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Dexter: Too Many Tuna Sandwiches

Best episode yet. If they'd dumped this entire season at once, I'd be watching the final four episodes right now.

As I expected, Angela accepted Dexter's story because it was true. Dexter acted like a man devastated by grief for his wife and sister because that is exactly what he is. He wasn't even acting (much), although he did keep glancing at Angela to gauge whether or not she was buying it.

And she did buy it. So much so that by the end of the episode, when Angela was searching the cave for Matt's body and found Iris instead, she immediately went "cop brain" and called Dexter to ask for forensics help. This is going to be interesting. I was actually expecting Angela and the deeply reluctant Teddy to find a bunch of recent female murder victims in white dresses, but no. That crime scene is almost inaccessible, and Kurt Caldwell is not small and/or agile. Was Iris killed by someone else?

Harrison is starting to bug me. He can't seem to hold on to a thought or an attitude for long, going from happily doing chores around the cabin in gratitude for Dexter taking him in, to yelling at Dexter for neglecting and abandoning him. During their tryst, Harrison confessed to Audrey that he wants to hurt everyone, and I think he almost confessed to her that he hurt Ethan on purpose. He did indeed hurt someone that tried to molest him when he was homeless. And yes, he deliberately broke that nasty kid's arm at the wrestling bout.

But to me, Harrison still feels a lot more like a disturbed kid with a difficult, traumatic past than a killer. I wasn't worried that he would hurt Audrey, even though he had that straight razor sticking out of his back pocket and I think we were supposed to worry.

It is infuriating that Dexter and Harrison won't talk to each other. They couldn't even while guided and refereed by a therapist. And yes, that is partly because Dexter can't tell Harrison the truth about a lot of stuff. But there are two sides here. Harrison is right to be angry that Dexter abandoned him. But Dexter was protecting Harrison by taking himself out of his life. Because of what Dexter is, people around him die. People like Rita.

So Harrison felt angry and betrayed when Dexter lied to the therapist about how his marriage to Rita ended, and Dexter was shocked that Harrison knew about Trinity. Hello, Dexter. The internet exists!


Molly Park has terrific investigative instincts. If Dexter hadn't bugged that lunch conversation and followed the two of them afterward, Molly would be dead – and she knew it. That entire scene at the cabin was edge-of-your-seat tense, and yet, I couldn't stop smiling. Because we know Dexter. He may have been tempted to let Kurt kill Molly and remove a possible complication, but we knew Dexter wouldn't let it happen. Molly was saved from a serial killer by another serial killer. Too funny.

And I especially loved how Dexter teased Kurt by almost "accidentally" locking him in his kill suite. "Want me to close this?" Kurt knew Dexter was playing with him. Although I bet Kurt still has no idea that Dexter killed Matt.

Bits:

— Nunchucks. Wow. Harrison could do a whole lot worse than Audrey. In fact, I'm starting to wonder what she sees in him.

— Audrey told Harrison about her family, that her father was part Seneca, her biological mother was white, and she's grateful that Angela adopted her.

— What Bride of Frankenstein thing was Kurt trying to do to Chloe's body? The white dress, the mask to conceal the hole in her face? I'll admit I'm intrigued.

— Deb kibbitzing during the therapy session was gold. Choosing to bring her into the series as a ghost was inspired.

Quotes:

Logan: "Welcome to the club, man. I got a Spotify breakup playlist for later."

Molly: "Think Robert Durst's confession on The Jinx, but with an Asian lead."

Harrison: "It hasn't exactly been easy being Jim's son."
Shrink: "What do you mean by that?"
Deb: "Brace yourself."

Dexter: "What should I do?"
Deb: "If you don't know, then I certainly don't. We can only hope that they used protection. 'Cause there's one thing I guaran-fucking do know. And that is that you are not ready to be a grandfather."

Dexter: "This is serial killer 101. Lure potential victim out to the sticks. Make sure they don't tell anyone where they went. My instincts aren't what they used to be. Too many fucking tuna sandwiches."

(And of course, he wasn't talking about mercury. Too much normalcy has dulled Dexter's edge, pun intended.)

Dexter: (re: wrestling) "Encouraging teenagers to commit acts of violence on one another. Normal people are so strange."

Was this episode as terrific as I thought it was, or am I pollyanna-ing this whole reboot thing? Four out of four tuna sandwiches,

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

2 comments:

  1. No, it was pretty good. I still don't know where it's going yet, and that's good. I hope it doesn't disappoint, already the angry, bratty, rebellious kid trope is annoying, because after you see it a bunch of times on other shows, it can get ridiculous after a while. Also Kurt is a piece of work, can't wait to see why he does what he does.

    Can't wait for next Sunday!

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  2. I thought Harrison had a decent point about Dexter failing to open up in therapy. Guy's just worn the mask for too long, I don't see how he's ever gonna connect with his kid organically. One of them's gonna find out about the other before they even try, I think. Anyway that's not to say I sympathize with Harrison, I found his immediate oversharing to be incredibly petulant.

    I found it satisfying to see him break the asshole opponent's limb though, even though it's gonna spell trouble. Also that podcast was terrible to listen to lmao, her narration is just grating and I can't imagine listening to it for 5 minutes straight, let alone for up to 2 hours. I'm not a fan of True Crime stuff though so I don't know if it's accurate to the ones out there... I hope not.

    Episode title made me lol, since I too had a huge problem quitting tuna. I love it :(

    Deb was fun to watch again, and I was charmed by the girl defending herself with fucking nunchucks xD
    I don't feel good about her connecting with Harrison. The show's already met its season-allotted death count of cool chicks (1) with Chloe. She better be left alive.

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