula for S5.

[burgerkingdiamond]

I thought it was on par with Season 4, which was arguably the best.

S1>S5>S2>S3>S4

This may be down to the number of times I've watched 3rd Rock From The Sun - John Lithgow simply cannot perform menacing for me.

EDIT: Also, Dexters character becoming soft didn't gel with me. I understand the need to humanise him for mass consumption, but it deviated too far from the "fake human" he's supposed to be.

I'm always glad to see other people that though S4 blew. I think the shows been on a pretty steady decline since the first season, but I liked that they got rid of Rita (she wasn't doing much anyways) and changed up the formula for S5.

you really thought season 4 sucked? It was my favorite, however it was approaching the point of ridiculous with all the stuff that Dexter was juggling. But I thought the Trinity storyline was interesting and tense. I hardly felt any suspense this season. Did anybody else notice how bad the acting was in the nightclub scene when I the one hispanic dude found the gun in the undercover chicks' skirt and the other one jumped up and started shooting? I think he said something like "shoot the bitch (puta? I don't remember the exact line). I don't know why that scene has stuck with me, I actually rewatched it like 3 times because it struck me as so bad.

I do miss Doakes, as somebody else mentioned. That was a pretty tense storyline as well.

Also, as for Lila. Yeah she was a bitch, but god damn I loved those nude scenes. She was super hot if you ask me, and I like the accent. She reminded me of the chick from Weird Science, and also Elizabeth Hurley.

[BryanM]

There's nothing to fear - Cyber Doakes will come and rescue Season 7. That's when the shit'll get real.

[burgerkingdiamond]

There's nothing to fear - Cyber Doakes will come and rescue Season 7. That's when the shit'll get real.

fuck yeah CyberDoakes

[brentsg]

Dexter is one of those shows that benefits from viewing each episode while it's fresh as it airs weekly. If you crack through them on DVD it kind of mucks it up I think, kind of like 24 back in the day when it was still good.

[BryanM]

I cranked through the first two seasons in two days.

You know how The Media says that media will warp and distort your fragile little mind? I guess it's kind of true. By the end of it I had strange invasive thoughts like "serial killer = hero" But it took like nonstop brainwashing to do it, and then it wore off completely in a few days.

It bothers me how profound the brainwashing effect the propaganda and memes on TV have on our mental health is. Children are exposed to stuff like romance movies has to fuck them up for life.

Also: Just getting through Albert Fish's wikipedia article is pretty tough. The writers are all like "here's an example of some of the fucked up things he wrote just because". And it is so fucked up.

[burgerkingdiamond]

I cranked through the first two seasons in two days.

You know how The Media says that media will warp and distort your fragile little mind? I guess it's kind of true. By the end of it I had strange invasive thoughts like "serial killer = hero" But it took like nonstop brainwashing to do it, and then it wore off completely in a few days.

It bothers me how profound the brainwashing effect the propaganda and memes on TV have on our mental health is. Children are exposed to stuff like romance movies has to fuck them up for life.

Also: Just getting through Albert Fish's wikipedia article is pretty tough. The writers are all like "here's an example of some of the fucked up things he wrote just because". And it is so fucked up.

Yeah I did about the same thing with the first two seasons. Instant Streaming on Netflix is pretty sweet.. And it's hard not to root for dexter when he's killing pedophiles, rapists and murderers. I don't think it takes any brainwashing. As for Albert Fish.. I have some interest in serial killers. It's impossible, yet fascinating to try and understand what makes some people so evil. I've read some about Albert Fish and he really was fucked up beyond comprehension. I can't think of any other killer I've read about that was more of a sado-masochist.

[Rosse]

I was very dissapointed with s5 at first (I watched the whole of it yesterday, have been ill ), but I think it picked up towards the second half. I'm soo glad to have Rita out of the picture, I never liked her or any of the family stuff. Anyway, I don't think any of the seasons are as good as the first, but it's still pretty watchable.

I think I know why some of you may not have liked it. I don't think there were any nude boobs this season, at all. Woe!

[emphatic]

I don't miss Lila one ti.. eh, bit. And the best part of the whole Rita business in season one was the awkwardness and her ex.

