Dexter 1.07 "Circle of Friends"
Nov. 14th, 2006 07:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakThis show is good anyway, but the Neil Gaiman/Sandman shout out was just the, err, ice on the cake.
In Doll's House, the second volume of Sandman, there is a serial killer convention (incidentally, come to think of it, taking place in Florida, I believe, that beauteous state where Dexter is set), and it's at the same time a wicked satire on conventions of all fandoms (the panels!) and contributes to the point made at the end, when Dream, showing once again he's not a convential superhero in a superhero comic (who would have seen to it that the serial killers all get locked up and/or killled, depending on the comic), deals with them by stripping away their self image as glamorous, deep creatures of the night.
Now, in this episode of Dexter, despite what Dexter says in the beginning ("there are no conventions for serial killers"), you have in a way a miniature con, as we get presented with at least two and far more likely three in addition to Dexter, all of whom present a challenge to his self image. His refusal to belief Neil Perry is the Ice Truck killer is an example of this show's use of black humour (which is similar to Doll's House, because while the audience suspects throughout the episode he's right about that because of the rules of tv - too early for us to get presented with the capture of the real killer - Dexter's reason for his disbelief is shown clearly, and it has nothing to do with logic or instinct, it's because of the glamorous image he has of the Ice Truck killer; he needs to see him as a brilliant genius, and Neil Perry is pathetic. If pathetic Perry is the guy Dexter has come to venerate, what says that about Dexter?
On the other hand, you have Jeremy the youthful killer, and I'm glad there was follow-up on Dexter's decision to let him go. Jeremy kills a second time and not another killer, and Dexter, originally wanting to "correct a mistake" in a lethal manner, comes to a different conclusion after his talk with Jeremy. Jeremy, too, functions as a mirror to Dexter and the audience: Dexter as he might have been if Harry hadn't taken him in. The reason the "code" worked with Dexter was that he had a relationship with Harry first; simply saying "go forth and kill bad guys" isn't enough. Jeremy's suicide just after Dexter has come to the decision to reach out to him is another warning: as Dexter said in an earlier episode, there are no retirement funds and pension plans for serial killers. What future is waiting for him?
And lastly, there is the doctor Deb has just gone on a date with. As soon as he asks her about her brother, I thought "oh, no". Him as the Ice Truck killer - the expert in body parts, hiding in plain sight much as Dexter himself does - makes a ghastly kind of sense. Sucks to be Deb. In recent episodes, she has gone from relying on Dexter to relying on her own instincts as a cop, and they're good ones - she was right in the previous episode, and she did correctly identify Neil Perry as a serial killer, even if he wasn't the one she was looking for. But there is a big lie in her life, started by Harry, and right now it apparantly lead her right into the arms of a manipulative murderer who wants to play more games with the one she's related to. It doesn't seem to have occured to Dexter that the Ice Truck Killer's knowledge of his private life would not stop with photos.
But then, Dexter is growing more careless in more than one regard. He basically comes out twice in this episode; once to Jeremy, though Jeremy can't really process what he hears or if he can is too far gone to care, and once to Rita, who understandably, given what she knows of Dexter, dismisses the talk of a dark side. We'll see, though, whether she'll think further on the next thing he said, when, comparing him to her ex, she said "you don't hurt people", and he returned "I don't hurt innocent people". There is the need to connect and be seen the way Harry saw him in either case; that way lies both possible capture and the desired connection.
Right now, Rita has other worries to distract her. Paul the abusive ex who won't go away but won't commit more crimes which would allow for his relocation in prison, either. I don't think Rita getting him to sign the divorce papers is more than a temporary victory; Paul is a critical case because he's not a killer, and should Dexter kill him, he would break his Harry- and self-imposed code. Mind you, Dexter, sociopath that he is, shows a refreshing lack of macho attitude in his confrontation with Paul and so far has been willing to let Rita deal with him. We'll see.
In Doll's House, the second volume of Sandman, there is a serial killer convention (incidentally, come to think of it, taking place in Florida, I believe, that beauteous state where Dexter is set), and it's at the same time a wicked satire on conventions of all fandoms (the panels!) and contributes to the point made at the end, when Dream, showing once again he's not a convential superhero in a superhero comic (who would have seen to it that the serial killers all get locked up and/or killled, depending on the comic), deals with them by stripping away their self image as glamorous, deep creatures of the night.
