Well, those marriage-therapy sessions on this week’s Dexter were almost as painful as enduring a seat on the analyst’s sofa yourself, didn’t you think? Oh, right: SPOILER ALERT: DON’T READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS WEEK’S EPISODE “IF I HAD A HAMMER.”Now: If I had a hammer, I’d have been tempted to use it to at least warn Rita not to ask me to go buy more bread or milk whenever she’s mad at me. Once we got into the therapist’s office (and didn’t Roma Maffia look positively relieved to be away from Nip/Tuck?), it only took a few sessions for needy Rita to realize (“Duh,” as everyone was saying this night) that it’s hard for Dex to talk about his feelings, and that he still needs some space. Literally. “I need space to keep my stuff.”
By the end of the hour, she was happily handing him a padlock for his newly built back-yard shed. To me, this stuff, plus the LaGuerta-Batista official break-up subplot, took up time I wanted to be spending with…
Trinity — or rather, Arthur Mitchell, family man, teacher, church deacon, all-around good guy with a freakish attachment to his dead relatives. He’s proving to be a beautifully well-rounded character, isn’t he? The scenes of Arthur singing in church, squeezing his wife’s hand affectionately, and helping to build houses for the needy played to the gentler side of John Lithgow, an actor who can fine-tune the intelligence he radiates to portray suburban satisfaction.
That old theme — villain is the flip side of hero — is given a nice fresh twist in Dexter. That’s because Dexter is, all by himself, both hero and villain. So to have him encounter a man who’s done the Two-Face thing in some ways even more successfully than Dex, well, that’s unnerving for him, and thrilling for us.
And besides, the real core of this series isn’t death or crime, but the keeping of secrets – that’s what we identify with most intensely in Dexter Morgan. If we, like Dexter, are forced to acknowledge that there’s also a little Arthur “Trinity” Mitchell in us, that’s a dark place I want to keep exploring each week, don’t you?
By the way, a number of you Commenters were right when you wrote saying I should have given Jennifer Carpenter a lot of praise last week for her strikingly emotional acting in the parking lot where Lundy’s body had lain. Her distraught cry to her brother — “I’m broken!” — not only shook Dexter to his core, but also shook us as well. It was a great performance.
All the more reason, therefore, to see this week the way Deb has been brought back into danger as she pursues a clever but erroneous theory about who killed Lundy. As Dexter said in voiceover, now he has to worry about Deb coming into Trinity’s deadly view.
Did you watch Dexter this week? What did you think?
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Poor Dexter, he can’t kill Trinity before he first learn all his tricks about being “normal”.
how fun for us!
To Ken Tucker,
You have a hard job of practically having to watch everything on TV and giving a discriminating review of it.
But, but, but- I want to say – I don’t think you’re in your element with Dexter here. You just started blogging about him like 2 weeks ago, and this makes me think- have you watched any of the previous seasons (fully)??
Every season, every episode of Dex is filled with small time problems in the lives of the other Dexter characters- LaGuerta, Batista, Rita, etc. If you look back, they always had small roles which took time away from him killing his bro, or taking care of Doakes, or taking care of Miguel Prado.
Complaining about how they’re wasting time with the other stories on Dexter is like complaining why milk is white. This is Dexter, the series, and it has always been like this! They haven’t changed any of the structure of this show since episode 2, and they never will.
Writing about these things really makes me wonder – why are you bothering us with such useless comments?
I don’t think Ken is so much complaining about the shifting subplots than how lackluster those subplots are. When you’re left saying “just get on with this so we can reach the good parts”, that’s never a great sign.
I agree with Ken on this, and think last year had worse subplots. Besides Miguel and Dexter, I hardly cared about anything in season 3. Seasons 1 and 2 did a much better job in comparison. Season 4 is starting to get as sluggish as season 3, but I hope it doesn’t fall through the cracks.
Some great one-liners this week! “We run out of milk a lot, are you going to get me a cow too?” “I want to make sure I don’t step on my dlck” Love this show!
I don’t see how Jennifer Carpenter is skipped over each year for an Emmy. She’s fantastic as Debra. SO FLAWED. Go great to watch.
Well I must admit that Jennifer Carpenter was not so great in the first one or two seasons. However, she has greatly improved as the show has progressed and I am very impressed. She totally rocked last week.
Jennifer Carpenter absolutely deserves an Emmy-she is fantastic. I think Micheal C. Hall deserves it every year too.
It’s weird that Deb’s actions are always more interesting after she survived a near death experience; first with the Ice Truck Killer and now after getting shot in episode 4. As cruel as this sounds, almost dying is the best things that could happen to her characters.