[brentsg]

Rita had a lot of wasted potential. They pretty much wasted that.

Also, S4>S*

[GaijinPunch]

There was a nice side view of one of her cans. So not totally wasted. I liked her better when she was a psychological wreck. She played that part quite well. Did anyone else notice that the case worker that came to see her after her ex assaulted her was Theo Huxtable?

[brentsg]

What about LuGuerta.. and her relationship with Batista in S5? I know they let that kind of fall off toward the end, but damn.. Didn't anyone want Dexter to strap her down on the table?

[Strider77]

What about LuGuerta.. and her relationship with Batista in S5? I know they let that kind of fall off toward the end, but damn.. Didn't anyone want Dexter to strap her down on the table?

Her throwing Deb under the bus labeled her as a big ol' bitch in my eyes. She sorta smoothed things out a tad at the end but she was a grade A cunt for doing that.

[emphatic]

Her throwing Deb under the bus labeled her as a big ol' bitch in my eyes. She sorta smoothed things out a tad at the end but she was a grade A cunt for doing that.

Typical "women in the workplace" ethics. A guy would never do that, surely.

[GaijinPunch]

Apparently she smokes a mean pole though. We have to give her points for that.

[burgerkingdiamond]

Apparently she smokes a mean pole though. We have to give her points for that.

haha. I think I might remember Theo being an episode, but they start to blend together. I don't remember so many specifics from past seasons. Did you notice that Liddy from season 5 was the dude who played Robocob?

[neorichieb1971]

why are there no breasts in Dexter? All the women in the show are flat chested. I am guessing its like that by design because its unnatural to have so many main roles being played by flat chested women.

[emphatic]

why are there no breasts in Dexter? All the women in the show are flat chested. I am guessing its like that by design because its unnatural to have so many main roles being played by flat chested women.

Well if you checked out Rita in season 4, you'd notice how much bigger her "sweater bunnies" has gotten recently. I think she thought it was time to go FULL HD on them. For further proof, check out her appearance on last season of Desperate Housewives, or that family show with the super powers.

[Mischief Maker]

I quit shortly into Season 3. In retrospect the whole problem started in season 2, but that season's A plot kept me distracted. Season 3's blah A plot let the decay shine through.

The thing that I loved about Season 1 was that it was blatantly clear that Dexter was insane. As in really creepy and unpredictable insane. Emotions and personal connections were just a big act for him, he chose his GF in the hopes that her rape-survivor status would minimize sex in the relationship, a relationship he kept up purely for appearance. When his "best friend" Angel got stabbed, he had no emotional reaction. The only time he was truly emotional and happy -and the only times he got sexually aroused- was when he was visiting grisly murder scenes and living them out vicariously. When he did kill his victims, he didn't just kill them, he tortured them for hours with a dentist's faceplate to block the blood spatter. It was very very difficult to root for Dexter because the show kept giving you these did he? false scares like when the neighbor's yappy dog disappeared. It made for a compellingly disturbing show because the antihero really lived up to the "anti" and the audience is constantly thinking, "how long is he going to keep doing the right thing for the wrong reasons?"

The really big shocker was at the very end of season 1 where he said in voiceover that Harry betrayed him. In the movie "Manhunt" the serial killer makes an attempt at being a normal person. He takes out a blind woman from work and the date goes really well. The audience begins to take the vain hope that he could be redeemed. (This was handled with all the subtlety of a fog horn in Red Dragon) Then he sees her getting driven home from work by another male coworker, completely blows an innocent gesture out of proportion, then kidnaps his girlfriend and prepares to make her his next victim, a scene that's all the more horrifying because it's heartbreaking at the same time. In Dexter, I was half-expecting the antihero to start straying from the code and killing innocent people after he decided that Harry keeping a huge secret from him was a "betrayal."

