Dexter - Season 9 - 2021 - US Pace - Showtime (**Spoilers**)

Agent Coulson

bgr123

One of the better shows from Showtime.Pity it finished.Still constant rumours of a return.Will it happen?

Uncle Mclovin

The last three seasons were the biggest pile of **** of all time.

bgr123

Uncle Mclovin wrote: »

The last three seasons were the biggest pile of **** of all time.

Did go down hill.Think season 4 was the best.

ahlookit

bgr123 wrote: »

Did go down hill.Think season 4 was the best.

They shouldn't bring it back... They should have finished after season 4. John Lithgow was brilliant in that season. Definitely downhill all the way after that. The final episode was just insulting the viewers intelligence.

TerrorFirmer

Season 7 was a pretty commendable recovery and almost return to form, only to be absolutely and recklessly squandered by the ****-show that was Season 8.

At the time, I was so angry with what they had done that I wished more than anything they'd produce one more season or even an extended made-for-tv affair that would wrap it up conclusively and do it the justice it deserved.

Now I just don't care anymore and think it should be just let lie. But god, they made an absolute mess of it.

lertsnim

bgr123 wrote: »

Did go down hill.Think season 4 was the best.

Down hill? It fell off a cliff. It is a prime example of why shows should end on a high.

wandatowell

Ah Season 4, brilliant.

gordongekko

Haven't watched season 4 in years. I must dig it out for the weekend. Once of the best seasons of TV ever produced

B.A._Baracus

Digging up an old thread as I recently got into watching Dexter because of my girlfriend. She has seen it all.
I have to say I am quite enjoying season one. Near the end of it too. Can't believe I never watched this when it was on TV years ago.

Heard the ending is terrible. Have no idea or clue as to what tho. Good to hear a lot of people view season 4 as the best. Shows dip over time so it's good that I have that to look forward to. I've managed to stay clear of spoilers too all these years :pac:

claiva

it was a fantastic show in its day, unfortunately history will remember the shambles that it became when it went on for a couple of seasons too many. The first few season were brilliant though and I remember it being one of those shows that had you aching for the week to go by just so you could find out what happens next ! Unlike the instant gratification world we live in now with all of the streaming platforms showing all episodes immediately upon release. Enjoy !

B.A._Baracus

Thanks.
I do agree season 1 has been one of those shows where you want to see what happens next. Very good writing.

Homelander

It went downhill in the last few seasons but the last season was in a league of its own altogether. A bit like the last season of Game of Thrones, it just dropped off a cliff completely in terms of quality. I enjoyed most of the later seasons really except the last one. I think it was Season 7 where Ray Stevenson was the Russian mobster? I thought that one was easily the best since Season 4 with John Lithgow.

Skerries

yeah season 4 with the Trinity killer was definitely the best seaon then it just went to muck

KungPao

Season 5 was where it went belly up alright a very gloomy season IIRC. After 4 solid seasons, although Jimmy Smits was ropey in season 3, in season 5 we had Julia stiles and dexter wearing a wig.

But so many annoying characters it’s crazy. Debra, Quinn, Latina boss, robocop, Latino with the hat. In hindsight it was like NCIS just with better writing and an interesting story arc.

It was a great “tv show” but for sure grade or two below the likes of Breaking Bad for example.

Dokes, what a character!

Stark

Ah Dexter. First two seasons were great. Season 3 was pretty ****, then it did a dead cat bounce with a stunning comeback in Season 4, then fell off the cliff for good. It was really Lithgow that carried Season 4 through as well. The writing around other characters was already starting to show the sloppiness that dragged the show down once Lithgow exited. For example, Dexter's monologues which were sharp and full of dry wit in the first two seasons had turned into Dexter simply narrating what was already obvious to the viewer.

JP Liz V1

https://twitter.com/THR/status/1316468889782493184

Homelander

Mixed feelings about this. The last season was unbelievably god awful, but this could be a redemption of sorts. I wonder what the format is, a direct sequel to the last season?

