Dexter Review: “Talk to the Hand”

As we head into the final stretch of this season of Dexter, the show finally gets to pick up the pace, and as such, there are a whole host of events to discuss from this week’s episode.

I may not like this season overall, but it seems at least that at last events are moving forward with significant relevance to the larger plot of the show, not just this DDK bullshit that at this point, needs to end.

Dexter went all Jack Bauer this week by stopping the poison gas attack by shoving the recent Travis conscript into an interrogation room and locking the door. Are interrogation rooms hermetically sealed or something? Do they have not haven ventilation ducts? I suppose it’s a little better than setting it off in the main open area, but still, I’m pretty sure you couldn’t come back to work three hours later after that.

“Damnit Chloe!”

My favorite line of the night was from Batista when he said “The Dorceys aren’t terrorists. They’re just nutjobs following around another nutjob.” The same could obviously be said for anyone planning mass murder attacks, like those nutjobs who hijacked those planes and crashed them into things because that other nutjob told them to, but naturally, someone who is an extremist CHRISTIAN and not an extremist MUSLIM could never be classified as a terrorist, despite similar tactics and goals. Sigh.

Now Travis is all on his own, and Dexter’s new plan to catch him this week was uh…flawed to say the least. He was exposing himself by making that tableau, sure, but sending him a VIDEO MESSAGE? What if the police pick up Travis first, and Dexter’s yapping away on his confiscated phone about being the Beast? Not to mention what might unfold when the next crime scene he’s called to is one where there are two dead bodies on the ground, and a giant freaking portrait of himself as the seven-headed devil on the wall. These two things seem like they should have serious consequences for Dexter, and I hope the show doesn’t sweep them under the rug.

Meanwhile, we learned that LaGuerta is a backstabbing bitch (surprise!) though all Deb’s problems could have been solved if she just stuffed a tape recorder in her pocket while confronting her. Daniels should be smart enough to know what happened, but with only TWO people who know the secret and only one gunning for his job, he still couldn’t figure it out. Also, as we all thought, Deb’s shrink says she’s in love with Dex, which is now manifesting itself in creepy dreams that have me shouting “no no no no no” at the screen while covering my eyes with both hands. I bet Jennifer Carpenter and  Michael C. Hall wished they had this plotline while they were actually still together in real life huh? Got to be a bit awkward now.

AUUUGHH

Lastly, it’s finally apparent that the show is actually planning ahead for next season by prepping Lewis to be a significant rival to Dex. We learned that yes, he is more than just a creepy collector and yes, he knows something about Dexter’s darkness, as he addresses the Ice Truck Killer hand (complete with palm reading lines?) to him. And his line about getting off the sidelines and stopping living in a make-believe world implies that he might start living out his game’s fantasy in real life. And I think if he does start killing, we’re going to know who his first victim will be. Bye bye little Batista.

Dexter would seem to be pretty exposed between that phone message and the mural that he doesn’t even know about, but I don’t exactly trust the show to follow up on stuff like that. What’s going to be the big finale? I’m not sure. I think we’ll see Lewis kill, setting up next season, but as for Travis? Obviously he’s got to go. After the Lake of Fire however, what’s next? Does he have some world ending “nutjob” plot that’s going to top all his others?

“Herp derp, I’m the devil.”

 

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16 Comments

  1. Like u said, at least the show is moving forward a bit. Somebody said that maybe Lewis could be Dexter’s THIRD brother. Seems like a bit of a stretch, but his little antics are being featured too much for him not to turn serial killer and set up the next couple of seasons since there was a two season wrap up plot line to be featured at the end of this season.
    And Laguerta needs to go. I’d like to see her fail, otherwise, I don’t want her involved. Travis will ultimately fail, Dexter won’t let anything happen to Harrison, unless Travis slits his own throat when the Eclipse happens, that could scar him for life or something.
    And with two seasons left, Deb needs to find out about Dexter. I doubt she will go to the shrink in the last episode and have another epiphany since the Eclipse is so close, but in the novel the show is based on, she found out about his dark passenger in the first book. That led to some interesting things and will get the focus off the conflicted feelings shes having towards Dexter.

  2. I think I’m gonna stop watching Dexter, the show is just turning into shit..the last episode sucked, as did most of the season..
    Lewis is terrible, everytime I see him I wish he would stop being an intern or whatever and just go away.. Batista’s mid-life crisis is bad and unimportant to me, which is sad cause he was kinda my favourite character.. Quinn is gonna get fired soon, they are taking their time and slowly turning him into a future-ex-co-worker.. The part with Deb and her shrink totally totally sucked and should not happen, ever.. Travis is the worst villan in a long time.. and Dexter? well he’s becoming a bit boring..
    It used to be a good and interesting show, but not anymore..

  3. I have been a fan of this season but this episode annoyed me a bit. Hate the whole Deb has feelings for Dexter plot. They are brother and sister. Adopted yes but still. Hope the show abandons this plot line fast which they have been known to do.

