Dexter on Showtime

I dont think I'm missing the point, I just think it's stupid and he's not supposed to be that stupid. Kind of a stupid thing to risk, getting chased round the neighbourhood by all your neighbours, to secure yr own privacy surely. He wears the same clothes and gloves etc he uses for his killings, just adds a mask on top. Why risk getting caught like that, when it's obvious yr doing something shady when you could actually just sneak around under the pretence of neighbourhood watch? Serial killer 101 surely. His mistakes may well be legitimate because of what you say, I just dont think they're particularly entertaining and the subplots are slightly tiresome. They always have him struggle with things when it suits them because of the function of the show, he has to be more emotional than he might, which has always irked me a little.

Dont think it's ever been the greatest written show tho.

Sorry if Im tired and not much sense is getting through here, trying to avoid anything getting monstrously long

dexter is tired from babies and concussions

Even so it's still kind of weak. I read a review which nailed it, which said something like: when did this become an episode of Desperate Housewives? This is the "edgy" shit we're getting now? Especially thinking back to the "killer of the week" stuff from the first two seasons.

That said, Lithgow is great, and those parts of the story are still really entertaining. I'm wondering how they're gonna stretch out his third kill into nine episodes, and if it's at all possible that Lundy will survive this (too bad because his interactions with Dexter are still fun to watch). And because of this side, I'm pretty sure it'll still be good and better than last year, at the very least.

Deb. ;_; she's so horribly fucked-up, poor thing.

Getting irritated at what an emotional retard they keep making Dexter, like at the start he was supposed to be a high functioning cold and calculating serial killer - he should know the things to say to people because he has it figured out, even if its just an act.

I hate it when they do this too because they seem to pick and choose at random which parts of everyday interaction Dexter's good at, and which parts he isn't and it's never a consistent thing - he can flirt with trigger-happy cop just fine but small talk with the neighbours? Awkward!

the only things saving his character imo are Michael C Hall's performance (which remains compellingly sad and funny and creepy all at once) and the fact that they've made Rita even dumber than Dexter. Seriously, he might as well come out and tell her he's a serial killer - don't see how that's much worse than all the other lies she's caught him in and the lame excuses he gives her that she somehow continues to believe in (ok this week maybe not so much, but come on you know they're just making us think his marriage is in jeopardy when it really isn't).

Contrary to that episode with the community vandal, the last two episodes have really gotten back to form - especially the one with the lady cop who murdered her family, it was a throwback to the earlier seasons, really entertaining. This past episode was pretty good too, though I agree somewhat that the whole episode was just waiting for the twist at the end, I really liked Carpenter's performance, and that twist WAS good (I've really been wondering how they can keep the Trinity storyline going if he only kills three people and moves on, when we have half the season left...)

You're right about the weird confusion regarding Dexter's interaction skills, and part of why that particular neighborhood episode was so bad. I actually somewhat liked this in this week's episode though - there's definite ambiguity, on a broad level, on how much Dexter's actually feeling or just playing out the motions in reacting to everyone - is he actually becoming more of a real person, or getting worse and unsure at faking his persona due to this emotional reaction? Is it actually an emotional reaction? Not sure if this the writers have a sure grasp on this, but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt in this case, and the performance is really good in any case.

Lithgow continues to be fantastic, too.

Guys, this weekend's episode had the single most terrifying moment I have seen on Dexter.

worse than nude lithgow?

Terrifying in a different way.

Agreed. Best episode of the season so far.

Episode was fantastic. Probably the most terror we've seen in the show in ages, if ever, like Mordy says. I'm initially having a dreadful reaction to the huge twist in the last scene, but let's see how that plays out...

Yeah I thought this was the best episode in ages until the very last scene too.

They might be overdoing the last-minute plot twists this season a bit - there seems to be one every couple of episodes now.

Is there a way to watch this online?

god john lithgow is creepy. this show has gotten so much better since the awful start of the season.

in other news, deb still can't catch a break. girl seriously needs a happy storyline. although knowing this show, that prob means she's gonna end up with quinn. :/

her performance has definitely been the best since the first season, though! i am afraid they're going for her hooking up w/quinn as you say, though. still - such a great season.

