I really liked this episode and seems like they’re finally getting into the swing of things though I was disappointed to see the Jonah arc only end up being one episode long. That’s probably the best thing we’ve dealt with all season. With the long drive, the problems they had with Norm the inn keeper (which I realize was an means to and end thing) and and the mess they had to sort out with Jonah on top of Dexter planning it to be 4 days I really thought it would be a two episode thing. Also, Norm looked really familiar too me so I wasn’t that surprised to see his name in pink on IMDB (as in it was a link I had already visited), he was a POTW on House a while back.
I’m still working on the theory that Geller isn’t real but it’s getting harder to stick with that. The Whore didn’t mention The Professor saying anything (IIRC) all she seems to remember of him is his knee in her back and Travis being instructed by him as to what to do…but she does remember that he was older. But that could be based purely on him being called The Professor. OTOH, When Travis when back to the church, Geller had that whole serpent thing all put together, but I suppose it’s possible he did that on his own, Fight Club style.
Also, did anyone else notice Brian making a lot of comments about Deb that sounded eerily like they were written about Michael C Hall’s (ex)wife moreso then Dexter’s sister?
The only think I liked in this episode was the visual joke in the scene of Dexter and Brian standing together over dead Norm, which clearly invoked Grant Wood’s painting American Gothic.
Otherwise the entire episode seemed rushed and haphazard. Since spoilers weren’t specified…
Why did Deb call Dexter in to tell him (and no one else, apparently) about Trinity (I half expected her to lay into him for not showing up at her housewarming–especially if Harrison had to spend the night on Deb’s bed)?
Why did Dexter steal the gun at the convenience store?
How does Dexter know where Jonah works?
Why would Dexter hand his keys over to the inn-keeper knowing that his kill-tools were in the trunk?
How did Jonas end up in the house without Dexter realizing it?
Why would Jonas’ sister kill herself in exactly the same way as Trinity killed young women?
And why would Jonas–who came up with an elaborate story to conceal both his sister’s suicide and the rage-killing of his mother–now want Dexter to kill him for his “sins” (instead of just pleading his case and risking jail)?
I’m sure elaborate answers to these questions can be developed–and the screenplay gave us some slender justifications for many of them (e.g. apparently, the Dexter who “doesn’t like guns” just felt the urge to randomly fire off a few rounds). But seriously, this was a vain attempt to recapture some of the “Brian” magic from season 1–a wasted one IMO, and one they can’t really do again.
I don’t recall that, but I’d chalk that up to him having a lost weekend. Brian’s back and he’s just having some fun. Kind of like when Josie of Steely Dan fame is back in town.
I can only assume he did a little research before he headed out. He had all the crime reports. Most likely one of them mentioned where Jonah works.
I thought about that as well. Especially since there was a good chance Norm would put the spare on to take it into town. OTOH, when Norm said he could patch it, I just assumed he was going to do it right there in the lot. Plugging a tire doesn’t require removing it, takes about 30 seconds and can be done anywhere.
I’m not convinced she killed herself, but I am willing to take his Death By Dexter story at face value. His life was a mess and he wanted Dexter to kill him…maybe? Does that make sense even? Maybe not. Now that I say it ‘outloud’ I’m not sure anymore. Jonah though that Trinity was still alive, right? If that was the case, Dexter would have come back to protect them, not kill Jonah. So maybe he just wanted Kyle Butler back, maybe he was just hoping to get a father figure back. Maybe that makes more sense.
This was a fun episode, too bad it was mostly fluff.
Sigh. I’m just watching Dexter out of habit at this point, because this whole season has been boring as shit. I thought maybe they were going somewhere interesting with bringing back Brian, but no, it’s just more of the dark/light bs that we’ve pretty much had every season. And I also thought we might be going somewhere interesting with the Trinity/Jonas stuff, not just something that would resolve in one episode. At this point, we’re back to the dull Doomsday stuff, and nothing of consequence to Dexter.
I think the whole problem with this season is that there are no stakes at this point. There’s no danger or risk for Dexter. They should be taking us down the road that ends with Deb finding out about Dexter, but instead it’s the same old same old introspective, am I good, am I bad? stuff we’ve been through repeatedly. I’m finding it harder and harder to care at all about any of these characters.
I’m wondering if that’s why “Brian” is the one to pitchfork the motel clerk, to show us that just because someone’s not “real” doesn’t mean that they stuff they do isn’t still happening. Of course, he was also tossing Dexter body part bags in the boat, so maybe not.
I still can’t figure out how Brian/Dexter managed to stab Norm with the pitch fork before he managed to get a shot off. I just went back and watched the shooting scene. He fired off 8 rounds of on the revolver. Anyone know what kind of gun it was. Are there revolvers that hold 8 rounds (I assume there are)? Are there revolvers that hold more then 8 rounds? On the one hand, it would make sense if Dexter know it was empty, OTOH, if he knew it was empty it bothers me that he let that scene go on for so long…more sloppy writing again.
