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Dexter Vs Game of thrones which had the worse final season?

posted 4 years ago by arflexit (2376)
40 replies | jump to latest

Dexter Season 8 was a pretty terrible final season, and the end is almost comically bad. Game of Thrones was at least equal in terms of the ending quality; maybe even worse.

For me though Game of Thrones is the worst of the 2 and impacted the show negatively much more than Dexter's last season. So much of the story of Game of Thrones depended on the ending, that since it was awful in every way it killed all rewatch value.

At least with Dexter there are multiple seasons that you can treat as 'series finale'. Season 5 and 7 are both acceptable places to stop and be satisfied. Even 2 or 3 would work. Only 4 and 6 which end on cliff hangers are the only ones that you can't really stop at.

Where with Game of Thrones there is no good place to stop before the end and the end is such a unmitigated disaster there is no re-watch value now.

[–] JunoItsBill (93) 4 years ago

I disagree, you can definitely rewatch the Game of Thrones, except the last two seasons. Before the show drastically goes to shit, it was terrific. Even if the doesn’t close out the last good season in a way that wraps every active plot up I still think it’s worth rewatching just based on how great it is. There are so many interesting minor characters and plot lines that I had nearly forgotten about. It’s also enjoyable to rewatch it because it’s easier to understand peoples’ motivations for their actions and all of the foreshadowing, I appreciated the writing even more the second time around. I stopped watching it my second time through when the 5th season ended and I enjoyed every minute of it.

As far as Dexter is concerned, I stopped watching it after season 4 originally aired and just fell out of it by the time season 5 aired. I’ve recently been thinking that I should rewatch the show again and this thread has inspired me to do so, although I’m dreading the infamously terrible seasons haha.

[–] arflexit (2376) 4 years ago

But that is just it; The series is depending on the last 2 seasons. it is not like other shows in which you have an actual 'season finale'. GOT is too continuous and everything is building to the climax. It doesn't matter in this case how good the build up was; the climax being so terrible nullifies any interest in going through the build up again. Stopping GOT at season 5 is the equivalent of turning a film off just after half way. The story is incomplete.

The nice thing about Dexter is each season is almost independent, and therefore the bad seasons don't feel like they negatively impact the good seasons. But I do recommend skipping Season 8. Let us put it this way, as bad as the end of GOT season 8 was, I had many moments in which I was frustrated and almost throwing things at the TV; with Dexter season 8 I fell asleep through most of the episodes. As bad as GOT season 8 was, it wasn't both boring and stupid; just stupid. Dexter Season 8 is both stupid and boring.

[–] modica (4169) 4 years ago

Game of Thrones. Dexter was bad, but so was the previous season, so we kind of expected it.

[–] arflexit (2376) 4 years ago

Well to be fair both GOT and Dexter has serious quality dips starting after the 4th seasons. for both Shows there are some redeeming qualities to the 5th and 7th seasons; for both the season 6 are pretty bad. But after the last 2 episodes of GOT season 7 we should have been expecting a bad last season.

[–] modica (4169) 4 years ago

Yes, you can say that Dexter had slipped in quality after season 4. I definitely have trouble rewatching the show after season 4. Game of Thrones is the same. After season 4 the quality of the show wasn't as good, but I am still thinking that Game of Thrones finale was worse than the Dexter finale. Both were horrible, but I feel that Game of Thrones was a better show during the first 4 seasons than Dexter was, so, even though both were disappointing after season 4, Game of Thrones was a show I liked more. This made the GOT finale such a letdown.

[–] arflexit (2376) 4 years ago

That is a good point. The contrast by the higher quality GOT was in its prime which was much higher than Dexter's prime to what they ended on does make GOT ending feel much worse. And with Dexter it was a steady dip to the end. So even though season 8 of dexter was very boring in addition to being bad it did not have the unbelievable fall from grace GOT had right at the finish line. For fun I'll make a quick list to show what I would give rating to for each season so show this:

Dexter:
Season 1 (8/10); Season 2 (9/10); Season 3 (6.5/10); Season 4 (8.5/10); Season 5 (6/10)(would have been better than season 3 except for Luman; who was awful and annoying); Season 6 (3/10)(almost so bad it was comical); Season 7 (6/10); Season 8 (1/10)

Game of Thrones:
Season 1 (9.5/10); Season 2 (9/10); Season 3 (10/10); Season 4 (9.5/10); Season 5 (7/10); Season 6 (5/10); Season 7 (7.5/10); Season 8 (1/10)

So from my rating the average for Dexter until season 8 was about a 6.8/10 show. GOT was almost an 8.5/10 show before its plunge.

[–] modica (4169) 4 years ago

I am pretty much on board with you as far as the ratings from season to season,even though I would have altered a few a little higher or lower, the ending averages are very similar. Also, Dexter really ran out of steam for me after season 4(even though there were some highs), GOT still had time to redeem itself and Dexter didn't. Seeing all that, when Dexter was over I just shook my head thinking of the final season. It really didn't matter that much. With GOT, I felt the final season could have been something that would have made the series legendary. That is why until today, Dexter feels so distant, while GOT may always gnaw at me for years to come.

Right now I can only think of Breaking Bad and The Sopranos as being consistently good throughout. Both had a couple of clunkers as far as episodes were concerned, but overall the quality was there with each season. Too bad Dexter and GOT couldn't have done the same.

[–] arflexit (2376) 4 years ago

That is a good point; the ending of Dexter left a feeling of distance like a faded memory of something you once liked but haven't interacted with in a while. GOT has this feeling where there was lasting offense; where you are still bitter about it. GOT had time to redeem itself because it never got so bad that the story broke altogether; season 5 and 6 had some weaknesses in them (especially 6 IMO) but the overarching story never fell apart. Dexter was a different type of show, there was no over arching story; only character study and IMO the character of Dexter was ruined when he started falling in love with characters. It was okay with Rita because the idea was he lied about loving her so much that the lie became true; with Luman and then even worse with Hannah he just falls in like puppy love with them right away. The dexter of the last 4 seasons is almost not the same character as the first 4 but that is okay because of the 'distance' and independent season story lines.

The last season of GOT could have been legendary but because the last 2 seasons were shortened and they started accelerating all the plots, the only way to end it was to 'play it safe' and have a more traditional happy ending.

Breaking Bad from beginning to end is nearly perfect; and because of the way it ended so greatly it actually lifts some of those more 'clunker' episodes. I have not actually yet watched The Sopranos but from what I hear it also landed the ending very well. It is such a shame that arguably the biggest show in history of television ended with such a thud.

[–] modica (4169) 4 years ago

Game of Thrones. Dexter jumped the shark after season 4, so we expected a poor ending. Game of Thrones jumped after season 6, so it was more upsetting.

[–] HAL9000 (935) 4 years ago

i barely remember dexter, but GOT has the worst finale you could ever imagine. it ruined the whole show omg.
Id never recommend GOT to anyone ever. Just skip it.