Probably one of my favorite Dexter episodes ever. The whole Dexter-as-an-isolated-Borg-drone shtick was beginning to wear thin with me. He needs to be careful though. Once you start feeling things…
I thought this was a great episode too. Definitely the best one of the season, IMO. I’m happy that Doakes is going to back off. That was getting kind of old. If I were Dexter, I would have turned the guy in for harassment. I loved the look on Dexter’s face after Doakes told him he was going to leave him alone. I also loved Rita’s reaction to Dexter’s new sponsor and I’m happy that Deb is making some progress.
One thing I don’t quite get is why Maria is so set on protecting Esme. It seems rather out of character for her, as does her attitude toward Deb this season. I wonder why the sudden change?
I’m enjoying this season more than last season. I didn’t think there’d be many places to go with Dexter after last season, but watching him slowly realize the power of an addiction program, and then seeing how it can help him, both emotionally and with the cop tailing him, felt so spot-on. Dexter can hone his ability to lie by sharing in meetings…perhaps he’ll get to be as adept as the car salesman. Speaking of which, the confrontation with the car salesman was great. Who else thought that maybe Dexter made a mistake with him there at the end? Awsome. This was my favorite episode of the series.
I always feel a little strange trying to figure out how Dex can have some kind of happy ending in my head. I’m rooting for the guy, and it feels a little weird.
I’m going to feel a little cheated if the woman Dex met in his meeting (his sponsor) turns out to be a killer herself. I much prefer the thought of her sounding like she knows exactly where Dex is coming from, and relating through her own experiences…and if it’s not drugs, fine. Just don’t make her a serial killer. I’m intrigued to see just how honest he’s going to be with her, and how much bullshit she’ll be able to see though.
I really liked this episode…
I loved the interchange this time between the victim and Dexter- he was right about the car salesman being a better liar than he was. It was a little unbelievable that someone in that situation would hold such a conversation but it was still interesting dialogue.
I kinda like the Doakes stalking behavior so was sorry to see him decide to give Dexter a break because he caught him at an AA meeting.
And I was floored that Maria didn’t rat out the new person (Ismee? some weird name)- the captain pretty much told her the job was hers and I thought she would jump on that.
The conversation between the agent and Dexter was good too, he just needed that little push to make the decision to kill the car salesman and the agent gave him one on a silver platter (to save an innocent life). Did they show what he did with the body though? I think I must of missed it.
We got a lot of laughs out of this one, as usual- Dexter & the mini-van- especially when he was shown the extra cargo space 
, Dexter pretending to be a heroin junkie, and Doakes “You owe me a Michelin”.
The vibe I’m getting is that Maria actually is principled. She’d be more than willing to submarine Esme but only for the right reason. I do question Esme’s scruples, however, and I see one of two things being the outcome of all this: (1) Esme’s fiance kills her, or (2) Maria gets her old job back, and Esme assumes that Maria stabbed her in the back.
ETA:
I think (1) would be better for continuing plots, especially if Esme survives the murder attempt. But I wouldn’t want to second-guess these writers.
A strong return to form after a slow start to the season. I was not looking forward to the whole “Dexter plays addict” business, but the look on Dexter’s face when he realized that it’s a perfect cover to get Doakes off his back was priceless. Michael C. Hall can do more with a twist of his lip than most actors can do with a speech.
La Guerta is setting Esme up for a fall and positioning herself to take back her job while not giving Esme any way of knowing she’s being torpedoed. Tearing her down to the captain would’ve been far too obvious a move. She knows if Esme keeps on the same path she’ll screw herself over and then La Guerta can “reluctantly” agree to take over the squad, for the good of the team. Esme tried to draw Maria into an alliance last season with her “women of color need to stick together” routine but Maria clearly has not read her copy of “Sisterhood is Powerful” recently. She doesn’t give a shit about solidarity with other women on the force. The only other woman cop we see, Deb, is on La Guerta’s permanent shitlist.
I agree that Maria is setting Esme up and well she should be. Esme is unprofessional ans sets women’s rights back about 40 years. However , I disagree that LaGuerta “doesn’t give a shit about solidarity with other women”. She has, IMO, grown a lot in the last season and I felt her concern about Deb was real. I’ve seen no indication that she wants to screw Deb over anymore, in fact I think she has a new respect for her.
I can admire her not wanting to poach Esme’s turf over a boy toy thing. Maria wants to win her job back fair and square and she’ll do it without using the good ole boys defense club. Es will make a drastic mistake with regard to a case and Maria will pounce. That’s the way she wants it done.
