Season 6 of Dexter is over, the final episode aired on December 18^th and it ended on one of the biggest cliff-hangers yet. There were a lot of story threads that came into play during season 6 that served the purpose of setting up the next season, and if those story threads are anything to go by; season 7 is going to be awesome.

The downside to this though, is that season 6 was a disappointment and is by far the weakest season of Dexter yet. Not only did it fail to wrap up certain plot points from last season, it also failed to be thrilling, and its biggest crime was how it incorporated a plot twist that was obvious from pretty early on and was built up for so long, it managed to essentially derail the entire season.

The season opens with an episode that appears to want to return everything to the status quo with as little explanation as possible. LaGuerta and Batista are now divorced, and their romance failings are barely covered. The last Fuentes brother was never mentioned again, even though he is still out there (I can’t be the only one who thinks this should be a big deal, or at least a deal of some sort). The investigation into the death of Quinn’s private investigator friend, Liddy, was swept under the rug even though there was still enough situational evidence out there to suggest that Quinn was a long way from being cleared. Hell, even Dexter was back to just going after random criminals in the night in a way that was reminiscent of his character from Season 1, or even the way he was in the beginning of last season.

Oh! I have to talk about something else having to do with Quinn. Was anybody else excited to see what would happen between Quinn and Dexter? Quinn was really close to discovering something, and even though some blackmail had been established, the tension and curiosity was thrown out the window by the beginning of this season. That really bugged me, especially after the way Quinn developed into a mess this season.

Dexter continued to hunt, kill, and live a life as a single father with a day and a night job as the season started. While I enjoyed the dark comedy of the high school reunion, I couldn’t help but feel a bit angry with Dexter this season. Poor Harrison, I mean seriously, that poor kid has pretty much an absentee father, and his mother was brutally murdered in front of him. Even though it is obvious Dexter loves his son and worries about how he will manage to raise him, I think the thing that really hurts the kid’s relationship with his father is the fact that Dexter is hardly in his life. Every episode had Dexter leaving Harrison in the care of Batista’s sister Jamie before he went to work, or went off to stalk and/or kill someone.

He also managed to keep up the trend of taking action against the common good of all those in his life in order to get the kill for himself, these actions were a direct reason for Rita’s death. I really hope he becomes better with this, it is making the character stagnate rather than grow like he needs to, I’ll discuss more of this later on.

Colin Hanks (left) Edward James Olmos (right) are the good on paper but bad in execution team known as the Doomsday Killer.

This season also introduced a central topic that had some great potential for this macabre series to explore. The topic of religion was introduced and it acted to not only question Dexter’s lack of faith and what religion could mean to a “monster” such as himself, but it also acted as a device used by Miami’s new psycho serial killers, Travis (Colin Hanks) and Professor Gellar (Edward James Olmos); who are effectively dubbed the Doomsday Killer. I have always really liked the work of Colin Hanks, and I was especially pleased to see Edward James Olmos get a spot on one of my favorite shows (I loved Battlestar Galactica, which also dealt pretty heavily with religion.) Regardless of the talent and the interesting subject matter at play, Travis and Gellar were the weakest part of the season, which officially makes them the worst serial killers on Dexter.

Not worst in the form of style however, if there is one compliment I could give the Doomsday Killer plot, it is that the murders were extravagant and downright brutal. The way they represented the four horsemen by sending out four horses with sewed together human and mannequin parts as their riders was rather creative and probably my favorite . While it wasn’t as startling as the room full of blood in Season 1, Gellar and Travis’ killings were consistently the most extravagant this series has ever done, but the bible is a good source of inspiration for extravagant murders.

