Fully cognizant of the fact that the final few years of Dexter were ropy puddles of unmitigated f*ck, the uninitiated might be forgiven for wondering whether the drop in quality was due to the TV series having deviated from the plotlines and characters established in Jeff Lindsays source novels. If thats you, I can now satisfy your curiosity: Jesus Christ on a trampoline, absolutely not. While Dexter never recovered the highs of the fourth season, and suffered from the dirt worst final season in living memory, the novels are unmitigated horse puckey of the highest order. When Showtime began adapting Dexter for television, they had two novels to work from: the first, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, became the basis for the first season of the show, the major difference being that Dexters serial killer brother Brian doesnt die at the end in the book. Showrunner Clyde Phillips chose not to visit the plotlines of the novels as they were published, determining to have the show forge its own path. A bloody good thing too, as future seasons of Dexter wouldnt have both his step-children Cody and Astor revealed to possess the same urge to kill. It wouldnt have practically every villain kidnap his kids to force a confrontation. It wouldnt have his brother turn up as a deus ex machina to save him all the bloody time. It wouldnt reveal that his dark passenger was in fact an evil spirit, the spawn of an ancient god, that gave him supernatural powers of observation and investigation. No, I am not making this up. At their best, Jeff Lindsays novels are a rough analogue for season eight of Dexter, the poorest season of the show: badly paced, poorly thought-out, badly-characterised lumpen messes. At their worst good lord. Fans of the TV show should consider themselves fortunate they never had to sit through anything as appallingly bad as that. Which other TV shows do you think were right to deviate from their source material? Share your favourite picks below in the comments thread.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
