‘Dexter’ series finale debate: Who was the greatest villain ever?

As we inch towards the “Dexter” series finale on Sunday, we are going to be taking a look back at some of the greatest moments to take place on the hit Showtime series.

Today, the focus is pretty simple: Ranking the most-terrifying villains to come in contact with Dexter Morgan. It’s an interesting group, and what makes this run so impressive is that we could easily double it without a problem. That’s just how massive the show’s roster is. But this is the best of the best, and since there are eight seasons, we thought the smartest idea here would be rank one per each. Maybe Oliver Saxon’s rank here changes after the finale, but it’s going to take something extraordinary.

8. Travis Marshall a.k.a. the Doomsday Killer (season 6) – Colin Hanks actually gave a pretty good performance as the psychopathic religious fanatic. The problem was that season 6 hinged on the world’s most predictable reveal and a story that went nowhere.

7. Oliver Saxon a.k.a. the Brain Surgeon (season 8) – Had Oliver actually been revealed early on, he would be much more compelling as a villain. The biggest star guest is  Charlotte Rampling as Evelyn Vogel, who is unfortunately no longer with us.

6. Isaak Sirko (season 7) – Ray Stevenson did not have too much to work with, and he was not even so much a villain at the end of the season, but this was an adversary who was compelling for so many reasons, and is really the only one on this list who did not kill out of a certain psychoses.

5. Jordan Chase (season 5) – Tick, tick, tick. That’s the sound of a man who could have been so much greater. Had the first half of season 5 moved quicker to the point where Lumen and Jordan were more in the forefront, we’d talking about a much stronger season overall. Jonny Lee Miller was fantastic in this role and we wanted more of him.

4. Brian Moser a.k.a. the Ice Truck Killer (season 1) – We’re actually not as great a fan of the original Big Bad as some, mostly because it became such a damsel-in-distress story for Deb, but you cannot deny the impact that Brian had on Dexter’s live even after he was killed.

3. Lila West (season 2) – Really, the most frightening woman to ever sleep with Dexter. Hannah kills to protect herself; Lila killed because she found some sort of perverse joy in it. She deprived us of Doakes, and that in itself is a sign of someone who made an impact.

2. Miguel Prado (season 3) – Due to it being stuck between arguably the show’s two best years, season 3 often is forgotten. But this was in our mind the best role of Jimmy Smits’ TV career. Miguel was so compelling because he represented something that Dexter wanted so badly, and something that he later realized he can never fully have. Zach Hamilton was a cheap impersonation of the original “student.”

1. Arthur Mitchell a.k.a. Trinity (season 4) – It’s hard to fathom this list without Trinity #1. John Lithgow owned this part to such a degree that he is an icon for it, and still gets asked about “Dexter” despite only appearing in 12 episodes. This was a terrifying character, one responsible for the death of Rita, and one that also represented another lost ideal for Dexter at a time when he was still learning. This, dear readers, was the golden age of the series.

Who do you think was the best? We want to hear some of your thoughts in our poll, and click here for the rest of our “Dexter” coverage leading up to the series finale.

Photo: Showtime