Dexter, Season Four (no spoilers, nerds)
Started: 12/25/09 | Finished: 1/1/10
What a great way to start the new year. Sure, an incredibly stressful and anxiety-inducing way, but great nonetheless. I haven’t been this enthralled with Dexter since the second season. Which I guess isn’t that long ago, but still!
Maybe it’s because I watched the entire series in two and a half back-to-back sittings a week apart, but, the first half of the season and the second half feel distinctly different. Characters who continually revealed other sides to themselves in the first half became a big stagnant in the second half. But I suppose this is just a casualty of the tension and drama ramping up so quickly.
Whenever characters in TV shows have children together, it seems like a cop-out for a truly interesting storyline. But Dexter managed to incorporate new fatherhood quite well, adding a new element of suspense while maintaining a constant level of believability. (Though it should be noted that suspension of disbelief for this show is already at a near extreme.)
The more I think about it, the more I realize this may be my favorite season yet. A lot of firsts happened, in both plot and storytelling— it was refreshing to see Dexter conquer new territories and to see the creative team find new ways to break the formula of one vengeance-killing per episode. While I do recommend starting at Season One if you haven’t, this season was definitely a high-point of the series. Hopefully Dexter can end on a note as epic in their likely final season next year.
