Contributor: Gregg Wright
Now that “Dexter’s” somewhat odd (but brief) detour into Nebraska is over, the show picks up pretty much where it left off. Travis is still struggling to escape Gellar’s influence, Miami Metro is still investigating the case, and Dexter is back on Gellar’s trail. Unfortunately, this episode is about as good as the two that preceded it. I expected a bit more, but the show is struggling to re-engage my interest.
I suppose one of the biggest problems with the episode is that it relies so heavily on the audience having not guessed the twist by now. The audience is meant to not yet know the twist, but if you’ve even heard the offending theory, it’s impossible to see any other outcome to the season. It’s becoming so painfully obvious; I don’t even want to discuss the specifics of the theory in these reviews anymore, since the theory itself is essentially a big, fat spoiler. Unfortunately, for those that already know the theory, the episode is significantly less interesting than it might otherwise have been.
But even if we decide that it’s not really fair to hold this against the episode, it’s still a slight step down from the first five of the season. For example: it’s not at all surprising that Lisa died. The problem is that her death was supposed to be a bigger moment in the season. It’s clear that it’s meant to be a major turning point in the story–the moment Travis decides to help Dexter take out his former mentor–but it’s far too downplayed to work in that capacity. There’s no tension or buildup to her death. It feels like a key chunk is missing between the moment Gellar knocks out Travis with a shovel and the scene in which Lisa’s body is discovered.
For a more general criticism, the episode also does nothing to restore that sense of urgency and escalation present in the first five of the season. The suspense over Lisa’s fate could have easily been used to solve this problem. Putting a character we’re actually familiar with in peril adds personal stakes to the story. Killing Lisa off was the right move, because it’s exactly what I expected all along would be needed to truly turn Travis against Gellar. But there was a huge missed opportunity here to make Lisa’s death an impactful moment of the story, where our hopes that she might be saved are cruelly dashed, and we easily sympathize with Travis’s desire to get even.
And as usual, whenever the main plot in “Dexter” is a bit weak, the weaknesses of the subplots become harder to ignore (even if they’re always there). Surprisingly, I think I enjoyed the coverage of Debra more than anyone else. I’ve found her therapy sessions to be mildly entertaining. I’m getting pretty tired of seeing Quinn feeling sorry for himself and being a drunken asshole. I was somewhat fine with it when it was part of his self-destructive arc for the season, but it seems rather excessive to just visit that well again right after Quinn’s reconciliatory chat with Deb. Masuka’s intern’s subplot certainly has its moments, but it’s hard to care about something so disconnected from everything else at this point in the season.
Thankfully, there are still four episodes left in which the season can wrap up its story, which will hopefully entail some surprises that no one has predicted. The fact that the show has just been renewed for two more seasons obviously can’t affect the outcome of this season, but it does make one wonder how significant this season will end up being in the long run. My hope was that the show would end either with the current season or one subsequent one. But I suppose if they’re really going to end the show right, two more seasons sounds about right. Setting a concrete end date for a serialized show can be hugely beneficial to the show. The decision to end the show at the end of these two new seasons may not be final, but I really hope that this is what they have in mind.
Rating: 7/10
