Parroting Arthur's advice to a therapist has paid dividends, as Dex and Rita (Julie Benz) are patching up their marriage, so Dex is keen to learn more from the experienced Trinity Killer. Still pretending to be lonely divorcee Kyle Butler, he's taken into the woods by Arthur to fell a tree required intended as timber, and is a little puzzled by Arthur's grouchy temperament, before witnessing a discord in Trinity's psychology when he's unable to kill an injured deer he hits with his truck on the journey home. Can a cold-blooded murderer really be squeamish about killing a woodland animal, or is it a perfected response to hide his true nature?"Slack Tide" introduced a new investigation for Dex to get involved with, as the Miami Metro discovered an alligator containing a woman's forearm. The body is later identified as a model who went missing; one of many girls who posed for controversial British photographer Jonathan Farrow (Greg Ellis), whose ouevre is an unsettling mix of glamour, beauty, violence and blood. Suspecting he killed one of his models during a photoshoot before dumping her body to be eaten, Dex investigates and uncovers enough incriminating evidence (traces of blood, a missing piece of fingernail) to put Farrow inline to be his next victim.
But first, Dex is taking Arthur's pearls of wisdom about how to keep his kids busy (and consequently less likely to stumble upon his activities), by pushing them into various social activities. Astor is convinced to give guitar lessons a try, while Dex accompanies Cody on a camping trip that unfortunately clashes with his schedule to kill Farrow. These scenes were particularly amusing for a campfire sequence, where Dex is asked to tell a ghost story and warps the Trinity Killer into a boogieman that genuinely frightens the kids, forcing another adult to take the sting out of Dex's tale by interrupting with a funny ending.
I can understand people feeling frustrated that "Slack Tide" kept things in a holding pattern for the most part, but I found a lot to enjoy, even if the big storylines didn't move forward too much. Indeed, one even appeared to come to a premature end -- when Dex managed to get hold of his father's C.I files his sister has been snooping into, and shredding the one belonging to his murdered mother. Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) appears to be unenthused about continuing her inquiry, as she's just raking up information about Harry (James Remar) that tarnishes the virtuous image she has of her dad. With Laura Moser's filed destroyed (although Dex chose to keep her photo as a memento), does this mean Deb stands no chance of discovering her brother's related to The Ice Truck Killer?
I also enjoyed the cliffhanger to this episode, as it did something I've been waiting for the show to do for a very long time: have Dexter make a mistake and kill an innocent man. I guess you could argue they've already done this in season 3 when Dex accidentally killed Miguel's brother in the first episode, but it never really did a proper job of going into the ramifications of Dexter breaking his code of conduct. Here though, after Dex had killed and dismembered photographer Farrow in his studio, Dex was shocked to hear that his colleagues found incontrovertible evidence that Farrow's assistant was the culprit. Will Dex reason things out as being an honest, tragic mistake, never to be repeated? Or is his sense of morality strong enough to have him confess all? I somehow doubt the latter, but it'll be interesting to see how Dex handles the fact he's now a murderer with no ethical high ground to hide behind it.
Overall, "Slack Tide" was great fun, I thought (ignoring the tedious Angel/LaGuerta subplot), and I really liked how Dexter is surrepticiously learning marital and parental skills from Arthur without him even realizing his role. This episode also contained quite a few developments to prime us for future instalments, such as Dexter's egregious error, Deb's disenchantment with the C.I casefiles, the fact Quinn (Desmond Harrington) is growing suspicious of Dexter just like Doakes once did*, and the reveal that Arthur's been using the tree timber to build a coffin. As I've suggested earlier in the season, I get the impression that Trinity's basically retiring and is going to either commit suicide or force someone to kill him (the reason for that uncalled for rant at a man in an alley awhile back?) and is organizing his own funeral. Maybe his relationship with Dexter will be mutually beneficial, if he needs someone to kill him?8 November 2009
Showtime, 9/8c
written by: Scott Buck directed by: Tim Hunter 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), Courtney Ford (Christine Hill), John Lithgow (Arthur Mitchell), Mark Atteberry (Attorney), Lisa Catara (Farrow Beauty), Greg Ellis (Jonathan Farrow), John Griffin (Timothy Brand) & Marisa Petroro (Kate)
* Speaking of that scene where Quinn follows Dex to the club where Farrow is partying, did anyone else think it strange that Quinn didn't confront Dex about the fact he'd clearly run away the next morning? I mean, if Dex was there for innocent reasons, why would he vanish like that? If anything Dex should have approached Quinn with a feasible excuse for his presence there -- although I guess he didn't know Quinn had seen him, so just opted for a quick escape. But still, I would expect Quinn to make some mention of that night's activities in a later scene at work. Maybe next week.
