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selenakReviewing not just "Left Turn head", but the season finale, "The British Invasion", as well, but will leave spoiler space before getting to the later, so Left Turn Ahead only watchers can click away in time.
The previous episode pulled the rug under the viewer who had grown comfortable with and adjusted to Dexter’s particular brand of serial killing, and let’s face it, that describes most if not all of the audience. This one arguably shows Dexter at his most human, coming close to redemption, and I didn’t even think that was a question or on the offering on this show – but then it pulls away the rug again, and in an even more devastating way. (More about that later.) Whether or not Dexter can stop being a serial killer was an ongoing question this season, with the additional complication that when he did stop for a while, the personality that emerged was anything but sympathetic. In this episode, however, the alternative to being a serial killer is something else. “Turn yourself in,” says Doakes – Doakes, who saw the inhumanity in Dexter when no one else did, and hated him for years! – and it’s to the credit of both writing and acting that this is believable, as is Dexter contemplating the idea for most of the episode. Taking steps towards it – setting up a will, spending one “last day” with Rita and the kids, making his goodbyes – and then faltering and changing his mind. This, too, is believable, if you look not just at Dexter’s history but his motivation. He does realize he’s framing an innocent man, and that this is the same thing Lila does to Angel.
(Sidenote: if last season, Dexter’s most touching line was “but I am…fond of her” re: Deb, this season it’s “if I could be anyone, any real person, it would be you” to Angel.)
Lila, who is a problematic character by herself but as an element of the narrative makes sense because it’s Lila who presents us with the unprettifyed, stripped of all deadpan voice overs and other endearing attributes selfishness of Dexter, which she embodies. You can wonder through the episode whether Dexter getting closer to turning himself in is motivated by a sense of justice, compassion for Doakes (who shows compassion for Dexter when he thinks for a second that Dexter is going to kill himself, as the tone of his voice when he says “Morgan, you’re not gonna…” demonstrates), or even fatalism. But in the end, it’s none of this. It’s guilt over Harry, and the moment Dexter is able to replace Harry with Deb, who, as he says “believes in me”, he decides to continue with his frame job, and to let Doakes rot and die for him. Dexter’s feelings for Deb, Rita and the children are real enough, and you could probably add Angel, too, but that’s as far as it goes. What makes him rethink his choice in the end isn’t some unsatiable killing urge, either. It’s putting his own life ahead of Doakes’, plain and simple, and with that, the code is broken.
Meanwhile, the other Morgan sibling is on an upward swing. Deb has been on a great journey this season, starting out shattered and traumatized by the Rudy experience, and then getting her groove and her life back, bit for bit. While the relationship with Lundy helped, and she loves her brother deeply, her self-esteem doesn’t rely on the validation by either. She’s starting to move into the protector role, finding a way to help Angel via police work (in the previous season, that kind of thing would have been left to Dexter), defending Lundy to his superior – being the “sheriff”, as she says, vis a vis Lila. More about Deb’s journey in the finale. For continuity lovers, there is a great irony in Dexter planning to tell her the truth over some steaks; think back to season 1 and Deb’s hurt reaction when Rudy dropped by for steaks and a chat at Dexter’s, not because she wanted Rudy for herself but because Dexter opened up to Rudy, and not her. This time, Dexter plans on opening up, but changes his mind precisely because they’re sharing. And makes the fatal analogy of Deb recovering from the Rudy experience to himself simply needing to get rid of those pesky self doubts (and Doakes) in order to be his old self again. “Maybe Harry couldn’t live with what I am, but Deb clearly believes in me.”
On balance, I probably would have preferred for him to turn himself in; it would have made for an amazing season and series finale. But maybe that would have been cheating, crediting Dexter with a nobility he simply does not have and is unable to achieve. He might be able to recognize that Angel is a good man (and that Doakes is innocent, and doesn’t deserve this), but he’s not able to really act on this when his own life is at stake. In the end, he doesn’t really choose Deb, Rita and the kids, either; neither Deb nor Rita are as fragile as they were anymore, and have proven they can live without him. He chooses himself.
