Today in TV History: Dexter Morgan Was Bested by His Greatest Foe

Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone. 

IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: December 13, 2009

PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: Dexter, “The Getaway” (Season 4, Episode 12). [Watch on Netflix]

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Dexter had already experienced some ups and downs, quality-wise, by the time it arrived at its fourth season. It wasn’t down and out by any means, but the Hector Prado storyline in season 3 wasn’t great, and if season 4 wasn’t a rebound, a reputation really would have started to set in. Turns out, season 4 was maybe the best Dexter season of them all, thanks in no small part to a chilling performance by John Lithgow as Arthur Mitchell, the Trinity killer.

One of the best decisions made in Dexter‘s fourth season was not to keep Trinity’s identity a secret. This way, we (and Dexter) got to follow Mitchell through his killings, his home life, everything that made him so disturbing. The idea was that Mitchell, with his wife and two kids and nice home and upstanding life as a church-going man and charity homebuilder, serves as an inspiration to Dexter for how he might be able to integrate family life with his killings. But ultimately Arthur is much more dangerous than he seems, and he and Dexter end up on a collision course.

Which brings us to the season finale. As we all knew they must, Dexter and Arthur face off, and obviously Dexter prevails, ultimately dispatching Arthur like he’s done to all the other bad guys in the course of the series. But then Dexter returned home. And, look, it’s been six years; the end of the episode had become pretty infamous. But if you’ve somehow made it this far into life without learning what comes next and you are, like, about to start binge-watching Dexter, feel free to click away now. Certainly don’t stick around to watch the video of that last scene.

Or the Hitler-in-Downfall parody of it.

Even for those of us who may have seen Rita’s demise coming, the imagery of it all was devastating. Dexter’s orphaned son sitting on a bloody bathroom floor, echoes of Dexter’s own psychotic making, the phone ringing in the other room. A great capper to the best season of Dexter.

[You can watch Dexter‘s fourth season finale, “The Getaway,” on Netflix.]