‘Dexter’s’ extras are dead weight

If you talked to anyone who watched the fourth season of “Dexter” while it was on the air, you probably heard him or her raving about two things: John Lithgow’s utterly chilling performance as the Trinity Killer and the sucker punch in the closing minutes of the season finale.

On DVD, John Lithgow’s performance is as excellent (and as Emmy-baiting) as I remembered. And the final minutes are still brutal. Both of these elements are the triumph of this season.

It’s too bad other plotlines don’t pull their weight; a relationship between Laguerta and Batista is poorly conceived and executed with the grace of an anvil, and the less said about Quinn and that crime reporter’s “romance,” the better.

Truly baffling, though, are the insipid special features, including hyperbolic text-only cast bios and the entire “Dexter” Comic-Con panel from 2009. Why not the 2010 panel looking ahead to season five? Or an audio commentary? For shame, Showtime.