Dexter 6x06: Just Let Go

Original Air Date: 6 November 2011

Storyline: Dexter investigates who shot Brother Sam and finds out the responsible was the last person he would have thought of. Meanwhile, Homicide interrogates Clarissa Morris, Professor Gellar's former TA, and Quinn asks for Batista's help to hide that he had slept with her from Debra. Best Quote:Dexter: Most people believe we have free will... that we all choose our path. Sometimes the path is clear... sometimes not so much. Every twist, every turn can challenge our sense of direction. But it's the choices we make when we reach a fork in the road that define who we are.

Review: Accept that there's light in him and let go of the darkness, or let his Dark Passenger take over him completely? That is the main question posed by this week's episode and one that Dexter keeps asking himself after Brother Sam gets shot. If the last scene is any indicator, I'd say the moment Dexter unleashed his wrath onto the cocky Nick was probably definitive in inclining the balance towards the dark side, though having both Harry and Brian "advising" him might prove to be an angel/devil situation, one perfectly tailored for a season so concentrated on religion, but not one I'd be happy with.

But let's not speculate, though I dearly love doing that. The episode in itself was kind of a snooze. No big moves were made - other than Brother Sam's death, which I actually welcomed - and the pace was incredibly slow for a show that focuses on crime. Nothing of actual significance happened and it felt mostly like a waste of time, though Brother Sam being in a coma significantly decreased the amount of religious talk and I say yey for that.
I'm more and more surprised by Dexter's lack of emotional implication in the Doomsday killer case: yes, he follows Travis around, but that's mostly it. In the past five seasons, he was at least adamant in not letting more innocents die at the hand of the current big bad, but this time he seems too detached and not all that interested in finding Gellar. We're half way through the season and, other than a brief conversation with Travis that convinced him he is harmless, there wasn't much action on the Doomsday front.
And since I was speaking of Travis and Gellar, I have to say they are quite the disappointment. I had high hopes from both Colin Hanks and Edward James Olmos, who are great actors, but their characters are as bland as their incessant talk about God. The only thing I find interesting is the imagery Gellar uses to send his message; say what you may, but at least his murders are ingeniously staged.
Debra finally realized that she cannot be the guys' boss and friend at the same time, and I'm not sure her BYOB party was enough to make her be in again. This is a mistake people so often make when they are promoted on a supervising position. It's leadership 101, you can't be buddies with the people you sign the paychecks for. But Debra has always been emotionally unstable, so I really didn't expect anything different from her. Too bad it takes up so much air time. And why is she seeing a psychiatrist and not a psychologist? Does anyone else find that weird?
Her relationship with Quinn - or the aftermath of their breakup - is dragging for too long, in my opinion. His sleeping with a person of interest (though "who fucks a person of non-interest", right?) and showing up at Deb's party with a nameless chick he picked up in a bar are just his way of throwing it into her face that he tries to move on, when it obvious that he hasn't. I'm just bored of this immature game, either get them back together or drop the teen drama already.
So yeah, in a nutshell, I'm not very happy about this episode either. let's see what's in store for Dexter now that his brother showed up to congratulate him for giving into the darkness one more time.Dexter 6x05: The Angel of Death Back to Season 6