Dexter 2.03
Oct. 16th, 2007 08:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakAnd then there are shows which are just right. I love the ensemble, the writing, the acting, the story...
The killer of the week was actually the least important part of the episode, although making him a car salesman (who actually manages to sell Dexter a car, much as the psychiatrist last season managed to get him into therapy for a while) was a great example of how this show does black humour. But the emphasis of the story was elsewhere.
Firstly, Bay Harbor Butcher hunt: I appreciate that we're getting Carradine's character fleshed out a little. Though the way he's coming across as insightful and sympathetic with Deb makes me immediately suspect he might have another agenda. (I blame Brian/Rudy for this.) Beyond catching the killer, that is. Still, it was great to see Deb making the connection between Little Chino and Anonymous Missing Dead Bastard whose son wanted him to rot in hell. Aside from everything else, the whole Rudy disaster destroyed her confidence in her abilities as a cop, and now this gets restored. Which has us in the paradoxical situation of on the one hand rooting for Deb but on the other being afraid for Dexter, who is at the end of the line she has just started to see.
Matsouka and his "who's your daddy?" line, and him actually making Dexter say it: did I mention I *heart* this show?
I also love Maria La Guerta, but that's nothing new. I think most of us were expecting her to play some kind of double game with Pasquale (spelling?), trying to get her old job back, especially since Pasquale really is behaving unprofessionally right now. But when Matthews offered her the chance, she didn't take it, and go her. Maybe she did it because of female solidarity and because she remembered Pasquale not going for Matthew's game of playing them out against each other in last season's finale, when he brought Pasquale in - back then, Pasquale worked with her instead. Maybe La Guerta thinks long term and knows that if she gets her job back by backstabbing Pasquale and on Matthew's condition, she'll be just as easily displaced again as soon as he doesn't need her anymore. And maybe the patronizing bastard just pissed her off. But she refused to play his game, and the writers are continuing to refuse using the catfight between career women cliché. I'm all aglow.
In the A-plot, of course, we have Dexter. Dexter and Rita, Dexter and the anonymous addicts, Dexter and Doakes. And a new player. I'm intrigued by the show using the 12 steps program thing not just as a one time gag but as an ongoing plot, and that they let Dexter get to the point where he stops lying and actually tells the truth in it. Now of course if the program were to succeed with him, the premise of the show would be gone and the series would be over, which limits the directions this plot can be going to. For now, it's used for two purposes I can see: introduce our new character, and make Dexter realize something the audience realized last season when in the episode with the psychiatrist Dexter came to face the fact he didn't want Rita to go away, not because she's convenient cover but because she's Rita. Which implied that contrary to what he states and thought at the start of the show, he feels something for her and the children. In this episode, he admits that they matter, that he feels a connection. And Rita, of course, is by now anything but a convenient and comfortable girlfriend. She's also not an enabler. Yes, she doesn't have all the facts, but based on what she knows, the way she put her foot down was awesome to see. And she did it in her quiet Rita-way, without screaming or grand gestures, just making her point clear. Rita, I adore you, too.
And now for the newbie, Lilah, aka Mysterious Sexy Brunette. My current guess is that she'll be the one the Bay Harbor Butcher murders will end up being pinned on, either her or the FBI agent, but I think it's going to be her. Since I'm pretty sure we won't end with Dexter in prison, and the hunt for the Bay Harbor Butcher is obviously a seasonal arc, which means it has to be wrapped up at the end of the season. For this emotionally to work for the audience, she actually needs to have done something. If she's a fellow serial killer (just not of those victims, since that was Dexter), it would be too much like a repetition of last season's arc with the Ice Truck Killer. (Or not - who knows, the writing is so good that they might come up with a different enough twist, other than her not being Dexter's brother, obviously.) So I can't help but wonder whether she's not connected to one of Dexter's victims, and will take her revenge by trying to destroy his life in non-lethan ways?
The killer of the week was actually the least important part of the episode, although making him a car salesman (who actually manages to sell Dexter a car, much as the psychiatrist last season managed to get him into therapy for a while) was a great example of how this show does black humour. But the emphasis of the story was elsewhere.
Firstly, Bay Harbor Butcher hunt: I appreciate that we're getting Carradine's character fleshed out a little. Though the way he's coming across as insightful and sympathetic with Deb makes me immediately suspect he might have another agenda. (I blame Brian/Rudy for this.) Beyond catching the killer, that is. Still, it was great to see Deb making the connection between Little Chino and Anonymous Missing Dead Bastard whose son wanted him to rot in hell. Aside from everything else, the whole Rudy disaster destroyed her confidence in her abilities as a cop, and now this gets restored. Which has us in the paradoxical situation of on the one hand rooting for Deb but on the other being afraid for Dexter, who is at the end of the line she has just started to see.
