There was a time when “Dexter” was the best show on television.

The show’s first four seasons were excellent, and its fourth season saw the peak of the show’s creative possibilities. John Lithgow won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his guest star turn as serial killing family man Arthur Mitchell. Lithgow as Mitchell really challenged Dexter and shook the core of the show. It truly felt like anything could happen in each episode, and obviously in the season four finale, something very big did happen.

Then publicity materials for “Dexter” season five raised expectations to exponential levels. Fans thought they were getting a redux of the Dexter-Doakes battle from season two, except this time with Dexter (Michael C. Hall) and Quinn (Desmond Harrington). The two had developed an adversarial relationship over the course of season four, as Dexter became more and more unraveled by the process of catching Arthur and killing him. The season five trailer showed Quinn primed to really go after Dexter, whom he suspected was a truly shady character beneath the façade. Yet in season five, Quinn was presented with enough evidence from an informant to indict Dexter, but Quinn killed the trail cold. This all made no sense and just diffused the drama.

Moreover, while the creators of the show hyped season five as not really having a central villain, only leading to more speculation that Quinn would essentially serve that role, season five ended up having a central villain in the form of the cartoonish maniacal inspirational speaker Jordan Chase. The plot just came off as preachy.

As great as Julia Stiles is, her character of Lumen was unbelievable. So she begins serial killing as revenge, falls in love with a serial killer and then abruptly walks away from both in order to continue a normal life? Those are pretty big character leaps to make, all in 12 episodes. The season five finale just screamed that “Dexter” was jogging back to the status quo in time for the season six premiere, such an insufferable approach to storytelling.

All the while, “Breaking Bad” assumed the mantle of best show on television, continually shaking up the show’s status quo to cause viewers to think that literally anything could happen each episode, an effect that “Dexter” was so good at back in season four.

And now “Dexter” is five episodes into its current sixth season, and nothing has changed. In fact, in some ways, things have gotten worse.

Sure, the Jordan Chase plot was goofy, but the religious theme of season six is groan-worthy at times. This season, Dexter meets ex-convict Brother Sam (Mos Def), who runs an auto-body shop aimed at giving other ex-convicts a second chance as employees. His conversations on religion soften the forensic scientist and hardcore atheist Dexter. This is truly a feat considering religion is so deeply and annoyingly ingrained in Dexter’s mind this season.

Dexter and Brother Sam’s conversations on religion amount to the conversations between middle schoolers discovering the topic for the first time. Even worse is when another character like Dexter’s sister Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) weighs in with her asinine opinion that Dexter’s son should go to a Catholic school because otherwise, he would have no morals.

The detective work has only gotten easier in season six. The police are investigating serial killings full of references to the end times. And then a suspect pops up in the form of ex-religious studies professor James Gellar (Edward James Olmos), who was fired from his job because he was accused of stealing the ancient sword of John the Revelator? He also has a website about the end times and a cult following? Oh, wow, are you sure this guy did it?

A few plot lines in season six are interesting. Colin Hanks guest starring as Travis Marshall, an ex-student of Gellar’s following in his serial killing footsteps explores the relationship between cult leader and avid follower. Just how far will Travis go?

In addition, perhaps the one thing that “Dexter” has advanced in the plot — outside of a few meaningless, random relationship breakups — is Deb’s promotion to the rank of lieutenant and how she handles this. Even still, her cursing on live television turning into a commendation from police brass is another unbelievable turn in a series full of them lately.

— Robby O’Daniel is a graduate student in communications. He can be reached at rodaniel@utk.edu.