Considering we only got snippets of the day I think it kind of asinine to say that Trinity didn’t have time to kill Rita. We have no real way to know how much time he did or didn’t have, we didn’t see more than 10 minutes of his day prior to his leaving Miami and getting killed.
I think we can only assume Dexter was in the trunk; I didn’t see any signs of his car following Trinity. But he may have been relatively far back, knowing that Trinity would have to stop eventually.
I actually think the death of Rita is one of the best parts of the season, and it has nothing to do with me disliking Rita (I didn’t really have a problem with the character.) I think it essentially allows a true “reload” of the series. I was attracted to the relatively “loner” Dexter who prowled around Miami killing a new scum bag each week. The family stuff has piece-by-piece moved the show away from that, the more human Dexter becomes the less compelling his character becomes to me. It was compelling to see him as essentially someone disconnected from “real” humanity because well, that’s extremely out of the ordinary. The more normal he became the more he started to see more like some hackneyed vigilante (ala the Death Wish series or something) rather than a serial killer with a “need” to kill, and the only reason for following a “code” being programming by his step father and not any sort of internal morality.
I will expect all the kids will be gone next season. I think Dexter will recognize he cannot provide the kids with a good home, it’s beyond his capability. They’re be shipped off to Paul’s parents and I don’t know what will happen to Harrison, maybe Rita’s mom? I’m not sure if that character is still around.
In order for Dexter to completely sway the attention away from himself - he will have to stage 2 more Trinity Killings in Miami ( a suicide and a bludgeoning - I vote next door neighbor guy for that) and then use Arthur’s stuff somewhere else.
however - he left alot of fingerprints on Arthurs van should they ever find it.
It brings up an interesting conundrum for Dexter - who does the serial killer go to when hes been hit by a serial killer?
Okay, so probably the trunk but there is just enough space behind the seats, from what I can see for someone to hide. BTW when it comes up next season, the receipt that Dexter had did show the license plate number as well as the new paint color.
Does anyone else think that Arthur’s son Josh is going to be the next serial killer? I think he’s been screwed up enough by his father to have snapped. Perhaps the next season will focus on Dexter attempting to counsel Josh from becoming a killer.
But I don’t know how it’s going to progress from here. Rita’s murder is going to look suspicious, and Deb and Quinn already think there’s something weird about Dexter.
I gather that while Arthur was busy killing Rita, Dexter was busy sneaking into the auto shop to remove the oil cap. Once Arthur was finished, he came back to the auto shop, and Dexter followed him from there. Both of these scenes weren’t shown so as to lure us into thinking that Arthur would escape.
I was very disappointed until the very end which I didn’t see coming at all either.
The whole “Debra discovers Dexters past” thing totally escapes me? I can understand that she is shocked but how does that resolve anything or move a story-line forward?
It opens the door up for Dexter to reveal himself to her, what’ll be hard to explain though is that after the Ice Truck Killer and Trinity, how does Dexter explain that he’s not like them, of all the serial killers, he’s the good guy, the anti-hero.
Well, Dexter claimed to not know about Laura Moser or Brian (the Ice Truck Killer). She’ll probably realize that he really did know, at which point she might start snooping on him instead of snooping on dad, like she was this season.
Or, possibly, she’ll talk about it to Quinn, who already seems to have a bit of a bug up his ass in regards to Dex. I could certainly see him following through in investigating Dexter, and in a less flamboyant and obvious method than Doakes did.
There was a loud bang before Arthur’s car stopped, suggesting that something really did blow and the car might no longer be driveable.
I don’t think Dex will keep the two older kids, unless he adopted them. Did he? Otherwise they will probably go to the grandparents. Be kind of interesting if Dex starts bringing little Harrison along on his kills.
Dex is going to have to go through his house and car really carefully, because they will be thoroughly searched. Convenient that he now has a shipping container, though.
How does he afford (or hide his spending of) all this stuff? I guess he never told Rita anything at all about his income or budget. Hasn’t he had 2 or 3 cars? And all that plastic sheeting, and the second apartment and the shipping container? Does he rob his victims?
Ok, a really wacky idea… This was the first episode where his “dad” sounded crazy – blaming his family for his being in jail. What is the chance that Dex actually killed Rita and blacked it out?
It seemed to me that Arthur was watching very carefully for a tail as he left town, leaving how Dex found him even more of a mystery.
@Boyo Jim, I sort of wondered about Dexter being the real murderer as well. Not sure if anyone caught the interview with Michael Hall and John Lithgow that aired immediately after the episode, but in it Litgow said:
Dexter “sees Trinity’s handiwork at home”, in reference to the episode’s end.
However, that could just be misdirection and doesn’t necessarily “mean” anything in terms of what might come out next season.
All season long I’ve gotten the feeling that, more and more, Harry isn’t a personified conscience but rather Harry is literally the “Dark Passenger” talking to Dexter directly. Rita was found dead just a scene after Dexter mused that some day he may be rid of his Dark Passenger entirely. On a very base, fundamental level Dexter is absolutely insane. It’s easy to forget that sometimes, but he has full blown hallucinations of his father on a very regular basis, and has out-loud arguments with said hallucination. Even aside from all the killing, Dexter has presented a fairly normal day-to-day image of himself for such a long time it has probably made the audience sort of forget the fact he is fucking crazy. So taking all that into consideration it actually seems very possible to me that Dexter did in fact kill Rita after coming home from killing Trinity. It’s probably worthwhile to rewatch those final scenes to see if that is the case.
I imagine he makes a decent enough salary that plastic sheeting is not a big concern. I’d think he has to rent the shipping container with cash and possibly a fake name - don’t want any calls like when his apartment flooded. I think this is his 3rd car - he bought the 2nd as a plot device for the GPS thing last season. This year he totaled it, which would be covered by insurance.
So what exactly did Arthur do for a living? Was he a pastor for the church? If so, why isn’t he staying in one place for so long? Is he a volunteer on 4 Walls and travels around the country? If so, well, I don’t think volunteer pays all that well.
It seems to me that he and his family only stick around a city for a year, maybe less. So why do they have a house (and a fairly nice one at that) rather than an apartment?
Someone (was it Battista or Quinn? ) saw Trinity in the building talking to Dex. When Dex says, “I believe you have the wrong floor” to Trinity. It’ll jog someone’s memory. Deb will leap to the conclusion that, as with Lundy, the fate of Rita was because of her. That Rita got it as a way of getting back at her for getting too close and for ‘killing’ Christine. She will push that notion to the FBI.
The FBI will run Dex ragged…maybe. There’s been a Trinity-style killing, but it is pretty much a given now that they know exactly who Trinity is. They have the m.o. and the motive (to get back at the Morgans). Dex should need to explain where he was…if the show always followed logic.
He’s a pastor (or was it deacon?). All the more recent killings were done on 4 wall excursions without his family. He gets paid as a pastor and only does 4 walls very few years (except when Dexter got him riled up).
I have to disagree with one thing- I don’t think those conversations with Harry are actually outloud. We’ve seen them occur in very public places (like this episode in the jail cell) that we’d see reactions of others to these oneway discussions… I don’t think we’ve ever seen that.