Matsouka and his "who's your daddy?" line, and him actually making Dexter say it: did I mention I *heart* this show?
I also love Maria La Guerta, but that's nothing new. I think most of us were expecting her to play some kind of double game with Pasquale (spelling?), trying to get her old job back, especially since Pasquale really is behaving unprofessionally right now. But when Matthews offered her the chance, she didn't take it, and go her. Maybe she did it because of female solidarity and because she remembered Pasquale not going for Matthew's game of playing them out against each other in last season's finale, when he brought Pasquale in - back then, Pasquale worked with her instead. Maybe La Guerta thinks long term and knows that if she gets her job back by backstabbing Pasquale and on Matthew's condition, she'll be just as easily displaced again as soon as he doesn't need her anymore. And maybe the patronizing bastard just pissed her off. But she refused to play his game, and the writers are continuing to refuse using the catfight between career women cliché. I'm all aglow.
In the A-plot, of course, we have Dexter. Dexter and Rita, Dexter and the anonymous addicts, Dexter and Doakes. And a new player. I'm intrigued by the show using the 12 steps program thing not just as a one time gag but as an ongoing plot, and that they let Dexter get to the point where he stops lying and actually tells the truth in it. Now of course if the program were to succeed with him, the premise of the show would be gone and the series would be over, which limits the directions this plot can be going to. For now, it's used for two purposes I can see: introduce our new character, and make Dexter realize something the audience realized last season when in the episode with the psychiatrist Dexter came to face the fact he didn't want Rita to go away, not because she's convenient cover but because she's Rita. Which implied that contrary to what he states and thought at the start of the show, he feels something for her and the children. In this episode, he admits that they matter, that he feels a connection. And Rita, of course, is by now anything but a convenient and comfortable girlfriend. She's also not an enabler. Yes, she doesn't have all the facts, but based on what she knows, the way she put her foot down was awesome to see. And she did it in her quiet Rita-way, without screaming or grand gestures, just making her point clear. Rita, I adore you, too.
And now for the newbie, Lilah, aka Mysterious Sexy Brunette. My current guess is that she'll be the one the Bay Harbor Butcher murders will end up being pinned on, either her or the FBI agent, but I think it's going to be her. Since I'm pretty sure we won't end with Dexter in prison, and the hunt for the Bay Harbor Butcher is obviously a seasonal arc, which means it has to be wrapped up at the end of the season. For this emotionally to work for the audience, she actually needs to have done something. If she's a fellow serial killer (just not of those victims, since that was Dexter), it would be too much like a repetition of last season's arc with the Ice Truck Killer. (Or not - who knows, the writing is so good that they might come up with a different enough twist, other than her not being Dexter's brother, obviously.) So I can't help but wonder whether she's not connected to one of Dexter's victims, and will take her revenge by trying to destroy his life in non-lethan ways?
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-16 07:00 am (UTC)Loved, loved, loved LaGuerta's solidarity with Pasquale.
I'm wondering whether Keith Carradine's character is going to inherit some plotlines from the second novel, even if just about everything else from that novel is thrown out.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-16 07:36 am (UTC)"Erratic is a code word for being female" was such a great line, and the ways she completely refused to buy Matthew's "I've always appreciated what a hard worker you are, Maria" bullshit. I also liked LaGuerta earlier telling Matsouka to show respect to Pasquale.
I never watched Hustle or the ads, but the name "Lilah" in connection with a brunette in a show where Julie Benz is in makes for an odd moment or two.*g*
no subject
Date: 2007-10-16 09:00 am (UTC)Yep, although in this show, the last name "Morgan" is already taken.
If you want a spoiler for the novels... de-rot-13 this: Va gur frpbaq abiry, Qroen snyyf va ybir jvgu gur fcrpvny ntrag oebhtug va gb vairfgvtngr gur arjrfg Ovt Onq (jub vfa'g Qrkgre), fb V'z jbaqrevat vs gurl'er tbvat gb unir ure & Yhaql tb orlbaq n jbexvat eryngvbafuvc, tvira uvf vagrerfg va ure.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-16 09:06 am (UTC)BEST SCENE EVER. ♥
Loved the ep, loved the review. Could have gone for less drama when Lilah did her little, "I could never understand [addiction]" speech, but it was effective, and God, Michael C. Hall is such a fantastic actor.
Same for Julie Benz, really -- it boggles my mind, what some people said about her in the Jossverse. She gives a nuanced, powerful performance, and I'm rooting for her every step of the way.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-16 02:20 pm (UTC)Same for Julie Benz, really -- it boggles my mind, what some people said about her in the Jossverse. She gives a nuanced, powerful performance, and I'm rooting for her every step of the way.
