Dexter was a show that I followed religiously up to the bitter, bitter end. The quality of the show was very, very high during its first two seasons, and though it did drop off a bit in Season 3 with the Miguel Prado storyline, it picked up the pace again with a brilliant Season 4 which featured the brilliant John Lithgow as the Trinity Killer. Dexter is a show about a killer who kills only those who fit the code instilled to him by his dead stepfather: you punish only those who have done bad things, mostly murderers, and he must have conclusive, dead-on proof of their guilt. Judge, jury and executioner, all in one. Surely it's an interesting concept, and the tease is that we root for Dexter to never get caught, no matter how sloppy he became towards the end. For the most part, the show was a great one, tapping into the darkness of Dexter's psyche and his methods towards killing, and his efforts to justify his actions. For the final season, it became apparent that something great was in the works. This was the show's chance to redeem itself and go into the upper pantheon of shows you remember for years as a great one. What will be the ultimate payoff in the life of a vigilante serial killer? Will he get caught and sent to prison? Will he die making the ultimate sacrifice and redeem himself at least partially? Well, the higher ups at Showtime had other ideas, as stated by producer John Goldwyn from Vulture.com:
"They won't let us kill him," he told us. "Showtime was very clear about that. When we told them the arc for the last season, they just said, 'Just to be clear, he's going to live.'
So the ultimate payoff which would have saved the series from its lacklustre middle seasons was squashed by its own network execs, which underscores the truth that 100 percent creative control over shows is a rare thing nowadays. Shame, really. Do you have any shows that you feel are only one thing away from being an instant classic? Perhaps they stayed on the air too long or missed a major plot opportunity? Sound off in the comments below.
A fan of all things pop culture: movies, TV, comics and music. He is also an avid WWE and sports fan, and supports Boston sports teams, especially the Celtics and the Red Sox, very passionately. He has also been called a 100 percent certified geek.
