Yeah, I agree.
Of course, if we’re talking reality, we’d have to wonder how Dexter could afford that sweet new house AND an oceanfront condo on a Forensic Tech’s salary.
Great episode!
Deb’s parking lot breakdown was amazing.
And as much as I love the nude scenes, this one was just painful to watch.
Actually, given the economic woes of Florida in recent years, you can get a house very cheaply if you look for a subprime mortgage foreclosure.
The full scene is even funnier.
[After Deb’s emotional scene in parking lot]
Dexter: (v.o.) "My sister doesn’t deserve to be in this kind of pain. But I know who does. Trinity hurt my sister and I’m going to hurt him back. And it’s going to feel – "
[Dexter walks in on Rita in his apartment]
Dexter: (v.o.) “Uh oh.”
[Dexter and Rita have a chat about the locked trunk]
Dexter: “See, I have nothing to hide”
[Dexter sits on trunk]
Dexter: (v.o.) “Except for the syringes, scalpels and bone saw hidden in that secret drawer underneath…”
As for being able to afford a new home, an ocean view apartment, a boat, and several cars, he probably saved up quite a bit of disposable income in the years before Rita. I think the boat was Harry’s. If he’s only making mortgage, rent and car payments, it wouldn’t be too bad with his salary and savings.
I agree that Rita seems shrill to us only because we know what Dexter has actually been up to. With his history of supposed drug use and his fling with Lila, I’m not surprised that she’s a bit on edge about him keeping secrets.
My favorite Dexter quote has always been, “Do I see sheets of plastic in your future?”
Please no. I think the last thing we need is to have premium cable censor themselves with an eye for syndicating on network television in later years. I’d say they’ve already dialed back on the swearing and nudity for that exact reason, and it’s pissing me off quite a bit. Especially Deb’s swearing, which has almost been written off. They mistakenly had Lundy comment on her foul mouth recently which only served to highlight how much they’ve abandoned that characterization. She used to swear profusely and creatively; now it’s down to maybe two conventional swear words per episode. The sex and nudity factor is also scaled back, though not as much as Deb’s swearing. It just annoys me to see FCC influence creeping into premium cable.
I would respectfully suggest that you shouldn’t watch shows you deem inappropriate for your children when your children might walk in on you.
To be fair, great ratings on Showtime are around 2 million. To put that in perspective, that’s half the ratings of The Riches (3.8 million), which had similarly anemic threads on the dope. Showtime just doesn’t have the market penetration to generate much of an audience here or anywhere else, really.
Re-read my quote. The entire thing was done tongue in cheek. However, if you want to get into a real discussion about it, I have to say that many, though not all, of the sex scenes in “Dexter” are jarring to me. Most times they don’t enhance the plot or character development at all but seem thrown in to remind us that we’re watching “Showtime – home of soft porn.”
For instance, the bathtub murder with Trinity didn’t seem gratuitous. It was shocking and added a kinky sex angle to the murder, especially since we’ve come to find out that the victim is a sister figure. The oral sex scene with the cop going down on the reporter, on the other hand, seemed completely gratuitous. If they were going for realism, he should have been moving his head around more. And what kind of lover is he that he has a completely dry face afterward? See, that omission took me OUT Of the story instead of further into it.
As far as my not watching shows that I deem inappropriate for my children, my kids are teenagers now, so they outlast me 9 nights out of 10. The only tv in the house rigged with a DVR is the family room because we’re too cheap to pay for one in our bedroom. But thanks for the advice. We’ll manage.
Yes, I know. You have never been shy about how much you dislike the “obligatory nudity” on Showtime series. Not all of us share your provincial attitude toward nudity, though. This country is way too uptight as it is; the last thing we need is more prudery.
Oookay. Good luck in your quest for titties.
So if your kids walk in when Dexter is chopping a dude up with a bonesaw - that’s cool. But if they happen to glimpse some titties that’s where the real damage is done.
That’s not what she said. She said the death scenes are easier to predict so she can flick the remote if someone walks in, as opposed to the sex scenes which tend to pop up unexpectedly.
And note that I do not oppose violence or sex if they are intended to advance character development or the plot. Dexter chopping up bodies is absolutely integral to the story because it’s important for the viewers to see him in all his gory glory. He’d be far less interesting if they candy coated the murders by having him do them off -screen, or if he chose a detached, impersonal method, such as shooting them from a safe distance. The personal element and the gasp-inducing violence of his acts are great for illustrating the dichotomy of his character.
And I’m not hung up on nudity and sex at all. It’s only when it’s done gratuitously that it bugs me. The Sopranos had tons more nudity and sex than “Dexter” IMO. Yet it was done well, IMO. It never seemed forced to me. For instance, the strip club in The Sopranos was a natural background for a gangster. And his blase attitude towards the dancers as they writhed five feet away from him made him a more interesting character. Showing his 20-something gorgeous girlfriends going down on him not only illustrated the power he wielded but the nudity worked, too, because it humanized Tony in a way that they couldn’t have done without it. The unforgiving camera beautifully contrasted Tony’s flabby, hairy, white baldness next to his girlfriend’s lovely, thin, youthful body.
