Dexter 1.11. Truth Be Told
Dec. 11th, 2006 06:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakStill not having all of the BSG, but I watched Dexter by now.
Okay, it's the cliffhanger we've been waiting for, and I'm a bit uneasy about the Deb-as-damsel-in-distress thing for gender reasons, but then again, I don't know how everything is going to play out (she might play a crucial part in her own rescue, for all I know), so I'm withholding judgment on that account until I've watched the next episode. Besides, let's face it, the reason this is a tried and true tension raiser is because it works so well. I'm incredibly worried for her. At a guess: if Rudy tells her Dexter is a serial killer as well, she'll die at the end, because there'll be a second season, and I can't see Deb doing the Harrry thing and living with the knowledge that Dexter kills people, so the narrative will demand she dies; if Rudy doesn't tell her once she wakes up again, she'll live.
On the die/live? front: I'm very happy Angel made it, though the show tempering that with showing that concerned as his (ex-)wife is, this isn't going to revive the marriage is just the drop of bitterness in the joy that makes for emotional realism. And ouch on the Old Boys Club versus La Guerta front, but I still have hope she's going to turn the table and strike back.
But really, this episode was one stunning showcase for Michael C. Hall's acting talent. Dexter slowly losing it and falling apart is both incredibly gripping and painful to see. (As a sidenote of actor admiration, I find it fascinating that I've watched him play David Fisher having several breakdowns in the course of five seasons of Six Feet Under, all gripping and convincing as well, and yet coming across as totally different! He has a minimum of different outerior as Dexter - David is always meticulously clean-shaven, and the hair style is slightly different - and yet one is never in danger of deja vu or being unable to see one character because of another.) In view of last week's revelation re: Rita and Dexter's mother, it was interesting that this week he projected Harry into her, with his argument about protecting/lying to her children (or not). It was the first genuine disagreement Rita and Dexter had (not counting the awkwardness about sex in the past), which as opposed to Dexter's remark with Angel (that might prove he needs to be alone) comes across as the relationship getting ever more real. (Rita's conclusion: re children and Paul proving she really thought about the argument, though actually that might backfire if Paul uses the opportunity to accuse Dexter to the kids...)
Now: the big open backstory question - why did was the file destroyed, and what was it, other than the obvious (Mother hacked to pieces), that Harry didn't want Dexter to know about? Especially since File Woman (Vanessa? I can't remember the name right now) is still keeping mum, so it can't be the murder of the mother as such. Okay. So the article says three other bodies were found with her but does not mention a child. File Woman says Toddler!Dexter had been locked up with the corpses for several days and was starving. And of course Dexter has been repressing the whole thing ever since. Maybe I've read too much Silence of The Lambs, but currently, I'm thinking maybe that starving and just-having-seen-murder-of-his-mother child tried to eat bits of some of those corpses, and that is what Harry did not want Dexter to know/remember. Dexter eating something has been an ongoing visual motif throughout the show, and of course it's right in the black-humour-heavy title credits.
However, if Harry's file on the murder of Dexter's mother and finding Dexter actually was deleted, that ruins my theory of Rudy getting his knowledge about Dexter from said file. Unless he has access to a copy File Woman hasn't told Dexter about, of course...
Okay, it's the cliffhanger we've been waiting for, and I'm a bit uneasy about the Deb-as-damsel-in-distress thing for gender reasons, but then again, I don't know how everything is going to play out (she might play a crucial part in her own rescue, for all I know), so I'm withholding judgment on that account until I've watched the next episode. Besides, let's face it, the reason this is a tried and true tension raiser is because it works so well. I'm incredibly worried for her. At a guess: if Rudy tells her Dexter is a serial killer as well, she'll die at the end, because there'll be a second season, and I can't see Deb doing the Harrry thing and living with the knowledge that Dexter kills people, so the narrative will demand she dies; if Rudy doesn't tell her once she wakes up again, she'll live.
On the die/live? front: I'm very happy Angel made it, though the show tempering that with showing that concerned as his (ex-)wife is, this isn't going to revive the marriage is just the drop of bitterness in the joy that makes for emotional realism. And ouch on the Old Boys Club versus La Guerta front, but I still have hope she's going to turn the table and strike back.
But really, this episode was one stunning showcase for Michael C. Hall's acting talent. Dexter slowly losing it and falling apart is both incredibly gripping and painful to see. (As a sidenote of actor admiration, I find it fascinating that I've watched him play David Fisher having several breakdowns in the course of five seasons of Six Feet Under, all gripping and convincing as well, and yet coming across as totally different! He has a minimum of different outerior as Dexter - David is always meticulously clean-shaven, and the hair style is slightly different - and yet one is never in danger of deja vu or being unable to see one character because of another.) In view of last week's revelation re: Rita and Dexter's mother, it was interesting that this week he projected Harry into her, with his argument about protecting/lying to her children (or not). It was the first genuine disagreement Rita and Dexter had (not counting the awkwardness about sex in the past), which as opposed to Dexter's remark with Angel (that might prove he needs to be alone) comes across as the relationship getting ever more real. (Rita's conclusion: re children and Paul proving she really thought about the argument, though actually that might backfire if Paul uses the opportunity to accuse Dexter to the kids...)
Now: the big open backstory question - why did was the file destroyed, and what was it, other than the obvious (Mother hacked to pieces), that Harry didn't want Dexter to know about? Especially since File Woman (Vanessa? I can't remember the name right now) is still keeping mum, so it can't be the murder of the mother as such. Okay. So the article says three other bodies were found with her but does not mention a child. File Woman says Toddler!Dexter had been locked up with the corpses for several days and was starving. And of course Dexter has been repressing the whole thing ever since. Maybe I've read too much Silence of The Lambs, but currently, I'm thinking maybe that starving and just-having-seen-murder-of-his-mother child tried to eat bits of some of those corpses, and that is what Harry did not want Dexter to know/remember. Dexter eating something has been an ongoing visual motif throughout the show, and of course it's right in the black-humour-heavy title credits.
However, if Harry's file on the murder of Dexter's mother and finding Dexter actually was deleted, that ruins my theory of Rudy getting his knowledge about Dexter from said file. Unless he has access to a copy File Woman hasn't told Dexter about, of course...
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Date: 2006-12-11 07:53 pm (UTC)