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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no subject
Date: 2006-12-11 06:07 pm (UTC)lame, story-line-wise, too, since our copycat already did that...
I'm a bit uneasy about the Deb-as-damsel-in-distress thing for gender reasons
Same here; I'm hoping the writers don't screw it up. So far, they've been awesome, showed us strong women and weak men and everything in between, but as you say, this is one powerful trope they might have felt they couldn't get around.
Maybe I've read too much Silence of The Lambs
Maybe I'm the same -- read all the Harris novels -- but really, it did come to mind rather instantly; I've been thinking about it too. Cannibalism, always fun! And as you point out so correctly, it'd fit with the credits, with all the shots of Dexter eating, chewing, enjoying his food.
Also a very good reason to repress. I've read that antisocial personality disorders are often brought forth by great trauma at an early age; this would so very definitely qualify. As Dexter says himself: No wonder he's been suppressing emotions all along, if just the flashbacks and shadows are what he would have felt all along otherwise.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-11 06:26 pm (UTC)And as you point out so correctly, it'd fit with the credits, with all the shots of Dexter eating, chewing, enjoying his food.
Clearly, we have the same evil brain. (Though thankfully one not served as dinner to Clarice by Dr. Lecter.)
As Dexter says himself: No wonder he's been suppressing emotions all along, if just the flashbacks and shadows are what he would have felt all along otherwise.
It's yet another irony that Doakes makes his "you don't feel anything" accusation at a point where emotions are finally breaking through (I think given his reaction to the danger to Deb it's clear that Dexter, no matter what he calls it and how unable he's to show it in every day interactions unless he's playing all normal boy, does love her).
no subject
Date: 2006-12-11 07:26 pm (UTC)Yes, it is. Very lovely.
Exactly.
& :-D
*nod* And this moment made me feel for Doakes, too. Here's this dogged, honest cop with a fantastic instinct, and yet he doesn't really seem to get anywhere...although now, of course, with him heading the taskforce, he might be in for an upswing.
Of course, I cannot quite figure out what his current theory is, if he has any. He's obviously concluded Dexter has some sort of personality disorder, and if it's indeed half-common knowledge that he was adopted from a bloody crime scene by his revered cop father, then he's even founded it on pretty strong evidence in addition to his personal impressions. And yet, so what of it? Doakes's "I'm watching you" implies he suspects Dexter is committing, or has committed crimes, but we haven't really seen him notice anything actually incriminating.
Oh, well. Right now, it's All About Deb, anyway.
(So glad about Angel, too. Very nice, very realistic scene with his wife, with him in general.)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-11 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-11 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-12 12:08 am (UTC)And I like how they're handling some of the latest deviations from the book.
I think the flashbacks were very clever. They've made Deb a lot stronger, and scrapped some plot twists that wouldn't have worked, given the added layers of the TV show, and... I can't say more without spoiling you.