Brian tossing things to Dexter seemed like it was stretching things a bit. OTOH, Fight Club did this in one scene as well and to this day it still really bothers me. There’s a scene where they show Edward Norton being dragged by the collar through the parking garage…it’s simply not possible for him to have done that to himself…and it’s on a surveillance tape so we know it’s not in his head. I always considered it a plot hole.
Did they show Dexter getting a flat? If so I missed it.
Not a tight episode. Leaving his killing kit in the car is way too rookie a mistake for someone like him to make, and confronting a guy who has a kill kit is way too rookie a mistake for someone like the motel owner to make.
I’m also hoping it turns out the professor does exist as that would be the far bigger shock at this point.
I think it would be a bigger shock for the minority of the viewers like us that discuss and pick apart the episodes. I wouldn’t be surprised if 70% or more of the viewers…the ones that just watch it and go to bed and don’t think about it again until next Sunday, hadn’t considered that he might not be real. To them, him being a figment of Travis’ imagination would a big twist. That could be the reason for bringing Brian back for a single episode. It gives Dexter (and more importantly, the audience) a reminder about how ‘real’ someone fake can be. I know he has Harry, but Brian was different. Harry guides Dexter…Brian sort of took control of him for a day. When Dexter figures out that Geller isn’t real he can make one of his introspective narratives that starts out something like “I too know what it’s like…” and ends with “…the only difference is…”.
Of course, we have to keep in mind that Dexter can turn Harry and Brian on and off at will. But I’m still guessing Brian’s appearance was to get the audience ready for the show to reveal to us that Geller isn’t real.
I think the rookie mistakes were used so that u can see that dexter wasn’t using Harry’s Code when Brian showed up. It was his dark passenger having control, so he wasn’t doing things in the way of the Code. Just like him boinking that store cashier, Dexter doesn’t do that kind of thing, he was being “dark”. It wouldve been nice to see Dark Dexter for more than only one episode. Perhaps Dark Dexter might surface again.
Now I am going to have to rewatch this episode. Interesting…
I assumed this was because Deb thought Dexter would take it badly, seeing as Trinity killed Rita, and she wanted to spare him the emotional breakdown in front of the rest of the guys. I don’t know why she didn’t tell the others about it later.
Speaking of, Dexter’s good looking but he’s twice that girl’s age, and if that (or sex with strangers) didn’t turn her off you’d think the fact he just mentioned his mother being murdered when he was three would send up the ‘Psycho!’ flag.
This is the same girl who just said “I don’t like fucking when your mom is home” with a customer standing 3 feet away. I’m guessing she has a lot of random sex with a lot of random customers and I doubt she really cares to much about what they have to say.
I just love how, in scenes like this, the worst is always assumed about the woman. It was just a throwaway scene to illustrate what was going on with Dexter, and personally, I don’t think we have any reason to assume the chick was doing anything more than having a quickie with a sexy, mysterious stranger (of which there are probably very few for a cashier in BFE Nebraska). “A lot of random sex with a lot of random customers” seems like a real stretch.
I wasn’t assuming the worst, I was trying to counter Sampiro’s point that it seemed odd that she would go have sex in the back room with someone that just told her the things he told her.
I was saying that it didn’t seem odd to me after what she said to him…“I don’t like to fuck when your mom is home” Yeah, she was saying it to whomever was on the other end of the phone line, but she also could have said “there’s a customer here, I’ll call you back in a few minutes.” You’ll also notice she didn’t lock the front door and seemed pretty casual about the whole thing…Maybe she doesn’t have a lot of random sex with a lot of random customers, but I’m guessing it wasn’t the first time she had a quickie in the backroom with someone she’s never seen before and will never see again.
To get back to the point I was trying to make to begin with…I don’t think there’s much he could have said that would have made her say ‘ewww, don’t touch me’
Either way, it was just a plot device so it really isn’t worth discussing in too much detail. In fact, I think the entire episode was one giant plot device…at least it better be. I’ll be annoyed if it was one giant red herring and even more annoyed if it was one giant waste of time.
I’ve been in the “Gellar’s not real” camp for the past few episodes. (referring to the Gellar that Colin Hanks’ character, Travis, sees)
spoiler from last week’s previews:
However, in the previews for this week, Dexter voiceovers that it looks like Travis has a dark passenger, too, “but he can be killed.” Of course, this could be purposeful misdirection, since Gellar is/was a real person and Dexter may believe that the real Gellar is directing Travis’ actions. But the truth might still be that it’s all in Travis’ head. In any case, it looks like they might address the issue tonight.