Dexter
just as i have finished watching the fourth season i am writing this review disappointed in what was past that point. And so have stopped and wanted to share what i thought about this show and what it had to offer and the potential of what else it could have offered and maybe one day i finish the rest and have to write a second review.
Starting it off with the good is the show’s premise, the idea of a serial killer hiding out hunting other killers was done fantastically here, it was extremely entertaining going episode to episode seeing the storyline’s progression and development and the season’s progressed experimenting with different themes and their relations and impact to the main character to flesh him was amazing instead of just having him go up and defeat the next villain which brings me on to my next point.
The villains are what I would definitely say are this show’s forte, I would go as far as to say there isn’t a single weak villain amongst the show’s first four, they are extremely entertaining, well written and presented characters who actively pushed the shows narrative forward and imposed their presence with character defining moments for dexter making us question what we were delt and told throughout this show which segways into the next strong suit of this show.
The main character of dexter while flawed in many writing points by being extremely inconsistent at times and confusing has somehow despite all that never come across as disappointing or boring and I think these flaws are what made him so compelling as I always wanted him to be pushed forward and seem him handle more complex and morally questionable situations and witness him make mistakes in hopes of watching him be shaped into a less flawed man.
As much as I would like to keep singing praises to this show these were at least to me the main selling points that made me go turn a blind a eye to the many frustrations and enjoy it for the most part that once these strong points starting fading out mediocrity took over starting with my biggest gripe.
The side characters of dexter feel for the most part uderwhelming, UNDERUSED and UNDEREXPLORED. That is truly my biggest gripe as many of the characters have charming personalities and intersting backstories many of them feel rather like caricatures. Many of their plotlines and underdeveloped and just forgotten about making them feel very underdeveloped such as angel, laguerta, masuka and especially Debra who is done so poorly in terms of presentations as the writers fail to highlight what many of her traits represent and would rather focus on her being a sex addict and a hopeless romantic. Whilst on the other hand you have the other few who are done justice such as Rita, Camilla or agent Lundy which really frustrates me as they illustrate that they know how to write good characters but choose to abandon them in favor of focusing on rushing the narrative.
And rush the narrative they do sometimes, one of the things that just tick me off is the little attention to detail they have, time hopping and plot convenience they do. leaving small plot lines without definitive resolve, conveniently skipping crucial small details in favor of convenience as dexter is put in multiples situations that should have normally exposed him, made things complicated or at least gave some challenges but they always glance over them again in favor of pushing a certain narrative. that also goes for characters as they always just do whatever the plot demands even if it sometimes feel out of nowhere. Laguerta sabotaging a colleague making question her ethics only for that to go nowhere, her relationship with children for that to go nowhere, Angel’s relationship with his family for that to go nowhere, conveniently giving himself to Lila using the lonely narrative as excuse, his relationship with Barbara just being thrown out the fucking window. The skinner side story was genuinely done so poorly in the third season and just felt like an after thought in favor of the mainplot.
Despite these flaws being only the ones off the top of my head and there being many more this show’s strong points somehow manage to overshadow them and I’m willing to be way less harsh critiquing these things as much as i would a show like game of thrones.