workmates, convenient plot contrivances), Tad Friend of The New Yorker magazine remarked that when Dexter is struggling to connect with Rita or soliciting advice from his victims, "the show finds its voice." The review aggregator website Metacritic calculated a score of 77 from a possible 100 for season one, based on 27 reviews, making it the third-best reviewed show of the 2006 fall season. This score includes four 100 percent scores (from the New York Daily News, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Sun-Times and People Weekly magazine). Brian Lowry, who had written one of the three poor reviews Metacritic tallied for the show, recanted his negative review in a year-end column for the trade magazine Variety, after watching the full season. On Metacritic, season two has a score of 85 with all eleven reviews positive; season three scored 78 with 13 reviews; season four scored 77 with 14 reviews; season five scored 76 with eleven reviews; season six scored 62 with 10 reviews; season seven scored 81 with seven reviews; and season eight scored 71 with ten reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, season one has an 81 percent approval rating with a score of 8.18 out of 10, and the consensus: "Its dark but novel premise may be too grotesque for some, but Dexter is a compelling, elegantly crafted horror-drama."; season two has a 96 percent approval rating with a score of 7.6 out of 10 and the consensus: "The Bay Harbor Butcher secures his nefarious spot among the great television anti-heroes in a taut second season that is both painfully suspenseful and darkly hilarious"; season three has a 71 percent approval rating with a score of 8.3 out of 10 and the consensus: "America's most amiable serial killer has lost some of his dramatic edge, but this third outing continues Dexters streak of delivering deliriously twisted entertainment"; season four has an 88 percent approval rating with a score of 8.4 out of 10 and the consensus: "The inherent comedy of Miami's favorite psychopath contending with domestic bliss and the unspeakable horror of John Lithgow's Trinity killer coalesce into one of Dexters most sensational seasons"; season five has an 88 percent approval rating with a score of 7.5 out of 10 and the consensus: "Michael C. Hall's remarkable performance invites viewers into Dexter's heart of darkness in a sorrowful fifth season that explores whether a hollow man can become a real boy";