Basq

Just about to post the same thing..

.. madness!

I've no mixed feelings.. this is a BAD IDEA!

Brendan Flowers

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/THR/status/1316468889782493184

ixoy

Basq wrote: »

I've no mixed feelings.. this is a BAD IDEA!

Who doesn't want to see how the lumberjack career is going?

Poochie05

Bizarre news. When I saw it online I presumed they were just referring to reshowing from S1.

Shred

Jesus I loved this show when it was on, but really that was just the first 4 seasons and I can barely remember the last 4 other than the awful ending. They should just leave it be imo.

ejmaztec

I only came across this 2014 short a few days ago, and I suppose it must have been shown somewhere, all 25 minutes of it, with Dexter's son apparently carrying on the family tradition :eek:


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4370304/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_8

world class wreckin’ cru

With the original show runner who oversaw seasons 1-4, I’m getting my hopes up. Looking forward to it.

Thecageyone

I really do hope it's a new series not just them re-running the old ones. You could read it either way.

The ending was terrible, I think most Dexter fans would agree, and I for one would like to see beyond it.

pixelburp

It wasn't just the ending that sucked though: every season after the fourth showed severely decreasing quality - and IIRC coincided with its original producer leaving. The plan was to end the story with Dexter finally getting caught and executed for his crimes; but of course, the studio saw a popular show, demanding Dexter avoid any kind of comeuppance and to keep his adventures going.

The logical hoops to keep him out of trouble got more and more insane - culminating in a last season that was some of the worst professionally-made television (outside of TV soaps) I've ever watched. So the one small positive from this news - the original showrunner is coming back. That might at least steer things back into the realms of quality and we can all forget that awful last iteration.

Snake Plisken

I have fond memories of the first 4 seasons although wasn't happy with them killing off Rita, it was all downhill from there.

Will it end up with him trying to track down his son and Hannah? Will it leave him in Alaska searching local newspapers tracking down murderers who got off on a technicality? Or him tracing down a local serial killer?
We can only hope they have some sound ideas for the new series.

Hande hoche!

The ending was dire, so completely onboard with this. The show runner return seems promising.

ancapailldorcha

I remember there being one decent season towards the end, the penultimate one perhaps and then the whole thing just felt so tedious that I looked up the ending on Wikipedia.

Not sure what they're aiming for here. Depressing to see them clawing the bottom of the barrel like this.

Homelander

I actually watched the finale of Breaking Bad the same night as the finale for Dexter. The difference was just staggering. I mean the whole last season was terrible, but the finale was so out there on an island of unspeakable horridness.

I was angry about it for ages. Some people were missing the point - what actually happened to Dexter in the end in itself wouldn't have been my preferred end but it was fine in principle, but how they got there - the storyline, the scripting, was not.

Come to think of it, I don't think I can think of a worse decline in any other high profile show. Maybe Game of Thrones, another spectacular misfire.

pixelburp

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I remember there being one decent season towards the end, the penultimate one perhaps and then the whole thing just felt so tedious that I looked up the ending on Wikipedia.

Not sure what they're aiming for here. Depressing to see them clawing the bottom of the barrel like this.

It's kind of a growing trend at the moment, the "limited series" revival of past shows. Purely from a cynical point of view, it makes sense; an old hit, with a resting audience who'll tune in out of curiosity alone. It's easier than taking a chance on a new IP - and we're living in a Nostalgia Junky era, the zeitgeist very much about looking back and being coddled by what we grew up with. An extension of the 1980s obsession that's beginning to fade.

Just off the top of my head, you got: The X-Files; Roseanne; Will & Grace; Veronica Mars; Twin Peaks; Samurai Jack; Prison Break. I'm sure there are more.

Full_Circle_81

Homelander wrote: »

I actually watched the finale of Breaking Bad the same night as the finale for Dexter. The difference was just staggering. I mean the whole last season was terrible, but the finale was so out there on an island of unspeakable horridness.