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I had a pretty visceral reaction to “The British Invasion” when I first saw it, which has quieted down by now, but the basic emotion is still there. The thing is, if “Left Turn Ahead” presents Dexter at his most human in s2, “The British Invasion” presents him at his most inhuman, even more so than the sequence with Doakes (crosscut with the one with Harry) in episode 2.9, and it does so completely without gore. When Dexter, the morning after Doakes’ death, his “miracle”, goes through his morning routine, which is of course the morning routine from the credits, it felt obscene. So did him cheerfully bringing donuts for everyone to the station afterwards, and needing a reminder that yes, there was that thing with Doakes. This is when you finally believe that he really doesn’t feel much of anything – except for the select few – and it’s a continued slap in the face. As is Rita taking him back, because at this point, I didn’t want this to happen any longer. Because he didn’t deserve it, which is a funny thing to say, given that, well, serial killer.
Narratives can be constructed so we root for someone to “get away with it” without that someone being Robin Hood or even very likeable; I’m thinking of Chicago where both Roxy and Velma are unabashed narcissistic egomaniacs (oh, and murderers), but we still want them to have their moment in the limelight at the end. But it pretty much hinges on the audience not seeing too muich of the pain the survival/success of these people costs. Doakes, through the last three episodes of season 2, had been presented in a sympathetic light, being courageous, doing his best in a horrible situation, pleading for the life of a drug lord, even having the odd moment of empathy and compassion for his captor. So when Lila kills him, it’s painful enough. (And no, I don’t think Lila killing him is a copout that keeps Doakes’ blood from Dexter’s hands, or makes Dexter look better, because the show has been very careful to show Dexter making his decision re: sacrificing Doakes before, and shows his unabashed relief and glee and complete not-caring afterwards.) And Erik King rocked in his final scene, the tired relief when he first sees Lila come in, down to reassuring her he’s fine so she’s not worried, and then the horrified realisation just what she is, and what she’s going to do, the determination to fight until the last moment – it’s impossible not to completely root for Doakes there. And then comes the morning sequence, which makes you think, yes, monster. Complete monster.
In addition to this, we have LaGuerta’s pain. LaGuerta, too has been fighting until the last minute to clear Doakes’ name, finding evidence, convincing Lundy – and not only is it all in vain, but he’s dead. The scene where Lundy talks to her in her office, and she’s holding it together until he exits and then breaks down and cries is just devastating. As is, in a more subdued way, Doakes’ memorial service which only his sisters and mother, LaGuerta and Dexter attend. At this point, I just can’t feel Dexter’s survival and freedom is worth all this.
As I said above, Lila pretty much embodies the worst of Dexter, and when she paints him on her wall after returning from killing Doakes, the idea of Lila as the character who despite physical attractiveness shows us the ugliness of just who we’ve been rooting for for two seasons, his true face, works. Lila as a character in her own right does not, especially since the writing for everyone else is so good. She’s simply not interesting by herself, which is always the ultimate criterium. However, she does work as a cypher and a mirror, and a meta commentary on certain storytelling traditions. Several episodes back, I already speculated she was a walking critique of the “embrace your inner darkness” cliché. I’m alwas reminded of the fact that after s1, there was a subsection of fanfic, AU s in which Dexter ran away with Rudy in double serial killer bliss, and the finale pretty much settles Lila as an attack of such ideas. Oh, and of course of the romantic illusion of being a killer’s Understanding True Love. As opposed to the season 3 episode of Alias, where Sydney’s use of the term “soulmate” is cringeworthy because it’s meant to be taken straight, for the audience to believe just that about Sydney and Vaughn, Lila using the term “soulmate” is a further element of her characterisation as a complete psychopath and the Anti Mary Sue.
(A part of me is even wondering whether Lila is meant as a harsh caricature of a part of fandom, because her reaction to finding out the truth about Dexter from Doakes is so much a fangirl one – oh, poor woobie, how lonely he must be, etc. – but that’s probably not intended on the part of the writers.)
And yet, here’s the irony: she’s not completely wrong. Not for the reason she thinks, but because of the shared selfishness.
Lila going after the children when she realizes Dexter had no intention of running off with her and on the contrary intended to kill her was too predictable, as was Dexter rescuing Astor and Cody, and hence disappointing. What saved the sequence was the very end with Deb coming to the rescue of Dexter and then taking charge of the crime scene. While I had expected a mirror to Dexter rescuing Deb in last season’s finale, I hadn’t expected how much it would tie into her ongoing growth this season; Deb’s arc is one I’m completely happy with. The parting between her and Lundy was basically caused by higher circumstances neither party could change, and it didn’t leave her shattered yet again or embittered, on the contrary, it left her more take-charge, and she’s great at that. When Dexter observes it has only been a few months when he took care of her, Deb retorts: “I like this better.” Yes indeed.
