Dexter

Season 1 - 85% - In the core, a small, pleasantly escalating case where too many personal coincidences happen around the main character. And in the bigger picture, it's the first step of a sympathetically sophisticated series that intoxicates viewers with a sweet feeling of knowing more than everyone around the central character, while still being led by the footsteps of an unknown killer. In the end, it's a relaxed and gradual spectacle that once introduced me to the world of cable TV and gave me a criminally grateful character with purely logical thinking and somewhat noble intentions. However, nothing is black and white, and there are many twists yet to come. Season 2 - 90% - Cold logic starts to crack due to the animalistic force in the form of a seductive stranger, sympathy is increasingly stolen by the uncompromising Debra, and the deserving place in the spotlight belongs to the charming Julie Benz as Rita, who is unnecessarily scorned by viewers. In this season, the creators found the ideal balance that guaranteed the show's position for a few more years, a show that everyone watches (or at least plans to start watching at any moment). And it must be said, deservedly so, because the dynamics of relationships between Dexter-Doakes, Dexter-Lila, or Debra-Lundy can captivate viewers. Season 3 - 70% - Surprisingly stumbling at a time when all storylines should gain strength. Laguerta, despite occasionally emphasizing her importance too much, fails to impress, and she can't compete with the consistent performances of Deb or Rita. Dexter himself battles with an almost anonymous enemy and embarks on further endeavors with a rather problematic sidekick, Miguel. Here, in the third year of Miami escapades, I had the feeling that the script can dangerously waver and, in the wrong hands, could lead the entire series into unexpectedly murky waters. Fortunately, that didn't happen, and the Skinner case was concluded with credit, leaving only the anticipation for a more nourishing prey, which didn't take long to arrive. Season 4 - 100% - The pinnacle of the whole bloody show, which cannot be surpassed in terms of uncompromisingness, nervousness, or breathlessness due to unexpected twists. The Trinity Killer became a symbol for Dexter, the epitome of a first-class villain whom everyone subsequent will strive to match - and they will never succeed. When the storylines around Batista and Joey Quinn finally work perfectly, the outcome is determined. It's a (30/01/2008)

A surprising independent project, which with the removal of time works slightly better than a potential ninth season. And for how long the creators were working on making this, they are now a bit like bulls in a china shop and at the moment they should be picking up the pace, they're standing still, and when it would be better to wait, they're rushing forward so quickly that I can't even look around and the plot is already someplace else. And yet what remains the same is the atmosphere, which brings back that paranoid spectacle even without the sun and Miami beaches, in which the main character spins suspenseful wheels in all directions. The acclaimed and hated finale is definitely not the best work, fortunately it is not the worst either and easily repairs the damage caused by the finale almost a decade ago. It's just a shame that it rushes there the most frantically of all, because at that moment the viewer is already picking up on how the whole series could end and is only wavering over who will kill whom and with whom, who will stay with whom, and is only rearranging the figures in such equations. However, because the creators let the viewer wander for a very long time, it is possible to insert almost any composition into the puzzle about twenty minutes before the end and when it finally comes to breaking the bread, it loses weight in the emotions that the previous nine episodes had been trying to absorb. Dexter - New Blood does not rank among the best of the series, but it reaches with surprising ease the level of the third, sixth, or seventh season, the sufficiently good and highly watchable ones. I would be a bit more satisfied without the glaring logical shortcuts, where many things are unrealistically facilitated for the main characters (see the very convenient conference or the increasingly faster drawing of conclusions), but the main goal was achieved. The series, which I considered one of the best even after the fifth season (at least out of the ones airing at the time), suddenly became completely irrelevant to me at the first finale, because it felt like the creators were making a fool out of me. Now it definitely doesn't matter to me and my memories of Dexter as a whole have finally brightened. (21/01/2022)