I'll start coding my comments per episode block, to keep this more orderly. Like Dexter, I am a neat freak. 
Edit: after these three eps, this season is officially even better than S1!
The only bad thing about all this is that I've gotta wonder how they're ever going to top this season. But then again, I didn't think they could top S1...
Disappointed that Doakes really did think Dex was a drug addict; that strikes me as poor, out-of-character writing. The writers remember the hints they showed Doakes last season, don't they? How does heroin use square with preternatural knowledge of serial killers and martial arts? But at least that's all behind us now. Probably just a stalling tactic on the part of the writers.
Dexter ratting Doakes out for stalkerish behavior reinforces my suspicion that he will take the fall as the Bay Harbor Butcher. He sure acts like a stone-cold killer and LaGuerta already thinks Dexter's a sweet guy who would never hurt a fly.
LOVE the public reaction to their new pop culture vigilante hero. Nice tie-in to the final fantasy sequence of S1.
The Dark Defender fantasy sequence was very fun.
Oddly enough for a show about a serial killer with breathtaking twists and turns, Dexter's confession about cheating on Rita at the end of Dex, Lies and Videotape was one of the most electrifying moments in the show yet! How many people would be 100% honest in a situation where telling almost all the truth would get ya out of a jam? That really highlights what this whole series is about - the amazing courge and strength of character that it takes to live a fully honest life, even for those of us with no darker secrets than that we pick our noses when stuck in traffic.
Lila still annoys me - just don't like her at all. I think it's the actress or maybe I've become a Dexter/Rita shipper.
I suspect that like Lundy, she's here for the season and won't be back.
It was weird seeing saintly Master Breytac from SG-1 cast as Laura's killer. And Dexter not killing him could be a loose end. Maybe afterwards the guy left town and didn't tell anyone - he's a criminal after all - but maybe not. He's already served his time for the crime, after all.
I had a feeling from S1 that Harry had some role in Laura's death - he was acting way too guilty and frantic in the flashback sequences. Nice to see I guessed right for once. And I wonder if it's going to be something worse than just not protecting her. Was he a bad cop taking a payoff from the boss drug dealer? That would explain why he devoted his life to trying to protect Dex.
But I've also been thinking that Harry hurt Dex, didn't protect him at all. One of the early flashbacks showed Harry ranting about his mentor on the force being murdered by a scumbag - right there, he was telling Dexter it's okay to go outside the law to do something "right." If he hadn't told Dex to fake the psych test, Dex might have gotten some mental help. Harry wanted to mold Dex into a vigilante in order to clean up the bad guys and corruption - and to try to expiate his own sins? This is great stuff!
So, Esme wasn't part of some inside investigation after all. But Lundy must realize that the Bay Harbor Butcher would benefit greatly from having access to police records. He suspects that the killer is in the Miami PD - and I wonder if he suspects Deb as well as (or instead of) Dexter? Isn't it possible that Deb has been luring her (mostly male) victims with sex and then killing them? She fell afoul of the Ice Truck Killer when he saw through her cover - yet she survived. Lundy questioned how she was able to do that. Because she has past experience with getting the better of serial killers?
I've been worried about Dexter being able to go on for more than four seasons or so without becoming repetitive, but if the writers are playing around with having Dexter drop Harry's Code, that could go a long ways towards solving the problem by opening up story possibilities. To continue the addiction theme, he'd be an addict trying to go cold turkey, no 12 step program. I could see this having catastrophic consequences. Maybe next season, we need to see him hit rock bottom. As long as he never goes too far and loses the audience's sympathy, there are interesting places this could go...
Ironically enough I've realized that Dexter is in a way, the same show as another one I've been following - Mad Men - which it is competing with at the Emmys. Both shows are about the difficulty people have in living fully honest lives and having the courage to allow people to see them as they truly are, but Dexter sure is exploring that theme more expeditiously than glaaacial Mad Men. Also it's even more infuriating that Don Draper is such a coward when Dexter is willing to take greater risks while having vastly more at stake. I want Dexter to kill Don, at least metaphorically at the Emmys.
Dexter ratting Doakes out for stalkerish behavior reinforces my suspicion that he will take the fall as the Bay Harbor Butcher. He sure acts like a stone-cold killer and LaGuerta already thinks Dexter's a sweet guy who would never hurt a fly.
LOVE the public reaction to their new pop culture vigilante hero. Nice tie-in to the final fantasy sequence of S1.
The Dark Defender fantasy sequence was very fun.
