10 Worst Dexter Episodes

He's back.

Eight years since he solemnly took a seat after a day of lumberjack work, Dexter Morgan (or Jim Lindsay of course) has returned to the small screen.

The original Dexter series lit the world on fire for a spell. The titular character, a serial killer of killers, captured viewers' imaginations in a way most showrunners can barely even dream of. What followed was five or so years of gripping television before another 3 or so of deep disappointment.

Initially the biggest show on television, Dexter's ultimate reputation was one of a series that simply stuck around too long. Past its prime and lumbered with a creative team uninterested in shaking anything up drastically, Dexter started churning out a lot of less-than-stellar content.

Fortunately the new, considerably colder landscaped season has done well so far in righting some of the old show's wrongs. Its slow burn storytelling and reintroduction of the Harrison character have done a lot to help longtime jaded fans move on from the dreary days of early last decade.

Hopefully the New Blood team keep it up and learn from the mistakes of the original series, particularly these 10 misfires.

Following Rita's surprise death in season 4, the series began sticking to the status quo like there was no tomorrow. While the premise of a gifted blood-splatter analyst secretly slaughtering criminals had captured millions of imaginations, there comes a time when people want more.

While many shows commit to creative gambles in order to remain gripping, Dexter season 6 did anything but for the most part. The few times it flirted with something new, we got Deb falling in love with Dexter. This widely criticised angle is heating up here with Deb seemingly losing her mind over Dexter not making enough time for her.

The rest of the episode retreads old ground with Dexter investigating a new killer he wants taped to his table and Deb butting heads with LaGuerta yet again. The Doomsday Killer, played sheepishly by Colin Hanks (and a misused, imaginary Edward James Olmos who would've been far better in the lead villain role) is one of the more frivolous baddies of the show's long run.

The religious angle doesn't gel well at all with the scientific, amoral style of much of the show's plots and characters. The killer himself lacks the tension villains such as The Trinity Killer and Miguel Prado managed to conjure up as well.

Overall, Sin of Omission is a plodding affair that serves to slowly move along a variety of storylines that were poor to begin with. It's a key example of why many felt the series' quality fell off a cliff with season 6 and the departure of its original creative team.