TV Series Review: DEXTER – Season 5 (2010)

As gruesome and anti-hero as the character of Dexter is, it was heart wrenching to see him suffer such a huge loss at the end of Season 4 of the Showcase Series DEXTER.

The Season 4 finale saw Dexter’s wife Rita get brutally murdered by the very same serial killer Dexter was hunting and eventually killed. The previous seasons of the show dealt with Dexter going from loner serial killer to being a boyfriend, good brother, step father, then real father and an over all family man. Season 5 shows him having to deal with becoming a single parent of 3 kids, with the loss of his wife.

The most ironic thing about this huge plot twist is that his own biological son, was found by himself sitting in a pool of his own mother’s death. Mirroring the same way that he begun his traumatic life of fucked-up ness.

Season 5 is VERY slow. It changes up the pace of the entire show and almost crawls at parts. Huge changes that don’t seem to fit in with the over all tone of the series so far, is introduced. The step-kids eventually move away to their grand parents house, as the eldest daughter blames him for the loss of her mom. Dexter is forced to move back into his bachelor pad with his infant son.

The coolest thing is that the domestication of Dexter continues with Season 5. It’s great fun to see him coordinate and time his murders so that he can be home in time to relieve the babysitter.

The long season wide story line of Season 5 deals with a randomly routine murder that he commits, for his own sanity no less, which causes him to stumble upon a live victim of the guy he killed. She sees Dexter in action and becomes a party to his secret.

The guest star this season is Julia Stiles and man does she kick some ass in her role. Going from the brutally abused and traumatized young girl to the desperately damaged woman looking for revenge, to Dexter’s partner in crime. She is officially Dexter’s sidekick this season… and it’s great watching the evolution of her character unfold.

Season 5 of this show is probably the least exciting of the entire series so far. It introduces a lot of things that completely change the status quo of the characters, and not always in the best possible way. Dexter’s current lifestyle this season also mirrors that of his own upbringing even more as he suspects his own son of going through homicidial tendencies at age 1, due to his exposure to his mother’s death. It’s a great coming of full circle for the story, however, it just wasn’t that interesting to watch.

Season 5 was great, as the concept of DEXTER is, however in comparison to the other Seasons, it was lacking.

Get Season 5 on Blu ray