Nice post. Noting your prediction. . .well, I probably won’t remember it, but this post will be here to remind me. 
My prediction - we’ll fast forward about 15 years - - to find that Dex has been training Harrison - Who has a younger sister (Dex and Chuck’s girl) the end of the episode has Harrison with his first kill - Dexter.
Or Harrison’s first kill will be the person who kills Dexter, as long as we’re speculating.
I could deal with that - except it doesn’t seem as ‘poetic’ - Dexter dieng in prison is boring - dexter getting bested by one of his prey is ‘interesting’, but unlikely.
Seems more (and more) likely that Deb may end up killing Dexter* (“First you wanna kiss me, now you wanna kill me. Blow.”) - they certainly have a lot of anger there - I really don’t think they’ll end the season with Dexter ‘caught’ or on the run.
I have a feeling (and I really hope I’m wrong) that we will not be satisfied at the ned of the season.
*(Hey, I called it last season that Deb would end up killing Laguerta to help Dex)
“B.” is actually not “just not taking Harrison” it’s leaving your 4 year old ALONE… somewhere?
You are assigning average parent traits to someone who THE ENTIRE PREMISE OF THE SHOW is based around him NOT being average. Dexter doesn’t have anyone else. That’s a huge point of the episode. Deb outright says it.
I meant not going at all and letting Deb take care of herself.
I completely agree that the premise of the show is that Dexter is not average. However, he is surrounded by neuro-normal people who care about him and about his little son. There would be many instances when the topic of child care would have come up between Dexter and his coworkers, and between Dexter and his current nanny (now Batista’s sister Jaime).
It’s implausible that no one would have said something like “Dexter, you should add this agency to your organizer, my sister-in-law says they’re great” or “Dexter, here’s a card for my niece, she’s a wonderful babysitter, and if neither Jaime nor Deb is around, you could give her a call.” This isn’t about ‘having someone’ in the sense of having a caring relationship (which of course Dexter isn’t noted for). It’s about the provisions for unexpected situations that parents make–having a few phone numbers handy, basically.
Even if Dexter wouldn’t react to these conversations (about having options for Harrison’s care) the same way a neuro-typical single father would, he’d still see the sense of having some choices available. Dexter is all about the careful planning. He would have made plans for times when neither the nanny nor his sister could watch Harrison.
That the writers didn’t provide for this seems (to me) to be a failure on their part to understand the character.
ETA: thanks for that, Face Intentionally Left Blank (^_^). We shall see what we shall see!
I imagine that at the end,
Dex will be forced to kill Deb and will then kill himself.
Thank you for being articulate and intelligent. Were Dex not both, not only would he not be Dex, but we would have no little TV show – that’s why I watch, anyway. Sharp guy, happens to be psycho killer, does it with style.
Having Donahue’s spirit infest Dex is not exactly style, IMHO. But that train left the station long ago.
Yeah, I’ll finish out the series (been watching from the start), but it didn’t have to be like this. Just saying.
OT but what if Breaking Bad is on the same train? I just don’t know what I’d do. Same deal, though – compelling foes sustained over umpteen seasons.
Oh, hell. I guess there are some Barney Miller episodes I haven’t seen. Herb Tarlek out. (Yeah, I know, it was a joke).
ETA that wasn’t supposed to be sarcastic, actually. Been working my way through BM and WKRP recently, but it wasn’t intended to be a joke. I guess I’m a bit peeved because I really enjoyed watching Dexter, and starting last season, I’m kind of not. Never mind. I’ll live, but I’m seriously not trying to be a dick.
I think we have to accept that sometimes the reason things happen on shows is in service to El Plotty Plot. Why didn’t Dexter have alternate child care provider lined up? Because the Plot demanded a scene where Dexter dramatically searches for Harrison at a dangerous place.
This required a series of elaborate setups (Jaime suddenly involved with Quinn, Harrison playing with centrifuge) to make it easier for the audience to swallow, but it was definitely plot driven from the start.
Why did we need six reminders about Deb’s full voice mailbox? So we have a clear reason that Dexter can’t call her to warn her later in the episode.
What I don’t understand is why so many minutes were devoted to LaGuerta as we had celebrated her death with an understanding that it would lead to less minutes for her, not more. To borrow Patton Oswalt’s analogy, she’s the bowl of rock salt to the delicious ice cream that the audience actually wants.
We’ve seen LaGuerta’s memorial, LaGuerta’s bench, LaGuerta’s boxes, LaGuerta’s vase, LaGuerta’s badge and LaGuerta’s warrants. We’ve gotten jokes about LaGuerta’s ass size and penchant for colorful wardrobes. Stay tuned next week for the exciting expose on LaGuerta’s bronzed bowel movements! I literally care less about LaGuerta than the worms feasting on her rotted corpse.
Yes, and Harrison needed to be present not only to raise the audiences’ anxiety level for this scene, but also, I believe, to keep Harrison prominent in our minds so that his importance in the series finale won’t seem to come out of nowhere.
What some of us in this thread were saying (in the discussion about why the writers did or did not get Dexter right as a character in relation to the child care options) is that when things happen in a story, the story is more highly-regarded when the things that happen are plausible. If not, viewers may come to feel that the storytelling is contrived.
The things that need to happen, need to happen. But it’s better (for the happiness of the story consumers and for the bank accounts of the storytellers) if the things that happen make sense, and are supported by other elements of the story.
I’d guess that so many minutes are being devoted to references to LaGuerta because Deb has been through a lot in this series–but it’s her guilt about LaGuerta that has pushed her farther into self-destructiveness, and away from Dexter, than has anything else.
So, basically, all the time devoted to mentions of LaGuerta is really about justifying Deb’s character arc through this season. (And of course all of what goes on with Deb will add to the pressure on the show’s title character, culminating in the Big Finish.)
Classic Deb!
I think I recall him desperately trying to find the babysitter–who he didn’t realize was banging Quinn.
Disagree! Worst character ever! Had to be killed. IMHO, of course.
Not cold at all. It’s a TV show–about a KILLER!
I don’t think they’ll kill Dexter. There’s too much money in a potential future “comeback.”
Ditto x3 …very cringeworthy.
Well. Now we know what Dr. Vogel is all about. Who wants to make bets that SHE is the killer who is slicing open the brains?
That was my first thought as well - otherwise, how hard is it to set up a webcam and catch who’s coming in/out the fricking door?
She is not exactly poor…and you would think with a psycho serial killer stalking you, it might perhaps be time to install some good security - if not move to a village in Bolivia.
I can’t keep that song from Wizard of Oz out of my head…“If I Only Had A Brain”…