Dexter’s final killing of Lila: was a complete contrast to his highly emotional killing of Rudy/Brian, and to all his ritual killings. The only remaining element of the ritual is showing her the picture of Doakes; otherwise, he simply uses a knife. No dismemberment, no trophy. I was somewhat relieved that they didn’t go for a direct Fatal Attraction repeat where the killing of the female villain is celebrated a moment of glory; and of course given the way Dexter was presented through the episode is not in any way heroic. (Saving of Astor and Cody aside.) Plus the show does make it clear there is no moral superiority here, from “I am more like my father than a realised; I created a monster” to calling Lila “a mutated version of myself”.
(Speaking of mirrors in connection of Harry – through the season we have: a) Dexter discovering Harry had a relationship with his biological mother and promptly sleeping with Lila, b) Dexter resenting Harry, via using Laura Moser as an informant, having endangered her and her children, and of course Dexter despite being given warning signs of just how obsessive, psycho and ruthless Lila is puts Rita, Astor and Cody in danger as well – and the children do nearly die as a consequence , c) Dexter’s shocked realisation that Harry, in the end, couldn’t bear to live with what he created and seeing Harry’s suicide as a rejection followed up by his acknowledgment of Lila as his own creation combined with rejection-through-death – but Lila’s death.)
So where does that leave me as a watcher? Not sure whether I’ll continue watching, despite the fact this show is wonderfully well written. (Occasional lapses like the way Esme Pascal was removed aside.) Because honestly, in the scene when Dexter, intending to kill Lila, ran into Deb and then Lila ran into both of them? I wanted Lila to tell Deb the truth. Not that Deb would have believed her, I know that, but as with Rita taking Dexter back, I don’t feel any longer Dexter deserves Deb’s belief in himself. (Her affection, that’s different, and that’s not about deserving anyway.) I was too strongly affected by the loss of Doakes and what this meant to LaGuerta (and his family) to feel otherwise.
The previous episode pulled the rug under the viewer who had grown comfortable with and adjusted to Dexter’s particular brand of serial killing, and let’s face it, that describes most if not all of the audience. This one arguably shows Dexter at his most human, coming close to redemption, and I didn’t even think that was a question or on the offering on this show – but then it pulls away the rug again, and in an even more devastating way. (More about that later.) Whether or not Dexter can stop being a serial killer was an ongoing question this season, with the additional complication that when he did stop for a while, the personality that emerged was anything but sympathetic. In this episode, however, the alternative to being a serial killer is something else. “Turn yourself in,” says Doakes – Doakes, who saw the inhumanity in Dexter when no one else did, and hated him for years! – and it’s to the credit of both writing and acting that this is believable, as is Dexter contemplating the idea for most of the episode. Taking steps towards it – setting up a will, spending one “last day” with Rita and the kids, making his goodbyes – and then faltering and changing his mind. This, too, is believable, if you look not just at Dexter’s history but his motivation. He does realize he’s framing an innocent man, and that this is the same thing Lila does to Angel.
(Sidenote: if last season, Dexter’s most touching line was “but I am…fond of her” re: Deb, this season it’s “if I could be anyone, any real person, it would be you” to Angel.)
Lila, who is a problematic character by herself but as an element of the narrative makes sense because it’s Lila who presents us with the unprettifyed, stripped of all deadpan voice overs and other endearing attributes selfishness of Dexter, which she embodies. You can wonder through the episode whether Dexter getting closer to turning himself in is motivated by a sense of justice, compassion for Doakes (who shows compassion for Dexter when he thinks for a second that Dexter is going to kill himself, as the tone of his voice when he says “Morgan, you’re not gonna…” demonstrates), or even fatalism. But in the end, it’s none of this. It’s guilt over Harry, and the moment Dexter is able to replace Harry with Deb, who, as he says “believes in me”, he decides to continue with his frame job, and to let Doakes rot and die for him. Dexter’s feelings for Deb, Rita and the children are real enough, and you could probably add Angel, too, but that’s as far as it goes. What makes him rethink his choice in the end isn’t some unsatiable killing urge, either. It’s putting his own life ahead of Doakes’, plain and simple, and with that, the code is broken.