I’m not Rita’s biggest fan but this episode really showed me y Rita is so important to Dexter…Rita is there as catalyst for Dexter’s evolution just like Trinity had 2 learn 2 evolve because really if Rita and the kids were no longer in his life he would be lost
Yeah, but can we have MUCH less of her in the episodes? I’m so sick of her whining.
When Deb said “I want to make sure I don’t step on my dick” and Dexter was like we don’t want that, I was cracking up. Deb always has the best one-liners. But after she was shot and she whispered to Lundy “stay with me” I actually cry. Deb is the reason I continue watching this show. I think the irriating thing for me about Rita is her whiny tone. If she didn’t seem like a whiny 12 year old child, she wouldn’t annoy me. They can get rid of the reporter and Quinn storyline. Boring, unnecessary.
I do agree that Rita is annoying, but it serves a purpose and without her the show would lose its backbone. We’re supposed to feel that way about her, so just deal with it. Plus every moment we get to watch Julie Benz is a gratifying one for me. Also, I think you should give additional praise to JC for this week’s jail scene. She was Phenomenal. And Lithgow’s sudden outburst was genius. The one major weakness is the pathetic LaGuerta-Batista romance. There’s just no chemistry there, and it doesn’t further the plot at all.
In contrast to everyone else I always like JC’s performances until that parking lot scene, which I thought was hammy and predictable. Also the revelations about Trinity, that he’s recreating the deaths of his sister, mother and father, were easily figured out weeks ago, which I thought was a little below the usual level of Dexter. Does anyone else think this is going to end with Trinity killing his family (a new cycle of three, although the genders are off). John Lithgow is the best thing about this season, you’ve got to love this guy.
I don’t think he’s going to kill his family. The genders aren’t off though. 2 females and 1 male. I’m kind of hoping he kills the reporter chick in the bathtub, makes Rita fall from a building, and kills Quinn by blunt force trama.
That was not hammy, it was sad. Hardcore Deb getting like that. You are crazy.
totally agree, deb breaking down was heart wrenching to watch. i love her character and how she plays tough against vulnerable so beautifully…..perfection!
I am just excited there is a TV Watch every week for my favorite show. I heart Dexter
It was a good episode. I liked that we learned more about why trinity kills in the way that he does.
I’ve liked seeing Dexter evolve through both Trinity and Rita. The writers have found a great way to make someone who doesn’t have feelings progress as a character. Not easy stuff to do!
I agree w/Wills, didnt like the Debra charactor 1st season, actually stopped watching after season 1 epp 2 because of her.. but gave season 2 a chance and have been watching since…
Rita’s charactor IS annoying.. but do you blame her after the whole ex hubby abuse?
John Lithgow- SO excited he’s this seasons killer. Been a fan since “Harry and the Hendersons”!!
I liked the Ep, but some of the characters are acting stupid. Deb predicts where the last trinity murder would happen, and Quinn just says she shouldn’t chase ghosts… dumb dumb dumb.
I was thinking the same thing – why didn’t Deb point that out to Quinn?
Please, please let Trinity kill Rita and that disgusting Asian DNA guy before Dexter dispatches him. I really don’t know how much longer I can take these two.
Jennifer Carpenter really does deserve an emmy nom
Oh and Rita is by far the most excruciatingly annoying character ever… Kudos to Julie Benz for being a great actor. Deb is HILARIOUS – “don’t want to step on my dick”
Please god, could somebody kill Quinn already? Hate that guy. I am also convinced he shot Lundy and Deb, not Trinity.
Yay! Dexter recaps! Have these always been here?
Why would Quinn kill Lundy and try to kill Deb? There’s no motivation whatsoever there. I’d say the likeliest candidate for a “surprise” killer would be Anton. That’s why he killed Lundy but spared Deb.
I was thinking Anton too!!!!
Why are so many Dexter fans predicting Anton shot Deb and Lundy? It doesn’t make any logical sense. After Deb helped save him from the Skinner, why would he be so enraged that he’d gun her down? Despite my skepticism, Trinity is much easier to believe.
I seriously doubt Quinn shot Deb and Lundy either, but I’d be more likely to beleive him than Anton.
To t3hdow – I would guess that being strapped to a chair and partially skinned would maybe cause Anton to become a little unhinged.
To Joseph:
Yeah, but even with that, Anton doesn’t come off as a guy who’d want to gun down his girlfriend’s old flame, just because she cheated on him. It’s undeniably upsetting, but Anton seems cool headed enough to move on instead of becoming a cop killer. No amount of scorn is worth that.
And again, Deb saved him. Why pull off an act that might kill her? I still don’t buy it.
Love the show – liked the episode.
