Okay, I totally misjudged last week's final scene between Miguel (Jimmy Smits) and attorney Ellen Wolf (Anne Ramsay). Its explanation was much simpler, but no less devastating for Dexter's (Michael C. Hall) sense of morality, in the finest episode of a season that's found late focus...Trouble descends when Dex learns from Miguel's wife Sylvia that her husband was out all night. She suspects he's having an affair, Miguel claims he just went to relax after making his first kill, but Dex begins to suspect his protégé has been using his newly-acquired skills to break Harry's Code and kill his professional nemesis, attorney Ellen Wolf. It's a suspicion he later confirms by detecting blood on Ellen's floor after hearing about her disappearance, and realizing Miguel must have disposed of the body in the only way he knew how: burying it in an open grave, just like Dex did to Freebo.
"About Last Night" spends the majority of its time with Dexter, which is always far more preferable to the abundance of distracting, bland subplots that have been clogging up season 3. The Dex/Miguel relationship has been the backbone of this year, and it's here that the writing and wonderful performance from Hall and Smits reaches its turning point. Dex is horrified at the idea he's created a monster who doesn't believe in his ethics, so decides to teach a tough lesson for breaking his father's code. However, Dex soon learns that Miguel is far wilier than he first thought...
Usually, the accompanying subplots are a mixed bunch, but we're thankfully spared the dead weight this week, as the attention shifts onto The Skinner investigation. Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) believes her boyfriend Anton (David Ramsey) has been kidnapped by the serial-killer, and it's revealed that prime suspect Mr. King is indeed the skin-slicing maniac they've been chasing. However, with Anton safely locked up in a remote building, missing a few strips of skin already, Deb and Quinn (Desmond Harrington) interrogate Mr. King but are unable to break him. And time's running out for Anton...
The other recurring storylines this season are either ignored, or reduced to a few scenes; with Angel (David Zayas) shocked to learn from Masuka (C.S Lee) that his new girlfriend, vice cop Barbara (Kristin Dattilo), has an unexpectedly filthy mind. Elsewhere, Rita (Julie Benz) confronts Miguel over his alleged affair on behalf of Sylvia, which is a scene only designed to set-up a eureka-moment for Dex regarding Miguel's duplicity much later.
Ultimately, this episode keeps focus on the two most compelling storylines this year, to its great credit. It's been a pleasure to see the Dex/Miguel friendship develop, and even though it's seemed untenable from the start, the writers have done a good job of making it surprise and delight. For Dex, having a friend to share his dark secret to has lifted a burden he didn't realize he had, so being faced with the prospect that Miguel's role as an accomplice is built on a foundation of lies and deception is quite a tragic discovery. I particularly enjoyed a fake-out scene, where Dexter's uncharacteristic rage boils over into (imagined) office violence.
Incidentally, has anyone else noticed the similarities between season 3 of Dexter and the recent Kevin Costner movie Mr. Brooks? Both involve a serial-killer with a public façade training someone with the capacity to kill, the Mr. Brooks character spoke to an imaginary cohort (which is similar to Harry's new role as an ethereal commenter), and Mr. Brooks featured the disposal of a dead body inside an open grave. I wouldn't be surprised if Dexter's writers saw Mr. Brooks and decided to borrow some of its elements. Mind you, I also wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Brooks' writers were themselves inspired by the success of Dexter. The circle of life.
Anyway, the sign of a great episode is sometimes a short review. It would become a bore to pour too much praise on this episode, but it was a fantastic instalment that twisted the Dex/Miguel partnership into a new shape, and nearly concluded The Skinner case. The big, exciting thing now is imagining where the season goes from here. There are still three episodes left and "About Last Night" resembled a penultimate episode, so what can possible fill the time?
Obviously The Skinner still needs to be caught (will Miguel decide to target him?), and Dexter's marriage to Rita will obviously provide a backdrop to the finale. It also seems inevitable that Miguel's deception will be punished by death (he fits Dexter's Code after killing Ellen), but will Dex admit to Miguel that he killed his brother Oscar? After all, that would make him a hypocrite, considering Oscar was innocent, too. Or was he? I still think Miguel may have been playing puppetmaster to Oscar's secret vigilantism...
Overall, "About Last Night" was superb stuff, with only a few nitpicks hardly worth mentioning. Great performances, exciting stories, some fun twists, big developments, and no sign of the flabby subplots that have been causing earlier episodes to drag so badly. Focused, tense, gripping and revelatory. The series tradition of brilliant four-episode finishes is intact, so far.
23 November 2008
Showtime, 9/8c
Writer: Melissa Rosenberg (story by Scott Reynolds)
Director: Tim Hunter
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 Briggs), Ellen Wolf (Anne Ramsay), Jeff Chase (Billy Fleeter) & Jerry Zatarain (Mario)
