Written by: Kevin Berge
And so the religious imagery begins and goes on and on and on. (Image Courtesy of: erwinreviews.com)
Quick Take: Dexter Season 6 is a tragic misstep for an otherwise consistent show with a notably weak central villain/story, an unfortunate story turn, and performances that seem to lack the usual intensity. While not unreasonably bad, the sixth season is the worst of the series and worth skipping entirely.
Previous Season Reviews: Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5
***This is a review of the sixth season of Dexter and spoiler heavy. Only those who have watched up to the end of the sixth season or do not care about being spoiled on the season/show up to this point should read beyond this point.***
I love Dexter as a series. I easily rank it among my favorite television series of all time. It is a show filled with quality actors, excellent and intelligent stories with morally complex themes, and just exciting and intense twists and turns.
However, the Dexter series that I love and rewatch frequently does not include season six. I have written it out of my personal canon for the series.
I cannot ignore it though when reviewing the series as a whole. In fact, I have been waiting to revisit it just to see if I could find some redeeming qualities in the season, something to praise.
I just keep hitting snags though. I cannot get over the series' gigantic missteps, one of which was so bad the writers quickly retconned it out of existence in the following season. This is a season where decisions made this season worth completely ignoring.
What was the biggest mistake that still haunts my nightmares when reflecting on this series? They converged Dexter and Deb's yearly love interest stories this year. Instead of having to add random characters to the story to give them some romance, they just stuck them together.
They stuck together the brother and sister pair of the series. They actually decided it was a good idea to make Deb have a revelation that all her failed romances were caused by her romantic feelings for her foster brother Dexter. This isn't even a matter of how incestuous this storyline feels.
Technically Dexter and Deb are not blood relations. However, their relationship which is the rock this series often stand on is brother and sister. It defines the series. In no way should it ever be mucked up by being made romantic.
***This is a review of the sixth season of Dexter and spoiler heavy. Only those who have watched up to the end of the sixth season or do not care about being spoiled on the season/show up to this point should read beyond this point.***
I love Dexter as a series. I easily rank it among my favorite television series of all time. It is a show filled with quality actors, excellent and intelligent stories with morally complex themes, and just exciting and intense twists and turns.
However, the Dexter series that I love and rewatch frequently does not include season six. I have written it out of my personal canon for the series.
I cannot ignore it though when reviewing the series as a whole. In fact, I have been waiting to revisit it just to see if I could find some redeeming qualities in the season, something to praise.
I just keep hitting snags though. I cannot get over the series' gigantic missteps, one of which was so bad the writers quickly retconned it out of existence in the following season. This is a season where decisions made this season worth completely ignoring.
What was the biggest mistake that still haunts my nightmares when reflecting on this series? They converged Dexter and Deb's yearly love interest stories this year. Instead of having to add random characters to the story to give them some romance, they just stuck them together.
They stuck together the brother and sister pair of the series. They actually decided it was a good idea to make Deb have a revelation that all her failed romances were caused by her romantic feelings for her foster brother Dexter. This isn't even a matter of how incestuous this storyline feels.
Technically Dexter and Deb are not blood relations. However, their relationship which is the rock this series often stand on is brother and sister. It defines the series. In no way should it ever be mucked up by being made romantic.
Why, Deb, why? Why do you have to do this? He's your brother! (Image Courtesy of: wegotthiscovered.com)
Moving past this for the moment as this twist only affects the series late, the main theme of this season is religion. Every series that runs long enough eventually deals with religious stories, often stumbling on the subject as it can get easy to lose focus worrying over messages.
With how morally complex as the series is, Dexter had to eventually tackle the issue, and they immediately fall on their face. The series follows Dexter trying to stop the Doomsday Killers who are attempting to enact Revelations through a series of gruesome murders.
These Doomsday Killers, Professor James Gellar (Edward James Olmos) and Travis Marshall (Colin Hanks), are both potentially intriguing characters played by great actors. Hanks is particularly effective in a complicated role.
The problem is that the main story and these villains are defined heavily by a twist that is made obvious within a third of the season but takes forever to be revealed. Gellar is not alive but just the voice in Marshall's head, the representation of the religious psychopath inside his head.