Then season 2 comes along and Dexter suddenly stops being a violent sociopath. He feels guilty for leaving Rita and the kids for Lila and comes back for the little boy's sake. He suddenly has a normal sex drive with Rita, no grisly murder scenes necessary. He's angry at Lila for doing mean things to his friend Angel. He struggles with his conscience as he sets up Doakes to take the fall. His reason for killing his victims seems to switch from a violent compulsion to a righteous avenging anger. He no longer tortures his victims, he just stabs them in the heart so that the audience doesn't think there's anything icky about rooting for a serial killer. Again, the A plot was exciting enough to distract me from this, but wouldn't it have been a million times creepier if he killed Lila just because her murder of Doakes made her fit Dexter's code and without the excuse of her trying to kill Rita's kids?

Finally season 3's A plot is boring and I swear to God the B plot seems to be about Dexter learning to believe in himself and get the self-confidence to become a father. Cripes, why not add a CGI jimminy cricket while you're at it? I HATE fiction that uses an antihero for added "edginess" tension, but at the same time gives the audience rooting for the antihero an "out" by providing an excuse that morally absolves the antihero. My interest in the show ended abruptly when he (bloodlessly) killed a pedophile eying Rita's daughter and growled, "nobody hurts my family!"

[burgerkingdiamond]

I quit shortly into Season 3. In retrospect the whole problem started in season 2, but that season's A plot kept me distracted. Season 3's blah A plot let the decay shine through.

The thing that I loved about Season 1 was that it was blatantly clear that Dexter was insane. As in really creepy and unpredictable insane. Emotions and personal connections were just a big act for him, he chose his GF in the hopes that her rape-survivor status would minimize sex in the relationship, a relationship he kept up purely for appearance. When his "best friend" Angel got stabbed, he had no emotional reaction. The only time he was truly emotional and happy -and the only times he got sexually aroused- was when he was visiting grisly murder scenes and living them out vicariously. When he did kill his victims, he didn't just kill them, he tortured them for hours with a dentist's faceplate to block the blood spatter. It was very very difficult to root for Dexter because the show kept giving you these did he? false scares like when the neighbor's yappy dog disappeared. It made for a compellingly disturbing show because the antihero really lived up to the "anti" and the audience is constantly thinking, "how long is he going to keep doing the right thing for the wrong reasons?"

The really big shocker was at the very end of season 1 where he said in voiceover that Harry betrayed him. In the movie "Manhunt" the serial killer makes an attempt at being a normal person. He takes out a blind woman from work and the date goes really well. The audience begins to take the vain hope that he could be redeemed. (This was handled with all the subtlety of a fog horn in Red Dragon) Then he sees her getting driven home from work by another male coworker, completely blows an innocent gesture out of proportion, then kidnaps his girlfriend and prepares to make her his next victim, a scene that's all the more horrifying because it's heartbreaking at the same time. In Dexter, I was half-expecting the antihero to start straying from the code and killing innocent people after he decided that Harry keeping a huge secret from him was a "betrayal."

Then season 2 comes along and Dexter suddenly stops being a violent sociopath. He feels guilty for leaving Rita and the kids for Lila and comes back for the little boy's sake. He suddenly has a normal sex drive with Rita, no grisly murder scenes necessary. He's angry at Lila for doing mean things to his friend Angel. He struggles with his conscience as he sets up Doakes to take the fall. His reason for killing his victims seems to switch from a violent compulsion to a righteous avenging anger. He no longer tortures his victims, he just stabs them in the heart so that the audience doesn't think there's anything icky about rooting for a serial killer. Again, the A plot was exciting enough to distract me from this, but wouldn't it have been a million times creepier if he killed Lila just because her murder of Doakes made her fit Dexter's code and without the excuse of her trying to kill Rita's kids?

Finally season 3's A plot is boring and I swear to God the B plot seems to be about Dexter learning to believe in himself and get the self-confidence to become a father. Cripes, why not add a CGI jimminy cricket while you're at it? I HATE fiction that uses an antihero for added "edginess" tension, but at the same time gives the audience rooting for the antihero an "out" by providing an excuse that morally absolves the antihero. My interest in the show ended abruptly when he (bloodlessly) killed a pedophile eying Rita's daughter and growled, "nobody hurts my family!"