Yeah. Definitely better than the last two seasons.

I can't believe it's over this Sunday.

fucking FUCK. devastating finale.

OK, I did not see that coming at all. HFS

: o

wow ;_;

really really did not see that coming. damn.

The final is indeed awesome, fucked up, kinda inevitable and fitting.

Apparently he has Hodgkins but is in recovery. (My mom had nit too. It has a very high recovery rate.)

After watching the whole season, I believe I have traced the shark jump moment to when...

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER Lundy gets killed. SPOILER
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

huh - to me that's exactly when the season turned around and got good!

I felt like taking that tension out of the show just deflated all of the subplots. it was a great moment, but the result was that it flattened everything out. there were so many uninteresting and unrelated subplots pursued after that episode, like they just didn't have enough story to fill up 8 more episodes. every time they showed that reporter, I cringed and rolled my eyes. the Laguerta/Batista story was second rate melodrama. I can only hope that the crazy events in the finale lead to a more interesting show as opposed to a more dramatic one.

MORE SPOILERS FOLLOW...

My idea for the next season would be to skip forward about five or ten years, with Dex an addict in recovery, raising his kid (assuming the other two kids just went to the mom or the ex's parents) and faced with something either too sweet to pass up, or being toyed with by some evil genius.

Do people who don't want ***SPOILERS*** actually read the thread?

The will-Deb-find-out? twist will probably be next season's long arc, with the usual killings thrown in. Actually, with the S3 ending it'll be more of a will-the-department-find-out arc.

Yeah, it's been a month - people who haven't caught up by now are probably going to catch it on DVD. Who's foolish enough to jump onto a forum thread after the show airs, not expecting spoilers? Beforehand I can understand, but no more than a day after it airs.

While I appreciate the intent of the finale (to reboot Dexter a bit since he'd gotten far too soft and humanized) I'm worried that the next season will have lots of boring custody battles with his mother-in-law, Quinn being a third-rate Doakes, and so on. I'll be shocked if they save Deb figuring out Dexter's secret before the real end of the show, and I think there's at least two seasons left. Also, one of the original showrunners immediately left after the finale, despite Dexter getting record ratings - that doesn't give me a lot of hope.

This show by its very premise has been getting stretched thinner and thinner every season, and it really should end sooner than later, but it won't due to the ratings. I will give it to them, though, I thought this was the best season since the first, mostly thanks to Lithgow.

I hope they go with Dexter going through the five stages of grief but skipping straight to ANGER, 5 kills a night kinda thing.

I was always disappointed when they went from him explicitly torturing and carving up his victims to a simple, single stab wound to the chest - it seemed like such an obvious cop-out, a way to make his (no matter the justification, still wretched and disgusting) executions more palatable. Hopefully they'll use this opportunity to get back to that Dexter.

There was a scene where Dexter gets all protective of his family and literally growl/yells at someone (can't remember who - prob Lithgow) like Mel Gibson, was one of the worst moments not only of this show but possibly of Michael C. Hall's acting career. I laughed out loud and said "fuck this show" under my breath when I saw it. You can feel the writers trying to make people care more about Dexter, and what better way than to make him more of a masculine bad-ass, protecting his domain, punching out dudes who kissed his wife, toning down his sadism, and blah blah blah. For a dude without feelings he was an emotional wreck in seasons 3 and 4, but it bugged me most of all in S4.

You know, I actually don't disagree with you on any of those points. It just didn't bother me that much because I was captivated enough by the main plot. By contrast, Jimmy Smits being unbelievably terrible last year just made all the softening trends worse and more noticeable, though they went further with it this year. Maybe I bought it more because Dexter having his first child born was a slightly more believable cause of his attitudes changing than having a goofy serial killer buddy. Inherently though, I don't have a problem with the idea that he might have emotions after all, or that he's discovering them now, since that's how Season 1 ended. S4 does put up a statement that says: Dexter can't be the stone cold serial killer he once was, or he'll be like Trinity, but I don't know if that HAS to be true for this show (or if it's even true for all the real serial killers that the Trinity character was inspired by).

