Home Featured TV Shows All TV Shows Movie Reviews Book Reviews Articles Frequently Asked Questions About Us

Dexter: The Angel of Death

Dexter: "I understand the urge to end someone's life, but what is this fascination with ending the world?"

Several readers mentioned in the comments section last week that Travis was acting alone and hallucinating the existence of Professor Gellar. (I hadn't thought of that at all. It's probably obvious that I don't read other people's reviews.) Interestingly, nothing in this episode contradicted this theory. And if it's true, Dexter just let a serial killer go free to kill again. (I was saying no, Dexter! Don't let him go!)

So I found myself doing a lot of pros and cons. Was there anything that suggested that Gellar was actually there? He did drink from a cup at the bar, and he kept on talking when he was alone and Travis had left the room. The third Doomsday victim was a pretty brunette, Gellar's type.

But there was a lot more that suggested Travis was acting alone. No one interacted with Gellar again. Gellar showed a total lack of surprise and/or fear at seeing his photo on the front page of the paper. His being so morally rigid and peeping at Travis with Erin seems out of character for a man who seduced a string of pretty graduate students. Many people who have art history degrees are also artists, so Travis might have done those paintings himself. And it's the page numbers out of Travis's Bible that are being inserted into the victims, which seems unlikely if Travis isn't doing the killing.

At the very least, the idea that Gellar is an imaginary father figure like Harry makes me a lot more intrigued with the ongoing religious killer plot.

Deb's new living arrangements seem a bit convenient. Gorgeous, private little houses with ocean views are usually extremely pricey, even with a discount for a murder/suicide on the premises. And I'm oddly disappointed that Deb isn't living with Dexter and Harrison any more. She's moved in and out, what? three times since the beginning of the series? and it was even her apartment for awhile. It just feels like Deb belongs there. Couldn't they make the second living room into a third bedroom? Couldn't she decorate her new office at work, move the desk around, tack up a tacky poster on the wall? Oh, well.

Quinn was less nasty toward Deb, but he was still acting like an idiot. He just slept with Gellar's former T.A. and she is undoubtedly going to be important to the case. How does Quinn manage to shoot himself in the foot in so many situations? Maybe he was never a serious threat to Dexter, after all. He's certainly no Doakes. The clever Mike Anderson could be another Doakes, though, since Dexter's brilliance is already on Mike's radar. And shame on me for not thinking of the possibility sooner.

Why is (or was) Sam pursuing friendship with Dexter? Maybe Sam needs a friend who isn't a recovering felon. If only he knew, huh? I was bummed, but not surprised, that Brother Sam got shot. Especially after that nice evening he and Dexter spent shooting the breeze. Dexter was bitching about the visit, but he was relaxed enough with Sam to tell him about his mother. That's pretty big. I hope Sam lives. And that he doesn't realize who is avenging his shooting, as Dexter is bound to do.

At the beginning of the episode, when Dexter was examining the huge, white wings, there was a shot angled to make him look very much like a traditional angel. (Much like this season's billboard ads.) In the opener, Dexter talked about angels deciding everything that happened, both light and dark. It could be argued that Dexter is much like one of those hard-core Old Testament angels that Travis and/or Gellar apparently believe themselves to be. Dexter avenges the deaths of innocents and saves other innocents from being victimized, doesn't he?

Bits and pieces:

-- Masuka did get rid of Ryan and now has a new computer wizard intern named Green. Good for Masuka. Unfortunately, that prosthetic is still out there, and I bet it's going to turn up.

-- Anderson is married. And he has a low opinion of Miami Metro. He'd better rethink that. (The low opinion part, not the married part.)

-- Professor Porter, Gellar's former honey, was played by Mariana Klaveno, who was a very convincing evil vampire on True Blood awhile back. What was her tramp stamp? The director made sure we saw it, so I'm sure it's important.

-- "The Alpha and Omega of the Enesserette." Okay.

-- Shows how naive I am. I didn't know there was such a thing as a porn scrubber.

-- I liked that Jamie was so protective of Harrison. Deb didn't even register that she was exposing Harrison to gory crime photos.

-- Dexter is always beautifully shot, but the sequence in the car was striking, with Dexter and Travis conversing in the rear view mirror. The graffiti behind Travis after Dexter left him off looked like the snakes from the first murder.

-- The "University of Tallahassee" was California State University, Long Beach. A lot of people think Dexter is filmed in Florida, but mostly it's filmed in Los Angeles and the surrounding area.

