DEXTER: Road Kill

I’m starting to wonder if they’ll wait until the end of the season to kill Arthur or spring it on us early. By my estimate, there are about four episodes left this season. That seems like a long time for Dexter to realistically wait to kill him. I mean, I seriously doubted he would just let him fall of the building, since the true ending to all this will be a Dexter-style killing. But, I can’t help but fear that at least one of the next four episodes will have to be carried by a secondary storyline, most likely Rita’s pending affair.

I’m also wondering the purpose of Rita having an affair. Dexter needs to have the relationship there to keep the conflict of the show going, right? When Dexter has an affair, it’s just another thing that we get to watch him juggle. When Rita has an affair, it’s like intimating that Dexter is going to die or stop killing. It would take a crucial part of the show away, and its crucial enough that it wouldn’t be going anywhere without major structural changes in the show. I just don’t believe it, so the storyline seems like a waste of time to me. It seems as if the writers said, “Well, we have to have her there. We haven’t done much with her. Throw her into an affair, that should work.” Hint: It rarely does.

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DEXTER: Slack Tide

The creative team behind DEXTER have always sought out ways, in varying degrees of success, to bring the audience inside the mind of Dex. It’s not always meaningful, but most of the time we get a peek at something truly fascinating. This week was full of those threads, with the last moments marking a significant event in the “Dexter” universe.

Dexter had too much to learn from Trinity to kill him this week. Therefore Arthur Mitchell’s spot on the table was taken by a photographer who was raping and killing young, undocumented models. After making some nasty comments to Deb on her first day back, the photog moved to the top of Dex’s list. Conveniently, Dex had to work late at night, on his mission to be a better father.

One thing we haven’t seen yet is how Harry feels about Dexter making Arthur this almost surrogate father figure. At least that’s how I’m seeing it. Dexter looked to Arthur for advice on how to be a father. This week, that advice was to push the kids out into the world, in part to give Dexter time for his “recreational activities.” I can’t help but think what Harry, a la Dexter, would say about this. Sure, Harry wasn’t the best father. Deb learned that all to well this week. But he was still a nurturing figure in both their lives and now he has been replaced by another serial killer. It’s an odd situation, but it works somehow.

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DEXTER: If I Had a Hammer

When I took this position, I vowed to blog to you in sickness or in health. So, tonight, I write to you in the midst of some sort of sickness. Therefore, if some of my thoughts are rambling, you can blame the fever. However, this doesn’t explain my rambling in any other post.

The writers have gone to great lengths to differentiate Trinity from another season-long killer arc by making him so much like Dexter. As with the Ice Truck Killer, we see that Dexter has the same sense of adoration for Trinity,  but with the former killer, the private life didn’t so closely mirror his own, even though it was his own brother. Trinity is much more than the man Dexter will have to kill by the end of the season. He’s a almost a role model for Dexter. A template for how he wants to live his life.

This week we didn’t have a death by the hands of Dexter, but we got deep into the private life of Arthur Mitchell, whom we’ve known until now as the Trinity Killer. He has a wife, a couple kids and is the perfect family man, even a Deacon at church. He helps to build houses for the homeless…then uses the houses to kill in. Through his research, Dexter found that, with the three killings, Dexter is emulating the deaths of the three people who were closest to him. His mother drowned in a bathtub. His sister jumped off a bridge. His father was bludgeoned to death in an alley. That’s the cycle.

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DEXTER: Dirty Harry

Before we get started, can anyone figure out the connection between the title and the episode? Sometimes it’s really blatant, sometimes it isn’t, but usually I can come up with it. Maybe I’m just being a little dense on this one. Anyway…

Is it me, or are the writers doing a better job at giving us a bit of a gut punch at the end of each episode? I want to save the ending for later, but it was a real gut punch to me and, I think, somewhat of a game changer. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

This week, we jumped right into Dexter finding out about Lundy’s death and Deb’s gunshot wounds. It turns out that Deb’s one gunshot went right through, so she would be okay, at least physically. Lundy isn’t so lucky though, as he had three gunshot wounds. It was deliberate. It was Trinity.
Needless to say, Dex is the only person who can see this. Everyone else goes tracking down the man believed to be the Vacation Killer, since the MO in Lundy’s shooting was the same. Angel uses our favorite Miami reporter to leak some information out and the suspect’s meth head girlfriend ends up taking him out. I guess we’re assuming he’s the Vacation Killer and that this storyline is wrapped up for the most part, because there’s much more going on.

Deb is messed up (well, more messed up than usual) after the shooting. Losing Lundy sends her over the edge, understandably. Everything that Deb touches seems to end up broken and I fear what is coming for her in future episodes. Most of the time, Deb is lost until something or someone provides something for her to latch on to. I feel like this is going to be another one of those times, but it could be dangerous for her and everyone around her.

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DEXTER: Blinded by the Light

While we didn’t have a Dexter-caused death this week, we definitely dealt a lot with Dex’s personal life and how the edges of it might be cracking in certain spots.

This week we were introduced to a lot of the members of Dexter and Rita’s community. Apparently, there’s been a vandal in the area, and, what do you know he comes to hit Dexter’s home. Dexter’s paranoia comes in the form of Harry, who doesn’t want Dexter having any questions raised about him. It’s a good point, I suppose, but it seems to be the behavior of someone with something to hide…which Dexter is, so my entire point is both valid and invalid at the same time.

