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Just finished watching the whole series, some thoughts:
SPLOILERS BELOW:
-Miami is the serial killer capital of the world. How does this city get by when serial killing is so common?
-Dexter always seems to get caught by the season's main villain, but all he ever has to do is wiggle his way out of the ropes. This is lazy writing. It's much better when he outwits his opponents instead of just getting lucky.
-I guess a lot of people disliked Lumen, but I thought she was fine. Dexter and Lumen's relationship felt a lot more plausible than Dexter and Hannah. I never bought the chemistry between Dexter and Hannah.
-Debra really grew on me as the seasons progressed. She was a bit annoying for the first few seasons as the sassy cop sister, but eventually her character fell into place. So much so that she becomes a major reason to watch the show. The last show of the seventh season was heartbreaking and the series finale was devastating. Her character really goes through hell and back.. and hell and back.. and hell and back...
-The original finale which implied Dexter had died would have been better than Showtime's forced 'lumberjack' tacked-on ending. I see the show as Dexter having died since that was the creator's intent.
-What's kinda funny is Elway must have ended up believing that Dexter and Hannah made their escape and lived happily ever after. He would have seen the boat accident as staged.
-as with almost every show and movie, the computer 'hacking' is pretty laughable and unconvincing. Again, lazy writing.
-The best 'season' villain was easily the Ice Truck Killer, but I didn't think any of the season villains were bad. If I had to rank them, I would put them in this order:
1: Ice Truck Killer (season 1), by far the best. In the series, the villains are never simply the foe that Dexter has to overcome, but a functioning murderer that forces Dexter to confront some aspect of himself and grow. Brian Moser was not only the series most gruesome and creative killer, he was also the most formidable, the most intelligent, the most threatening, and also the one that induces the greatest change in Dexter as a person. Moser as a villain also had the best natural symmetry to Dexter as a part of the story.
2: Miguel Prado (season 3), Amazing performance by Jimmy Smits, the best I have seen by him. An intimidating and complex and occasionally sympathetic villain, terrifically captured by Smits. A lot of great moments between Dexter and Prado. One of the series' most plausible villains.
3: Trinity Killer (season 4), Fantastically portrayed by Lithgow. A very scary killer, like Prado complex but much less sympathetic, a fully realized human monster. One of Lithgow's best roles. He generates a lot of tension, and even when he is not in the scene his presence is felt. He does more to develop Dexter as a character than any other antagonist except Moser, and that doesn't even include his last shocking murder, which was a hell of a series cliffhanger.
4: Isaac Sirko (season 7), Sirko had some great moments, particularly the Colombian bar. A very intimidating antagonist for Dexter for awhile, but definitely lessened as a threat in the last few episodes of this season, much to that season's disadvantage. A good physical performance by Stevenson, although I couldn't tell whether the character was supposed to have a native Ukrainian accent or English accent, it seemed to change from scene to scene. A good antagonist but I think the role could have been written into this season a bit better.
5: Oliver Saxon (season 8), A pretty scary and capable killer. Great crazy eyes from Darri Ingolfsson. This season should have had more cat and mouse games between Dexter and Saxon, and less drama about Hannah. He was basically a more plausible and less sensational version of Brian Moser, and had the same kind of story symmetry with respect to Dexter.
6: Travis Mitchell (season 6), The most over-the-top killer of the series, and the least believable, but not because of Colin Hanks, who did a good job with a wildly written role. A fun killer, but implausible and written like a bunch of serial killer cliches squeezed together. There were some amazing kills though, especially the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse scene. This character was too unhinged and irrational to be really scary as a villain or as a threat to Dexter.
7: Jordan Chase (season 5), He had his moments. He was vile enough, but never really felt like a match for Dexter. He functioned as a decent plank to explore the relationship between Lumen and Dexter, which was the real draw of this season.
I don't consider season 2 as having a 'villain'. While Dokes was certainly the antagonist, he is not a villain, so I don't include him in this list.
-All in all, Dexter was a great show and very enjoyable, not flawless but well worth watching.
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