A very cliffhangery episode with two unsolved murder cases and Dexter’s latest hunt literally in motion at the end.
Like the murder of the prostitute. Mad Dog hit by a car. And poor Jimmy Powell, the judge’s kidnapped son, found dead hanging from a bridge. No ransom, no demands. What is the killer’s motive? It makes no sense.
Although the fact that Jimmy’s death triggered a panic attack in Dexter is again a reminder that he is not like other killers, and I always like that. (Maybe it’s just my excuse for liking any show about a serial killer.) Harry sort of liked it, too, reassuring Dexter that what he was feeling was “normal.”
I’m starting to genuinely like Patrick Gibson’s Dexter. This episode in particular gave us some enjoyable crime scene stuff, like a budding friendship with uniformed cop Clark Sanders, and Dexter’s very first splatter room. Because everyone else was busy with Jimmy Powell, Dexter was lead forensics on the prostitute case. As usual, except this was the first time, Dexter really understood what the killer had done, because he could relate. But as older Dexter the narrator acknowledged, it’s going to take awhile for LaGuerta to rely on Dexter’s judgment.
The Deb section of this episode was yet more of her rebellion and resentment with adult nightclubs and stolen champagne and culminating with this Gio guy and his sports car. (I’m terrible with cars. What was that?) Deb is such a troublemaker, and she isn’t even trying hard to fool Harry. I miss OG Deb.
What is it that makes Deb do a complete turnaround and become a cop? Is it Harry’s death? I thought Molly Brown did so well in the scene where Harry made Deb feel bad about wanting attention when a child had just been killed. The thing is, Deb is still a child (sixteen, I think?), she just lost her mother, and she does need attention. She cares so much. It’s just going in the wrong direction.
Interestingly, we learned how Clark Sanders got into being a cop: the shooting death of his brother when they were kids. Since Clark isn’t a legacy character – correct me if I’m wrong – I’m now worried he'll befriend Dexter and promptly die.
The flashback scenes to Harry and Laura Moser were somewhat comical and ended with a clinch. Harry volunteered to babysit Dexter and Brian so that Laura could do her undercover thing, after confiding in his partner Bobby Watt that he was worried about Laura. A completely justified worry, as we all know.
Laura said the neighbors wouldn’t babysit because Brian is too much to handle. And is he ever. Brian was torturing lizards, while Dexter was trying to heal them. Laura came home and found Harry asleep with Dexter after reading him a story. Harry must seem like the perfect man to Laura. They’re not fighting the attraction any longer.
Speaking of future events, Harry confirmed with Camilla in the Records Room that there was no mention of Dexter in any of the files about the shipping container. Good thing, because Dexter is already visiting the files to search for victims.
Bringing us to professional hit man Mad Dog, played by the great Joe Pantoliano, and his semi-retirement fishing charter gig on a boat that looked a lot like the Slice of Life. With permission from Harry, Dexter found proof that Mad Dog was about to hit a RICO witness named Reyes, who was trying to do the right thing.
The final moments were just too funny. “No! Not the Clapton!” And when Mad Dog ran right in front of a car, leaving Dexter with a huge mess in every possible way. Stay tuned.
Bits:
A big dose of nineties music. I don’t miss it. We also got a coke dealer who was a Blockbuster employee, a movie poster for The Untouchables, a car phone, and a five disc CD player.
Captain Spencer has a pissed off wife named Becca and a neglected son named Nicky. I particularly liked Dexter chatting up Nicky about Sonic the Hedgehog and offering him a Twix. Literally, a killer offering a kid candy.
Deb even puts obscenities on her post-it notes.
I keep waiting for Doakes to show up. Maybe they're saving it for next season.
Quotes:
Deb: (re: coke) “Fuck a duck. That’s awesome.”
Dexter: “It was hard to think that a guy with over 200 murders could be anyone’s 'Best Grandpa'.”
Tanya: “Are those my cantaloupes?”
Masuka: “Hands off Tanya’s melons. He he he he he he he he he.”
Harry: “He’s a professional hit man, Dexter. You think you can beat Michael Jordan at one-on-one?”
Dexter: “Who?”
Even better than the last one. Three out of four melons,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
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