'Dexter': Adventures of Deb and Dex

It felt like tonight's episode, maybe not totally solid as a whole, was made up of plenty good parts.  It was a good episode for Deb Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter).  She got made lead detective on the Trinity case but moreover I liked Carpenter's individual scenes -- Deb and Quinn (Desmond Harrington) engaged in a bit of mimed comedy in the police department and Deb facing down Quinn's reporter girlfriend, Christine Hill (Courtney Ford), trying to steer her away from the Trinity-investigation-related DNA swab story.  Deb needs to engage in more tough broad scenes with similarly tough broads as opposed to being the frustrated tomboy she often is.

Speaking of tough broads, even though I have a tough time believing Rita (Julie Benz) would flirt so hard with her neighbor while Dexter (Michael C. Hall) was out of town (at his alleged meterology conference), I did like, briefly, learning that she had a wild streak in her youth -- for so long Benz has been given the thankless role of the exhausted, exasperated, sweet and hurt Rita.  Rita needs more of her own personality as opposed to just being Dexter's wife.

It's a little surprising, meanwhile, that Dexter  hasn't come to fear his current obsession, nemesis and role model Arthur Mitchell (John Lithgow) because, in case it wasn't clear in previous episodes, Trinity Killer Arthur is totally nutballs. Sure, Dexter is also a serial killer but at least he has the decency to feel "uncomfortable" when he realizes that he killed the wrong man.  When Dexter, as "Kyle," confesses that he accidentally killed a man (in a hunting accident), this makes Arthur do a jig of glee next to his van before he shows Dexter the place where he accidentally caused his sister to die after she caught him "innocently" watching her in the shower. Also, Arthur barged into the house where it happened despite the inconvenient truth that the house had new owners. "Feel better?" Arthur beamed then, after confessing his sicko past to Dexter, and Dex seemed to realize that he and Trinity are even less the same than he might have thought. 

Then, of course, Dexter rescued Arthur from his own self-inflicted death which raises a lot of questions, some for Dexter on the nature of cowardice and humanity, but to me, what it really means about Arthur -- is it possible he knew Dexter would be there for him before he stepped off the roof? And what will Arthur's happy-go-lucky lease on life entail? 

-- Claire Zulkey

Photo credit: Showtime

'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

'Dexter': Thanks (for giving me your murder weapon)

I've said this before, but sometimes "Dexter" suffers from the spectacular nature of its own premise. While I was watching tonight's episode I was sort of hoping for a little more "action," but it wasn't until I thought a bit more about it later I realized how neatly this season has explored another side of Dexter's (Michael C. Hall's) personality and how it builds even on the fact-finding episodes. 

While Dexter was hanging out with Trinity Killer Arthur Mitchell (John Lithgow), the Neil Young song "Old Man" (with its lyric "Take a look at my life") might as well have been playing.  Of course in Dexter's mind, as he investigated Mitchell's charity housebuilding and "tacky but normal" home, he scoped out Mitchell the killer, seeing how he hung out in everyday life.  Dexter was also simultaneously taking a few notes for his own use as his own wife, Rita (Julie Benz), insisted on marriage counseling thanks to his recently revealed secret apartment.  But at the same time, Dexter could have been looking at a future version of himself.  Family man, a little strangely earnest, happily married with kids, protective brother, murderer.  Even Dexter recounting Arthur's morning routine was a bit of a callback to the show's opening montage, which the series likes to recall every now and then.

The episode in general was strikingly directed by Romeo Tirone -- I couldn't help but take notice of a beautiful close-up of Maria LaGuerta (Lauren Vélez), frankly the most captivated I've been by her since the early episodes of the show before she got swept away by a series of poorly informed romantic and professional choices.  Same with the shot of Dexter wielding a circular saw, thinking "Ready or not, here I come" as he gazed at Mitchell.  We didn't get to see him wield a weapon tonight, just weigh it in his hands.

-- Claire Zulkey

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

'Dexter': Turning point

Although I didn't enjoy last night's episode of "Dexter" as much as the one that preceded it, I see what the writers are doing with it and hope it pays off.  With the shooting of Deb Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) and Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine) came a turning point for all the characters on the show. 

