For eight seasons, viewers followed the saga of Dexter Morgan — a forensic analyst living a secret double life as a serial killer. He was taught by his adoptive father to act out his homicidal urges to kill other killers. 

“Dexter” was a wildly popular show, winning four Emmys and broad critical acclaim. It is now being rebooted, with “Dexter: New Blood” slated to debut in November 2021 on Showtime. “Dexter” fans of the show will hope the new saga can live up to the heights of its early seasons, while avoiding the pitfalls of its universally-panned final season and finale. 

To determine the best episodes of Dexter, 24/7 Tempo reviewed data on audience reception from the Internet Movie Database. All 96 episodes of Dexter were ranked based on their IMDb user rating as of November 2021. In the case of a tie, episodes with a greater number of votes were ranked higher. Data on original airdate and number of votes also came from IMDb.

“Dexter” fans broadly agree that the show started out very well, but tailed off in later seasons. Nearly all of the best-reviewed episodes on IMDb were in its first four seasons. All but one of the least-liked episodes were in season five or later — including nearly every episode of the eighth and final season, including the series finale, which fans of the series felt left a lot to be desired. These are the worst TV series finales of all time.

Click here to see the 20 best episodes of Dexter, according to IMDb