As advertised in the episode title, mistakes were made. Oddly, they weren’t mistakes made by Dexter this time.
With only maybe fifteen minutes before a catastrophic end to his killing career, Dexter managed to clean up after his debacle with Mad Dog and got away cleanly. Not good enough for Harry, though, who grounded him like a rebellious teenager, which I found hilarious. Along with Dexter scarfing down nearly all of Deb’s pot brownies.
Which led to a truly wonderful Dexter/Deb “night of sibling bonding,” which was always my favorite thing about OG Dexter, and a first for this prequel series. Dexter had apparently never been high before and was worried that he would do something “bad.” That he would fuck up. And he almost told Deb that he had killed someone. But he didn’t, did he?
Unfortunately, the bonding didn’t continue. All Deb wanted was for the three of them to visit Doris’ grave together on the first anniversary of her death. A perfectly reasonable ask on her part. But Harry and Dexter both stood her up. They may have had good reasons, but it was still bad timing.
So Deb went alone, wearing a pink dress Doris had given to her. Gio gave her flowers for Doris’ grave and didn’t push Deb to have sex with him. I am actually warming to Gio, so it’s probably his yacht-owning father who’s a bad guy. Deb clearly needs grief therapy.
It’s interesting that what Dexter misses about Doris is that she saw goodness in him. Dexter wants to be good. And there is indeed goodness in Dexter. It’s what makes him such a compelling character. When Deb and Dexter were stoned together, they talked about how Doris used to do this comforting thing, tucking a lock of hair behind someone’s ear. There was fun follow through with that. Gio tucked a lock of Deb’s hair behind her ear. And then at Hialeah, Dexter did it to the horse whose stall he had invaded while stealing the horse tranquilizer. Laugh out loud.
As I said, it was Harry that made the life-and-death mistakes. Like ignoring the fact that Levi Reed had an alibi, even if it was spurious, and getting called out in court while on the witness stand. That was a big one. Is the booze getting to Harry?
Harry’s second huge mistake was getting drunk and going after Levi Reed himself. Dexter rescued Harry by drugging him and plastic-wrapping him on their own dining room table. Now that was an OMG moment I never expected. Did Harry believe Dexter would kill him? How could he not? Dexter certainly made his point. Harry should have “given” Levi to Dexter in the first place.
If Harry is so close to becoming a vigilante and killing criminals himself, how altruistic is the way he trained Dexter to kill?
There were several more bits of OG Dexter. He did the accusatory finger on the forehead thing – to Harry! He wore a plastic face guard. And Harry, stomping off angrily after being freed from the plastic wrap, suggested that Dexter use smelling salts. At least Dexter left Harry the dignity of his boxer shorts.
Patrick Gibson made me laugh and creeped me out in this episode. He also sounded like Michael C. Hall several times, and not in a “doing an impression” sort of way.
The flashback sections were in the same line as before. Harry made a half-hearted attempt to break up with Laura, and that didn’t work. Baby Dexter added Harry to a family picture he drew; he’s already seeing Harry as his father. Harry told Laura about his dead son, who was Dexter’s age. And Harry went home to Doris and the news that she was pregnant (with Deb, we assume). Again, interesting timing.
Bits:
– Tanya has a flaw. (F Is for Fuck-Up.) She’s a gambler and it sounds like she’s bad at it and hemorrhaging money. Is she involved with loan sharks? Is there any way she’s involved with Jimmy’s kidnapping and death?
– There were three scenes at the cemetery that was obviously not an actual cemetery. It looked like a few fake stones in someone’s yard. (I became a connoiseur of real versus fake cemeteries while I was reviewing Buffy.)
– Doris Morgan’s stone, no maiden name, gave her dates as Oct 17 1955-May 31, 1990. Meaning that this episode took place May 31, 1991.
– Spencer was nice this time, standing up for Harry and calling him his best detective. Harry was still demoted, though, to working the dregs of humanity cases with LaGuerta.
– Dexter stole a dosing chart along with the horse tranq. Because of course he did.
Quotes:
Dexter: “It wasn’t the first time I’d been grounded. Just the first time as an adult.”
Dexter: “I learned something about myself that morning. Death didn’t feed my Dark Passenger. Killing did. And I was still hungry.”
Dexter: (very stoned) “It’s a circle… made of triangles… packed in a square box.”
Deb: “Come on. It’s not like you killed anyone.”
Dexter: “What if I did? Kill someone? Hypothetically?”
Deb: “You are so high.”
Spencer: “Sometimes the bad guys, they slip through the cracks.”
Harry: “I don’t like being the crack.”
Every episode seems to get just a bit better. Three out of four circles, made of triangles, packed in a square box,
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
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