Thats so funny, I was going to reply saying the same thing! I think I watched the two finales maybe one night after the other and like yourself, couldn't get over how one ended so well and the other so terribly.
Towards the end, it seemed like every decision they made on Dexter was worse than the last.

Oddly enough, when looking into both endings at the time, I remember reading that the ending for Dexter was apparently planned out seasons in advance (they always knew how it would end). Conversely, the exact ending for Breaking Bad was more of "how should we end this" decision made very late in the game. I was so surprised at this! Dexters end seemed to be so haphazard, I don't get how that could be the ending they'd always planned for him.

Also, Dexter as a show ran for far too long and the plot had lost all credibility by the time it wrapped up.

pc7

Oh god no! I ended up in bad form after the ending and final seaons, it absolutely destroyed what had been a great first 4 seaons. Jebus I don't even think I'll even tell MrPC7 about this as I don't want to hear him moan again about how bad the ending was.

pixelburp

There used to be a Dexter forum on Boards; recently got mothballed but as the series went along became a real hub of "The Hate Watch". Went off on my own share of rants about that exerable final season.

FortuneChip

pixelburp wrote: »

It wasn't just the ending that sucked though: every season after the fourth showed severely decreasing quality - and IIRC coincided with its original producer leaving. The plan was to end the story with Dexter finally getting caught and executed for his crimes; but of course, the studio saw a popular show, demanding Dexter avoid any kind of comeuppance and to keep his adventures going.

You mean we might see a....


Dexecution?

Agree with everyone's sentiment here. Every aspect of the show deteriorated as it went on after Season 4.

pc7

pixelburp wrote: »

There used to be a Dexter forum on Boards; recently got mothballed but as the series went along became a real hub of "The Hate Watch". Went off on my own share of rants about that exerable final season.

Yeah me too lol, I remember someone posting the original writer or director wanted the ending that Dexter wakes on a gurney about to get a lethal injection and he can see the spirits of everyone he killed sitting looking beside Jen etc. Would have been fitting, my bp is rising remembering the pure sh1te!

MarkR

I don't think I ever watched the last series. Perhaps I blocked it out! I wonder is 1-4 worth a rewatch. Or would a "previously on Dexter" video be enough?

ancapailldorcha

MarkR wrote: »

I don't think I ever watched the last series. Perhaps I blocked it out! I wonder is 1-4 worth a rewatch. Or would a "previously on Dexter" video be enough?

I'd say the latter. It was never a complicated show. I remember it being quite bloated in hindsight.

bladespin

Awesome news, cannot wait.

Agent Coulson

Dexter Revival Won't 'Undo Anything,' But It Will Make Things 'Right,' Says EP

“We want this to not be Dexter Season 9,” he continued. “Ten years, or however many years, have passed by the time this will air, and the show will reflect that time passage. So far as the ending of the show, this will have no resemblance to how the original finale was. It’s a great opportunity to write a second finale.”

Given the lukewarm reaction to the September 2013 series finale, from both viewers and even series lead Hall himself, “This is an opportunity to make that right,” Phillips said. “But that’s not why we’re doing it.”

As for righting/retconning any specific perceived wrongs, “We’re not undoing anything,” Phillips maintained. “We’re not going to betray the audience and say, ‘Whoops, that was all a dream.’ What happened in the first eight years happened in the first eight years.”

https://tvline.com/2020/10/16/dexter-revival-lumberjack-ending-deb-dead/

Good to see the showrunner from seasons 1-4 is doing it rather than the showrunners from seasons 5-8. That was the main reason the series dipped in quality so dramatically. The showrunners from 5-8 were all executive producers of 24, so it's no wonder the series fell off a cliff.

