Dexter 4.08 Road Kill

[selenak]

So, Arthur's/Trinity's backstory both is and isn't what has been speculated on - his father didn't kill his sister or drive her to suicide, the sister's death was indirectly little Arthur's fault, but the father was abusive (towards Arthur) and his first kill. I'd complain about Dexter finding yet another excuse not to kill Trinity in this episode, thereby prolonging this storyline, but a) there is that seeing-himself-in-Arthur thing which we talked about, and b) at least he was sort of attempting to near the end when outsiders intervened. Arthur being ready to commit suicide was interesting; Dexter was sort of there (as in: ready to confess) for a few hours near the end of s2 until he changed his mind and decided Doakes deserved to die instead, so there is that parallel, too. Speaking of season 2, given that Matsuka brought up Lila towards Quinn, methinks Quinn will enquire what became of her and will get the murderous news from Paris. Which, you know, I have mixed feelings about - I want Deb to be the one tracking down all that evidence, damn it, but otoh it gives Quinn at least something interesting to do instead of his storyline with the reporter. (Though I'm intrigued as to what her interview with Deb will result in. Given Deb's horror of the media following the Ice Truck Killer, that was a huge thing for her to do for female solidarity.)

The other reason why Lila was brought up again in dialogue after being more obscurely referred to in the couple therapy episode might be something I really hope the show won't do - to prepare for Rita having an affair with Elliot the helpful neigbour. I hope I'm reading my soap opera signs wrong, because I don't think that would be a good storyline for the show to do at all.

Meanwhile, what they're doing with Deb continues to be awesome. Loved that she figures out Trinity can't have been the one to shoot her and Lundy (which makes sense because he definitely wouldn't have left a potential eye witness like Deb alive). Loved that LaGuerta took her seriously about Trinity and also as soon as the conflict of interest was removed brought Deb to be in charge of the investigation. Loved that Deb, while dissapointed that Lundy's killer is unknown again, is no less eager to bring down the crazy serial killer.

Lastly: if Ellen Wolf died because Dexter wanted a killing buddy (as one of my commentators put it last week), ignoring all the warning signs about Miguel, everyone Trinity kills from this point onwards will also be Dexter's responsibility.