Several of Dexter's colleagues felt that Lundy's murder fit the M.O. of the vacation killers, so to trap them, Angel (David Zayas) planted a story in the paper that did end up nabbing their prime suspects.  However, the thank-you he received was a possible transfer out of homicide, after higher-ups decided  his relationship with Maria (Lauren Vélez) was too high profile, even after she properly disclosed it, against Angel's wishes.  Plot-wise, I'm not sure how this will pay off in a big way, but we'll see. 

Deb, understandably, suffered a breakdown after the shooting.  While still in the hospital, she broke up with Anton (David Ramsey) after confessing that she had slept with Lundy.  Also, since, let's face it, she has had a ridiculously rough time on this show, she screamed at Dexter (Michael C. Hall), "If I'm not hurting myself I'm hurting everyone around me.  I'm broken." I would love to see Deb get taken in a brand-new direction at this point, something  to give more depth to her character and give her life a turnaround so she's more than the swearing tomboy cop who likes men who live in the line of fire.  Maybe she could become Dexter's sidekick after all the garbage she's been through -- goodness knows other superheroes have had less intense origin stories.

Dexter focused his energies on nabbing the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow) since he assumed that he must have been the culprit, as the Vacation Murderers wouldn't have left Deb alive as a witness.  He contemplated the new sensation of murdering someone out of revenge, as he didn't seem that interested in Trinity until he hurt his sister.  He followed Lundy's investigation, which led him directly to Trinity, to the point where Dexter actually saw him carrying out one of his murders, but then, at the last minute, he saw Trinity come home to his family and perceived the murderer  to be "like me": a family man with a dark secret and sacred ritual. 

Of course, Dexter's role as a family man has in the meantime between thrown into question, as Rita (Julie Benz) learned about his secret apartment and reacted strongly, perhaps partially because Dexter refused to truly acknowledge her anger and fears, which might mean that Trinity is ... not like him at all? We'll see.  The scenes from the upcoming episodes look like a lot of fun, so I hope the exposition laid out by tonight's episode all pays off.

-- Claire Zulkey

Photo: Jennifer Carpenter.  Credit: Showtime

Related stories: "Dexter: Someone like her"

"Dexter: The neighbor hood"

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'Dexter': Someone like her

What I loved most about tonight's episode of "Dexter" was how our hero (Michael C. Hall) was able to execute a meaningful kill, and yet it only took one episode for us to greet and say goodbye to the worthy victim.

It was, thus, a juicy episode that involved quality, economical writing. For a while there on the show, it felt like Dexter was killing a handful of random people per season and saving up for one big exciting kill at the end. But tonight, as the Trinity and Vacation murderers roamed the streets, Dexter took down a real bad guy his way.

Only the guy was a gal.

This was another thing I had just recently contemplated before tonight's episode: Dexter's been murdering a bunch of men lately.  Aside from killing Lila (Jaime Murray) and Camilla (Margo Martindale), his victims were largely men. Not there there's anything wrong with it, but, you know how it is with murders -- it gets old.  Although it's certainly not mandatory that Dex have something going on with each of his female victims, I loved the sexual tension between Dexter and Zoey Kruger, the cop about to get away with murdering her husband and child. We met as he was pretending to scope out her open house, and they flirted from the beginning, but the semi-sarcastic flirting continued throughout the episode, even as she figured out that Dexter worked for the police department, was as sly as she was and, finally, a murderer as well.  Even their physical fighting was fun.  It was enjoyable seeing Dexter as a playfully evil bad guy for once (I loved his final scene with Zoey -- "What is it with you and rape? Nobody's raping anybody") and her defiance throughout the entire episode.

What's more, it was simply a suspenseful episode. It took a second for me to figure out that Dexter was in his house waiting for the cop to break in and stage his death. And thanks to the nice exposition of their similarities as murderers with families on the side, the back-and-forth circled neatly back to Dexter considering -- and being touchingly surprised by -- his own status as a family man.

'Dexter': The Neighbor Hood

Maybe it's time Dexter (Michael C. Hall) invests in a pair of sunglasses -- between the Miami sunlight, the spotlight coming from behind his father Harry (James Remar) on last week's episode and the security floodlight installed outside his new home, he deserves a pair of shades.

