“What more could a rededicated serial killer ask for?”
Indeed. Though I’ve long since dropped my initial regret over Dexter having not killed his sister at the end of Season One, I think my concerns were legitimate; at the time, I felt the show was in danger of losing its edge, which is a worry that hasn’t been borne out in this very fine season. Still, I wanted to see some more obstacles in Dexter’s wayward path to humanity; if he is indeed an “addict,” then it would only make sense for him to experience a relapse or two.
Well, I think we can consider him way off the wagon now. Given all the pressure that’s been bearing down on him lately—his break-up with Rita, who’s long a stabilizing force; his relationship with the increasingly erratic (read: totally fucking bananas) Lila; the disquieting revelations about his stepfather’s connection to his mother; his unfortunate status as the object of Doakes’ self-destructive obsession; and the ever-tightening noose of Lundy’s investigation—even the non-sociopaths among us couldn’t be blamed for cracking a bit. All season long, he’s been off his game: Uncertain, sloppy, at times desperate, and genuinely torn between his murderous impulses and some weird feeling that he doesn’t quite recognize as compassion. His thoughts, conveyed via the best voiceover track on television, have been frank as ever, but never before have we witnessed such a disparity between who he thinks he is and who he actually is.
Now, Dexter has been flat-out losing his cool, which paradoxically makes him more human (his killings being more passionate than dispassionate) and more volatile and dangerous. First, there was the run-ins with Doakes, which found him storming into Maria’s office to file a harassment suit and, last week, delivering that unexpected (and unbelievably awesome) headbutt. Tonight, though, “the monster” has made its appearance and he’s become frightening in a new, more immediate way. When Dex confronts Lila over her screwed-up ploy to draw him closer to her by putting him in mortal danger, he’s an angry as we’ve ever seen him; and as a coolly calculating serial killer, anger is far from his usual M.O.
Man oh man what a thrilling episode. I love when a great series like this one makes that decisive shift into the third act, when all those weeks of set-up and slowly ratcheted tension really start to pay off. While I’ve had some niggling problems with the season overall, I think the table has been set more effective than it was in Season One, because we’re getting a chance to see what happens when Dexter is put in a corner and has to fight his way out. Some of his actions, particularly with regard to his efforts to sabotage the Bay Harbor Butcher investigation, have acts of self-preservation; others have been related to his confusion over who he is and the varied influences that other people exert over his life.
So the big question after tonight is: How the heck is Dexter going to squirm out of this one? Lundy’s team, having dodged most of Dexter’s attempts to thwart it, finally catches it big break when they discover the body of one of the victims was driven away in a car seized as evidence for Miami Metro. That right: The calls are coming from inside the house! Plus, Doakes’ suspension has backfired predictably, since the break from official work has given him all day and night to pursue his vendetta against Dexter. Now he’s found the blood slides, which is nearly as incriminating as finding the bodies themselves stacked up in Dexter’s living room. All of which appears to set Doakes up for the fall, though how that will get orchestrated has yet to be determined. As we left things tonight, Dexter had no idea what was transpiring at his home and his office, and how close everyone has come to figuring out who he really is.