Dexter Season - 1

Every great hero needs a great villain, and delivers one of the most memorable antagonists in TV history: The Ice Truck Killer (ITK). Unlike Dexter, who kills with precision and sanitation, the ITK kills with theatrical brutality, draining his victims of blood and leaving their dismembered bodies in ice-covered scenes that look like twisted art installations.

Season 1 of Dexter succeeded because it was a perfectly self-contained narrative arc. It balanced the freak-of-the-week procedural format with a sweeping, deeply emotional seasonal mystery. It proved that a monster could be deeply human, and in doing so, it paved the way for a golden age of morally gray television. Dexter Season 1