Dexter: Finding Freebo

 "Some people just shouldn't have kids, you know?"

Another strong episode here and, following last week's bombshell, there's a strong theme of having kids. Dexter and Rita have to decide whether to have a kid... although, of course, Rita ultimately decides to keep it, as was always going to happen or this plot point, like Chekhov's Gun, would not exist otherwise. 

Still, we get lots of fascinating musing from Dexter as he ponders the possibility of bringing another monster like himself into the world, and how we can never know the kind of little person we'll be bringing into the world. And the theme fits into the wider cast of characters, too- Bail Organa (ok, Miguel...) and his wife struggling to conceive; Angel's unbridled joy at Dexter's news showing how good and guileless he is beneath his flaws. A proper appearance from Harry for the first time in a while.

Yet the episode is also about Dexter's need to find and kill Freebo to protect himself, as well as to get the bad guy- and yes, still, his values are evolving and moving away from Harry's. He's calmly musing on the kind of monster he now wishes to be, and because he's the protagonist it's easy to forget what a monster he is, a trick the show constantly and cleverly exploits.

And Dexter's need to get Freebo, of course, puts him at odds with Deb, who has become single-mindedly focused on policing and needs this case to go right. There's other character stuff, too. The fact that Maria and Miguel have some kind of history, hinted at for now. The fact that Angel is struggling with the weight of his promotion... combined with his excessive drinking.

But that ending, with Miguel catching Dexter killing his brother's supposed killer "in self defence"... and actually being grateful. Deeply ironic, considering what actually happened. And Miguel is a character with real depths, not all of them yet explored. I'm excited to see where all this is going... 

Dexter: There's Something About Harry

 "Amazing how easy it is to hide your true self from people, huh?"

Before I get into this episode, yet another roller coaster of extraordinary shocks and surprises which feels like the second instalment of a four part season finale, I'll reiterate this: Dexter is the protagonist, and we see everything from his point of view, thus sympathising with him via letting us see his internal monologue. Doakes, on the other hand, is the chief antagonist. We're not privy to his inner thoughts, and we see him through Dexter's eyes.

Yet, if we remove the biases which the show cleverly gives us by doing these things... Dexter is a monster, a villain, a bad man. And Doakes is good, noble, right about everything and, yes, the hero. A flawed one (the shootings), but his flaws are born of moral outrage. But it's clever of the show to play such interesting games around the concept of who is the hero and who the villain.

The scenes between Dexter and Doakes, as they duel verbally, are exquisite here. Dexter may have him in a cage, but Doakes has the upper hand in other ways. Now that he knows, he understands Dexter. He has the upper hand in the ethical debates. He's positively gleeful when he realises that Dexter's code means that he can't kill him.

It's clever how the script misdirects us, seemingly giving Dexter reasons to kill Doakes... but he just can't. Framing him, though? Is that really consistent with the code of Harry?

Then there's Lila's horrifying acts with the naive Angel. The rohypnol... she's not going to frame him for that, is she? She's a truly deadly woman. A real contrast with LaGuerta, who is really pulling out he stops to exonerate Doakes. Yet Lundy can't accept her evidence because her earlier behaviour means she can't be seen as credible... and it's a nice touch that he's angry at her precisely because he may be right. Curious. Is all this perhaps an elaborate ruse to get Dexter after all?

And yet what lingers in the mind, even after all that, is Harry's hushed up secret, and why he took his own life- after training Dexter up to be what he is, he sees the reality and can no longer live with hmself. Oh my. That's dark. And Dexter now knows. 

Superlative telly, obviously. 

Dexter: It's Alive!

 "Don't forget, tell the universe what you need..."

So Angel, after recovering from his stabbing, is into all this cosmic ordering nonsense that Noel Edmonds (not an individual I'd expected to be mentioning in relation to Dexter!) was into at probably the same time. Oh dear. But he also feels totally comfortable around Dexter at all times, as does everyone... except, of course, Doakes who, let us recall, is right and will not be hornswoggled. Some kind of clash is coming.

And, indeed, being watched by Doakes is doing far more than cramping Dexter's style- it's limiting his opportunities to kill. So is the fact that Deb, unable to sleep in a house alone, is staying with him. And, in not killing, he's losing his mojo somewhat. In bed, at work, pertaining to... donuts. And, forebodingly (I'm not sure whether that was a word, but it is now!) his only "successful" killing is of a macabre, blind, voodoo serial killer (not a phrase I particularly expected to type) who.... curses him. And, whether by this or not, he's cursed.

Because his next attempted killing goes wrong in every way, just as in other areas of his life. And, worse, the sacks of body parts of his victims have been found. And, after Paul dies in prison, Rita now has cause to start to question the nature of the man she's with. Still have no sympathy for Paul though. The worst person in this show, and that's saying something.

There's more, though. Maria LaGuerta and the new lieutenant... connecting? Then there's Deb clearly not coping as well, deep down, with her experiences last season as might be apparent on the surface. as we see a few times, and will no doubt see more and more….

