4. They'll Never Top Season 4
As a working stand-up comic, there is a phrase that we often say when performing or writing jokes: If you cant top it, stop it. This means that if a joke reaches a natural peak, there is no reason to try to keep squeezing more laughs out of it; the pinnacle has been reached and anything else will pale in comparison. The writers on Dexter would be wise to follow suit as they will be hard pressed to top the greatness that was the fourth season of the show. Everything was perfect during that season; they had a great main villain in the Trinity Killer (played incredibly by John Lithgow), you had Dexter trying to juggle being a husband and a father, and the entire season was filled with cliffhangers/payoffs that kept you watching. In defense of the writers/creators of the show, they obviously didnt have any idea that the fourth season would be such a perfect storm. They also couldnt just stop making the show since at the time since they didnt realize it would become the most highly regarded season. They also ended the fourth season with a huge punch-in-the-gut cliffhanger that would have been unfair to not follow up on. However, it was abundantly clear how great season four was after they followed it up with the train wreck that was season five. Season five is arguably the worst season of the show (only season three comes close). They tried a similar formula by having a notable guest star be the driving force of the season (Julia Stiles), but relied too heavily on that gimmick and the show suffered because of it. Everyone knew that Julia Stiles probably wasnt going to be on the show for the long haul, so audiences waited for her eventual departure. They went back to the season long guest-star formula for season six (with Colin Hanks), and while that season wasnt completely terrible, it still didnt come close to the 12 episode masterpiece that was season four.