Dexter's dark passengers: what did you think of this week's episode? (slight spoilers)

[yurbud]

Some aspects were better than average:

his budding relationship with Trinity, especially his insane ploy with the ashes. It made no sense credibility-wise but at the same time was a riveting moment.

Creepy beyond description was Trinity doing his bath ritual with his wife and she making it clear they do that regularly.

Great bit with Deb on Lundy murder, thinking about lying about seeing the vacation murderers do it, then being just smart enough to realize they didn't.

Not so good:

Batista & LaGuerta romance. It took a twist that made me like one of the least likable characters more than either of them. When the captain said they were playing middle school games, he was right--about the writers of the show and that subplot.

Rita bugging Dexter about the apartment and the shrink was lame, especially the shrink since they have done smarter shrink scenes before. BUT the ultimate payoff was great with Dexter moving his serial killer office to a tool shed in the backyard, and then to top that, Rita gets the last line when she gives him the lock, he asks why he needs it, and she says, "you have some dangerous things in there."

She didn't just say, "you have your dad's old gun," which teased at the idea that when she went into his apartment by herself, she may have seen the secret drawer. She also has shown hints of seeing Dexter's dark passenger before, like when her ex told her he thought Dexter knocked him out, his proof was he lost a shoe, and she found it in the backyard.

This gives Rita some depth and one or two possible plot directions:

1. Most like reality would be if she has a fatal attraction to abusive guys. She somehow intuited Dexter's dark side, and consciously or unconsciously will try to activate it at home. Since Dexter seems to have absolute control of his pubic facade, it's hard to figure out where this story would go.

2. The second is unrealistic, but seems to be where the Trinity story is going: the wife knows, likes, and accepts that dark side, maybe on some primordial level seeing such a guy as the ultimate alpha male and protector, or because she has a voyeuristic fascination with his violence like the women who marry serial killers in prison.

Possible future developments:

Deb connects the dots to Dexter's mom, and her relationship to Dexter and her Dad. This could lead to a climactic confrontation with Dexter if she connects the ice truck killer too, or if she doesn't, the whole plot line will have been a shaggy dog story (a long joke with no punchline). The first seems far more likely since he showed his loyalty to her over his own brother by blood by killing him to protect her, and that would make her final response more interesting--will she respond as a cop or as a sister? And would Dexter even reveal that he killed the ice truck killer? If she connected that dot, she figured out he was Dexter's real brother, she might be disgusted and want to sever ties with Dexter, and the only way he could prevent that would be to tell her he chose her over him.

Deb could get on Trinity's tail and either catch Dexter scoping him out (with the same set of outcomes as above) or arrest him, frustrate Dexter's plan and put Dexter in jeopardy as investigators start to dissect Trinity's life.

Outcomes for the Trinity story:

He becomes a family annihilator. He has symbolically been killing the family he grew up in for 30 years. That his last cycle was back at where he started may show that he is near the end, either because of the anniversary or because his own daughter is about to turn 16, the age his sister was when he killed her. The logical conclusion after he killed his daughter (representing his sister) and his wife (representing his mom) would be to kill himself (representing his father).

OR he forces or has been grooming his son to take his place, and smash his head in with a hammer. Recall that when he bludgeoned the guy he said, "You forced me to do this!" which might have indicated his father forced him to have sex with his sister for his own amusement, leading him to lose control and kill her (or less likely, the father did the cycle before him).

Any variation of this would make Dexter feel trapped by fate because he identifies with Trinity so much or Dexter could interrupt the final cycle and somehow break it, getting Trinity to kill himself, turn himself in, or Dexter could finish him off himself, so they could have an honest talk about what made him that way. Or maybe even if Dexter does seemingly resolve the case to his satisfaction, Trinity's son still takes over.

[yurbud]

1. geeze, have all the Dexter fans been bagged and thrown into the gulfstream?

[Duer 157099]

2. I must not watch carefully enough

Trinity's sister? He killed his sister?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

3. you have really thought this through

my response is a much lamer "it was a cool episode"