What hurt the Doomsday Killer storyline was the Fight Club/Sixth Sense plot-twist that it tried to hold onto for far too long. While the hints were subtle throughout, once the theory that Gellar was just a figment of Travis’ psyche (like Harry is for Dexter) came into anyone’s mind, it became frustrating to watch. By the time the reveal was made and Dexter discovered that Travis had killed the professor and was solely behind the killings the whole time, I couldn’t help but to think, “Finally, now maybe this season can get good.”  On top of that, it made Dexter act like a bit of an idiot in order to keep the secret hidden. It has gotten to the point now that Dexter’s need to take care of these major serial killers is causing the death of many people that didn’t need to die, and is hurting those around him. I understand that every season to this point has used these kills as a way to explore the character, but his hesitation to get things done or turn over information to those around him for these bigger cases has led to him losing Rita and hurting those he works with. This was especially the case for his sister Debra, who received a promotion to Lieutenant in this season when LaGuerta blackmailed her way into a promotion.

Jennifer Carpenter takes up the character of Debra once again, remeber back when she was desperately trying to get into homicide back in season 1? Well, now she's the departments Lt. Go figure...

Since the serial killer portion of the season was weak and frustrating, the intrigue fell to the storylines taking place in Miami metro, a part of the series that typically acts as a stand-by in other seasons. While some interesting stuff was covered here, and quite a bit of it is leading to what looks like an amazing seventh season, it was mostly frustrating to watch.

LeGuerta returned to being an easy to dislike bitch whose blackmail of Matthews into a higher station within the department lead to Batista being skipped over for a promotion that he rightfully deserved. Instead the foul-mouthed Debra was given LeGuerta’s spot, and LeGuerta did all she could to make Deb’s life hell for it. Debra has shown herself to be a great detective with an insight into the way criminals work that is second to only Dexter (who is often busy using his knowledge to subvert his colleagues,) but she certainly never showed any leadership abilities. I’m sad to say that by the end of the season, she didn’t change my mind on this; Debra was a mostly ineffective leader. Her emotional instability became irritating to watch as she took over the department and the “falling in love” with Dexter bit introduced near the end of the season felt unnecessary and made me quite uncomfortable. If she could get herself together and use her talents, she would be great for Miami Metro, but with the way this season ended. I don’t think that is going to happen.

One of my favorite Miami Metro characters, Batista, was shoved into an all-around rage inducing direction as he became the babysitter of a heart-broken Quinn. Instead of taking his place as the department’s leader, he had to take care of his newly assigned partner. As I stated before, Quinn’s direction this season was just sickening to watch. He proceeded to mess up and destroy his own life after Deb broke up with him. He became a highly dislikable character who drank and slept around constantly. His irresponsible behavior nearly caused the death of Batista at the hands of Travis. It really is too bad Batista has been paired with a broken version of a character that showed so much promise when he clashed with Dexter last season. With Quinn and Dexter working against an already frazzled Debra with their actions, it is no wonder she never had the time to really shine and look good as the new Lieutenant.

Batista and Quinn, the most annoying duo in a season with more than one annoying duo.

Masuka, on the other hand, got to play in what was consistently the most interesting plot thread when he began to look for an intern to study under him. First there was the sexually manipulative Ryan (played by the attractive Brea Grant from Heroes) who had a particular interest in the serial killers from the series. Her main fascination was the Ice Truck Killer from the first season; also known as Dexter’s brother. When she stole the ITK hand from evidence and sold it on some form of e-bay, I was a bit dismayed by her choices. Yet, I couldn’t help but be intrigued by where this was going, seeing’ how it could lead to someone, or possibly the whole department finding out about Dexter. When she was removed, I felt disappointed and hoped the potential of what it could have meant wasn’t removed with her.

Luckily, Masuka’s new intern, Louis Greene (Josh Cooke) got to pick up where she left off when he was revealed as the one who bought the ITK hand later in the season. His fascination with Dexter was a story I became riveted with after this. Josh Cooke played a man being crushed by his idol with a subtle but potent nuance, as Dexter continued to blow off Louis’ attempts to bond with him. I’m very interested to see how Louis will be handled in the upcoming season since Masuka will be keeping him around to do consulting jobs. I think we got a hint of his direction when he mailed the hand to Dexter at the end of the season.

