DEXTER Season 5 Discussion & Spoilers

[Temis the Vorta]

Who else knows about the Dexter-Lumen connection besides Deb and Robocop, and we all know Robocop is a dead dead duck. And Jordan, an even deader duck.

Hmm. Astor and her friend know. The friend is probably out of the story as of next season but Astor poses interesting possibilities...

I thought everyone at work knew about Dexter and Lumen now?

I forgot, when did that happen? My long-term memory is going...

I hope that Deb finds out about Dex and is cool with it.

If she thinks at first that Dexter's murders started only with only him meeting Lumen (randomly?) and helping her get revenge - and by extension get revenge for Rita - then she could be cool with it. She could chalk it up to grief and rage, and imagine that if he hadn't stumbled across Lumen at just that point in his life, nothing untoward would ever have happened at all.

But there are far hotter potatoes for her to stumble across. Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher and let everyone think Doakes was (including his grieving family!!!) Rita died because Dexter was playing footsie with a serial killer (and interfering with the police investigation that could have caught him sooner.) Brian/Rudy was Dexter's brother and only started the relationship with Deb that almost resulted in her death because he was trying to reconnect with Dexter. And the hottest potato of all: Harry's role in training Dexter to be a killer.

All those revelations (and I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff - for instance, will Deb realize that in retrospect Dexter's marriage to Rita might have started out as a cold-blooded attempt at cover?) are so incendiary that they need to be doled out of the course of a season. It would be fascinating to see the point at which Deb realizes this is too much to take, and Dexter is not a grieving husband who had a momentary lapse in sanity, but a monster who needs to be stopped once and for all.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

All good points Temis. Deb may be okay with the vigilantism, serial killing serial killers, out of context, but no way she'd be able to stomach all the shit Dexter has wrought.

 

[AJBryant]

All good points Temis. Deb may be okay with the vigilantism, serial killing serial killers, out of context, but no way she'd be able to stomach all the shit Dexter has wrought.

In the books, she deals with it very well.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Deb in the books just doesn't seem like a real character to me the way Deb in the TV show does. But that's true in general - only Dexter comes across as a fully fledged character. The others are kinda props (like Astor and Cody - they're just bizarre - but in the TV show, much more believable).

The books are a lot breezier and less realistic in their approach (probably inherited from the murder mystery genre, which often has an emotionally distant approach that makes murder into a fun game). But if the characters from the books were transported to the TV series, they would seem very cardboard and lacking in believability because they wouldn't match the more realistic and serious tone of the TV series. You can get a cardboard character to do anything the plot requires without a lot of work, but a very specifically drawn character like TV Deb needs to be written with extreme care to avoid coming off false.

Also, I can't recall if the Dexter in the books has ever broken the Code as blatantly as on TV, where he's killed two people who as far as we know, never committed any crime (creepy photographer and the redneck in the bathroom in this season's premiere) and at least two others where the situation was questionable (the apparently reformed pedophile who never committed murder and the habitual drunk driver from S1 who was criminally negligent but not a deliberate killer).

 

[ALF]

^^ Well, the actress playing Deb has brought a lot to the role.

What makes Dexter so great besides the premise and the writing is the casting. Outstanding.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

In the books, she deals with it very well.

I could be wrong, but I don't think the Dexter of the books has made quite so many big mistakes as the TV Dexter has. Plus, Deb found out quite early on in the run, and so is a lot more implicit in his actions.

Also, I can't recall if the Dexter in the books has ever broken the Code as blatantly as on TV, where he's killed two people who as far as we know, never committed any crime (creepy photographer and the redneck in the bathroom in this season's premiere) and at least two others where the situation was questionable (the apparently reformed pedophile who never committed murder and the habitual drunk driver from S1 who was criminally negligent but not a deliberate killer).

And lets not forget being partly responsible for the deaths of Doakes, Rita, etc.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Btw, I'm still amused by the fact that Michael C. Hall married his screen sister.

 

[Aragorn]

^ It happens on soaps all the time. Of course, usually that's because characters magically become related later on.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I could be wrong, but I don't think the Dexter of the books has made quite so many big mistakes as the TV Dexter has.

