Director: Keith Gordon
This episode was nicely written by Adam Fierro, particularly with respect to the theme of people pretending in their daily lives, and Dexter (Michael C. Hall) coming to realize he truly loves Rita (Julie Benz). Sadly, I'm still waiting for the catalyst to get season 3 soaring -- but characters outside of Dexter's immediate orbit are either boring, or stuck in limp, disconnected subplots.Miguel (Jimmy Smits) wants to let his brother Ramon (Jason Manuel Olazábal) know about Freebo's death, so he can relax about the slow progress of the police in finding their brother Oscar's killer. This, of course, doesn't go down well with Dexter, who is already nervous about Miguel being his accomplice in the "accidental" death of the cop's prime suspect. Luckily, Miguel seems to value Dex's opinion and promises he'll never tell Ramon the truth unless Dex agrees it's necessary. Anxious to avoid loose tongues between the interdependent brothers in the future, Dex decides to manipulate Miguel and make him understand how untrustworthy and volatile Ramon really is.
Family matters inform most of the episode, as Dex fudges a proposal of marriage to Rita, who isn't willing to get married purely on the basis of her pregnancy and associated financial benefits. Astor (Christina Robinson) also starts acting petulant about the situation, so Dex has to do some soul-searching about whether he could ever marry Rita for the right reason: love.
An assortment of subplots fill out this rather A-story, with Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) taking the lead in a case involving a man's murder after a break-in, which highlights Quinn's (Desmond Harrington) intriguingly tender handling of the victim's grieving girlfriend. Throughout, Debra is being hassled by text messages and phone calls from Yuki (Liza Lapira), the woman who wants her to snitch on Quinn. I really have no idea where this story is heading, and I don't particularly care. It's inferred that Quinn is a game-playing detective with a history of stepping on colleagues heads as he climbs the career ladder -- but isn't that incredibly boring? Why is Yuki obsessed with ousting Quinn for that? I was hoping for something far more exciting than this! Rather than being teased along and eager to find out, I'm just preparing myself for a huge let-down now.
Elsewhere, Laguerta (Lauren Velez) risks her friendship with Miguel by bringing her concerns about his poor-handling of a case to his superior. Again, it gives Velez something to do, but I just have no interest. Can you spot a theme here? The supporting actors have spent the past few seasons in the shadow of Michael C. Hall, but attempts to give them their own little storylines don't often work. I like the actors, but I never watched Dexter because it adhered to traditional procedural formulas. Whenever the series tones down the high-concept brilliance of a serial-killer moonlighting as a forensics specialist, the show slowly loses steam.
Angel (David Zayas) also gets an unexpected and stingingly brief story, as he takes a prostitute back his hotel room for sex, before realizing she's an undercover cop on a sting operation. The ensuing embarrassment and potential career-ending repercussions give Zayas a nice scene to plead his case to the "hooker" at work the next day -- but the whole thing was so cut-and-shut that I'm still confused about its bearing. I can only assume the undercover cop will become interested in Angel and romance will develop -- but, again, does anyone really care?
The only person we truly care about is Dexter -- in fact, season 3 has smoothed his edges so much that I'm not even sure that's a good thing now. His plan to make Miguel realize Ramon can't be trusted wasn't especially thrilling, but I really liked how he came to realize how much Rita and her kids mean to him. Seeing Dex react to impending fatherhood has been enjoyable, and the idea of a Dex/Rita wedding also has my attention because I care about the characters affected. It was even nice to see where Rita actually works, even if she was fired moments later!
Overall, we're now a third of the way through season 3, and I'm hoping the developmental phase is firmly behind us. I want to start engaging with the story and find myself rocked by twists and turns, but it's been very difficult to get a handle on this season's direction or care about the situation. I still have faith the Miguel/Dexter situation will reap some reward, and always enjoy watching Dexter's home-life; but I'm bored by the Quinn mystery, Debra's bland "relationship" with her informant, the muddle of the Freebo investigation (even the emergence of serial-killer "The Skinner" hasn't energized things), and the lifeless subplots for Angel and Laguerta. The writers have even started admitting that Masuka (C.S Lee) is little more than distracting comic relief to ignore and patronize.
I understand quite a few people are enjoying season 3's new vibe, but I don't think anyone can honestly say it's been as gripping as previous years. Still, as a diehard fan of the show, I will continue watching out of hope there's a bigger picture that's just not discernable yet. Maybe hindsight will be kind where this season's concerned. Or maybe Dexter was always a two-season idea stretched beyond its lifetime?
19 October 2008
Showtime, 9/8c
Cast: Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Jennifer Carpenter (Debra), Julie Benz (Rita), Lauren Velez (Laguerta), David Zayas (Angel), Christina Robinson (Astor), Preston Bailey (Cody), C.S. Lee (Masuka), Jason Manuel Olazábal (Ramon Prado), Jimmy Smits (Miguel Prado), Desmond Harrington (Joey Quinn), Yuki (Liza Lapira), Aramis Knight (Carlos) & Luna Rocio Cantale (Hotel Housekeeper)
