Yes, we’re going to get to that Dexter-Deb kiss. I know that quite a few other things happened tonight, and I'm going to save my thoughts on pretty much all of them for next week's season finale. But tonight, Dex and Deb. That’s gonna happen.
So in a lot of ways, the sixth season of Dexter has sneakily been about Deb;
while Dexter is on a per-norm wild goose chase, the writers have been throwing
all sorts of ideas her way hoping that at least one or five of those clues you
into the fact that hey, we’ve got a real tragic mess here who also has no idea
about the things happening right under her nose, sticks. A lot of it hasn’t
worked well (there’s really no explanation yet for why Deb freaks out at the
tableau scene or how she’s affected, if at all, by Still Spinning Crazy
Tailspinn Quinn) but they’ve pretty much been nailing the rising war between
she and Maria: I know I’ve said I hate Maria, but I’m enjoying hating her very
much. “Talk To The Hand” finally shows Deb that she was that bad guy all along,
and Deb was just a trusty player in her larger plan to take down Matthews. I
didn’t immediately know where the Maria/Matthews Vs. Deb story was going, but
if this is where it ends, I’m certainly fine with it (it’s a little unfortunate
that the entire Maria/Batista marriage was incredibly shortchanged, but can’t
do much to fix that).
Tonight also toys with Deb’s ability to keep a secret, which
is ostensibly mirroring her looming discovery of Dexter’s dark side (seriously,
if it doesn’t happen in the season finale then I absolutely quit). After she
discovers that Chief Matthews was the last man to see that now-dead call girl
alive, he’s quick to remind her: “Hey, I’ve known you for so long, I can’t go
down for this because I love whores, you
owe me.” Which is a good argument to make for a dirtbag with a hooker
fetish and a stranglehold on the entire Miami police department, but not so
much for a guy who has a Judas in his ranks (ahem, Maria). But will Dexter not
be pleading the same case once Deb finds out he’s a serial killer of serial
killers? It’s a really obvious foreshadow, mark my words.
Now. With all the bubbling conflict between Deb and her
brother, which is certainly leading up to something
big between the two, why on Earth is
there a need for Deb to explore romantic feelings for Dexter, and why is that
need so urgent that it all happens IN ONE
EPISODE? Even though yes, it's all a dream, it's a damn vivid one, and one reserved for the second-to-last scene in the season. A four month-long struggle in which Deb tousles with possible romantic
feelings for her non-biological brother at least gives credibility and weight
to the story, but so far it’s gone in the order that a) Dexter won’t talk to
Deb b) Deb equates Dexter to a chair (?) c) Deb realizes that Dexter is there
for her, something any brother would do, and then d) Deb dreams about kissing
Dexter. Even excluding the fact that there’s been no hint of this for six seasons, is this extremely haphazard
or is it just me? Not to mention the fact that we've got one episode left with which to wrap all of this up.
I haven’t been a fan of Dexter’s external relationships with
anyone since his wife’s death (The show’s neat do-away with Astor and Cody is
actually appreciated, and I still find his paternal relationship with Harrison
an increasingly uneasy attempt to humanize him in relation to the rest of his dark
character) but this new tangent with Deb, a girl who also struggles in her
relationships with those around her, seems like the largest reach to drive two
characters together yet. It seems like more a buzz-generating idea than a
genuine plotline, and there’s the right way to go about stirring up a show, and
then this.
Oh, and they tried to gas Miami Metro and kill everybody but
Dexter saved the day. And then Travis tried to kill Dexter again, but he lived.
And Louis is up to something creepy with The Ice Truck Killer’s hand. The
season finale is next week, ya’ll!
SumOlogy: I'm sorry. I'm still so confused.
Grade: 7/10
Leftovers
I have to say, I wasn't not entertained. So there's that.
And I've had six days to think about the Dexter/Deb relationship and it still blows my mind. I just... WHAT?!
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
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