Book Dexter is truly non-emotional, not like TV Dexter with all the emotional repression that keeps slipping and driving him to do stupid things and make mistakes. They're really two different characters.

Btw, I'm still amused by the fact that Michael C. Hall married his screen sister.

They're probably chomping at the bit for the writers to hurry up with Deb finding out. That will give them juicy scenes together to say the least.

 

[Ayelbourne]

But there are far hotter potatoes for her to stumble across. Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher and let everyone think Doakes was (including his grieving family!!!) Rita died because Dexter was playing footsie with a serial killer (and interfering with the police investigation that could have caught him sooner.) Brian/Rudy was Dexter's brother and only started the relationship with Deb that almost resulted in her death because he was trying to reconnect with Dexter. And the hottest potato of all: Harry's role in training Dexter to be a killer.

She knows that already. She found out and told Dexter in the final episode of season four.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

See I told you my memory was going.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I thought she gave up with the laura Mosser file on top?

Half an inch from paydirt.

What with that psycho wandering around saying she was shagging Harry, silencing that broad was all the closure she needed...

 

[Rowan Sjet]

I thought she gave up with the laura Mosser file on top?

Half an inch from paydirt.

Not exactly. Years earlier, another woman Harry had had an affair with had followed Harry to Moser's house out of jealousy. During her investigation of Harry's past, the woman led Deb to the house, and she recognised it as the one Brian had taken her to when he kidnapped her.

 

[IndyJones]

^That's true.

The missing connection though was that Deb never learned that Brian went through all of that because he knew Dexter was a killer too. Deb would have a much different reaction to that than just thinking that Dexter's psychotic bio-brother was trying to hurt him.

WTF has happened to Agent Orange?!?

Guy looks like he has lost about fifteen kilos in between seasons!!!

Agreed. He looks like the actor that's been going through chemo/radiation and not Michael C Hall.

This week's episode had the same mistake one of the Dexter audiobooks did -- something that any native Miamian like me would never make.

This week, Quinn made the mistake of saying "Brickell" (as in "Brickell Ave.") with the emphasis on the second syllable (brih-KELL) -- and any Miamian can tell you that it's BRICK-ul.

Grr. Threw me right out of the episode.

Quinn's not from Miami though, is he? So he might not know/remember the correct pronunciation.

In Chicago there's a street called Racine (Ray-scene) and about 50 miles north of the city is a town in Wisconsin called Racine (Raa-scene). It's not uncommon to hear people mix up the pronunciation of one or the other.

So, let's just blame it on Quinn being somewhat new to the area.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

When the credits rolled on tonight's episode, I shouted, "Damn it!" It always leaves me wanting more. I know that's the mark of a good show, but it's damned frustrating. And now to add insult to injury, the season finale won't be on for two more weeks. I wish I had the self-control to just wait until the season was over and watch them all at once.

 

[Aragorn]

Booo!!!! Season finale preview gave away too much!

 

[Harvey]

The DEXTER previews always give away too much. I swear, I have to rush to the remote to turn off the TV before they come on every time. It was bad enough that the episode where Trinity figured out Dexter's true identity in the very end was called "Hello, Dexter Morgan," but the preview was worse -- it actually showed the scene, the very last one of the episode!

 

[Joe Washington]

I'm finding Season 5 mostly disappointing. It doesn't have the zing of the past four seasons. Jordan Chase is a creepy and dangerous enough antagonist but most of the other storylines this season have been predictable and ended with more whimpers than bangs except the Dexter/Lumen relationship which outcome has me curious.

 

[Jax]

And now to add insult to injury, the season finale won't be on for two more weeks. I wish I had the self-control to just wait until the season was over and watch them all at once.

According to TV guide I checked out, Dexter finale is next week not 2 weeks ?

Loved the episode and I do like how Dexter always ramps up the story bigtime near the end of a season. That promo was fantastic too and I know some people might think it gives too much away but I think they get it quite balanced plus they always build in tons of mis-direction in them.

 

[LitmusDragon]

Booo!!!! Season finale preview gave away too much!

I wonder if that scene will play out like it seemed to in the preview. Maybe they're just messing with us.

Good episode last night, this season has gotten a lot better towards the end.