I agree that the show as taken a big turn for the worse with the whole family thing. It's gone too far. I don't remember Dexter being very sadistic though in the first season. Maybe I need to watch it again. The way I remember it is that he has this compulsion to kill, although not necessarily to torture. There's a difference. For instance on the sadistic side would be Albert Fish and the other end would be someone like Ed Gain or Jeffrey Dahmer. I guess I think Dexter would fall somewhere in between. Anyway it is just a TV show after all. I really hope that they do better next season.

BTW, I don't know if this is true. I haven't bothered to look it up. But my room mate told me that Michael C Hall cheated on his wife (Deb, I can't think of her real name) with Julia Stiles. Can anyone confirm? If so I think he screwed up. Deb's hotter.

[burgerkingdiamond]

I wonder if Manhunt is on Netflix instant streaming. I remember wanting to check it out and I never did.

[Mischief Maker]

I don't remember Dexter being very sadistic though in the first season. Maybe I need to watch it again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPORpnPPnDY#t=5m45s

I wonder if Manhunt is on Netflix instant streaming. I remember wanting to check it out and I never did.

Be warned that Manhunt has a serious burning itching case of the 80s circa Miami Vice. That said, it was a million times better than Red Dragon.

[neorichieb1971]

I think Mischief maker is upset that too much is content is now on blatent display. You don't need to think too much yourself because seasons 2 onwards started to unearth the worm to the surface. Alot of mystery went out the window and Dexter got a bit soft. In the shows defense half of what Mischief maker would have liked to have seen would have been slightly more taboo than it already was in S1.

The way things stand after S5 you can pretty much expect what S6 will serve up without really watching it. The cat and mouse games, the love interest, the family and the father baby sitter all wrapped in sadistic murder hunting. Its not bad, but it shouldn't just drone along.

[burgerkingdiamond]

I don't remember Dexter being very sadistic though in the first season. Maybe I need to watch it again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPORpnPPnDY#t=5m45s

I wonder if Manhunt is on Netflix instant streaming. I remember wanting to check it out and I never did.

Be warned that Manhunt has a serious burning itching case of the 80s circa Miami Vice. That said, it was a million times better than Red Dragon.

well I definitely didn't remember Dexter sawing into somebody's throat with a power saw! I stand corrected. Btw, I didn't know you could link someone to a YouTube video at a specific time. How do you do it?

[GaijinPunch]

The way things stand after S5 you can pretty much expect what S6 will serve up without really watching it. The cat and mouse games, the love interest, the family and the father baby sitter all wrapped in sadistic murder hunting. Its not bad, but it shouldn't just drone along.

As a father with almost no time, I actually like the turn it has taken. He has a primal urge... but also responsibilities. As for him softening up... well... people mature. People get jobs. People get busy. People have family flake on them. It's all part of life and the show is trying to reflect that. The Sopranos was the same thing but nobody cried foul. The show was about the day to day life of a guy/family who just happened to be a mobster.

[scrage]

I thought S4 was excellent! I loved John Lithgow as the Trinity Killer.

But yeah, S5 did have a rather anticlimactic ending. Still, I suppose there's still Burn Notice... \m/

[Mischief Maker]

My problem isn't Dexter "softening up," my problem is that from season 2 onward, Dexter became a completely different character. The only difference between Dexter and the Ice Truck killer was Harry's code. The smiley guy bringing everyone donuts at work was just a facade. That moment at the end of the opening credits, where he's put on his shirt and just gives the screen this cold sociopath stare, that's the real Dexter showing through just for a moment before puts on the mask and smiles at his neighbor. It was originally really scary that Dexter got along so well with Rita's kids. Rooting for Dexter because Harry's code happened to point him in a direction beneficial to society was like sympathizing with Malcolm McDowell's character in "A Clockwork Orange." What does it say about you, the audience member?

Unfortunately quite a bit, because from Season 2 onward he was changed to match the facade. Letting the audience root for him and feel 100% justified was an incredible cop-out and pulled the show's teeth. Instead of a dangerous sociopath conditioned to act friendly, he became a friendly guy with a compulsion to kill evildoers. In other words, one of the most interesting, morally complex, and edgy shows on TV turned into a straight-faced version of "The Toxic Avenger."