Obvious twists in a series happen all the time, but the surprise factor is too important to the story. When you realize what is going on, the characters who don't (everyone in the story) look stupid repeatedly. Plus Marshall is a complete different character once the reveal is made which is terrible writing.
The religious imagery around Dexter gets extreme at times, feeling too overt. There is one positive use of religion in the series. Dexter finds friendship with a minister Brother Sam who is played brilliantly by Mos Def. The way Sam's death affects Dexter is the best story of the season.
With how morally complex as the series is, Dexter had to eventually tackle the issue, and they immediately fall on their face. The series follows Dexter trying to stop the Doomsday Killers who are attempting to enact Revelations through a series of gruesome murders.
These Doomsday Killers, Professor James Gellar (Edward James Olmos) and Travis Marshall (Colin Hanks), are both potentially intriguing characters played by great actors. Hanks is particularly effective in a complicated role.
The problem is that the main story and these villains are defined heavily by a twist that is made obvious within a third of the season but takes forever to be revealed. Gellar is not alive but just the voice in Marshall's head, the representation of the religious psychopath inside his head.
Obvious twists in a series happen all the time, but the surprise factor is too important to the story. When you realize what is going on, the characters who don't (everyone in the story) look stupid repeatedly. Plus Marshall is a complete different character once the reveal is made which is terrible writing.
The religious imagery around Dexter gets extreme at times, feeling too overt. There is one positive use of religion in the series. Dexter finds friendship with a minister Brother Sam who is played brilliantly by Mos Def. The way Sam's death affects Dexter is the best story of the season.
The twist here was so obvious a new viewer seeing this picture might figure it out on the spot. (Image Courtesy of: verbicidemagazine.com)
Breaking down the basic mechanics of this season does not work well for season 6. The main cast seem worse than previous seasons even Michael C. Hall. The writing makes several missteps this season while the direction is too focused on religious imagery.
The episode quality is ridiculously low in this season, but a two episode arc deserves credit: "Just Let Go" and "Nebraska". Together these episodes follow Dexter dealing with the two sides of his personality that define him represented by his foster father Harry and brother Rudy. His grief and rage are both frightening and enthralling.
Where did this season go so wrong? It lost track of what was important. By trying to sell Dexter and Deb as a romantic pair, the writers failed to understand the importance of Dexter having real family to love without romance.
Meanwhile, the religious focus was bland and also lost the more affecting imagery and storytelling of the series. With the writing suffering from a bland central conflict and bad supporting stories, the actors seem equally as off-kilter.
This is not the worst made season of television out there. It still had most of the same flair of the series just toned down, but the decisions made in the writing were so bad that the series never quite recovered from this season making it more damaging than most bad TV seasons.
The only truly important moment in this season that can't be forgotten even if the season as a whole is was the last frame. Deb walking in on Dexter ritualistically killing Marshall in a church is one of the best moments and turning points of the series, luckily setting up a much stronger seventh season.
The episode quality is ridiculously low in this season, but a two episode arc deserves credit: "Just Let Go" and "Nebraska". Together these episodes follow Dexter dealing with the two sides of his personality that define him represented by his foster father Harry and brother Rudy. His grief and rage are both frightening and enthralling.
Where did this season go so wrong? It lost track of what was important. By trying to sell Dexter and Deb as a romantic pair, the writers failed to understand the importance of Dexter having real family to love without romance.
Meanwhile, the religious focus was bland and also lost the more affecting imagery and storytelling of the series. With the writing suffering from a bland central conflict and bad supporting stories, the actors seem equally as off-kilter.
This is not the worst made season of television out there. It still had most of the same flair of the series just toned down, but the decisions made in the writing were so bad that the series never quite recovered from this season making it more damaging than most bad TV seasons.
The only truly important moment in this season that can't be forgotten even if the season as a whole is was the last frame. Deb walking in on Dexter ritualistically killing Marshall in a church is one of the best moments and turning points of the series, luckily setting up a much stronger seventh season.