The finale (you can read my review of it here) racked up 2.6 million viewers. That topped the previous record held by the second-to-last episode of the current season of 2.1 million viewers, which at the time was the highest rated show for the network in the last 10 years.
I really feel sorry for the poor bastard who has to write the fifth season. Not only does he have to craft a plot that tops the genius of the Trinity Killer angle, but he has to top the ratings record the show has just set. And I thought I was the most sleepless writer on the face of the planet.
Are you still reeling over what happened to Julie Benz on last night's Dexter finale? Don't worry. Here's some digital Zoloft for you.
Benz got her first big break on the small screen way back in the early 1990s on the extremely short-lived ABC and Nick-at-Nite sitcom spoof Hi Honey, I'm Home! She played the show's archetypal '50s sitcom teenage daughter Babs Nielson. I don't know why it's so amusing to watch her on the show now. Maybe if it's because we knew that Babs would end up dating and marrying a successful serial killer, the original show might have lasted a little longer.
(S04E12) "How is it that I kill people and feel no regret, but disappointing Rita can make me feel like the scum of the Earth?" - Dexter Morgan
I don't care what the issue is, what topic I'm discussing, or what area of my life needs improvement. If Jennifer Carpenter, the actress who plays Debra Morgan on Dexter, has the answer for me, I'm going to follow it to a tee.
That's because she can correctly predict the emotional outcome of any situation, including the reaction I'd have to last night's Dexter finale. I should really have her sit in on my next IRS audit. Chances are if she can't help me cope with the soul crushing inevitability of my pending financial breakdown, she can curse out the auditor and leave him in a bigger sadness heap than I'll be in.
And now Jennifer Carpenter, who plays Debra Morgan on the show, is urging fans and new viewers alike to "have a good time talking to your therapists about it (the season finale) because it's beyond whatever you may think," according to a recent interview with E! Online.
Of course, this could all be just hype designed to draw in as many eyeballs as possible for a show that's already loaded to the gills with them, but I wouldn't put anything pass a show like Dexter. Despite the unevenness of all the plots this season, the Trinity Killer angle has more than made up for it. Could it be that we don't get to see Dex turn Arthur Mitchell into a human jigsaw puzzle on his kill table?
(S04E11) "Blood tech, husband, father, serial killer and now, Kyle Butler extortionist? Which one are you?"
"All of them." - Harry to Dexter
It is always fun to watch Dexter struggle over his various roles and purposes in his life. He's become a juggler learning how to add just one more ball to his act even as he's trying to keep them all up in the air.
This season, he's had more than ever before in a single season. He's a heavily armed Rich Little and adding extortionist to his list was a real smart move until, of course, Arthur gets the better of him.
Usually just covering the Emmys is enough to make me want to take a week long nap. But now TV shows are getting more nominations and awards than most Nobel Peace Prize Winners.
It's not just the Emmys. We've got the Golden Globes, the People's Choice Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Peabody Awards, the ALMA Awards, the E Pluribus Unum Awards. It's good to know that at least America's cabinet makers will never suffer a major economic recession.
Now the Producers Guild has announced the list of nominations for their awards and they are almost identical to the Emmys. Mad Men, 30 Rock, Breaking Bad, Dexter; they're all there. Why not just show a rerun of the last Emmy Awards and everyone can turn in early?
Does anybody care about all these trinket tossers?
(S04E10) "No one's ever going to hurt you again ... especially me." - Dexter to his infant son, Harrison
Every season, Dexter manages to learn something from every one of his various victims and kills: the origins of his "Dark Passenger," the need for humanity to have a silent hero, why you shouldn't share your serial killing secrets with your best friend.
This season's big lesson seems to be the deepest and most important of all: his family. Dexter kept Arthur Mitchell, the Trinity Killer (although after tonight, he should be redubbed the Trinity Plus One Killer since we learned that Lundy missed a crucial piece of his serial killings), on a long leash hoping to learn how to juggle his family mask and his private hobby, something Arthur has managed to do for more than 30 years. Unfortunately, the lesson he learned was a harsh one: your family is either a family or a mask and can be both. That and don't follow Arthur Mitchell's advice, ever.
(S04E09) "Everything is exactly the way it should be. Perfect." - Rita Morgan
The season is almost over and that means things are bound to ramp up as Dexter moves in closer to kill the Trinity Killer. But this week, we get treated to a special Thanksgiving episode. Think of it as a sordid cross between the "Thanksgiving Day" episode from Father Knows Best mixed with the director's cut of any episode of Twin Peaks.
After explaining his identity, background and own "Dark Passenger," this week's episode dove head first into his family who aren't as Norman Rockwell as Arthur Mitchell might want Dexter and the rest of the world to believe. It turns out they are probably the most interesting aspect of Mitchell's twisted life and could turn out to be a huge asset to bringing the man down, now that he no longer has them in his upper hand.
One of our ever alert readers pointed out a theory in last Sunday's episode of Dexterthat sounds so crazy, it might just actually work. You've got to love TV logic. The craziest theories gain the most traction.
TV Squad reader Frank Militello aka mello one proposed that Christina Hill, the plucky reporter and Quinn's nosy girlfriend, may have been the trigger man, er, woman who wounded Debra and killed Frank Lundy.