Now, in this episode of Dexter, despite what Dexter says in the beginning ("there are no conventions for serial killers"), you have in a way a miniature con, as we get presented with at least two and far more likely three in addition to Dexter, all of whom present a challenge to his self image. His refusal to belief Neil Perry is the Ice Truck killer is an example of this show's use of black humour (which is similar to Doll's House, because while the audience suspects throughout the episode he's right about that because of the rules of tv - too early for us to get presented with the capture of the real killer - Dexter's reason for his disbelief is shown clearly, and it has nothing to do with logic or instinct, it's because of the glamorous image he has of the Ice Truck killer; he needs to see him as a brilliant genius, and Neil Perry is pathetic. If pathetic Perry is the guy Dexter has come to venerate, what says that about Dexter?
On the other hand, you have Jeremy the youthful killer, and I'm glad there was follow-up on Dexter's decision to let him go. Jeremy kills a second time and not another killer, and Dexter, originally wanting to "correct a mistake" in a lethal manner, comes to a different conclusion after his talk with Jeremy. Jeremy, too, functions as a mirror to Dexter and the audience: Dexter as he might have been if Harry hadn't taken him in. The reason the "code" worked with Dexter was that he had a relationship with Harry first; simply saying "go forth and kill bad guys" isn't enough. Jeremy's suicide just after Dexter has come to the decision to reach out to him is another warning: as Dexter said in an earlier episode, there are no retirement funds and pension plans for serial killers. What future is waiting for him?
And lastly, there is the doctor Deb has just gone on a date with. As soon as he asks her about her brother, I thought "oh, no". Him as the Ice Truck killer - the expert in body parts, hiding in plain sight much as Dexter himself does - makes a ghastly kind of sense. Sucks to be Deb. In recent episodes, she has gone from relying on Dexter to relying on her own instincts as a cop, and they're good ones - she was right in the previous episode, and she did correctly identify Neil Perry as a serial killer, even if he wasn't the one she was looking for. But there is a big lie in her life, started by Harry, and right now it apparantly lead her right into the arms of a manipulative murderer who wants to play more games with the one she's related to. It doesn't seem to have occured to Dexter that the Ice Truck Killer's knowledge of his private life would not stop with photos.
But then, Dexter is growing more careless in more than one regard. He basically comes out twice in this episode; once to Jeremy, though Jeremy can't really process what he hears or if he can is too far gone to care, and once to Rita, who understandably, given what she knows of Dexter, dismisses the talk of a dark side. We'll see, though, whether she'll think further on the next thing he said, when, comparing him to her ex, she said "you don't hurt people", and he returned "I don't hurt innocent people". There is the need to connect and be seen the way Harry saw him in either case; that way lies both possible capture and the desired connection.
Right now, Rita has other worries to distract her. Paul the abusive ex who won't go away but won't commit more crimes which would allow for his relocation in prison, either. I don't think Rita getting him to sign the divorce papers is more than a temporary victory; Paul is a critical case because he's not a killer, and should Dexter kill him, he would break his Harry- and self-imposed code. Mind you, Dexter, sociopath that he is, shows a refreshing lack of macho attitude in his confrontation with Paul and so far has been willing to let Rita deal with him. We'll see.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-11-14 07:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-14 08:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-14 06:42 pm (UTC)I found this aspect of the episode fascinating. We usually see Dexter putting on a mask of such a self-effacing, happy-go-lucky guy, but here he is, showing a mix of insecurity and arrogance we rarely get to see in this character. Dexter is safe as long as he doesn't let himself *feel*, but the very things that give him depth -- his pride in the quality of his "craft", his unlikely compassion for Jeremy, and possibly what he might do to Paul to protect Rita -- are the things that will get him caught.
I'm totally with you on pegging the prosthetics doctor as the real ITK. Yikes, poor Deb!
no subject
Date: 2006-11-15 08:26 am (UTC)I'm really curious as to how they'll resolve the ITK plotline. On the one hand, logic dictates it ends with Dexter killing the guy, both it's what he does - kill serial killers - and because the ITK knows far too much about him and could, if caught, out him to all and sunder. (BTW, when Perry's photos were found, I held my breath because I wondered whether the one with Dexter and Tucci would be there.) On the other, this show has surprised me a couple of times, so perhaps it'll end differently altogether...