It's an old complaint that I'm getting sick of hearing myself, but the show continues to droop whenever it leaves Dexter's sphere of influence. Primarily, LaGuerta (Lauren Velez) and Angel's (David Zayas) office romance reached a nadir of flimsy storytelling, and then had the discourtesy to have both characters annul their romance so they could both remain in the homicide department. I'm sure the story's not over yet (they won't be able to keep their hands off each other and get caught by Captain Matthews, right?), but it's nearly impossible to find those two a compelling couple -- even though both characters are individually quite sympathetic and likeable.Ignoring all that, the real focus of the episode was on Dexter's fractious marriage and his examination of Arthur Mitchell's comparatively effortless home life. As a fellow serial-killer with an credulous family, who's been successfully killing people for 30 years, Arthur's clearly someone Dex can learn a thing or two from. He gets closer to Trinity by posing as a recently-divorced man called "Kyle Butler" and joins the church building project Arthur spearheads -- just one of many philanthropic services he carries out in his community. Dex becomes fascinated with how Arthur manages to hide in plain sight: exemplified by a home visit where Dex realizes Arthur's "trophies" are the construction plaques he hangs on his wall from every successful build (which are also cities and towns he performs his ritual three kills) and he's confident enough to hang his titular murder weapon on display.
The reasons behind Arthur's odd methodology is also revealed when Dex finds DNA at the hotel murder scene (a spot of cremated human body mixed with saliva stuck to a wall), that Masuka (C.S Lee) identifies as being a blood relative of the suspect. This led Dex to look into Arthur's past and discover that his 16-year-old sister was murdered in a bathtub, his mother jumped off a building, and his father was bludgeoned to death –- so it appears he's been re-enacting these familial tragedies himself all this years. Pretty sick stuff and, while I'm not sure if there's a real psychological precedent for such impulses, likewise Dexter hacks people up because he saw his mother being chain-sawed to death as a kid, so both killers are very much the product of tragic childhoods.
It was also fascinating to see Dexter try and repair his marriage to Rita (Julie Benz), who like all good Americans books them in to see a therapist posthaste. This season has done a good job reminded us how alien Dexter feels around people and how tricky he can find personal interactions, something that felt lost in season 3. Here, Dex genuinely lacks the ability to even talk to Rita about his feelings (he's only garrulous in his mind's voice-over), mainly because he doesn't really perceive any problem, and doesn't know how to go about alleviating his wife's concerns without losing ground himself. So he turns to buying everyone expensive gifts, before just paraphrasing Arthur's insights into relationships and finding those words surprisingly successful.
In fact, Rita comes to realize she knew she married a man with a secretive nature and a need for private space, so she ends up giving Dexter a lockable storage container to keep his apartment's stuff (including his trophy blood slides, still hidden in the air vent.) In his own way, Dex is a step closer to being "open" to Rita and the kids about his peculiarities and urges, but it's still covered in a layer of misunderstanding to protect himself. I also found it interesting that Dex now has sanctuary in adult life not dissimilar to the blood-soaked shipping container he was rescued from by Harry -- it gave his progress the feel of an ouroboros.
The only other subplot of interest belonged to Deb (Jennifer Carpenter), perhaps the only regular character who can shoulder a storyline that doesn't send you to sleep. Here, the grieving 'tec considered lying about seeing the dead Vacation Killer's partner-in-crime Nikki, shortly before Lundy was killed, as a shortcut to the justice she thinks Lundy is owed. However, after a tense and emotional visit to Nikki in jail, Deb begins to believe the girl's story that they weren't responsible for Lundy's murder, and makes the breakthrough that perhaps her beloved Fed was killed by the "ghost" he'd arrived in Miami to chase...
Overall, "If I Had A Hammer" was a confident character-building episode from writer Lauren Gussis that parted Trinity's veil of mystery to a significant extent. Considering the fact we're only halfway through the season, it'll be interesting to see where the writers take things from here. Deb is several steps behind Dexter's private investigation, but she'll surely be onto Arthur Mitchell before too long.And there's still the simmering subplot that she's close to finding the connection between her father Harry and informant Laura Moser (a.k.a the Ice Truck Killer and Dexter's mother), and I predict she'll realize her brother's heritage as a mini cliffhanger for season 5. There's also the question of what Dexter plans to do with Arthur now; he's a certainty for Dexter's kill table because he fits the code and injured his sister, but how long will Dex pose as Kyle Butler to learn from this prudent elder? And will he perhaps risk revealing his own "Dark Passenger" in an effort to make a truer connection to the real Arthur Mitchell?
1 November 2009
Showtime, 9/8c
written by: Lauren Gussis directed by: Romeo Tirone starring: Michael C. Hall (Dexter Morgan), Julie Benz (Rita Bennett), Jennifer Carpenter (Debra Morgan), Desmond Harrington (Det. Joey Quinn), Lauren Vélez (Lt. Maria Laguerta), David Zayas (Sgt. Angel Batista), James Remar (Harry Morgan), Preston Bailey (Cody), Julia Campbell (Sally Simmons), Brando Eaton (Jonah Mitchell), Courtney Ford (Christine Hill), John Lithgow (Arthur Mitchell) & Vanessa Marano (Rebecca Simmons)