What I enjoyed about last night's episode was the spin on the tired cliché of suburbia's secret dark side. With "Desperate Housewives" and "American Beauty" and "The Twilight Zone," we've seen time and time again what evil and paranoia lurk beyond those white picket fences. But in Dexter's case, the fear and hysteria of his neighbors is an annoyance.  He has better things to do than participate in the Neighborhood Watch. Yet if he doesn't catch the neighborhood "... head" who's been committing petty crimes around the area, the vigilance of the community won't let up, and he won't be able to skulk around the dark in peace.

In the meantime, he's trying to figure out how to blend in with his new crowd while scoring points with his wife, Rita (Julie Benz), who notes that Dexter hasn't been the most present husband/father of late. But even more difficult, he's learning how to handle Astor (Christina Robinson), his adolescent stepdaughter.  I like this storyline a lot, as the writers treat it rather gently and let it unfold slowly -- any father has a hard enough time relating to his maturing daughter, but a new stepfather who has some of his own blending-in issues has a different take on it. 

In the meantime, John Lithgow's Trinity Killer continues to repeat the past, killing women as if it's a fait accompli: Last night as he forced the woman he was stalking to drive to an abandoned building and jump to her death, he said, "It always ends like this."  What's creepiest about him is how sad and sympathetic he looks as he kills his victims and how tender and intimate he is with them too, cradling them, holding his head against theirs. Oh and what's he wiping on the ground afterward, and which invisible person is he sharing drinks with later on? Not Harry, I hope. 

Meanwhile, life was relatively quiet at the police department last night -- Dexter, fed up with Quinn's (Desmond Harrington) butt-kissing, blurted out, "I don't care if you're a dirty cop," to which Quinn took offense.  Things are not going to end quietly with him, it seems, as Quinn is a dirty cop and apparently treats his reporter girlfriend as a psychiatrist/confessional, which can't be a good thing. 

Ultimately, Dexter tracks down the neighborhood nogoodnik and it turns out to be one of the leaders of the Neighborhood Watch. The writing in that scene was a little hackneyed for me, as Andy blubbered, "I played by the rules my entire life and look what it got me!"  I can't imagine that committing petty crimes around a nice neighborhood would seriously alleviate the pain of losing a wife, job, house and love of a son, but that's how it worked out.  After solving that crime, Dexter returns home to put out the spotlight outside the house, only to be spotted by Rita, who, judging by the concerned look on her face, seems to see Dexter in a, shall we say, new light?

-- Claire Zulkey

Photo: Michael C. Hall and Julie Benz as Dexter and Rita Morgan. Credit: Randy Tepper/Showtime

'Dexter': No rest for the wicked/weary

My problem last season with the storylines not directly related to Dexter was that they seemed to have no point other than to fill time. I have a good feeling, though, about this season, because it seems like even the items that aren't registering on Dexter Morgan's (Michael C. Hall) radar are going to affect him down the line.  And what's already suspenseful is that it seems clear that thanks to his over-tired, over-harried family man self, he won't be on his toes to react to them early. 

Speaking of over-tired, the episode opened with Dexter trapped in his car, and then strapped to a gurney (much like his victims) after crashing his car on the way back from a murder.  Dexter's two main obstacles were put in place early in the episode: He lost the body of Benny Gomez, his latest victim, and because of a concussion he decided to ignore, he wasn't in his right mind. Oh, and he had to work too.  We've all been there, right? Solving a murder with a concussion with body parts lost somewhere? I hope not. 

In the meantime, Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine) wanted Dexter to help him catch the Trinity Killer, which Dexter wanted nothing to do with at the moment (I loved the disgusted way his smile melted off his face when he turned away from Lundy), but of course this will eventually catch up with him as A) the Trinity Killer is in many ways a doppelganger of Dex himself and B) the Trinity Killer is scary as heck.  All throughout the episode we watched Arthur Mitchell  (John Lithgow) as he tracked his next victim. Nothing happened but knowing that he's going to strike, that there's no particular reason (that we know of) that he kills the way he does, that he's so John Lithgow-ey about it made it terrifying. I love it! 

Adding to the panic of finding Benny Gomez, Dexter was called to the scene of the "vacation murder," where he happened to find Quinn (Desmond Harrington) pocketing the cash of the murder victim.  Quinn's always been a bit of a question mark in the series, but it seems like he finally has crossed paths with Dexter. As Quinn kissed Dexter's butt throughout the rest of the episode to try to reassure himself that Dexter wasn't going to tattle, Dexter snapped at him and requested that they each just live their lives (where was this attitude last season with Miguel Prado?).

