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)

Dexter: Season Three

Lynn’s Druthers Marathon, part 11



Data
Title: Dexter: Season Three
Year: 2008
Network: Showtime
Episodes: 12, at c. 50 minutes each
Creator: James Manos Jr. (developer), from a novel by Jeff Lindsay
Directors: Marcos Siega (4 episodes), Keith Gordon (3), John Dahl (2), Ernest R. Dickerson (1), Steve Shill (1), Tim Hunter (1)
Writers: Scott Buck (3 episodes), Melissa Rosenberg (2), Tim Schlattmann (2), Charles H. Eglee (2), Lauren Gussis (2), Clyde Phillips (1), Adam Fierro (1), Scott Reynolds (1)
Starring: Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Jimmy Smits
Music: Rolfe Kent (theme), Daniel Licht
I saw it: on video (rented from Greencine and Netflix), over the past few weeks
Synopsis: the serial killer who kills other killers tries to make a friend

My reaction
Concept:
Story: Painfully predictable.
Characters:
Dialog: The show's pretty much become a parody of itself. Lots of hilarious stuff that's not meant to be funny.
Pacing: Slow to get started, and when it does get exciting, it's over too quickly.
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, ). Much better than season two, but that's not too hard.
Objective Rating (Average):

Dexter: Season Two

Data
Title: Dexter: Season Two
Year: 2007
Network: Showtime
Episodes: 12, at c. 53 minutes each
Creator: James Manos Jr. (developer), from a novel by Jeff Lindsay
Directors: Marcos Siega (3 episodes), Tony Goldwyn (2), Nick Gomez (2), Keith Gordon (2), Steve Shill (2), Jeremy Podeswa (1)
Writers: Daniel Cerone (3 episodes), Melissa Rosenberg (3), Scott Buck (3), Tim Schlattmann (2), Clyde Phillips (1), Lauren Gussis (1), Scott Reynolds (1)
Starring: Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Erik King
Music: Rolfe Kent (theme), Daniel Licht

My reaction
Synopsis: the serial killer who kills other killers goes to Narcotics Anonymous
How I saw it: online (streaming from Netflix), over the past couple days
Concept: Indifferent. After season one I wondered how much show you can make about a serial killer without him ever getting caught. About one season, I'd say.
Story: Bad. While I was watching it I was completely engaged and eager to find out How They'll Get Out of This One. Turns out, the writers had no idea how they'd get out of it either. The ending is full of plot holes, and, more importantly, is completely unsatisfying.
Characters: Bad. There are a couple new characters this season. One is a cliche, and the other is stolen. On top of that, they manage to turn Dexter into a bumbling jackass - pretty much the opposite of who he was in season one (except he still kills people for fun, so what's not to like?). The returning supporting characters are still good, though.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Indifferent. Improved from last season, but still mediocre.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good.
Music: Good. No more spontaneous mambos this season - one of the show's few significant improvements.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). Pretty much the whole point of season one is that you're rooting for a "bad guy." This time around, I not only wasn't rooting for him, but I kind of hated him and would have been much more satisfied with the show if Sgt. Doakes snapped and killed him around episode six or seven. Of course, it's an ongoing series, so it's no spoiler to say that doesn't happen. I spent most of the last few episodes thinking, "If this is where they're going with this show, why would I want to watch season three?" If they're never going to catch the bastard, what's the point? But I have to admit, if they put season three online, I'll probably feel compelled to find out exactly how pointless it is.  Part of me is even holding out hope that they'll get around to plugging some of season two's plot holes.
Objective Rating: 2.6/4 (Good).

Dexter: Season One

Data
Title: Dexter
Year: 2006
Network: Showtime
Episodes: 12, at c. 54 minutes
Creator: James Manos Jr. (developer), from a novel by Jeff Lindsay
Directors: Michael Cuesta (5 episodes), Robert Lieberman (2), Tony Goldwyn (2), Steve Shill (1), Adam Davidson (1), Keith Gordon (1)
Writers: Daniel Cerone (3 episodes), Melissa Rosenberg (3), Drew Z. Greenberg (2), Tim Schlattmann (2), James Manos Jr. (1), Clyde Phillips (1), Lauren Gussis (1), Kevin Maynard (1)
Starring: Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Erik King, Lauren Vélez, David Zayas
Music: Rolfe Kent (theme), Daniel Licht

My reaction
Synopsis: a serial killer kills other killers, and does crime scene forensics by day
How I saw it: online (streaming from Netflix), over the past few days
Concept: Good.
Story: Great. It's the sort of show where once you start, you need to know what happens next. It took an act of willpower to not just stay up all night and watch the whole thing in one sitting.
Characters: Good.
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Bad. With the notable exception of the wonderful opening title sequence, it looks like crap. Maybe the streaming quality is at fault.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good.
Music: Good. Although, there's an annoying tendency to break into spontaneous mambos.
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great). As great as it is, I'm a little baffled by how long it's been running. It really felt like he should have died at the end of this season, despite the presence of a second season proving otherwise. How much show can you make about a serial killer without him ever getting caught?
Objective Rating: 3.2/4 (Very good).