Dexter S4 - spoilers thru "Dirty Harry"

[Temis the Vorta]

Well, well, well. Lots of new developments to chew over.

When Dexter said "I'm broken," I just about jumped out of my skin! How long can he hold out till that recurring need to confess happens sometime when Deb isn't having a breakdown?

I'm peeved that they axed Lundy who was Dexter's perfect antagonist, but I suspect they just couldn't hang onto Keith Carradine (who is appearing in lots of shows lately) and the next best thing would be not just to send Dex charging after the Trinity killer for hurting Deb, but - and this is pure speculation - possibly even getting Deb in on the game.

When she recovers, she'll be even more vengeful than her brother. What if in the final episode, both are closing in on Trinity, with the other unawares, and it's Deb who pulls the trigger on some vigilante justice, with Dex as a supposedly accidental observer. Ever the loyal brother, Dexter disposes of the body and Deb assumes she's roped him into her guilty secret.

The season is shaping up to be a replay of the tension over Doakes except now Dexter has two people whose investigations are converging on him, and they both mean a hell of a lot more to him than Doakes ever did, so the stakes are sky high.

When Rita and Deb had their scene together, I couldn't help but wonder how long it would be till the girls start comparing notes. Deb knows about Dex's odd childhood behavior and Harry's mystifying deathbed instructions regarding some sort of impulse he'd have trouble controlling. Rita knows about Paul's shoe (remember that?), Dexter's "long hours" and that he's a frighteningly good liar.

All it would take for one particular evening when Dexter was "working late," when Deb was also at the precinct and remembers her brother leaving much earlier. They'd both suspect drugs/another Lila debacle and then Dexter would have the ladies on his tail. And when Deb finally works her way down to the Laura Moser file....!!!

I dunno about the logic of his apartment being the thing that keeps the Dark Passenger at bay. I thought killing people did that. Dexter is keeping the apartment just because it's in the opening credits.

 

[Ayelbourne]

I don't generally tear up often when watching TV, and although I really really enjoy this show, that never happened here.
Until today. Deb breaking down at the parking lot was just brutal.
Amazing acting by Jennifer Carpenter.

 

[Checkmate]

I dunno about the logic of his apartment being the thing that keeps the Dark Passenger at bay. I thought killing people did that. Dexter is keeping the apartment just because it's in the opening credits.

It's his lair. You could even call it his ritual altar. It's where he keeps his trophies, plans his murders and focuses himself. Although they haven't shown it as much in the last season or two, Dexter is a very methodical, ritualistic murderer. At least he prefers it that way. He's had to do a lot of improv as of late which is just part of the reason why he's slowly breaking down mentally. And all because he doesn't have the sanctity of his lair to regroup and refocus.

So yeah. I can definitely see him saying that it keeps his "dark passenger" at bay in that regard. There's a reason Trinity has been as calm and collected as Dexter used to be... he still has all of his rituals to keep him that way. Dexter is losing them one by one.

 

[Winged Victory]

I don't generally tear up often when watching TV, and although I really really enjoy this show, that never happened here.
Until today. Deb breaking down at the parking lot was just brutal.
Amazing acting by Jennifer Carpenter.

Definitely. Those were real, aching sobs, and I was getting emotional from watching her, too! Kudos to Carpenter...

 

[Starbreaker]

Great episode... I'm going to check out the webisode now.

 

[ALF]

They killed off Doakes way to early. He was a terrific foil for ol' Dexy's Midnight Slasher.

I love the show but Dexter's wife drives me mad. In Dirty Harry she was thinking about leaving him. Because he still has his old apartment and a box with a shotgun. What a terrible husband.

Perhaps the lead up is to Dexter telling his wife that he kills people? She wants him to tell her everything. Do you think he will? It would make the show a lot more interesting.

 

[Shurik]

They killed off Doakes way to early. He was a terrific foil for ol' Dexy's Midnight Slasher.

I love the show but Dexter's wife drives me mad. In Dirty Harry she was thinking about leaving him. Because he still has his old apartment and a box with a shotgun. What a terrible husband.

Perhaps the lead up is to Dexter telling his wife that he kills people? She wants him to tell her everything. Do you think he will? It would make the show a lot more interesting.

She was thinking about leaving because it's not the first time she catches him lying. There was this whole story with him supposedly taking drugs, then he cheated on her and Rita also knows that he did set up her ex-husband. I also think that she didn't buy the whole gun in a box story.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

They killed off Doakes way to early. He was a terrific foil for ol' Dexy's Midnight Slasher.

He had to be sacrificed to make the terrific S2 work. Even tho it sucks that he had to go, I've never seen a character killed off in a more worthwhile way, meaning it served the needs of the overall story very well.

(However, I really didn't like the actual finale - for Lila to have killed him was too obvious, saw it coming a mile away.)

I love the show but Dexter's wife drives me mad. In Dirty Harry she was thinking about leaving him. Because he still has his old apartment and a box with a shotgun. What a terrible husband.

She'd have to be an utter dunce not to get some kind of instinct that there is something HUGE she does not know about her husband. He is way too much the "too good to be true" type. It's probably driving her bananas.