Quotes:

Deb: "Let's find this jizzbucket Gellar."
Gotta love how Deb runs a briefing.

Quinn: "The engagement ring?"
Deb: "Fuck me in the ear, I never gave it back to you."

Dexter: "Worst docent ever."

Dexter: "Defacing a Bible. I'm probably breaking a rule."

Deb: "I'm a mess. Maybe I do need to go to therapy."
Dexter: "No more than me."
Deb: "Am I that fucked up?"
Deb, have you ever actually heard of tact?

Another good episode, which makes it three out of four page numbers cut out of the Book of Revelation,

Billie
---
Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

10 comments:

  1. Great review, Billie. Took me a while to catch up with Dexter but I'm glad I finally did.

    Really enjoyed this episode, apart from Dexter letting Travis go. I nearly screamed when he did that. I know it's only episode five and we can't have Dexter killing this season's bad guy yet, but if he believes Geller is the killer, why didn't he make Travis tell him where Geller was? Letting Travis go in the hope he might lead him to Geller seemed oddly careless for someone as meticulous as Dexter. And if it turns out that Geller is just Travis' own personal Harry/Harvey/Number Six, then Dexter is going to look even more foolish.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Even if Dexter believes that Travis didn't commit the murders, he's still an accomplice. Dexter spent the majority of season 5 killing accomplices (only 1 of them was a murderer), so he shouldn't have a problem with putting Travis on his table.

    I wonder if Anderson's comment about Miami Metro was a nod to the fans? Amusing, either way......

    ReplyDelete
  3. Still good, this season isn't turning out to be as bizarre as I thought would be. But that's a good thing, cause I thought it would be a little too crazy.

    Alpha & Omega is what I initially called Gellar and Travis. I still do to. I think Gellar is Alpha because he is the elder who started this whole end of the world scenario. He seems to be expecting Travis to play the part of Omega when the world will supposedly end (he keeps referring to Travis as a 'chosen one' or 'that's why I chose you').

    I don't really see Travis becoming a murderer. He's a little too much like Dexter.

    I definitely smell Doomsday disciple on that Teacher Assistant from True Blood.

    And I hope Brother Sam survives this season somehow. I think after all of his bad choices in the past, Dexter could get a decent new friend for once.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice review, Billie.
    This season's plot is interesting but is not as appealing as the first or fourth.
    By the way, Professor Porter's tramp stamp is a sacred Hindu syllable in Devnagiri script. I don't think that has any significance with the Christianity plot of the season.

    ReplyDelete
  5. On the contrary, ra1nm4n, I think it says that she's not a Christian fanatic and therefore not a Doomsday freak.

    The fact that Gellar used to sleep with his TAs indeed reinforces the theory that he's only Travis's image of him as a morally rigid man.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yay! I guessed the opening quote this week :) And like Billie I was constantly checking if anyone else is seeing Gellar or otherwise acknowledges his presense. At one point I got so carried away that I missed part of conversation :)

    The second I saw Mariana Klaveno I knew she must be important, I even thought this is the last we see of Quinn - part of me was sure she'll kill him.

    The children that play Harrison aren't very good actors, are they? They almost always portray a different reaction than expected and look the other way. They are children, I know it's hard, it's just that it's very noticeable.

    Great review as always!

    ReplyDelete
  7. yea noticed that too...kid actors are hit n miss but this one was pretty bad. too bad the kid in walking dead isnt a little bit younger. man that almost dying scene...shudder

    ReplyDelete
  8. The toddler twins that play Harrison must have found Mos a little scary. :) When a child is that young, they really aren't capable of actual acting. The scenes in the previous eps this season with just Dexter and Harrison were really good. I'm sure Hall spent some time playing with him and talking to him so that they'd look comfortable together. But I suspect Harrison is at least a season away from doing lines.

    I'm probably repeating myself, but this situation reminds me of Six Feet Under. They found a beautiful baby girl who looked exactly like Peter Krause, and she (or they, it was twins again) were in the show for a couple of years before they had a line. Peter Krause must have spent a significant amount of time playing with her and talking to her because she was so comfortable with him and they were adorable together.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've been watching Dexter since the beginning and Deb's "jizzbucket" line is now the clubhouse leader as far as greatest Deb lines EVER!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I liked this a lot but Dexter letting go of Travis is gonna have bad repercussions, I guess.
    I really want Dexter to kill Quinn because he is really acting stupidly. But I hope Brother Sam doesn´t bite the dust because he´s a very interesting character and Mos Def is doing a stellar job. I want more!

    ReplyDelete

We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.