Meanwhile, the other Morgan sibling is on an upward swing. Deb has been on a great journey this season, starting out shattered and traumatized by the Rudy experience, and then getting her groove and her life back, bit for bit. While the relationship with Lundy helped, and she loves her brother deeply, her self-esteem doesn’t rely on the validation by either. She’s starting to move into the protector role, finding a way to help Angel via police work (in the previous season, that kind of thing would have been left to Dexter), defending Lundy to his superior – being the “sheriff”, as she says, vis a vis Lila. More about Deb’s journey in the finale. For continuity lovers, there is a great irony in Dexter planning to tell her the truth over some steaks; think back to season 1 and Deb’s hurt reaction when Rudy dropped by for steaks and a chat at Dexter’s, not because she wanted Rudy for herself but because Dexter opened up to Rudy, and not her. This time, Dexter plans on opening up, but changes his mind precisely because they’re sharing. And makes the fatal analogy of Deb recovering from the Rudy experience to himself simply needing to get rid of those pesky self doubts (and Doakes) in order to be his old self again. “Maybe Harry couldn’t live with what I am, but Deb clearly believes in me.”
On balance, I probably would have preferred for him to turn himself in; it would have made for an amazing season and series finale. But maybe that would have been cheating, crediting Dexter with a nobility he simply does not have and is unable to achieve. He might be able to recognize that Angel is a good man (and that Doakes is innocent, and doesn’t deserve this), but he’s not able to really act on this when his own life is at stake. In the end, he doesn’t really choose Deb, Rita and the kids, either; neither Deb nor Rita are as fragile as they were anymore, and have proven they can live without him. He chooses himself.
S
O
U
L
M
A
T
E
S
I had a pretty visceral reaction to “The British Invasion” when I first saw it, which has quieted down by now, but the basic emotion is still there. The thing is, if “Left Turn Ahead” presents Dexter at his most human in s2, “The British Invasion” presents him at his most inhuman, even more so than the sequence with Doakes (crosscut with the one with Harry) in episode 2.9, and it does so completely without gore. When Dexter, the morning after Doakes’ death, his “miracle”, goes through his morning routine, which is of course the morning routine from the credits, it felt obscene. So did him cheerfully bringing donuts for everyone to the station afterwards, and needing a reminder that yes, there was that thing with Doakes. This is when you finally believe that he really doesn’t feel much of anything – except for the select few – and it’s a continued slap in the face. As is Rita taking him back, because at this point, I didn’t want this to happen any longer. Because he didn’t deserve it, which is a funny thing to say, given that, well, serial killer.
Narratives can be constructed so we root for someone to “get away with it” without that someone being Robin Hood or even very likeable; I’m thinking of Chicago where both Roxy and Velma are unabashed narcissistic egomaniacs (oh, and murderers), but we still want them to have their moment in the limelight at the end. But it pretty much hinges on the audience not seeing too muich of the pain the survival/success of these people costs. Doakes, through the last three episodes of season 2, had been presented in a sympathetic light, being courageous, doing his best in a horrible situation, pleading for the life of a drug lord, even having the odd moment of empathy and compassion for his captor. So when Lila kills him, it’s painful enough. (And no, I don’t think Lila killing him is a copout that keeps Doakes’ blood from Dexter’s hands, or makes Dexter look better, because the show has been very careful to show Dexter making his decision re: sacrificing Doakes before, and shows his unabashed relief and glee and complete not-caring afterwards.) And Erik King rocked in his final scene, the tired relief when he first sees Lila come in, down to reassuring her he’s fine so she’s not worried, and then the horrified realisation just what she is, and what she’s going to do, the determination to fight until the last moment – it’s impossible not to completely root for Doakes there. And then comes the morning sequence, which makes you think, yes, monster. Complete monster.
In addition to this, we have LaGuerta’s pain. LaGuerta, too has been fighting until the last minute to clear Doakes’ name, finding evidence, convincing Lundy – and not only is it all in vain, but he’s dead. The scene where Lundy talks to her in her office, and she’s holding it together until he exits and then breaks down and cries is just devastating. As is, in a more subdued way, Doakes’ memorial service which only his sisters and mother, LaGuerta and Dexter attend. At this point, I just can’t feel Dexter’s survival and freedom is worth all this.