This is a VERY exciting start to a very interesting second season. They’ve adapted the novel, so where to go next…?

Dexter: Father Knows Best

 "Oh, good. Dancing..."

So much fascinating stuff in this episode, and it's all layered. To start with, Dexter suddenly and randomly inherits a house from his birth dad... a birth dad whom Harry had told him was dead. Cue flashbacks and intrigue; DNA proves that this man is his birth dad, so why did Harry lie? We get some fascinating friction between him and Deb here, with Dexter blatantly having no idea how to react to his sister being upset. Yet we also find out that this man had a hidden dark past... is this birth dad the origin of Dexter's dark side? I hope we eventually learn more about all this.

But Dexter's birth dad is only dead, of course, because Rudy murdered him... and it's fascinating seeing Rudy and Dexter interact, Dexter having no idea that Rudy is the Ice Truck Killer and is not only playing mind games with him but using his poor sister. A sociopath with much better social skills... or perhaps a dark empath?

Then we have Doakes who, being an American cop, shoots a man in cold blood. And yet there's moral complexity: Doakes was in Haiti, and he's seen this man commit atrocities as part of the Ton Ton Macoute... and so LaGuerta covers it up. Police corruption, certainly... but moral shades of grey. And it's fascinating how Angel, trying to do the right thing, drops Doakes in it... but Doakes respects that, and refuses to tolerate Angel being mocked as a snitch. This is the complex morality of not being a psychopath...

But then we have the end, and Paul who, against stiff competition, is easily the most morally disgusting character on the show. Surely Dexter has to kill him?

And yet... that's the clever thing. We find ourselves hoping for that, but then we remember that dexter is a monster, and vigilantism has no place in a civilised society. Ah, that moral complexity again!

Dexter: Shrink Wrap

 "Can we go inside? I'm kind of wet... DON'T!"

Wow. That was QUITE the bombshell at the end of a truly extraordinary episode, perhaps the best yet. The vibes were very much that the innocent and adorable Deb was going to get her heart broken by this man she's falling so hard for... but I was expecting that he'd turn out to be a bounder and a cad, not literally the Ice Truck Killer!

Speaking of bounders and cads, Rita's ex Paul continues to behave like the very worst kind of controlling ex. It says a lot that, in a show crammed to the rafters with serial killers, he's the character you hate the most. Still, let's look on the bright side: with Dexter around, he's not exactly behaving in ways conducive to his survival. But... well, can't Rita just report him for all this boundary pushing with the court order? I suppose I wouldn't know how it works in America.

This episode's "case of the week" is particularly disturbing- a sociopathic yet insightful shrink (a dark empath, perhaps?) who persuades successful yet vulnerable women to shoot themselves, which is well bloody dark. It's fun watching him and Dexter spar... and he genuinely helps Dexter to navigate the problem of having sex with Rita without revealing his true self to her, something he genuinely fears... yet, of course, a happy and post-coital Rita continues to think he's Mr Perfect.

There are layers to this, though. What Dexter struggled with, the actual Ice Truck Killer accomplished with ease, making Deb start to fall in love with him partly via some really good sex...

Then, as well as two actual serial killers, we have a self-confessed wannabe serial killer, whose lies LaGuerta quite sees through... yet again via unorthodox means. And proceeds to play her power games against her boss.

So much character stuff this episodes, and so many parallels between the various carefully balanced subplots. This is VERY good writing.

Dexter: Return to Sender

 "I realise now my days are numbered..."

Wow. This is a fascinating episode. The premise is simple- the Ice Cream Truck Killer ensures that one of Dexter's victims from last episode is found, meaning that he has to squirm through the episode at the seeming certainty that he'll be caught.

And this conceit shows us Dexter, and the show, from a fresh perspective. This time he's genuinely rattled, having real nightmares- shot in delightfully dreamlike fashion, reminiscent of the title sequence. Michael C. Hall really is excellent here, showing us a side of Dexter Morgan that we haven't seen before, but which makes total sense.

The resolution is nicely done, too- Dexter's rival isn't necessarily trying to ruin him, but is testing him, and not for the first time. It's going to be VERY interesting when, as I hope they do, the two serial killers meet. What does the Ice Cream Killer make of his rival?

Yet Dexter fails one test here: in order to save himself, he has to be a bad brother to Deb- again, not for the first time, as the flashbacks show. And he has a realisation: its not a case of if he's caught, but when. And... good! Dexter is a fascinating character study, but he's a monster, no better than any of his victims, and we must never forget that.

Excellent though all this is, there are other character points worth noting. LaGuerta's strong bond with the little boy; she and Deb perhaps starting to reconcile a little; Deb getting on well with Doakes' family- are the two of them eventually going to become an unlikely couple? And, yes, Rita's ex getting released from gaol- and Rita putting her foot down splendidly about custody. Ironically, is this Dexter's positive influence?

Regardless, he's a monster. As this excellent episode never lets us forget.

