Ranking All 8 Seasons Of Dexter

Dexter is the definitive example of a series that had a lot of promise, came out of the gate hot and fizzled out until it ended with one of the most resoundingly hated finales ever shown on TV (move over Line of Duty fans, Dexter heads were here first). The concept is irresistibly intriguing right from the beginning; there’s a serial killer, driven by a dark compulsion to hunt, torture and kill. We’ve seen it a million times before but the difference here is Dexter is the protagonist. We’re rooting for him. He works for the police department and hunts down and murders other serial killers according to a strict moral code established by his step-father, Harry.

Dexter successfully built on its interesting premise for the first few seasons, weaving together moments of levity, intrigue, suspense and brutality into a perfect tapestry of serial killer entertainment. Somewhere around the middle of its run, however, the show began to stumble and falter before giving us that infamous lumberjack ending.

The legacy of Dexter may yet be saved, however, as Showtime recently released a teaser for the upcoming revival season of the show. In anticipation we’ve decided to rank the previous eight seasons of the show once and for all. So here we are, ranked worst to best; all eight seasons of Dexter.

It has to be, right? Seriously? What was this? Even in weaker seasons the show had been entertaining to watch, but season eight never seems to build up any steam. Charlotte Rampling joins the cast as an old psychiatrist friend of Harry’s and is promptly crowbarred into Dexter’s backstory. This late-in-the-game addition to the mythos never quite fit and didn’t prove as intriguing as the writers clearly hoped. The so called “Brain Surgeon” proved to be an unfulfilling antagonist for the season (to be fair, didn’t they all lack in comparison to Trinity?) and what resulted was a series of uninteresting encounters and a multitude of missteps.

This is all wrapped up in a finale that sees the unwarranted death of Deborah Morgan, which came across as less shocking and more mean-spirited, as if the writers were trying to spite the fans. Dexter, who has supposedly grown so much as a character in the previous eight seasons, eschews all of his development to return to his old self, seeking isolation in the forested wilderness and leaving his young son with another deranged sociopath. But sure, you did that because you cared about him, right Dex?