DEXTER: A TRULY IMAGINATIVE SHOW WITH AN UNINSPIRED ENDING

Dexter is an American Crime Drama Television Series that aired on Showtime from October 1, 2006, to September 22, 2013. The series centers around Dexter Morgan, a forensic technician specializing in bloodstain pattern analysis for the fictional Miami Metro Police Department, who leads a secret parallel life as a vigilante serial killer, hunting down murderers who have not been adequately punished by the justice system. It stars Michael C. Hall as the title character, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Erik King, Lauren Velez, David Zayas, James Remar, C. S. Lee, Desmond Harrington, Aimee Garcia and Geoff Pierson.

The show's first season was derived from the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the first in a series of novels by Jeff Lindsay. It was adapted for television by James Manos Jr., who wrote the first episode, though it’s important to note that subsequent seasons evolved independently of Lindsay's works.

Even though the show aired its last season back in 2013, it currently has a 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but it has an Audience Score of 81%. It also has a Metascore of 76 (based on 103 critic reviews) on Metacritic, with a User Score of 8.8 (based on 126 Ratings) and finally, the show has an 8.7/10 on IMDB (based on over 745,000 reviews).

This show was one that was truly unique, in its premise. And I think Showtime pulled off quite a trick making an hour-long drama about a serial killer and keeping it on the air for eight years. I think a lot of the reason the show was so successful was because the story was extremely well-conceived. The writing was pretty good throughout as it pertained to the story beats, and even the dialogue was pretty good except for Michael C Hall’s voiceovers, which had an irritating way of constantly breaking the screenwriting commandment of “show don’t tell”.

And speaking of Dexter, the character was written to be attractive, smart, capable and extremely charismatic, which resulted in him getting hit on and even chased after at times, by a lot of beautiful women, despite the red flag of all red flags. The supporting characters in the show were also well-constructed, and complemented Dexter particularly well, none more than Dexter’s adopted sister, Deborah (played by Carpenter) and his deceased wife, Rita (played by Julie Benz).

The casting was well done, and the acting was also very good, especially from the shows guest stars from season to season. And speaking of seasons, each of them seems to sail along effortlessly at the perfect pace, maybe until we get to seasons six or seven, at which point you start to feel like the end is near, or at least that it should be. But despite the show overstaying its welcome by a year or two, it still remains compelling right up until the last few episodes, which, in my opinion, were handled extremely poorly, and led up to an ending that was as nonsensical as it was unfitting.

On its surface, the show was about a serial killer working for the cops, who eventually gets found out by his sister, who also happens to work in the same precinct as him, and is then forced to decide whether or not to compromise herself and everything she believes in in order to protect him. But if you’re willing to dig deeper, the show is about navigating and overcoming trauma and addiction. In fact, it’s a theme that is replicated in so many of the character arcs in this story. And even though the writers totally let Dexter off the hook in the end, in my opinion, it’s still by far the best television show about a serial killer ever produced, and is more than worth the few weeks it would take to binge your way through the 96 episodes that make up this killer of a tale.

Dexter is currently available on Showtime, Paramount +, fubo TV, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Sling TV, Roku and YouTube TV (with Subscription). You can also purchase Dexter by the episode on YouTube, Google Play Movies, Apple TV and Vudu (for $1.99/Episode).