Matt

I've just finished watching Seasons 1-4 on Netflix. It's pretty good and I like it so far, but I know the popular opinion is that the show really starts to suffer in quality somewhere between Seasons 5-8. I don't want to invest any more of my time in it once it starts to suck, so I'll ask you guys: When did Dexter really start to go south?

I'm pretty good with how Season 4 ended, but of course I am curious to see what happens if/when Deb and the rest of the gang at Miami Metro Homicide find out about Dexter's dark passenger. . .

(Season 8 series finale spoilers)



That's all I know about how the show ends, and I'd like to keep it that way.

(Yes, originally I mistakenly posted this in the wrong forum. I'm stupid, ha, ha, ha. Thanks for moving it.)

chuckd21

You should probably stop when you start thinking Dexter is a video game.

chess

Aaand we're done here.

Dave99

I'd stop right where you are. There are plenty of other good shows lately that should be watched over 5-8 of dexter.

starseed1981

I honestly think the series has literally the worst finale of anything i've watched in the past 20 years. That being said, I thought seasons 1-5 and 7 were strong with six being very weak. 8 being atrocious.

Groucho

You're fine stopping now. Five and Seven are "okay". Six and Eight are nigh-unwatchable.

Neil M.

It's all downhill from Season 4.

Goat3001

If you're going to keep going:

Watch the first 4 episodes of Season 5.



Skip all of season 6 and read this spoiler instead



Watch all of season 7.

Don't watch any of season 8. Yes, there are some good parts to it in the beginning of the season that are worth watching but the end of season 7 works as a series finale, in a way, and you might as well let it end there.

With that said, if you stop watching right now, you're fine. Nothing further is needed.

Guru Askew

Watch all 8 seasons. Just know that its all downhill after season 4. And I doubt anyone can actually stop at the end of season 4 given the way it ends.

There are 48 episodes between seasons 5-8. I don't think a single Dexter episode hits the 1-hour mark. Nobody's time is so valuable that they can't waste 48 hours watching mediocre-to-average television episodes.

I know I would rather watch and decide for myself than let a bunch of people online decide for me. I personally loathed season 8 but found 5-7 to be watchable in spite of their inferior quality. But you may be different. Plus you always have the option of bailing on the show if you find it intolerable.

mwbmis

What Goat3001 said except I liked what Julia Stiles brought to season five so I'd watch all of that. I'm in the minority though.

Matt

Wow that is certainly very specific. Thanks.

Wait--Julia Stiles is in Season 5? Good to know, 'cause I can't stand her. I'm out.

Raul3

Don't listen to anyone. Listen to yourself.

It's easy. No one will stop when the show is good. So if season 4 was good, most people will continue watching.

So my suggestion is stop watching as soon as you get bored, think the show is derailing. It can happen anytime after season 4, yeah. Basically, as soon as you see the show going bad, don't think that it can get better. The show gets worse every episode, every season.

M&J

Watch everything... You gonna love the end..... Not!

Mike86

This has been discussed to death lately it seems. I'll just re-post my feelings from another recent thread:

So yeah basically the first four are the best, five is still pretty decent, six I honestly don't think is as bad as most people say it's just really predictable which hurts it, seven is good, and eight is a steaming pile of shit that ruined the show. Season eight actually I thought had some moments here and there at the beginning of the season. The big thing that hurts it is just how borderline retarded the characters became for the most part (which had already happened before this season but for some reason this season seemed to amplify it) and the fact that the writers seemed to drop every major storyline they set up in season seven. I honestly have no idea what they were thinking. The whole season ideally would just be scrapped and forgotten about and totally re-done if it were up to me but that'll never happen. Just such a disappointment for what started as one of the most promising shows in recent memory.

Draven

If you like it now, you'll probably still like it.

The finale was rough but I didn't have any major issues with the rest of the seasons. They tried a lot of different things - some worked, some didn't but I appreciated the effort.

I think people are being too hard on the show in general. It was a decent ride and I enjoyed most of it.

Jeremy517

I liked season five until the last couple minutes of the finale.



Even though I liked five, if someone is going to stop prematurely, the end of four is probably a better stopping point than the end of five.

Mike86

No I really don't think so. Season eight is such a pile of shit it essentially ruined the rest of the series for me. It's hard to watch the earlier episodes now when you know the series doesn't have a remotely satisfying conclusion. Scott Buck and his team of writers are a group of idiots. There were so many more ways they could have ended the show and done it well. They set up the end game for the series so well in season seven and then in season eight they just threw everything out the damn window. Season six also had it's fair share of issues despite the fact I don't hate it. The shining example is maybe the stupidest thing the series ever did Not to mention basically every character that isn't Dexter seem basically brain dead and probably the most incompetent group of crime scene investigators and detectives of all time. It was like that early on too I think but in the later seasons it was just amplified and it was hard to take any of the characters seriously. Every time you thought they might advance one of them and were giving them a storyline that could have went somewhere it was dropped. Just poor writing all around on the show particularly in the later seasons.

sleepyhead55

I find it pretty safe to stop watching after S4. As much as I like S5, it's not really essential and some plot holes started to become pretty apparent. S6 is pretty forgettable and should be skipped. S7 was better but some of the plotlines annoyed me. It's just ok for me but what irks me is that S8 never really expands on the cliffhanger of S7 and just kinda ignores it. S8 is a boring pile of shit as has been previously noted.

wmansir

I would stop now.

I stopped after season 5. I wanted to see where they took the show after the S4 ending so I watched S5 as it aired and it was OK, but not really worth watching. Also, despite not being a Stiles fan myself I thought she did pretty good on the show and her story was actually pretty good. As usual it was the Non-Dexter crap from the series regulars that really dragged the show down for me.

I think if I knew the basics of the finale it would be easier to just live with the S4 ending.

Personally if it were someone completely new to the show I would say watch S1 and that's it. Not that all of the following season are bad, but none really hold a candle to the first season.

Mike86

I dunno I think that season two is about equal to or maybe even a bit better than season one honestly. I liked pretty much everything about that season except Lila got on my nerves a bit after a while. Season three was also good I thought even though a lot of people complained about it when it aired. I didn't think it was quite as strong as the first two but it was still good. Season four is for sure on the same level as season one and two. It's amazing looking back how much momentum the show had going for it at that time and how it just progressively dwindled after that.

johnnysd

It sounds like the writers are being good soldiers and saying it's their vision but clearly Season 8 was a function of what some idiot Showtime execs wanted