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Dexter 3.03 The Lion Sleeps Tonight
I wonder whether this one could be called The Shape of Things To Come?
The fact there is a new serial killer in town - since Freebo didn't kill Teegan, either, as opposed to what Dexter had assumed last episode - was played decidedly low key; he was hardly interested, because of what was really occupying him: Miguel and the pedophile. Looks like my guess from last week - about Miguel possibly stepping into Harry's role with Dexter - gets more fodder. The bonding scene about fathers certainly points in that direction. (Sidenote: it also says a lot that the thing Dexter can't forgive Harry isn't the way he was raised or the silence about Brian/Rudy or the Harry/Laura tryst but the fact Harry committed suicide because he sees it as a rejection from "the only god I've ever known".) At the same time, the subplot with LaGuerta makes sure that the audience, though not Dexter, is aware of another side of Miguel. But is covering up for Dexter killing Freebo and being willing to condemn a man to prison for twenty years based on false evidence really that different? They're both putting his own judgment and/or ambition (in the case of the second) ahead of justice. (While the show also makes clear Miguel isn't entirely a fraud in this regard, since he worries about the police wasting time looking for Freebo instead of the real killer.)
Which is what Dexter does all the time, of course, except he used to adher to a code putting certain limitations on his choice of victim. No longer. If Doakes was the first whose death he was morally, though not physically responsible for and Oscar the first he killed directly, though accidentally, there are no more excuses in this episode's case: a non-killer, killed deliberately and with full pre-meditation. Now the show picks someone they can be certain most of the audience will want to see dead - pedophiles being the criminals most despised by just about everyone - but given all the backstory, it's impossible not see this as a deliberate step downwards for the titular hero. Compare this to how Dexter responded two seasons ago to another perceived threat to Rita and the children who did, however not match his killer criteria, to wit, Paul. He didn't kill him; he framed him to make sure the man was back in prison. That, among other things, would have been an option with the pedophile, too. There would have been any number of options other than killing him; a complaint about harrassment from a member of the Miami police department, given the guy's previous conviction? Definitely would have done the trick. But no. Dexter decreed the man must die before he could do any harm, and so the man died. Now that he's branching out, whom else will he condemm as death-worthy if there is no more code? I remember the self justification scene in which he told Doakes that his life was more valuable because Doakes' bad relationship with his family.
Now, it really depends how long they intend to prolong this show. If this is the last season, they can end with Dexter either going to prison or dying. If there are more, then someone else has to take the fall. Miguel - who just gave Dexter evidence to implicate himself - is the obvious choice, and they could also reveal Miguel as the new serial killer, but I don't see how this would not be a repetition of previous storylines, both with Rudy and with Lila. So - I have no idea where they're heading if not towards Dexter's final fall.
I found it interesting that in the previouslies, we got the "no, Deborah, for being an honest cop" clip. Given that the person for whom this seems to be set up as an immediate challenge isn't Deb but LaGuerta. LaGuerta has been presented to play dirty herself in some regards - including my least favourite subplot on this show, the one with Esme at the start of last season - but not when it came to sending people to prison wrongly. On the contrary; she originally lost her position as Lieutenant because she told Matthews the man they had arrested as the Ice Truck Killer couldn't be guilty, and proved it. So - given what she has now observed about her old friend Miguel, will she let it lie, or will she put justice first? We'll see. Especially since the other person who knows is Angel, who went through his own "do I implicate a friend, or do I lie?" dilemma re: being an honest cop in season 1.
Deb and the snitch: Spanish-speakers, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't "puta" mean "whore", and "mala" witch?
The fact there is a new serial killer in town - since Freebo didn't kill Teegan, either, as opposed to what Dexter had assumed last episode - was played decidedly low key; he was hardly interested, because of what was really occupying him: Miguel and the pedophile. Looks like my guess from last week - about Miguel possibly stepping into Harry's role with Dexter - gets more fodder. The bonding scene about fathers certainly points in that direction. (Sidenote: it also says a lot that the thing Dexter can't forgive Harry isn't the way he was raised or the silence about Brian/Rudy or the Harry/Laura tryst but the fact Harry committed suicide because he sees it as a rejection from "the only god I've ever known".) At the same time, the subplot with LaGuerta makes sure that the audience, though not Dexter, is aware of another side of Miguel. But is covering up for Dexter killing Freebo and being willing to condemn a man to prison for twenty years based on false evidence really that different? They're both putting his own judgment and/or ambition (in the case of the second) ahead of justice. (While the show also makes clear Miguel isn't entirely a fraud in this regard, since he worries about the police wasting time looking for Freebo instead of the real killer.)
Which is what Dexter does all the time, of course, except he used to adher to a code putting certain limitations on his choice of victim. No longer. If Doakes was the first whose death he was morally, though not physically responsible for and Oscar the first he killed directly, though accidentally, there are no more excuses in this episode's case: a non-killer, killed deliberately and with full pre-meditation. Now the show picks someone they can be certain most of the audience will want to see dead - pedophiles being the criminals most despised by just about everyone - but given all the backstory, it's impossible not see this as a deliberate step downwards for the titular hero. Compare this to how Dexter responded two seasons ago to another perceived threat to Rita and the children who did, however not match his killer criteria, to wit, Paul. He didn't kill him; he framed him to make sure the man was back in prison. That, among other things, would have been an option with the pedophile, too. There would have been any number of options other than killing him; a complaint about harrassment from a member of the Miami police department, given the guy's previous conviction? Definitely would have done the trick. But no. Dexter decreed the man must die before he could do any harm, and so the man died. Now that he's branching out, whom else will he condemm as death-worthy if there is no more code? I remember the self justification scene in which he told Doakes that his life was more valuable because Doakes' bad relationship with his family.
Now, it really depends how long they intend to prolong this show. If this is the last season, they can end with Dexter either going to prison or dying. If there are more, then someone else has to take the fall. Miguel - who just gave Dexter evidence to implicate himself - is the obvious choice, and they could also reveal Miguel as the new serial killer, but I don't see how this would not be a repetition of previous storylines, both with Rudy and with Lila. So - I have no idea where they're heading if not towards Dexter's final fall.
I found it interesting that in the previouslies, we got the "no, Deborah, for being an honest cop" clip. Given that the person for whom this seems to be set up as an immediate challenge isn't Deb but LaGuerta. LaGuerta has been presented to play dirty herself in some regards - including my least favourite subplot on this show, the one with Esme at the start of last season - but not when it came to sending people to prison wrongly. On the contrary; she originally lost her position as Lieutenant because she told Matthews the man they had arrested as the Ice Truck Killer couldn't be guilty, and proved it. So - given what she has now observed about her old friend Miguel, will she let it lie, or will she put justice first? We'll see. Especially since the other person who knows is Angel, who went through his own "do I implicate a friend, or do I lie?" dilemma re: being an honest cop in season 1.
Deb and the snitch: Spanish-speakers, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't "puta" mean "whore", and "mala" witch?
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