DEXTER 4.4 - "Dex Takes A Holiday"
While arguably a pointless diversion early in the season, seeing Dexter gather evidence of Zoey's guilt (by viewing the property she's selling and discovering telltale blood on a fragment of glove stuck in the garbage disposal) was an entertaining watch, helped immensely by the fact Zoey wasn't as oblivious as Dex's usual prey. Indeed, as a killer lurking in law enforcement herself, Zoey proved to be a worthy adversary, as her suspicions and parallel research into Dex made her aware of his troublesome interest in the familicide she thought she'd got away with. The situation soon grew into an exciting game of cat-and-mouse for Dex, as he relished the fact kindred spirit Zoey intends to murder him before his bloodwork sends her to prison, while Zoey herself is blissfully unaware she's tangling with a dangerous predator, not a geeky lab rat in over his head.The season's ongoing storylines were pushed to the sidelines for the most part: Quinn (Desmond Harrington) dumped reporter girlfriend Christine (Courtney Ford) after she runs a story about how Lundy's (Keith Carradine) personal search for the Trinity Killer is pulling resources from Miami's so-called "Vacation Murders"; while LaGuerta (Lauren Velez) and Angel (David Zayas) clash over whether or not to tell their superiors about their nascent relationship. Both were quite minor subplots, so easy to get through, but they're still indicative of how tedious the show's peripheral storylines can be.
Of more interest was the enjoyably weird antics of dough-faced Trinity (John Lithgow), who comes to realize illustrious manhunter Frank Lundy is in town to capture him, and even notices the retired Fed standing outside his hotel. Flirting with danger, Trinity even stages a brief meeting with the Fed obsessed with capturing him, by bumping into him outside his hotel and dropping his keys to force a chat. Perhaps by intention (or maybe it was a genuine blunder?), this proves to be something of a mistake, as Lundy's years of experience sense something's amiss about the grey-haired stranger and he makes a note of his encounter in his dictaphone.
Things also took a welcome step forward between Lundy and Debra (Jennifer Carpenter), when they admit their feelings for each other, finally. While essentially replaying season 2's storyline, with the added complication that Deb has a boyfriend already, it's at least a story between two characters you can care about. For that reason, I'm glad it's only taken four episodes to reach this point. But then, the big shock of this episode was its numbing cliffhanger, where an unseen assailant shot Deb and Lundy outside as they talked.
I'm guessing Deb will survive and Lundy will die, which is certainly a cruel twist to their appealing relationship. But is that really the best way to go, in terms of the narrative? I'd rather hoped Lundy would be more involved in capturing Trinity this season, not be taken out so early and assumedly fuel a desire in Deb to continue his work at all costs. And, of course, while it seems extremely likely Trinity was the gunman (eliminating Lundy as a threat to his work, by posing as the Vacation Murderer), might it be the actual Vacation Murderer? Or is that too much of a coincidence? Perhaps so, but it's a thought worth considering. It just struck me that Trinity has been written as a cool creature of habit (so much so that he's repeating 30-year-old murders in a fixed cycle), so suddenly taking out two people with a pistol seemed a little out of character. Anyone agree?Overall, while I can understand people being a little frustrated that Dexter's storyline was separate to anything else going on this year, I thought it was the most enjoyable stalk-and-kill subplot for Dex in quite some time, with a fresh slant on what's in danger of becoming formulaic. Little touches like Dex securing Zoey to her dead daughter's bed with an overhear baby's mobile made up of crime scene photos gave everything a quirkier feel, too. And I liked the through line that Dex, while "on holiday" in the sense of going back to his bachelor days of freedom, came to realize that he'd genuinely miss his new family if they were ever taken away -- and would risk telling them the truth about his bloodlust.
18 October 2009
Showtime, 9/8c
written by: Melissa Rosenberg & Wendy West directed by: John Dahl starring: Michael C. Hall (Dexter Morgan), Julie Benz (Rita Bennett), Jennifer Carpenter (Debra Morgan), Desmond Harrington (Det. Joey Quinn), Lauren Vélez (Lt. Maria Laguerta), David Zayas (Sgt. Angel Batista), James Remar (Harry Morgan), Adey Adeyemo (Detective), Preston Bailey (Cody), Christina Cox (Zoey Kruger), Courtney Ford (Christine Hill), John Lithgow (Arthur Mitchell), Jason Rogel (Langsbury) & Sharon Sachs (Sunny)
