Director: Marcos Siega
Spoilers. Fittingly, Dexter (Michael C. Hall) takes a big gamble this week. Miguel (Jimmy Smits) is fast becoming his fully-fledged apprentice, instead of a silent accomplice. In fact, Miguel asks to make a kill himself this week, and has already set his sights on compulsive gambler Billy Fleeter (Jeff Chase), a man who pays his debts by killing people who can't pay theirs, as a bookie's "enforcer"…Dex's voiceover mentions "the butterfly effect" throughout this episode, and it's certainly analogous to the events of "The Damage A Man Can Do", as small decisions have a big impact elsewhere. For the first time, Dex has the chance to create a monster in his own image, by teaching Miguel "Harry's Code" (rules the imagined ghost of his father isn't too pleased his son might share.) Miguel himself remains a capricious personality, making Dex nervous about trusting his new "sidekick" to find the emotional detachment and efficiency required to make the perfect kill. Is Miguel ready to take this next step?
The assortment of subplots are handled much better this week, particularly Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) and Quinn's (Desmond Harrington) investigation of The Skinner, which leads them to a palm tree-trimming business the killer may be using as a surveillance cover -- where the boss Mr. King suggests one of his immigrant employees could be the culprit.
At the same time, Deb's relationship with CI Anton (David Ramsey) becomes sexual, and she learns that Quinn has been stringing Anton along indefinitely as a CI and risking his life (by not following established protocol). It's more evidence of Quinn's negligence and maverick style, as Internal Affairs officer Yuki warned Deb about. But does Quinn have a reasonable excuse for his actions? Will Deb cover for him, as a fellow cop, to prevent a damaging lawsuit?
Unfortunately, the three other subplots are less interesting, but manage to slip by pleasantly enough. Rita (Julie Benz) has branched off into her own, listless storyline -- grumbling about engagement rings, feeling hormonal because of her pregnancy, and other clichés. Angel (David Zayas) manages to impress his new girlfriend Barbara Gianna (Kristin Dattilo), simply by being his usual, lovable, nervous self -- in a storyline that appears to have zero links to anything else, so unfortunately feels superfluous. And Laguerta's (Lauren Velez) friendship with lawyer Ellen Wolf (Anne Ramsay) grows stronger, with the two ladies hitting a bar to chat-up men -- a boring development, but thankfully the last scene makes Ellen's continued presence on the show more understandable.
It was great to see this episode set-up what should be a thrilling four-episode climax, with big developments for Debra/Quinn regarding The Skinner's identity, and the Miguel/Dex friendship. The latter storyline is obviously the big selling point of Scott Buck's story, with Hall and Smits once again on excellent form.
Dex slowly opens up to Miguel (who correctly guesses Dex has been killing ne'er-do-wells years before Freebo's "accidental" death), and seeing Dex teach Miguel his craft (almost in a father/son dynamic) was exciting stuff. We even learn that Miguel once pushed his abusive father down some stairs, and enjoyed the feeling of power -- signaling to Dex that Miguel may have his own long-dormant "dark passenger" that has woken up and needs feeding.
As an aside, one particular scene carried added weight for grizzly reasons, when Miguel joined Dex in his plastic-covered "kill room" to plunge a knife into Fleeter's chest. As reported in the press, actor Jimmy Smits accidentally picked up a genuine knife during the scene, and really did stab actor Jeff Chase in the chest (not lethally, fortunately.) I'm not sure if the scene was later re-shot, but I suspect this was a genuine on-screen stabbing -- which adds a macabre edge to an already unsettling moment, I'm sure you'll agree.
Overall, I'm still disappointed by season 3's overall quality, because only the Miguel/Dex situation delivers the pulpy shocks, gruesome visuals, and moral ambiguity that first attracted me to Dexter. Everything else feels like dull procedural filler too often, although this episode's last-minute shock (Miguel visiting Ellen at her home) has me hopeful that Ellen's storyline will tie-in with Miguel's nicely. Is he just having an affair with her (as his wife suspected a few episodes ago)? Or has Dex created a monster about to go on a rampage, starting with Ellen? But if so, why did Ellen look happy to see Miguel at her door? Have they been working together to entrap Dexter since the very beginning? If so, wasn't it outrageous for Miguel to kill Fleeter just to maintain his cover?
A very strong episode, certainly -- one that's hopefully the catalyst for a four-episode rollercoaster of shocks, twists, reveals and excitement to gloss over season 3's general slackness.
16 November 2008
Showtime, 9/8c
Cast: Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Julie Benz (Rita), Jennifer Carpenter (Debra), Jimmy Smits (Miguel), Lauren Velez (Laguerta), David Zayas (Angel), Desmond Harrington (Quinn), Kristin Dattilo (Barbara Gianna), David Ramsey (Anton), Ellen Wolf (Anne Ramsay), Jeff Chase (Billy Fleeter) & Jerry Zatarain (Mario)