Then we have the scene with Janice as she disinterestedly moaned homoerotic epitaths while Ralphie reamed her. Classic. And part of what makes The Sopranos the best series on television, IMO.
Dexter, similarly, is one of the best series on television. It does have flaws, however. And IMO gratuitous boob shots that serve no purpose other than to tittilate the viewers is one of them. YMMV.
P.S. If “The Tudors” S.4 shows a naked, flabby, pustulent king getting it on with the young, nubile Katherine Howard, then it would help us see him in a vulnerable state and also help us understand her reckless decision to take lovers, which of course, led to her losing her head. But I fear Jonathyn Rhys-Myers won’t cooperate in uglying himself up, which is a shame.
I think you are right and he won’t be uglied up nearly enough, but at least in S.3, they’ve hinted strongly that he’s no longer very attractive and smells quite badly (Anne of Cleves was definitely turned off and disgusted by him and had a hard time hiding it).
I always wondered, why do they even bother measuring ratings for premium channels? Ratings are primarily used to set ad rates, and premium channels don’t have ads. All Showtime needs to be concerned with are subscription rates, and sure ratings might be a little useful in helping them figure out if people are going to keep subscribing to their service or not, but it’s hardly like broadcast or cable where low ratings = low ad prices = death knell. How many people get Showtime just to watch Dexter (or would drop it if they cancelled the show) isn’t something a Nielsen meter is going to read, but it’s got to be orders of magnitude more relevant to Showtime than how many people actually watch a particular airing.
Sorry, that’s probably not directly relevant to the thread, but you post just got me thinking. Always dangerous. 
To hear you say it, no Sowtime series has every done nudity “well.” I would humbly suggest that it’s your perpsective that has changed. Much of the nudity on the Sopranos was just as gratuitious as the nudity on Showtime. I mean, geez, haven’t you also complained about the nudity on Californication? That’s probably as un-gratuitous as it gets in that it drives the plot and offers characterization. Naked strippers writhing in the background at the Bada Bing has pretty much zero artistic merit. (Though I was a big fan of it; I’m not hung up on nudity being “valid” or whatever.)
After clarification, it appears that she considered the nudity on the Sopranos fine despite being no more predictable than it is on Dexter, so that can’t be it.
I occasionally see new releases getting advertised on premium channels, though that is probably moot because premium channels are basically fully owned arms of movie studios so they’re likely just pimping their own product. Much like how you’ll see CBS announcers pimp Showtime series during NFL games. Hell, CBS even ran a season of Dexter, which I think is pressuring them to abandon their original edge and even some of their characterization. For example, Deb has basically gone from a truck driver to a girl scout.
It can’t be a way to attract stars to series. I can’t imagine picthing David Duchovny on a new weekly series with “and one show on our network once topped 2 million viewers!” For perspective, one episode of the X-Files probably drew the same viewers as an entire season of Californication. The highest rated X-Files episodes drew more viewers than Showtime has subscribers. (Around 13 million, I think.)
So now that you mention it, I join you in wondering what the purpose is. For a parallel example, they don’t bother to track ratings on satellite radio.
OK, I score some points for correctly guessing Lundy would bite the dust.
Just a WAG, but what if Rita eventually finds out Dexter’s secret - but remember, Rita has come through some abusive situations in her lifetime as well; so what are the chances she would say to Dexter, “I support what you’re doing! Here, let me pack you a lunch - it is a long drive to that warehouse where you are going to kill that bad man.”
They could become quite the odd couple. Maybe she would learn how to make, uh, special meat pies?
I read that Showtime has picked up “Dexter” for two more seasons, including this one. I do hope that they end it after that so that it can go out on the top of its game.
IMO, no one important to him will figure out what Dexter does in his spare time. Rather, I see Dexter realizing that he can’t continue to do what he’s doing and keep his family. I imagine the last scene is him dumping his chest of tools into the ocean where he formerly threw his victims’ bodies and saying goodbye to Harry.
Since this now seems to be the de facto season thread…
Caution spoilerish speculation ahead for those who haven’t seen 11/01 episode: does anyone else see Trinity’s gift as the beginning of the end for Dexter? He now “publicly” possesses the murder weapon and the rest of the Mitchells have seen him around. So when Trinity is taken down, presumably near season end, and Dexter shows up for blood forensics, the family will recognize him; some cop(s), probably Quinn, will see that the family recognizes him, sniff something awry, and season 5 will be Doakes redux, except with maybe a more successful outcome for the police.
I think we may be seeing an unfortunate confluence of evidence. Dex has the murder hammer- thoroughly cleaned though so it might be a non-issue, but Dex also has Lundy’s notes and cassettes… which Deb is now looking for believing that Trinity took them from the hotel room.
There’s got to be another twist coming since Dex is also assuming Trinity shot Deb and Lundy but we’ve yet to see anything to actually support this.