I love this show. This particular episode , not so much. It’s really painful to watch the character of Rita from the start but somehow it’s been especially hard this season. On the other hand I’m another praiser of Jennifer Carpenter, and not just for the latest performances either. You were right that it’s all about keeping secrets. The show itself is a real pearl for all of us who can’t let go and embrace intimacy fully unlike the “happy go lucky” people who surround us.
In a once a week 12 episode series I just think the pace of every week needs to move at a quicker pace! I found myself mumbling, com’on enough Rita, huh? Laquerta/Angel and Dex,what are you thinking? Going to church,the fake name, and doing the carpenter come in the house pick up the urn thing! What can you be thinking?! The careful, code driven killer, is making monumental mistakes and is just plain stupid with Rita. Somebody help me here. Dex can’t keep depending on dumb luck to slip thru all these guffas!
I actually thought last night’s episode was brilliant. No one has mentioned the super creepy scene between the Trinity Killer and his wife. I don’t think Rita is annoying, she is who she is but she is Dexter’s anchor and cover. Dexter played her so well last night, now everything is hidden in plain sight. I think the point about this season is we all have secrets and if not careful they will in the end be your downfall.
Dexter is getting killed with all this married-in-the-suburbs crap!
I would just like to express my excitement that we are getting a weekly Dexter recap! Woo hoo!
This episode was great. John Lithgow was awesome when he caught Dexter with the urn. His facial expressions and change in character–incredible. The casting on the Trinity Killer was absolutely perfect. Anyway, love the show and all the characters are great. Just my 2 cents.
I think you’re reading too much into the show; there is no “deeper meaning” here. It’s about how a kid was so wrecked as a boy that he developed deadly proclivities and how his (adoptive?) father recognized this, and tried to teach him so fit in and survive. That’s it. Oh we can “find” meaning if we look, and Dexter must deal with things that we all do, with a delicious twist. But at his core, Dexter is a killer, and that changes everything. It’s a great story to be enjoyed on its own terms and it has only one ending: Deb killing Dexter. There is no happy-ever-after for Dexter. He was ruined by family events, saved by another family, and in the end must be put down by that family. Deb is, after all, the cop in the family, whose conscience will not allow her to let Dexter live.
No, I agree with Ken. Anyone who’s grappled with inner demons and/or secrets can identify with Dexter’s struggles, even though 99% of us aren’t sociopaths needing a murderous fix.
I also like the shades of moral gray Dexter often grapples with (both the character and the show), and the clashing psyche of a serial killer (especially season 2). All of those things make Dexter phenomenal TV. To take Dexter only on the surface like you have is disheartening, to be honest.
In the books, Deb knows Dexter is a serial killer and so far (in 4 books) she has kept his secret.
Dexter’s sub-plots are always the same from season to season: Debra and her failed relationships; LaGuerta and her reckless relationships; someone on homicide about to crack Dexter’s secret (Doakes-Quinn), and one serial killer that Dexter learns something from. It’s almost tiresome at this point.
Jennifer Carpenter is a great actress, but Deb, the character, is a sh*tty cop. I don’t know how in the hell she got promoted. Being an eye witness to a murder SHE DIDN’T SEE?? When the killer could be (and is) someone totally different and if she testifies will get of scott free???!?!?! What cop thinks like that? She is WAYYYY to emotional to be a good cop.
Love this show. John Lithgow. is. amazing.
you’d be suprised at how many cops would lie on the stand to make a case “better”…
At least give Deb credit for realizing the vacation murderers didn’t do the act (albeit with screaming and shaking the suspect like a box of pepper).
Did anyone like the look Dexter gave the camera after Rita handed him the keys?? Awesome.
It was so funny! You really gotta live Dexter…
I meant “love”
Haha, that face Dexter made was hilarious; like he just creamed his pants in joy with his new storage unit.
Thanks, Ken for rectifying your mistake giving credit to JC and for reading our comments (I was among those who complained).
Now, you gotta love Deb: who eats twinkies for lunch? She’s hardcore!
I just want to stick up for Rita. I’m tired off seeing nothing but bashing. I like the character. She’s the one actually pushing Dexter to evolve, and feel, and let people in.
The storyline I want to see cut asap is Laguerta/Batista. No chemistry, out of left-field, makes no sense, boring as paint drying on the wall. Not to mention hos convoluted their storyline this episode. Who doesn’t see them getting back together, and ~Gasp!~ one of them getting fired? Or something similarly contrived.
I miss Doakes.
They needed Rita to be this whiny and crabby, so that Dex would finally let go of his apartment and bring his sins/work inside their home. At least, Dex working from there, adds some suspense.
and more chances to get caught!