The theory came on the heels of Debra's realization that the Trinity Killer could not have shot her since her wounds were too far down her abdomen. Christina also revealed to Quinn that her editor is one bloodless story away from firing her and she need more ink that "bleeds" and "leads."
Could Christina be Lundy's killer and if so, how would you feel about that?
(S0408) "Born in blood, both of us." - Dexter on his and the Trinity Killer's creation of their "dark passengers"
Dexter and the Trinity Killer aren't the only ones on the show who have been paying back their anger for the pain the world has dealt them. The audience is in on the same game.
We've been sitting through weeks of boring and dry subplots about secret affairs and office romances that we couldn't care less about if we were actually one of their co-workers. But now we've been rewarded for our patience with some seedy and very interesting details about Dexter's main prey, the Trinity Killer, a man held in a very weak cage of despair and anger.
(S04E07) "We all have secrets, Debs. Some of them shouldn't be found out." - Dexter to Debra
While preparing this post, I had to double check the time stamp on this week's episode because "7" just seemed too early. It literally felt like we were more episodes into the season. I even looked out my window to make sure the Earth had not been sent into some kind of time paradox where time runs backwards, the sun comes out at night, and golf is America's most watched sport.
Then when I looked over my notes for the recent episode, I realized why. "Slack tide" indeed.
This week's episode did have some very great moments that showed glimmers of the show's glory days, but the rest got bogged down in the same sidetracks that have dragged the rest of the season down with it. The plots may be in different pieces, but they are all in the same garbage bag as they float through the Gulf Stream.
(S04E06) "We both have skeletons, which means we both get a closet to keep them in." - Dexter on him and Arthur Mitchell, the Trinity Killer
Now that Dexter and his faithful followers have discovered Trinity's true identity as a family raising, student teaching, hymn congregation leading all around nice guy, it's made him twice as creepy. The fact that he can turn such a blind eye towards causing so much painful mayhem and in the blink of that eye pretend that everything is all rainbows and jellybeans twists my spine into a monkey fist. John Lithgow has not only reached into the bloody depths of this depraved character, but he's done a marvelous job of walking around in his skin, both figuratively and (I sure hope not) literally.
Now that Dexter is on the hunt, he seems more reserved, held back and less willing to pounce on his weakened prey. I'm sure part of him feels the need to put this man out of our misery and avenge the attack on his sister, but now he sees him as a mentor, a role model, a zen-like Yoda who can teach him how to strengthen his mask while he's doing the bidding of his "Dark Passenger." But will this moment of philosophy for madmen drag things down to a screeching halt?
Rules are meant to be broken... especially for these ten television characters. For them, the rest of the world has one standard to live by and they have another. It makes them interesting and fun to watch... you just wouldn't necessarily want to be the person having to deal with them because they could drive you to distraction. Here's my ten pack of characters who live in a world of their own, according to no rules except their own. From the not-too-bad to the really bad.
10. Patrick Jane, The Mentalist
You would think that as a consultant to the CBI -- California Bureau of Investigation -- Patrick Jane would be compelled to uphold the rules and regulations of the department. However, Jane is a free spirit when it comes to office protocol. He does his own thing. For instance, bugging the office of a CBI higher-up is definitely not kosher. Jane doesn't care; he did it anyway and will probably get away with it.
This season of Dexter has the most share of downs than seasons past, so much so that it's actually turned the audience against the strife and struggles of their longest running characters. But whoever thought that one of them would be sweet, lovable Rita?
Entertainment Weekly critic Ken Tucker said in his most recent review at his "Watching TV" blog that the three things he wouldn't miss are the Batista/Laguerta relationship, Quinn's touchy relationship with a scoop hungry reporter and Rita, played by Julie Benz.
His issue isn't with Benz's performance, but he said he feels "dubious" about the fixes that have to be made to Dexter and Rita's relationship. All this talk of working out issues could turn an edgy show about a body chopping serial killer into an episode of The View with less screaming and violence.
(S04E05) - "If anyone has ever deserved to be on your table, it's this son of a bitch." - Harry to Dexter
Shows like Dexter are like Heinz Ketchup, good things come to those who wait.
The last few episodes, well, weren't the best of the season, maybe even of the series. They interspersed bits and pieces of the Trinity Killer's true identity with a bunch of dry and pointless plots surrounding the rest of the characters from Batista and Laguerta's closed door relationship to Quinn's "back door" policy with his nosy reporter girlfriend (not that kind sickos).
But it's finally starting to pay off with this week's episode. Some of those dull plotlines have brought together what appear to be some much needed closure and we finally learn another piece of the Trinity Killer's picture and it's starting to look like a Normal Rockwell as opposed to a blood-spattered Jackson Pollock.
Dexter has topped itself again. 
If you've been following the fourth season of 
(S04E11) "Blood tech, husband, father, serial killer and now, Kyle Butler extortionist? Which one are you?"
Usually just covering the Emmys is enough to make me want to take a week long nap. But now TV shows are getting more nominations and awards than most Nobel Peace Prize Winners. 
One of our ever alert readers pointed out a theory in 
(S0408) "Born in blood, both of us." - Dexter on his and the Trinity Killer's creation of their "dark passengers" 
(S04E07) "We all have secrets, Debs. Some of them shouldn't be found out." - Dexter to Debra
This season of 
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