By Buzz Byrne
If you followed the first season of DEXTER, you know from the finale that what Dexter has convinced himself of is that his need to kill is incurable (a very strong possibility), the rules set down by his adoptive father for how he should do his killing make the action justifiable (debatable) and that if he were known for his heroic action he would receive adulation from the world around him that would fill his hollow emotional self (doubtful). This season Dexter is challenging some of this thinking and is in recovery. Of sorts. It is a risky move for a sophomore season but we can thank the writers for taking this path to at least assure us we don’t get a repackaging of season one, or worse, a show that loses perspective of the fun it has with murder. Sister Debra says to Dex, “If Dad taught us one thing, it was the value of human life.” To which Dexter replies in voice over, “We had different homework assignments.”
Tonight Dexter opens up to his seductress/sponsor Lila and tells her how his mother was butchered with a chainsaw in front of him and he sat in her blood for two days. She urges Dexter to find the men responsible and confront them. Through his work connections, Dexter learns that only one of the three men involved are alive and out of prison. He also learns his mother was a snitch to his adoptive father. Later it is revealed they might have been intimate. This fuels an emotion in Dexter we haven’t seen thus far: rage.
Girlfriend Rita still has her mother around and the mother basically tells Dexter to leave the family alone for good. Having gone down the road of co-dependency and manipulation with Rita’s ex-husband Paul, Mom wants no part of a guy who’s in recovery. And Debra freaks out on her current boyfriend Gabriel. First spying and snooping and then falsely accusing him of using her for her story of involvement with the Ice Truck Killer. Doakes and Laguerta track down a killer and spar over their respective failings as human beings and cops.
But the real story of this episode is the car ride with Dexter and Lila to find the lone survivor of the event that shaped Dexter’s warped psyche. As these two let the traffic lights wash over them, the writers and director have some fun and a few moments of brilliance. The green light, gruesome, unflattering and clinical is used when they present their facades to each other. It’s also a swipe at CSI, second of the episode. The warm tones, reds and oranges play during their moments of raw emotion as they plan what Dexter should say to this man. When they are washed out with white brilliance it a signal of honesty. These are revelatory experiences for Dexter that allows him to rage. When he ditches Lila and confronts his mother’s murderer, Harry’s rules are discarded and revenge is on the table. Still, the humor is present when Dexter says, “This is going to be awkward but…I have to tell you how I feel.”
Before he finishes this kill, he reaches out to Lila, telling her he is about to “use.” Lila reels him back to her before he could take this life and as they lay in each other’s arm till the creamy dawn light, Lila confesses her own act of murder. She killed her dealer/boyfriend. Burned his house to the ground while he was passed out, unbeknownst to her, inside.
This doesn’t match Dexter’s deeds. It does give us the false hope that maybe she will be the one girl Dexter could settle down with and have an honest relationship with.
It ain’t gonna happen. And the therapy and recovery stuff won’t stick. Dexter kills and no matter how justifiable we may view it, murderers only meet a murderous end. At least in fiction.