'Dexter': An innocent (if obnoxious) man

While I do love it when "Dexter" picks up a plot line and lets it gather momentum quickly, there's a big difference between how it was handled on "Dex Takes a Holiday," in which we learned why police Officer Zoey Kruger (Christina Cox) must die and enjoyed Dexter (Michael C. Hall)  toying with this prey. Tonight's episode, in which Dexter killed a fashion photographer whose violent art allegedly spilled into real life, lacked the same edge. Possibly it's because the whole "violent artist must be violent" plot line has been covered before (I can think of a "Law & Order" episode, for instance, that followed this plot) and also because I can't imagine Dexter being offended by graphic photography and accepting that as evidence of evil. Even the character of John Farrow as a sarcastic, snobbish hard-partying Brit seemed cliche. Of course in the end the true story was that Dexter killed Farrow and found out, via some actual detective work by the police department, that he got the wrong man. I'm not so interested in figuring out what Dexter will do next but learning what made him go off his game. 

Perhaps it has something to do with Dexter disobeying Harry (James Remar) and going out and actively finding a father figure in Arthur/Trinity. I wish the whole episode could be Dexter and Trinity -- Trinity brings something out of Dexter that we don't see that often, almost a playful violence (see the way he wielded the chainsaw in the woods). I'm loving John Lithgow as Trinity, too -- he seems like he's having a lot of fun alternately playing Arthur as a man full of shame, violence and sometimes old-fashioned peevishness. I'm sure Arthur, while glad not to have been killed by a chainsaw, would agree that Dexter should have listened to his own father by now, too.

I'm looking forward to the final showdown between Quinn (Desmond Harrington) and Dexter -- Quinn's been an obnoxious character since he debuted (someone in HR at the Miami Metro Police Department is a bad judge of character) but moreover he just makes me miss Doakes (Erik King), who possessed a brand of coldness that even Dexter clearly delighted in and who wasn't just some jerk. 

Once again, an episode of "Dexter" can get one or two things done really well but leave you wanting more for the rest.

-- Claire Zulkey

Photo: Michael C. Hall, left, as Dexter Morgan and John Lithgow as Arthur Mitchell. Credit: Randy Tepper / Showtime

Comments

[Em]

It's good to know I wasn't the only one who saw the change in Dexter when asking if he should kill the deer. Arthur clearly had an issue with hurting an animal & he let Dexter "take charge" of the situation. I can't wait to see where that leads (if the writers even decided to make it go somewhere).

[Sweetpea]

Dex has a lot of things up in the air right now. Deb is looking at Harry's CIs, Quinn has become suspicious enough to follow Dexter, and is Dex really tracking Trinity or is it the other way around and Dex doesn't realize it yet. Something did throw him off his game TOTALLY. He did not do his typical research to make sure Farrow fit Harry's Code AND Dex did not kill Farrow in the Dexter manner, he used a hatched, not his knife. Deb is now investigating Trinity and Dexter is associating with Trinity. So many things that could out our beloved killer. As for Quinn, I think he is Deb's next playmate. Remember Quinn said, "Put 2 people in a room long enough and they will do it." I think Trinity knows Dex is a killer that is stalking him, but I wonder if Trinity is going to ask Dex to kill him before his next kill cycle begins (he made a coffin for someone). It also crossed my mind, what if Trinity is not who shot Deb and Lundy, that would throw a new spin on everything. How ever they tie this one up I sure hope the writers do not let us down. I know the actors won't.

[Toast]

I miss Lundy.