Contributor: Gregg Wright
Written by Wendy West
Directed by John Dahl
In many ways, this season still does heavily resemble any average season of “Dexter”. If a viewer wasn’t aware of the impending end date for the series, or any of the comments made by producers, there would be no way of knowing that there was anything out of the ordinary about this season. Sure, Deb has finally learned the truth about Dexter, but one gets the impression that this is just another stop on Dexter’s journey. There’s a Big Bad, a kill-of-the-week, and the usual threats to Dexter’s life and freedom.
However, there does seem to be more going on under the surface that shouldn’t be discounted. Speltzer isn’t exactly just a “kill-of-the-week”. He may fit the usual profile, but he’s been around since last week, and his presence factors heavily into major turning points for both Dexter and Deb. Dexter saw an opportunity in Speltzer. He’s exactly the sort of monster that Deb would want to take down. Speltzer is “Exhibit A” for Dexter’s point; a bad guy who slips through the cracks to kill again, unless someone does something about it.
Thus, Deb and Dexter both finally come to their own realizations. Deb finally gives in to Dexter’s point of view, and begins to wonder if she’s some sort of monster herself. And Dexter realizes that his blood slide collection is too much of a dangerous indulgence. He cremates his entire slide collection right along with Speltzer. What does this mean for Dexter’s future kills? Perhaps not much. Dexter clearly hasn’t lost his penchant for delighting in his kills and engaging in conversation with each victim before their deaths.
I do find all of this to be quite interesting, and obviously the strongest aspect of the season so far, but I’m still skeptical about the season as a whole. With Louis dead, the season lacks much of the intrigue present at the start, where I expected things to get very dangerous for Dexter rather quickly. Instead, Louis was dispatched and the season has settled into something that (aside from the Deb situation) might be interesting if it weren’t so familiar.
I am warming up to Isaac Sirko a bit, mostly because he’s proving to be a bit more sophisticated and less thuggish than he initially appeared to be, and perhaps because Ray Stevenson is elevating a character that was probably rather generic on paper. But I’m still not sold on the idea of him as the season’s Big Bad. He’s an extremely dangerous man, no doubt, but vengeance is such a boring motivation. Sirko would be more effective as sort of a wild card side villain.
That said, it’s still very early into the season. Some effective twists could really turn things around and send the season in a much more interesting direction again. We do still have that blood slide discovered by LaGuerta, and I still don’t know what to make of Hannah McKay. Her appearance seems to lend credence to the idea of some sort of relationship with Dexter, but I still think it would be very odd timing for Dexter to get another love interest, considering Deb’s lingering feelings toward him. This is such a perplexing season, all I can do is “wait and see”.
Score: 7/10