In the meantime, Angel (David Zayas) and Maria (Lauren Vélez) discovered the problems with an office romance (Maria especially should have seen this coming), but I was so into this episode that I just chose to believe that perhaps somehow their affair will affect Dexter somehow, like maybe they'll be too busy opening and closing the office blinds to see Dexter kill Quinn. Same goes with Lundy and Dexter's sister, Deb (Jennifer Carpenter), who seems to be devoted to her current boyfriend for now. But when Lundy's not 100% focused, he's not focused on murders, which of course includes the Trinity Killer but Dexter as well.

Finally, thanks to a series of visual hints left by his ghost-father Harry (James Remar), Dexter found Benny and disposed of him properly but realized what might be his most biggest problem -- living in the past (i.e. cleaning up any mistakes he may be making) versus the present (his work and family) and then also the future (the Trinity Killer). Of course the big payoff of the season will be Dexter coming face to face with the Trinity Killer, but as new parents say, the rest will be just little surprises along the way.

-- Claire Zulkey

John Lithgow as Arthur Mitchell (a.k.a. the Trinity Killer). Photo credit: Showtime

'Dexter': Darkly dreaming

With its sensational subject matter, it's sometimes easy to overlook the more subtle aspects of "Dexter," but we have to pay homage to how well the show's directors repeat certain rituals and visual themes.  "Tonight's the night," Dexter (Michael C. Hall) intoned at the start of the episode -- sound familiar? It's something he's said before on previous episodes, but "the night" usually means a night for murder and justice.  Tonight, though -- it was for sleep.  As we knew from last season, Dexter Morgan is now a family man, and in addition to creeping around bad guys and crime scenes, he now does it around his own house so as to not to wake his brood.

Of course the show isn't all just dark humor -- as Dexter sneaked around his new domestic life, Arthur Mitchell, a.k.a. the Trinity Killer played by John Lithgow, also padded around, preparing a bath -- not for himself, however, but for the woman whose house he had crept into -- so he could kill her in it. And it's not the first time he's done it, in this very house, by the way.  The way Mitchell cradled his victim as he killed her was frightening, but I already had high hopes for Lithgow playing a scary, precise murderer. I didn't know we'd see him nude too! Titillating murderer and Lithgow tush?  It must be Christmas! 

But back to the clever structure of the show.  The episode reprised its own iconic credits, only this time, Dexter missed the mosquito that he tries to slap. He put on his white undershirt and it was covered in spit-up.  He yawned, he rolled his eyes, he looked dorky and off his game. He's no longer cool: He's a dad. 

'Dexter': John Lithgow to kill in threes

Like the third season of "Dexter," the fourth will feature a long-term guest star, only instead of Jimmy Smits playing an assistant district attorney, John Lithgow will portray a character planted decidedly on the other side of the law.

According to Showtime's press release, "Lithgow will play Walter Simmons, an unassuming, mild-mannered suburbanite who has been living a dual life as one of America’s most prolific and deadliest serial killers. Dubbed the 'Trinity Killer' because of his proclivity to kill in threes, he relocates to Miami after being tracked by FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine). Brought on to assist in the investigation of Miami’s latest serial killer, Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) becomes fascinated with Trinity’s killing methods and his ability to evade capture for almost three decades."

Lithgow will be featured in all 12 episodes of Season 4, which is scheduled to premiere Sunday, Sept. 27, on Showtime.

While Lithgow has acted in as much drama as he has comedy, here's hoping that he's allowed to utilize a bit of his comic experience on "Dexter," which tends to be at its best when it employs gallows humor.

— Claire Zulkey

"Dexter": OMG! Dex and Deb say, 'I do!'

Those who follow the gossip rags may have known that on-screen brother and sister "Dexter" costars Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter have been quietly dating for a year and a half.  Now, the relationship is a little more permanent. According to US Magazine, the pair eloped in California on New Year's Eve and plan to walk the red carpet together at the Golden Globes on Sunday. 

We're having a hard time coming up with a tasteful onscreen-brother-and-sister-get-married joke, but feel free to come up with your own.

--Claire Zulkey