Same here. I just have to stay away from the TWP boards. This morning I made the mistake of looking them up, and there is both Deb and Rita bashing for being "whiny" and "nagging". There is not enough headdesk in the world for that.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-17 03:07 am (UTC)As the great Maria LaGuerta would say, those are just code words for "female." And another reminder of why I stay the fuck away from TWoP. I adore both Deb and Rita and really appreciate this show for its female characters. The male ones too, of course, including Dex, but the female ones really make the show for me.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-16 10:14 am (UTC)He reminds me of Harry, so I'm sort of expecting a similar, sort of sketchy mentorship between him and Deb as between Harry and Dexter.
Maybe La Guerta thinks long term and knows that if she gets her job back by backstabbing Pasquale and on Matthew's condition, she'll be just as easily displaced again as soon as he doesn't need her anymore.
I'm thinking it's that one. I've definitely been wondering whether she was genuinely trying to help Pasquale, or just putting herself into a powerful position by becoming a confidante so that she could use that information later. I still think it's a mix, but I think here they are putting it out there that she simply wants the job done right and for women to be treated fairly in the police force.
And she did it in her quiet Rita-way, without screaming or grand gestures, just making her point clear. Rita, I adore you, too.
I was so impressed with her for that. :D
So I can't help but wonder whether she's not connected to one of Dexter's victims, and will take her revenge by trying to destroy his life in non-lethan ways?
Hmm. That gets into dangerous territory (although, probably also hilarious territory, knowing Dexter) of Lilah potentially trying to seduce Dexter and break up him and Rita. Or tempting him back into his addiction, unaware of what it really is. I do think she will get the murders pinned on her, and probably get hailed as a hero for it, because her addiction seems distinctly non-drug in nature. I actually thought she was there as a sex addict, at first.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-16 02:27 pm (UTC)That gets into dangerous territory (although, probably also hilarious territory, knowing Dexter) of Lilah potentially trying to seduce Dexter and break up him and Rita.
As I said to M., I made the mistake of going to TWP this morning, and there were several annoying posts bashing Rita and saying Lilah would be a true soulmate to Dexter. *headdesk* Mind you, given the ending scene it's clear we'll be in for some romantic misunderstandings there, but for one thing, Dexter doesn't have that big a sex drive (which makes me think there will be an attempted seduction scene where he'll probably react as he did to LaGuerta's very early s1 overtures), and for another, the episode demonstrated just how important Rita and the children are to him.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 10:39 pm (UTC)I have just read this post after watching 2.03, which was shown free on UK TV this week, and as I am spoiled for the vague shape of the season, that made me laugh out loud, given that the main arc of the season is to debunk that sort of attitude to villainous woobies.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-25 05:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-17 03:05 am (UTC)Oh, me too.
My love for this show is growing exponentially, and it was already sky-high at the end of the last season. They were so damn clever the way they handled the addict thing, with Rita and Doakes both getting the right and the wrong idea and Dexter lying with the truth or speaking the truth through lies. So much love.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-17 05:58 am (UTC)Oh yes. One can understand both how they'd get to the conclusion and why Rita reacts as she does, and irony of ironies, she could still be on the right track because, see last season and the psychiatrist episode, Dexter isn't completely unable to respond to therapy, and the addicts meeting allows him to talk about (some) of the things going on with him without having to fear capture and prison. Well done, writers!
no subject
Date: 2007-10-17 05:11 am (UTC)Could I possibly have said anything less surprising?
no subject
Date: 2007-10-17 05:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-17 05:16 pm (UTC)I don't think Little Chino was one of the missing cases, was he? There was the boyfriend of the woman whose mother didn't like him -- was that Little Chino? If it was, I totally missed it! But if that's him, they don't have a body for him, do they? Dexter got rid of it in a different spot from the others. They are going to have a hard time pinning that one on the Bay Harbor Butcher if they don't have a body.
Anyway, that was the one part of the episode that didn't really feel right to me. I mean I love the fact that Deb made the connection, but I don't feel like she had enough information to do so. I mean, she's just interviewing people who came in with missing cases. They have *no* idea if any of these people have anything to do with the Bay Harbor Butcher -- these are just the people whose relatives came in to ask about their loved ones who are missing. And two of those missing people have prison records. How is that enough of a connection to make any conclusions about the Bay Harbor Butcher?!
Maybe I'm missing something...
Aside from that, though, I loved the episode. And I did like Deb making the connection -- I just wish I could understand how she made it.