Dexter: Let's Give the Boy a Hand

 "People think it's fun to pretend you're a monster. Me, I spend my life pretending that I'm not."

Again, the flashbacks to Dexter's childhood, with Harry teaching him how to pretend and wear a mask so he looks normal, is contrasted with the scenes in the present, where masks abound, and not only because it's Halloween.

Hence Dexter solves a problem for Rita with a highly annoying neighbour, after which she, er, gets down on her knees to express her gratitude, shall we say- a big step for her, and showing how safe she feels with him. He wears his mask well, and is even good with the kids. And this is the result. Yet, although at first he seems to be trying to go through the motions... is he realising, to his surprise, that he's enjoying it?

Doakes, meanwhile, is in danger after last episode's hi-jinks, ending up kidnapped, roughed up... and rescued. He was bait all along. A mask he doesn't even realise he's wearing. 

And yet not everyone is wearing a mask. The killer thinks he sees Dexter for who he is, leaving freshly amputated bits of poor Tucci for Dexter to find. It's a game, and feels almost like a particularly twisted episode of Sherlock.

And this is awkward for LaGuerta, who has just been on the telly fingering Tucci as the killer. She's lucky to get away with it as far as Tucci's grateful mother is concerned, especially as Tucci is finally rescued with no thanks to her... although Deb, in claiming the credit allowed her by her brother, is wearing a metaphorical mask of sorts.

But the real climax sees the killer misjudge Dexter. The trap is supposed to lure Dexter in to kill Tucci... and he doesn't, because he's internalised the code of Harry. Dexter may be a monster, but he and the killer are not the same. Harry taught him not only to wear masks... but fundamentally changed who he was. Still a monster, but one with principles.

A fascinating, and deliciously structured, bit of telly. 

Dexter: Popping Cherry

 "LaGuerta's not my pimp!"

Some fascinating developments in this third episode as Dexter gets better and better: the characters are more or less established and we can get on with things. I'm also coming to appreciate what a strong sense of place there is here- I've seen lots of films and television set in Miami, but we're really getting a strong sense of it here. 

Dexter himself continues to fascinate, finding it stressful to fake grief at a funeral yet piling on more and more brownie points with poor Rita, who is lovely but not having a great time, having her car brazenly stolen from her by a scumbag who is totally getting what's coming to him.

Meanwhile, our serial killer has another victim, a prostitute, and it seems a nightwatchman is being framed, setting up what seems to be a slow burn clash between Deb and LaGuerta, who seems to be staking an awful lot on Deb being wrong. But do I get a slight implication that she may have an unknown agenda...?

Meanwhile, Doakes' desire for revenge for the murder of the woman he was sleeping with seems to be leading to trouble, and there's a nice sequence in which Dexter's next intended victim turns out not to be what he seems, and Dexter lets him off with a warning. It's a nicely done moment, and shows us Dexter's principles.

And yet, to me, the core of the episode happens in flashback, and the episode is all about the Code of Harry, which gets deeply explored. Dexter's hero worship of his stepfather, who saved him by redirecting his homicidal urges towards strictly vigilante purposes, is powerfully shown- not least in Harry's oblique speech, in flashback, as he thinks he's on his deathbed.

Brilliantly, though, this shows us Dexter's first kill- a kind of Harold Shipman figure played by Natasha Yar from Star Trek: The Next Generation. For the second time this episode it's one killer to another, and Dexter's understanding of his fellow serial killers is genuinely chilling.

Yet again, utterly superb telly.

Dexter: Dexter

 "See you at the next bloodbath?"

You never know what you're going to get withy a pilot for a new series (yes, Dexter is the new Sunday night blog post for now), but I was bloody impressed with this. Bloody excellent direction, intriguing concept, plot and characters, nice use of the setting (Miami), and superb central performance from Michael C. Scott as the eponymous serial killer... with praise also due to the extraordinary Julie Benz as Rita, the damaged, sexually abused girlfriend to whom the asexual Dexter is the perfect boyfriend.

And Dexter himself is nuanced and fascinating. Neurodiverse, personality disorder, I'm not qualified to say, and TV drama often tends to conflate such things.. but he's a strange one, entirely capable of surface charm; highly organised; and utterly incapable of real feelings, even towards his sister and his girlfriend. It's fascinating seeing his friendly relationship with his unsuspecting cop friends (except Doakes, who knows he's a wrong 'un). especially Lt LaGuerta, who may look down on his sister Deb but clearly fancies the pants off Dexter.

And the flashbacks... his backstory is fascinating. Some childhood trauma leading to adoption, starting by killing animals, but his energies redirected by a loving cop stepdad into serial killing only those who "deserve" it. Wow. And in this episode we see our first two of what I suspect will be many murders. Dexter is, of course, no hero: vigilantism is never justice. There must always be due process. Much as I'm enjoying this series, I'll never forget that.

But this episode does a bloody good job. It introduces the characters and premise, and already we have a threat: a rival serial killer, whose methods Dexter admires, and a shot across the bows...