As I said above, Lila pretty much embodies the worst of Dexter, and when she paints him on her wall after returning from killing Doakes, the idea of Lila as the character who despite physical attractiveness shows us the ugliness of just who we’ve been rooting for for two seasons, his true face, works. Lila as a character in her own right does not, especially since the writing for everyone else is so good. She’s simply not interesting by herself, which is always the ultimate criterium. However, she does work as a cypher and a mirror, and a meta commentary on certain storytelling traditions. Several episodes back, I already speculated she was a walking critique of the “embrace your inner darkness” cliché. I’m alwas reminded of the fact that after s1, there was a subsection of fanfic, AU s in which Dexter ran away with Rudy in double serial killer bliss, and the finale pretty much settles Lila as an attack of such ideas. Oh, and of course of the romantic illusion of being a killer’s Understanding True Love. As opposed to the season 3 episode of Alias, where Sydney’s use of the term “soulmate” is cringeworthy because it’s meant to be taken straight, for the audience to believe just that about Sydney and Vaughn, Lila using the term “soulmate” is a further element of her characterisation as a complete psychopath and the Anti Mary Sue.
(A part of me is even wondering whether Lila is meant as a harsh caricature of a part of fandom, because her reaction to finding out the truth about Dexter from Doakes is so much a fangirl one – oh, poor woobie, how lonely he must be, etc. – but that’s probably not intended on the part of the writers.)
And yet, here’s the irony: she’s not completely wrong. Not for the reason she thinks, but because of the shared selfishness.
Lila going after the children when she realizes Dexter had no intention of running off with her and on the contrary intended to kill her was too predictable, as was Dexter rescuing Astor and Cody, and hence disappointing. What saved the sequence was the very end with Deb coming to the rescue of Dexter and then taking charge of the crime scene. While I had expected a mirror to Dexter rescuing Deb in last season’s finale, I hadn’t expected how much it would tie into her ongoing growth this season; Deb’s arc is one I’m completely happy with. The parting between her and Lundy was basically caused by higher circumstances neither party could change, and it didn’t leave her shattered yet again or embittered, on the contrary, it left her more take-charge, and she’s great at that. When Dexter observes it has only been a few months when he took care of her, Deb retorts: “I like this better.” Yes indeed.
Dexter’s final killing of Lila: was a complete contrast to his highly emotional killing of Rudy/Brian, and to all his ritual killings. The only remaining element of the ritual is showing her the picture of Doakes; otherwise, he simply uses a knife. No dismemberment, no trophy. I was somewhat relieved that they didn’t go for a direct Fatal Attraction repeat where the killing of the female villain is celebrated a moment of glory; and of course given the way Dexter was presented through the episode is not in any way heroic. (Saving of Astor and Cody aside.) Plus the show does make it clear there is no moral superiority here, from “I am more like my father than a realised; I created a monster” to calling Lila “a mutated version of myself”.
(Speaking of mirrors in connection of Harry – through the season we have: a) Dexter discovering Harry had a relationship with his biological mother and promptly sleeping with Lila, b) Dexter resenting Harry, via using Laura Moser as an informant, having endangered her and her children, and of course Dexter despite being given warning signs of just how obsessive, psycho and ruthless Lila is puts Rita, Astor and Cody in danger as well – and the children do nearly die as a consequence , c) Dexter’s shocked realisation that Harry, in the end, couldn’t bear to live with what he created and seeing Harry’s suicide as a rejection followed up by his acknowledgment of Lila as his own creation combined with rejection-through-death – but Lila’s death.)
So where does that leave me as a watcher? Not sure whether I’ll continue watching, despite the fact this show is wonderfully well written. (Occasional lapses like the way Esme Pascal was removed aside.) Because honestly, in the scene when Dexter, intending to kill Lila, ran into Deb and then Lila ran into both of them? I wanted Lila to tell Deb the truth. Not that Deb would have believed her, I know that, but as with Rita taking Dexter back, I don’t feel any longer Dexter deserves Deb’s belief in himself. (Her affection, that’s different, and that’s not about deserving anyway.) I was too strongly affected by the loss of Doakes and what this meant to LaGuerta (and his family) to feel otherwise.