Oddly enough for a show about a serial killer with breathtaking twists and turns, Dexter's confession about cheating on Rita at the end of Dex, Lies and Videotape was one of the most electrifying moments in the show yet! How many people would be 100% honest in a situation where telling almost all the truth would get ya out of a jam? That really highlights what this whole series is about - the amazing courge and strength of character that it takes to live a fully honest life, even for those of us with no darker secrets than that we pick our noses when stuck in traffic.
Lila still annoys me - just don't like her at all. I think it's the actress or maybe I've become a Dexter/Rita shipper.
I suspect that like Lundy, she's here for the season and won't be back.It was weird seeing saintly Master Breytac from SG-1 cast as Laura's killer. And Dexter not killing him could be a loose end. Maybe afterwards the guy left town and didn't tell anyone - he's a criminal after all - but maybe not. He's already served his time for the crime, after all.
I had a feeling from S1 that Harry had some role in Laura's death - he was acting way too guilty and frantic in the flashback sequences. Nice to see I guessed right for once. And I wonder if it's going to be something worse than just not protecting her. Was he a bad cop taking a payoff from the boss drug dealer? That would explain why he devoted his life to trying to protect Dex.
But I've also been thinking that Harry hurt Dex, didn't protect him at all. One of the early flashbacks showed Harry ranting about his mentor on the force being murdered by a scumbag - right there, he was telling Dexter it's okay to go outside the law to do something "right." If he hadn't told Dex to fake the psych test, Dex might have gotten some mental help. Harry wanted to mold Dex into a vigilante in order to clean up the bad guys and corruption - and to try to expiate his own sins? This is great stuff!
So, Esme wasn't part of some inside investigation after all. But Lundy must realize that the Bay Harbor Butcher would benefit greatly from having access to police records. He suspects that the killer is in the Miami PD - and I wonder if he suspects Deb as well as (or instead of) Dexter? Isn't it possible that Deb has been luring her (mostly male) victims with sex and then killing them? She fell afoul of the Ice Truck Killer when he saw through her cover - yet she survived. Lundy questioned how she was able to do that. Because she has past experience with getting the better of serial killers?
I've been worried about Dexter being able to go on for more than four seasons or so without becoming repetitive, but if the writers are playing around with having Dexter drop Harry's Code, that could go a long ways towards solving the problem by opening up story possibilities. To continue the addiction theme, he'd be an addict trying to go cold turkey, no 12 step program. I could see this having catastrophic consequences. Maybe next season, we need to see him hit rock bottom. As long as he never goes too far and loses the audience's sympathy, there are interesting places this could go...
Ironically enough I've realized that Dexter is in a way, the same show as another one I've been following - Mad Men - which it is competing with at the Emmys. Both shows are about the difficulty people have in living fully honest lives and having the courage to allow people to see them as they truly are, but Dexter sure is exploring that theme more expeditiously than glaaacial Mad Men. Also it's even more infuriating that Don Draper is such a coward when Dexter is willing to take greater risks while having vastly more at stake. I want Dexter to kill Don, at least metaphorically at the Emmys.
Edit: after these three eps, this season is officially even better than S1!
DS9 reference, cool! 
Hah, I was right - they're going after Doakes. Poor guy, he's a great cop but his need to be the lone-wolf type has sunk him. All he had to do was take the box of slides to Maria.
The FBI protecting Dex! This is GREAT!
The ending of Resistance is Futile (what are these writers, Trekkies?
) wins the award for Best Cliffhanger Ending Ever. Take that, BOBW!
Doakes obviously isn't going to survive the season - this show isn't about trials and such. So the only way out is for crazy Lila to murder Doakes and that means Dex is free to kill Lila.
And now I see why I hate Lila. They deliberately cast someone off-putting in the role so the audience wouldn't sympathize with "poor Lila" as being lovelorn or whatever. We need to HATE her so we won't mind when Dex kills her. Clever!
Hah, I was right - they're going after Doakes. Poor guy, he's a great cop but his need to be the lone-wolf type has sunk him. All he had to do was take the box of slides to Maria.
The FBI protecting Dex! This is GREAT!
The ending of Resistance is Futile (what are these writers, Trekkies?
) wins the award for Best Cliffhanger Ending Ever. Take that, BOBW!Doakes obviously isn't going to survive the season - this show isn't about trials and such. So the only way out is for crazy Lila to murder Doakes and that means Dex is free to kill Lila.
And now I see why I hate Lila. They deliberately cast someone off-putting in the role so the audience wouldn't sympathize with "poor Lila" as being lovelorn or whatever. We need to HATE her so we won't mind when Dex kills her. Clever!
The only bad thing about all this is that I've gotta wonder how they're ever going to top this season. But then again, I didn't think they could top S1...
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