Anyway, I was very interested to see the tug of war that is taking place between the Vacation and Trinity Killers right now. LaGuerta is getting pressure to solve the Vacation Murders quickly, but Deb is stubborn and won’t let Trinity, and Lundy, go. I like the character of Anton, so I hate to see him get pushed to the side by Deb, but Lundy and the Trinity case are so intriguing, it just might be worth it.

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DEXTER: Remains to Be Seen

Get it? It’s called “Remains to Be Seen?” Funny, right?

Anyway, this week we had the “Dexter” version of “Memento,” as Dexter tried to go back in time and remember what he did with Benny’s body. The car crash was really the device that got us into a lot of issues this week, mainly through Harry’s watchful guidance. I’m comforted by the fact that Harry is still present in Dexter’s life, since he sort of swore off the code last season for a time. But, Harry was back in numerous forms, giving Dexter the clues all along to find the body. I have to admit, I was very happy with the clever way the reveal was done and how it signified a return to the Code.

But, along the way, and since this season has began, Harry (read: Dexter’s conscious) has been questioning whether Dex can do it all. Can he have the family, the job and keep the Dark Passenger (that term is starting to grow on me this season, as long as they don’t overuse it.) satisfied? Only time will tell, but this week’s ordeal pointed to both yes and no.

On the positive side, he not only figured out where the body was hidden, but he also broke the Vacation Murderer and prompted Lundy to bring Deb in on the Trinity Killer. On the other hand, he lied to his wife, left a body to decompose in an abandoned boxing ring for hours, and almost died in the first place. This storyline is going to keep coming up and, unless something drastic happens (Rita leaves him, Harrison dies, etc.) I don’t see it changing anytime soon.

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DEXTER Season Premiere: Living the Dream

Welcome back to Miami. It’s time once again to drop in and get a glimpse into the life of America’s favorite serial killer, Dexter Morgan. It seems like yesterday that I was writing my first ever post for GMMR about last season’s premiere, so to think it was a year ago is insane. So much has happened since then, so let’s get started.

Dexter and Rita had a bouncing baby boy, Harrison. Cody became infatuated with Marco Polo (and, really, when you think back to your childhood can you blame him?) and Astor is jonesing for an iPod to listen to her emo music on. Angel and LaGuerta are going the workplace affair thing, Deb and Anton are all lovey dovey, and Masuka is still telling crappy jokes.

Oh, and Dexter hasn’t killed anyone in a while. Which, you know, never really ends well.

The ball really got rolling this episode when Dexter botched a testimony for Quinn and let a killer go free. But, as anyone who has ever watched the show before knows, that person will not be free for long.

But, before we can tackle Dexter’s shenanigans, we must introduce ourselves to the baddest bad guy on the block, the Trinity Killer, played by an extremely naked John Lithgow. He kills in very ritualistic groups of three, or so we hear from Fmr. Spec. Agent Frank Lundy, who returns to Miami retired, with a hobby for catching fish and the one serial killer who alluded him in his career. Dexter redeems himself from his early snafu by catching on to the fact that the Trinity Killer has been killing for decades, making him the most successful serial killer who never got caught…YET!

Sorry. It had to be done.

One of the big themes this season is going to be how Dexter is going to balance what used to be a façade and what is truly inside him. He is committed to being a better father than the one he believes Harry was, but he also isn’t easily settled sitting at home and being a family man every night. He has to kill, it’s in his blood (no pun intended) and he must find the time and the means to do it.

I think all of the major characters will be dealing with conflicts of self-identity this season. Is Deb devoted to the freewheeling spirit of Anton or the cop dedication of Lundy? Who is more important in Deb’s mind: the Harry that was or the Harry she thought she knew? Is LaGuerta an administrator or lover? Does Rita really believe in the dream she claims to love? This is where the beauty of “Dexter” comes into fruition: Dexter isn’t the only nut job on the show. He just shows it in the most creative way.

The team behind “Dexter” has always done a wonderful job of mixing in humor to the show. If there weren’t bits of levity here and there, it would become daunting and depressing. Usually, those laughs come from Masuka or Dexter’s inner monologue, but the biggest laughs of the night, for me, came from the redux of the opening theme. To see everything that is done with precision done sloppily was fantastic.

A lot of other ideas were started tonight and they will continue to unravel throughout the course of the season. Some will have to be resolved quicker than others. After Dexter’s car crash at the end of this episode, body parts are somewhere…if only Dexter could remember where. This can’t last for too many episodes, as it will become increasingly unrealistic for evidence to be sitting somewhere with no one stumbling on it. Also, any “Grey’s Anatomy”-esque office relationships need to either stay completely separated from the work, or just disappear altogether.

What we WILL have to look forward to is the hunt for two different killers, or so it looks at this moment. On one hand, we have the Vacation Killer, someone killing tourists. On the other, much less official hand, we have the Trinity Killer, someone who has been doing this for more than thirty years, we can assume.

This hour of television flew by for me, which is a good thing. I’m really looking forward to watching the rest of the season and discussing it with all of you fine readers.

What’s your favorite new storyline of the season? Trinity? Vacation Killer? Dexter the family man?

Philboy is a Midwesterner who spends his days doing PR for a small Catholic university. His can’t miss shows are “24”, “HIMYM” and “Dexter”. His thoughts for the week are, “COLTS WIN!” and “Where could those bags of body parts be?”

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