Season 6 also saw the introduction of Detective Mike Anderson (Billy Brown) who took Debra’s spot when she was promoted. He was a cop from Chicago that liked to dress in suits and didn’t appear to serve much of a purpose outside of showing how unprofessional the crew at Miami Metro really are. While many fans probably lost money when Debra didn’t sleep with him, he honestly fit no real hole that needed filling. I hope Mike Anderson gets some more development next season. Even for his pointlessness, I liked what I saw of the character.

The friendship of Brother Sam and Dexter is the highlight of the season. Why did it have to go so downhill?

I will also mention that I really liked the season in the beginning. A lot of that had to do with the fact that the subject matter was so interesting. Religion is a wonderful topic for this series to tackle, and the dynamic between Dexter and Brother Sam (Mos Def) was my favorite part of the season. Brother Sam is a character that embraced religion after serving his time for murder; he was set-up as another teacher for Dexter, but this time one with a positive influence. The idea that a dark passenger could be suppressed was a revelation for Dexter. Brother Sam introduced the concept of hope, and their friendship, while short lived, was one of the best relationships this series has developed.

The entire time Brother Sam was with the show, the season was better for it, and his death was a tragedy to see. The rage Dexter felt for the loss of someone he had virtually just met was handled well, I personally felt a bit of a loss when the character died. On his deathbed Sam admitted he knew who Dexter was, and the scene where he begged Dexter to forgive his killer if he found him was a somber one. The loss of Brother Sam led to a development that I felt didn’t hold up to its potential, the episode that followed Dexter going against Sam’s wishes in a murder of passion dealt with two big returns from two of the best characters in Dexter, but again the writers managed to drop the ball.

The episode “Nebraska” saw the return of Dexter’s brother, Brian (who’s return had been eluded to throughout the season) and dealt with Dexter embracing his darkness. Brian returned as an incarnation of Dexter’s dark passenger; replacing Henry for the time being. Sadly, this was all mostly mishandled. Brian’s comments were mostly used for comedic purposes, and his impact was virtually washed away by the end of that episode. An episode that also happened to deal with the ghost of the Trinity Killer! (Figuratively). For an episode that had Dexter embracing his darkness after the death of a great character, as well as dealing with a plot that included both the Ice Truck Killer and the Trinity Killer, it was an all-around let-down. “Nebraska” had so much promise, but was mishandled and disappointing in spite of its excellent premise; it was the single episode that encapsulated the feeling of season 6 perfectly.

The only redeemable thing I can say about this season is what I’ve said a few times in this review already; it at least acts as a set up for what is looking like an incredible next season. The final episode saw Debra finding out who her brother really is. She walked right in on Dexter plunging a knife into the chest of Travis, and the season ended with Dexter looking at her with his hands still wrapped firmly around the blade. This is a development that fans have been waiting for! This reveal coupled with the continued intrigue factor of Louis has me very excited to see what the show does next.

One of the many extravagant crime scenes set up by the Doomsday Killers. At least they gave us extravagance.

Final Call: Season 6 of Dexter is by far the worst of the series. The Doomsday Killer was frustrating to watch, and most of the side-stories were just as irritating. For how weak it was though, what it did right is develop some really good story-lines that will continue through to the next season. For how absolutely crappy Season 6 was, Season 7 looks like it will be amazing. Dexter is one of my favorite shows, and before this season, it was my favorite show. I’m still in with the guy, but it better get back on track, or I will not be returning for season 8.

Rating:

2/5 for a series I love so much, it pains me to give one of its seasons such a low rating. It the grand scheme of television this may deserve a higher grade, but in the scheme of Dexter's. Season 6 was just bad, but Season 7 looks promising.

Comment Below and tell us about your experience with the latest season. I know quite a few people will feel I was a bit harsh on the show, and I’d like to hear what you have to say.

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