Things got weird during tonight’s episode of Dexter, and for a series that involves the lead character (sometimes brutally) murdering people, that’s really saying something. The writers of this series have decided to explore a topic that may very well have been better left unexplored.
We’ll start with the ick factor since the rest of tonight’s episode was more or less set-up for the big finale, with the exception of a bunch of people coming dangerously close to dying tonight. We’ll get to that after we discuss Deb and Dexter.
I’m by no means an expert in psychology, however it seems like the topic of having an unconscious desire for someone who is, for all intents and purposes, a sibling, is something a therapist would gently lead their patient toward. Deb’s extremely emotionally vulnerable and in a position of authority, which means she has the potential to do a lot of damage to a lot of people if she makes the wrong calls. So maybe her therapist could have considered a less direct way of getting to the subject of the feelings Deb may or may not have for her brother. If Deb’s in love with Dexter, or has some romantic and/or sexual feelings for him, that should probably be something she figures out on her own. Instead, it seems more like her therapist planted that idea in her head, which resulted in a creepy dream involving chinese food and kissing. Yuck!
I feel like the subject of Deb and Dexter becoming involved romantically is something that should have been explored much earlier in the series, if ever. As it stands now, we as viewers know them as siblings. Their history goes back to their childhood and it’s always shown in their relationship. Had there been moments between them; glances, conversations, flashbacks of “something else,” I might have an easier time watching this subject be addressed on the show, but it feels more out of nowhere than ever at the end of Season 6. Hopefully, this is just some effed-up thing that Deb’s going to explore in her own mind and eventually move on from because the idea of Deb and Dexter as a couple just isn’t working for me.
Wormwood
Moving on, Wormwood proved to be a bust, thanks to Dexter noticing Beth Dorsey in the precinct moments before cyber-stalking her and her husband. Beth planned to suicide-gas-bomb the precinct to fulfill Travis’ Wormwood tableau. Dexter got to her in time, shoved her into an interrogation room and watched her gas herself to death in a bloody display of failure. RIP both Dorseys. Anyone else want some of Travis’ Kool-Aid?
Dexter was exposed to the gas, which is giving him nosebleeds. That proved to be a problem for him tonight after he baited Travis out to his boat. Once again, Dexter’s prepared kill-room when unused. Travis turned Dexter’s own needle on him after a nosebleed and some dizziness slowed him down, and then he used Dexter for his Lake of Fire tableau. Dexter survived it and was last seen at the end of the episode swimming amongst the flames. I’m guessing that water was pretty warm.
As for the cops, their investigation was stalled by Homeland Security’s involvement. What a wasted opportunity for a Claire Danes crossover cameo. Homeland’s involvement lasted just long enough for Dexter to regain his head-start at tracking Travis down, and baiting him with a bloody angel statue (complete with Gellar’s hand). It was a gruesome display, but still not as creepy as the Chinese-food-flavored dream-kiss he and Deb shared.
LaGuerta and Matthews
LaGuerta proved once again how cutthroat she’s willing to be. While Deb was leaning toward compassion after a heart to heart with Matthews about the dead prostitute, LaGuerta leveraged the information to unseat Matthews and put herself in the prime position to take his job. She’s nothing if not opportunistic. I feel certain that this will inevitably be her undoing and I predict a very public fail in her future, but that’s probably something we won’t see until the series’ ends, assuming she doesn’t see the error of her ways between now and then and try to redeem herself. It’s not that Matthews was completely innocent in the situation, but from what it sounds like, he was more or less in the wrong place at the wrong time (with the wrong prostitute).
Batista and Quinn
I’m glad to see that Batista’s reacting to Quinn’s failure as a partner by pushing him away. Everyone makes mistakes but Quinn’s choice to put drinking and late nights above his work nearly cost Batista his life. Fortunately, Quinn patched up the error by racing to the house where Travis was moments from killing Batista and rescuing his friend. Major nick-of-time situation there and not one Batista should laugh off. The last we saw of them, Batista sounded like he was ready for a new partner. He can’t trust Quinn and trust is a pretty big deal for police partners, I’d say.
Louis
Louis had another awkward encounter with Dexter tonight. Dexter gave him the brush-off just after Louis revealed that Dexter inspired him to make his life “count for something.” What does that mean? For a start, it means drawing lines on the Ice Truck Killer hand and sending it to Dexter. What do the lines mean? Something to do with palm-reading, perhaps? I’m wondering if they’re setting Louis up to be next season’s killer. A Dexter-wannabe serial killer could make for a really interesting season.
And with that, we have one more episode to go! How will Dexter defeat Travis? What does the creepy painting of Dexter with lots of little demon-heads coming out of his neck mean? And from the preview (semi-spoiler ahead!) it looks like Travis has plans for Harrison (who looks ridiculously cute in his lion costume).