    Also I didnt like that Travis caught Dexter and setup a death trap for him instead of just killing him. It was like watching the old Batman show. Will Dexter escape? Tune in next week same Dex time, same Dex station.

  4. Great review.

    I’m torn between what Lewis will become.. is he going to be a serial killer, or be more like Dexter and try to kill serial killers as well? As much of an asshole as Dexter was to him in the last couple of episodes, I don’t see them being too chummy in the long run.

    I don’t think he will kill babysitter, though. But I’m also wondering if she’ll make it out of this season alive…

    I know this is really terrible, but I’m kinda hoping they do off the kid. I don’t like the kid; adorable yes, necessary no. Dex could do so much more without him and he seems to hold Dexter back.

  5. A simple answer dexter could use to get them to look past the mural with his face is that he was the hero that stopped wormwood so Travis thought he was against his plan.
    Overall pretty decent episode, and a mediocre season. I really like the first half with brother Sam and I thought they could have taken the show in an interesting direction, then he died for seemingly no reason.

  6. I think you’re trying pretty hard take offense to that Batista comment. Because terrorism is the use of violence and/or terror for the purpose of politcal gain. That is clearly NOT what crazy Travis is doing here. He honestly believes his tableaus will bring about the end of the world. He does not want to send a message to any form of government or nation. He thinks the whole world is shit and wants to end it and thinks he is working towards doing so. Those folk who flew those planes, that you mentioned in your review, did so with the expressed purposed of wanting to send a message and force one government out of the politics/war of an area.

  7. I am sorry If I piss people off with my next opinion, but I am excited about this whole Debra/Dexter relationship. the actors have great chemistry onscreen and I think it will spice things up on the show for the upcoming seasons..

  8. people above have said Lewis is a third brother and was thinking more Brian’s (Rudy) son so Dexter’s Nephew or he’s just a stalker who has figured out who dexter is

  9. Where to begin. Here we go…

    1. To all the whiners: Don’t like the show stop watching it then. All you contrarian attitude just makes people who love the show HATE you.

    2. This season has been a slow boil, and while some twists and turns were fairly obvious, they’ve made me excited for the finale on Sunday.

    3. Paul said “good-bye little Bautista” and someone thinks that is the kid? The kid is Harrison who is “little Morgan”. Little Bautista is Jamie. If Lewis is going to go off the deep end, I for one think that they are (Friends/HIMYM style) going to have Dexter save her, and become her love interest, while Debra pines from her office next season.

    4. I was SOOOOOO hoping that LaGuerta would walk into the Homicide area ask who the chick (Jordana Spiro was) and pull her into Debra’s office to ask what was up, then the LaGuerta problem would be solved. I want her to die more than Clay in SOA. (Hey that rhymed!) Her entire character just grates on me and I cringe in every one of her scenes.

    5. There are two more seasons after this one, and I’m fairly sure it’s over as of the Season 8 finale. I expect that this season’s plotlines will end, I don’t expect much carryover.

  10. Actually, Paul errs in his judgement that there is hypocrisy when judging if someone is a terrorist based on religion.

    Batista’s comment arises from the fact that the Federal goverment believes that the attack IS terrorist in nature and since its the goverment that defines what is terrorist or not its obviuos they dont care about religion but tactics.

  11. For the Deb/Dex love storyline, this is why I hate therapists. They take a tiny thing and twist it. In this case it is Deb’s love for Dexter as a brother and how he is her safety net.

    She grew up with Dexter, as a brother/sister relationship. It doesn’t matter if they are related or not. Romantic feelings would not easily develop. Unless a therapist planted the thought there (he isn’t your biological brother, it’s ok to feel like this).

    Damn Shrinks.

  12. @Paul/Ugo

    I agree that it’s semantics but the fact that Paul pointed out Batistas comment as proof of some double standard concerning Islam and Christianity just really aggravates me. Here’s the FBI’s definition of terrorism:

    “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives”

    As with most crimes it’s the intent that defines terrorism. The act of terrorism is about intending to intimidate through use of force. Travis isn’t trying to intimidate anyone he’s actively trying to destroy the world. That fits my definition of “nutjob” just like Batista says. If Travis was some Muslim whackjob carrying out some made up prophecy to end the world he’d be a nutjob not a terrorist. Now, on the flip side, if Travis, being Christian, goal was to force the US government into releasing some Christian POW’s then yes he’d be a terrorist. Again semantics, but Batistas comment was harmless and you took it somewhere it wasn’t intended to go imo.

  13. I think they are doing to Deb loves Dexter plot to set the show up for her finding out who Dexter really is. She has always loved him as a brother but now that she has even more feelings for him it will be even harder for her to turn him in or whatever her reaction would be.

    And I know this would never happen but Lewis should recruit Masuka. I think he could make a great serial killer.

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