They were incapable of nuance or slow building because 24 didn't have any of that. It was all action so they thought they could do the same with Dexter. Dexter killing the random person in the bathroom in the first episode of season 5 was the early warning sign that the new showrunners didn't care about the whole "harry's code" thing that was the central premise of the show. Even when Dexter was telling Debrah about what it feels like to kill they were eating spaghetti and the red sauce was candy coloured which looked so off, almost like the new showrunners were trying to do some subliminal nuance but couldn't get past their flashy style. I have high hopes for this new season. It can't be any worse than the previous few seasons atleast.

Agent Coulson

Harry needs to a make an appearance.

Acosta

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Good to see the showrunner from seasons 1-4 is doing it rather than the showrunners from seasons 5-8. That was the main reason the series dipped in quality so dramatically. The showrunners from 5-8 were all executive producers of 24, so it's no wonder the series fell off a cliff.

They were incapable of nuance or slow building because 24 didn't have any of that. It was all action so they thought they could do the same with Dexter. Dexter killing the random person in the bathroom in the first episode of season 5 was the early warning sign that the new showrunners didn't care about the whole "harry's code" thing that was the central premise of the show. Even when Dexter was telling Debrah about what it feels like to kill they were eating spaghetti and the red sauce was candy coloured which looked so off, almost like the new showrunners were trying to do some subliminal nuance but couldn't get past their flashy style. I have high hopes for this new season. It can't be any worse than the previous few seasons atleast.

What showrunners from 24 were involved with Dexter?

First 5 seasons of 24 were incredible. Some of the best television ever, but very different to Dexter of course.

Not sure I can bring myself to watch it so bad it was the last few seasons. Wish I'd stopped after the John Lithgow season.

byte

Acosta wrote: »

Not sure I can bring myself to watch it so bad it was the last few seasons. Wish I'd stopped after the John Lithgow season.

Yeah, wish I had done the same.

ancapailldorcha

Deleted User wrote: »

Good to see the showrunner from seasons 1-4 is doing it rather than the showrunners from seasons 5-8. That was the main reason the series dipped in quality so dramatically. The showrunners from 5-8 were all executive producers of 24, so it's no wonder the series fell off a cliff.

They were incapable of nuance or slow building because 24 didn't have any of that. It was all action so they thought they could do the same with Dexter. Dexter killing the random person in the bathroom in the first episode of season 5 was the early warning sign that the new showrunners didn't care about the whole "harry's code" thing that was the central premise of the show. Even when Dexter was telling Debrah about what it feels like to kill they were eating spaghetti and the red sauce was candy coloured which looked so off, almost like the new showrunners were trying to do some subliminal nuance but couldn't get past their flashy style. I have high hopes for this new season. It can't be any worse than the previous few seasons atleast.

I never felt like the code was the central premise. I thought it was there to make the Dexter character someone likeable as opposed to being just another TV serial killer.

The dark passenger stuff at least was toned down but it's so daft that they can't just have Dexter be a serial killer without this sort of carryon. That said, it's an improvement on the books where it turns out the

dark passenger is the spawn of the god Moloch. Seriously.

Peter_OConnor

I just rewatched the first four seasons when I heard the news and it was even better than I remembered. Emotionally intelligent writing, dark humour, Deb's lines (especially about Lila). I love it. As soon as Dexter starting going downhill I stopped watching as I just couldn't take it. I think that was part ways in to S6. When I read all these comments I'm glad I did that! Really looking forward to the new series. Not tempted to catch up before it. I'll do with the recap they come up with ad the intro to the new series. I trust the original writers.

TomSweeney

It will be tough to undo the damage done in those last 2/3 seasons.

dire stuff - but I'll give it a chance ...

JP Liz V1

Michael C. Hall Hopes Upcoming Dexter Revival Will Atone for 'Extremely Dissatisfying' Series Finale

TV Line

Homelander

Kinda excited about this one now. If it is even half decent it will go a long way towards redeeming the show, while S5 and 6 were very shakey, S7 was actually good far-fetched fun, it's only S8 where it became truly god awful.

They can't undo what they did to characters like Deb in that last season, but it is a start.

JP Liz V1

https://twitter.com/GeekVibesNation/status/1346547018928369672