ivan, I missed it too. It did happen fast.
friedo, how’d you catch that? Frame-by-frame replay? Or are you just more observant than the average bear?
It was quick, but I saw it. This was the “stick the stun-gun in the guy’s kidneys” move, rather than the “shoot taser prongs from afar” maneuver.
If I don’t hit the sack early tonight I’ll rewatch the episode on Showtime OnDemand just to be sure. 
Dexter is just about ruined for me.
Season 1, Dexter finds a brother that understands him. Dexter is forced to kill him.
Season 2, Dexter finds a girlfriend that understands him. Dexter is forced to kill her.
Season 3, Dexter finds a friend that understands him. Dexter is…
Also Dexter has become way too humanized for me. All my favorite moments come from the first season. Dexter at a funeral not caring about a dead cop instead just bitching about how he has to pretend to be sad. Dexter thinking ‘and I so do’ when the Ice Truck killer invites him to play. The Dexter in the third season is nothing like that ice cold killer that’s just barely kept in check by the code.
Anyway about this episode specifically I can’t believe Dexter wasn’t on guard after fighting with Miguel. You’d think a serial killer and a serial killer in training feuding would put both of them on their toes. I guess you can wank it away by saying they’re both used to being predators not prey but they both act like they don’t have to take any steps to protect themselves. After Dexter told Miguel they were going to go their separate ways Miguel should have hid the ring better. Dexter should have kept an eye out for any counter attack.
I hate the character Miguel has become. He was far more interesting as a family man with a dark thirst for vengeance. Now he’s just an amoral prick that hides it better then some.
Quin is the only interesting character in the show for me. I love how one moment he seems on the up and up the other he seems like a shady double dealer. I’m going to hate it when they throw that character away too. He’s going to end up just being a liar and a psychopath as this show just doesn’t have strong enough writing for complex characters. Ironic really considering the whole premise is about complex characters and morally gray characters.
Darkhold, your problems with the show are why I keep watching. Dexter as a cold-blooded psychopath wouldn’t interest me for three seasons, but Dexter evolving and adapting and being conflicted about whether he should even try to be “normal” – that works for me. I like that he keeps looking for a connection with someone. It feels honest. He can’t give up on that.
friedo, I rewatched last night and you’re right about the taser. So no bachelor party. Damn.
I enjoy the more human side of Dexter, and there is just enough of the psychopath there (I was REALLY worried that he did freak out in his office when the bovine blood was discovered) to keep an edge to him. He’s not sorry that Ellen Wolf died, except that it is against the code and inconvienient to him. It seems to me when he talks about “an innocent dying”, it isn’t that he feels moral outrage, he is just parroting the emotion still- at least that is the impression I get from it. I also like how he’s questioning Harry (who has been right in this situation). I think there is enough of a question of whether Harry was wrong to do that to Dexter- that perhaps there would have been a chance to make him a “normal” person if Harry hadn’t gone out of his way to teach him to kill.
Yeah. We talked about this last season too – that Harry was too quick to believe Dexter couldn’t be helped.
Maybe the last couple years have been his therapy. Since the first season when those memories came back, it’s been gradually easier for him to get along – he’s been less tormented. He understands himself, sorta.
I know the character has to grow and change to be interesting but it should have been much slower. The character has done nearly a 180 from who he was. In S1 Dexter was befuddled by anything other then superficial exchanges, Thought sex was icky, only cared about his girlfriend in the context of maintaining his identity. The only things he cared about were kids (in a generic sense) his sister and his code. Now he longs for friendship, cares about his fiancee, protects his family. He went from a very alien character to a very human one in less then three years. Too soon.
Miguel I was hoping would provide a contrast to Dexter in the opposite way. He should have been the normal man with a dark side. One with a real code of honor not one grafted on him through conditioning. He could really have shown us how truly broken Dexter is and how he still needs to change and grow. Not make Dexter look sane and balanced.
I’d argue that deep down, Dexter always wanted these things. He was just told by Harry that he had to fake it because he wouldn’t get them for real.
It’s less like change and more like that people tore down the walls around him.
I have to disagree. I know it’s a common belief in the Dexter threads to claim Harry’s influence took a troubled guy and made him inhuman but I just don’t buy it. He was butchering local animals before Harry caught him. He was already thinking about killing people. His mother was so concerned about his bizarre behavior she sends him to a psychologist and he has to answer the opposite of all he really feels to remain undetected. He can’t even begin to relate to his sister and his coworkers in season 1. Re-watch the first season when you get the chance he doesn’t care about anybody but his sister. He’s a totally shut down and empty guy. Deep deep down perhaps longing for acceptance (which is why he was tempted by his brother’s offer) but that should come out slowly not as quickly as this. I can buy he can evolve into a new person. I just think this should be the Dexter we see in season five just before the series ends.
But it seems like I’m the only one that feels this way. Ah well.
His mother? Did you mean someone else?
His adopted mother.
You could tell from the telescopic shots of him and Dexter on the roof.