She might be going through all the options in her mind - addiction, cheating, been there done that. Is he gay? A bigamist? Does he run a criminal enterprise on the side? Miami is a big conduit for drugs. The sad thing is, the truth would be so outlandish, she probably won't even guess it till it's in front of her face.

 

[ALF]

Christ, Dexter is great this season... and making up for last season's boredom. I don't even remember the arc. S1 and S2 I can recall clearly. The one sunday night (don't know the ep title) blew my mind!! Lithgow is outstanding on this show.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

It was called "If only I had a hammer..."

 

[O'Dib]

The thing that bugs me about Dexter is how he didn't overhaul his entire ritual after framing Doakes. If somehow, his slides were discovered, a detail about BHB that probably didn't reach the public (and therefore cannot be attributed to a copycat), his framejob falls appart, and the investigation is back to the point at which it concluded: someone in the department is BHB. I guess they're going with the whole theme of serial killers being creatures of habit.. and maybe, deep down, he actually wants to be caught.

BTW, I'm so glad that the show widely diverges from the novels. I read their synopses online. And, possessed by a Canaanite deity.. really?!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I think the blood slides are Dexter's achilles heel - he's so careful about everything else, but he's gotta have that one little thing that in the end, trips him up.

Deb must know about the BHB = blood slides, right? So the right way to blow the lid on Dex is to have her discover the blood slides. Considering where they're now located, it's almost inevitable. That backyard shack is hilariously non-secure. I can think of any number of scenarios that would place Deb, Rita or even the kids inside there, and oops, looks like the air conditioner is on the fritz, better see what's wrong...

I also like the idea that by sometime into next season, both Rita and Deb have part of the story and if they compare notes, they'll put the whole picture together. If Rita is the one who discovers the blood slides - and that seems the most likely scenario - she won't know what they mean. No doubt, something from Dexter's work. But why hide them in the air conditioner? Rita might be afraid he's in trouble at work (did he hide the slides because they represent a job he screwed up on?) so she'll of course ask Deb if she's noticed anything wrong.

No Caananite dieties for TV Dexter, thank gort.

 

[ALF]

^^ About the blood slides, if I were Dexter I would just put them out on display, on the table or in the office. Because it's so obviously public, hiding them makes him look guilty.

Q: What are those, Dex?

A: Oh, just some blood samples I'm working with.

 

[Australis]

Yeah, this season is definitely better than s3. I was looking forward to it when Jimmy Smits was announced, coming off West Wing as he was, but it didn't really click for me. I don't quite know why. Maybe because Prado was such a shit, while Trinity has big issues going on.

It'll be interesting to see where this goes. No idea how it's going to turn out. Aside from the obvious...

 

[Bob The Skutter]

BTW, I'm so glad that the show widely diverges from the novels. I read their synopses online. And, possessed by a Canaanite deity.. really?!

That whole thing was in 1 book, and seems to have been forgotten about in the subsequent book.

With the whole past coming up, from his lies to Lila and Paul, I'm hoping something big is coming, but I doubt it as long as there's another season coming up.

 

[Roshi]

lol, last night's photographer was RedShirt Olsen!

 

[ALF]

Yeah, this season is definitely better than s3. I was looking forward to it when Jimmy Smits was announced, coming off West Wing as he was, but it didn't really click for me. I don't quite know why. Maybe because Prado was such a shit, while Trinity has big issues going on.

It'll be interesting to see where this goes. No idea how it's going to turn out. Aside from the obvious...

Yeah, they draaaaaaged out the Jimmy Smits story. With Lithgow, the story is streaming along full tilt, lots has happened so far and we're only 7 episodes in. Sigh. Heroes should learn how to write like that, you know, have shows where things actually happen.

As for Sunday's episode,

Spoiler: about Dexter

I thought for sure Dex had killed an innocent before. Did that really not happen yet?

 

[Tyre]

Yeah, they draaaaaaged out the Jimmy Smits story. With Lithgow, the story is streaming along full tilt, lots has happened so far and we're only 7 episodes in. Sigh. Heroes should learn how to write like that, you know, have shows where things actually happen.

As for Sunday's episode,

Spoiler: about Dexter

I thought for sure Dex had killed an innocent before. Did that really not happen yet?

Spoiler: From Last Night

It was the key trigger for the entire main plot of last season, after he felt guilty about "accidentally" killed Miguel's brother. As a side note, I thought the "twist" last night was pretty obvious from the beginning, I knew it was that guy from the moment they first showed him for some reason.

 

[Checkmate]

Spoiler: Victims

The difference between Miguel's brother and last night's victim is that Miguel's brother was an accident. He didn't hunt him down. He didn't research him. He didn't even know who he was. It was all but a self-defense killing.

Last night's victim, however, was a part of Dexter's ritual. It was the first time he was proven wrong about his verdict. And the reason for that, as I'm sure MindHarry is going to let us know next week, is because he was so distracted by Trinity. Which I'm sure Dexter will use to transfer a large portion of his guilt, which in turn will make him sloppy when it comes time to take down Trinity.

But yes, as far as I know that's the first time one of Dexter's ritualistic murders was of an innocent. He's usually far more sure about his victims.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

As for Sunday's episode,

Spoiler: about Dexter

I thought for sure Dex had killed an innocent before. Did that really not happen yet?

That was a HUGE event and merits its own thread.