I remember liking that scene where he punched out his neighbor, since there's the possibility that he didn't do it out of real anger but only because that's what he believed Dexter Morgan, family man, should have done. Did he realize that his wife was watching and did he do it for her benefit? I'm not sure, but it was played and acted in an ambiguous way, I thought. Maybe I'm wrong on this, though.

To me the low point of the season was Dexter's confrontation with the neighborhood vandal, after getting chased down by an angry neighborhood watch. I know I already mentioned this a few months ago, but man - I can't believe anyone in the writer's room actually thought that was a good idea.

Maybe I bought it more because Dexter having his first child born was a slightly more believable cause of his attitudes changing than having a goofy serial killer buddy.

That is a good point. I also agree with you about the neighborhood vandal thing. I felt like they could have mined that whole story line for comic relief - a lot of missed opportunities there.

This is another big problem I am having with this show lately: It's just not as funny as it was. One of the reasons I put up with a lot of the sloppy writing surrounding the police work (DNA tests can be done at someone's desk in 15 minutes, etc), and lot of the less plausible plotlines, was because I didn't take this show very seriously on a dramatic level. Yes, it was suspenseful, but it was also a fun black comedy in a slightly cartoonish world. When you show me an extended shot of Deb hunched over and wracked with grieving sobs, and make me care on that level, then I am going to start holding up the rest of the show to a higher standard, too. I noticed toward the middle of S4, I started getting really annoyed by the some of the shitty writing that I had always let slide in previous seasons.

OH MY GOD THAT ENDING

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

yeah this show was better when the main character had no emotions - i thought that was kind of the point.

they still know how to pile on the tension thought jeeeeeeeeeeeez

also what is up with that reporter chick taking her clothes off

i'd trade all her sex scenes for one LaGuerta :P

Season 5 starting Sunday!

At the end of S4, I was convinced the show had totally jumped the shark. I made fun of the last 5 episodes out loud. But I'll be damned if I am not ready to dive back into the world of Dexter again. Really excited about it, actually.

After seeing the preview trailer, Quinn seeming to have an even more prominent role was kinda killing my interest, but whatever, I'm on board

surprised and a bit sad that dexter hasn't had anywhere near the ilx chatter that mad men, sopranos et al have had

mainly cause dexter isn't anywhere near as good as those shows imo.

at least this show has a thread. Unlike Chuck, an awesome show that no one here watches. :(

yeah dexter's not in the same league as those other shows, but it's still pretty fun + ridiculous

mmm yeah i guess, i love em all though, just figured dexter would be the kind of show to get a lot of chatter as its all daft plot twists and big cliffhangers. anyway yeah can't wait to see this new series. suffered a modern-media-consumer crisis during s4 when i was downloading the eps from TPB last month, absent-mindedly scanning the comments to see if it was legit and reading a post by some utter dick revealing the big spoiler in the final episode. will. not. let. this. happen. again!

i find Dexter to be infinitely more enjoyable than Mad Men (which i find to be VERY boring -- albeit well-done). that just comes down to taste (Mad Men probably IS the better show in terms of plot, scripts, acting, etc.).

and whoever wondered aloud why "Chuck" doesn't have an ILX thread and deserving same ... 1000% OTM.

Near the end of the first season - love Michael C Hall, like the character of Dexter, not so sure about the show surrounding him. The general standard of acting isn't very high (particularly his sister, ugh), some of the storylines are glaringly unbelievable, and others are strangely banal.

My housemate says season 2 is shit, should I listen to him and not bother with it?

haha Deb gets quoted a *lot* in our house. They don't even have to be real Deb quotes. "No fucking shit, Dexter, God!" She's so terrible and vulgar...at first I hated it & now I think it's great.

That time when she was wearing a dress and said something like "I feel like a tranny," I think that was the ultimate 'wtf Deb' moment for me. Among a very great number to choose from!

Watch all seasons as there's stuff that happens in each that's carried over to the next.
I didn't think any season was shit, enjoyed them all.

Agree with Abbott on the deb likingness, she grows on you.

I still need to watch season 4, esp. as I love Lithgow a lot!