By: Grant Vance

“Dexter” has had its drastic ups and downs as a television series, with its inevitable (and extremely necessary) ending being one of the aforementioned “downs.”

This past Sunday marked the end of Showtime’s “Dexter” after an eight-season run.

Season eight of “Dexter” is simply one of the worst seasons of television ever to have been given the hope of redemption.

Introducing pointless characters, ignoring logic and creating endless unnecessary and inconclusive character arcs to fill its 50 minute runtime is a terrible way to end any series.

In all honesty, it’s insulting. The fact that this show produced an incredible first three seasons full of great twists, outlooks into the serial-killer psyche and character motivations that were not only logical but were also are given closure makes this terrible ending all the more painful.

These seasons had their occasional low points, but they always managed to keep the show alive and make “Dexter” something to love.

Then came season four. Any fan of “Dexter” will forever remember John Lithgow’s notorious Trinity Killer.

This season was pure gold. Everything about it was brilliant.

“The Getaway,”the season four finale, was without a doubt the peak of “Dexter” in its most literal sense.

The follow-up season wasn’t terrible television, but it was leagues away from season four.

While season six is considered a parody of itself, it takes a fun route for the show and at least brought forth a story worth paying attention to.

Seasons seven and eight brought a conceded, selfish, illogical Dexter Morgan who transitioned from a character that fans could relate to into a disgusting character from just about any angle.

All sense of the perfect anti-hero was lost within whatever storm these last two seasons created.

“Dexter” definitely departed in a dreadful way; this cannot be ignored, but at least some good television was produced before its sloppy demise.

Dexter Morgan’s adventures are part of Jeff Lindsey’s book series that inspired the show, as well as a new comic book series based in the novel’s universe.