Dexter: Season Four

Dexter: Season Four, 2009. The serial killer who kills other killers learns to balance his family and his personal interests.

Created by James Manos Jr., from a novel by Jeff Lindsay. Directed by Marcos Siega (2 episodes), John Dahl (2), Keith Gordon (2), Brian Kirk (1), Romeo Tirone (1), Tim Hunter (1), Ernest Dickerson (1), S.J. Clarkson (1) & Steve Shill (1). Written by Scott Buck (3 episodes), Melissa Rosenberg (3), Wendy West (3), Charles H. Eglee (2), Tim Schlattmann (2), Lauren Gussis (2), Scott Reynolds (2) & Clyde Phillips (1). Starring Michael C. Hall & John Lithgow.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad). Whoever comes up with the ideas for this show clearly does not understand what made the first season great.
Story: 1/4 (Bad). Horrible writing. Truly horrible.
Characters: 1/4 (Bad). The supporting characters are reduced to walking cliches. Dexter doesn't even make sense anymore. The villain, though, is actually very interesting.
Dialog: 0/4 (Terrible)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 1/4 (Bad)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good). Lithgow is very good. I feel a little sorry for these actors; they are much better than this show.
Music: 3/4 (Good). The spontaneous mambos are back! But only a couple times, so they didn't overstay their welcome.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). I don't know why I'm still enjoying this show. The writing is so very awful. But it didn't have the pacing problems of season 3. And after two mediocre seasons, I didn't have any high expectations. And the writing fails are so glaring and numerous that they don't really bother me the way they would in an almost-well-written show. Disposable fluff.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.8/4 (Eh)