Add me to the chorus of folks who loved the “reveal” of Doakes finding Dex in the AA meeting. It was almost like he admired Dex for taking that brave step, hah. Got one up one him there, bud, better keep him at bay(no pun).
I never liked Rita, but now I really , really don’t like her. Is it wrong for me to want Dex to kill her?
I think he’s moved a couple of more miles off-shore to the Gulf Stream, which means bits of the car guy are scattered up the east coast. I would hope he’s fixed his bags so they’re not water tight but have a little air in them, so they take on water and sink slowly over a couple of hours.
I think Otto’s called it on La Guerta and Esme.
I have to feel sorry for Rita. The poor woman has almost no self-esteem to speak of. Whenever she does something to build it up (getting Dex to the NA meetings), it backfires (seeing Dex’ sponsor’s reaction to seeing him). The look on her face is priceless when the Sponsor (where have I seen her before?), greets him and walks him in. Meanwhile, Dex it totally clueless.
They did not show the disposal of the car salesman - we can assume it went as Maus described. It is how the prior episode set it up.
Somehow, I think FBI guy ‘has a feeling’ about Dexter already - hence the speach and the “only one good reason” - its possible that once the pattern is ‘known’ that somehow the FBI guy will botch the investigation, or ‘other than for drama’ Dex is correct, that Harry’s code will protect him so long as he follows it. (No evidence to truly link them) - however, you would think that using the PD’s lab computer and network would, in and of itself, lead to questioning Dexter eventually.
I think Dex is fully aware of how the sponsor will affect Rita - and just doesn’t care - after all, Rita insisted.
I’m with Simster on the
thing.
My theory is similar. I got a sense during their conversation that he pretty much has it figured out already and that somehow he’ll fix the investigation so that somebody else goes down for all of these crimes. I don’t expect either person will lay things out in the open for the other person, but it’ll be understood by the two of them by the end of the season.
I’m not sure I buy into it yet, but it would explain why he wants Sis on the team so bad.
See, this is the problem with (book spoiler) keeping characters around who died in the book there has to be character development. That was one thing I did not like about S1, La Guerta’s reaction to the orphan kid they pulled out of the car trunk. She almost instantly went all “mom” on us and I didn’t buy it. My feeling was that her reaction to Deb’s early return was not out of well-being for Deb but out of enlightened self-interest of not wanting to be on the street with a cop on the edge of losing it. I find that a much more plausible motivation for Maria and am going to be bitterly disappointed should it turn out she actually is all touchy-feely now. Ugh.
Well, he says he wants her on the team because she’s looked into the heart and soul of a killer, but frankly Deb pegged it right. She looked into the heart and soul of a killer and thought, hot damn, gimme some o’ that.
I disagree about Agent Lundy having Dexter pegged already. At most he seems to be getting the vibe that they are vigilante killings. That said, Keith Carradine was a great choice for the character. That guy’s voice could make reading a phone book sound interesting.
Rita’s look when she saw… Lila, is it (Dex’s sponsor)? Anyway, the look on her face was classic. Dex being Dex is totally missing what him having a smoking hot sponsor is going to do to Rita.
Nah. Dex said the DNA from the semen matched perfectly.
We’re 3 weeks into the season now? I’m guessing if there’s going to be an arch villain this year, they’re already introduced. About the only choices are Agent Lundy or Lila. I guess Lundy could be the arch-antagonist to Dex without actually being a villain. Still, it wouldn’t surprise me to see one of the two in shrink wrap in the season finale. It could also be that there is no main bad guy for season two.
But Dex got mad when the car guy insulted Rita. Dex only got mad once before, and that was with Paul.
That part made me laugh. Not only did Deb get engaged to a serial killer, she grew up with one right under her nose and has no idea.
Right - that’s not what I meant - He clearly cares about Rita - he just doesn’t care what affect his new sponsor might have - partially becuase he still doesnt understand the dynamics of the whole relationship game - partially becuase he has “no feelings” for the new one and therefore won’t understand Rita’s reaction.
Gotcha. I misunderstood.
Dex may be a psychopathic mass-murderer, but he’s not a dick.
Damn it. I watched season 1 of Dexter on DVD and I am hooked. But I DON’T want to pay for Showtime…I was hoping to wait and get season 2 when it came out. But I can’t help but read these damn threads and I KNOW they are gonna make me get Showtime now… Arrggh.
Wait until the season ends, subscribe, watch them all On Demand and then cancel. Repeat seasonally as necessary.
on demand? what is this on demand you speak of?