Dexter Review: “Circle Us”
Alright, I can officially say that I do indeed like this season of Dexter. Granted it took me more than halfway through it to say that, but that’s kind of how the show usually is. Big build up with not a whole lot going on, and then bigger reveals that make the second half extremely intriguing. Except season two, which was exhilarating from start to finish.
We’ll start as per usual with the subplots, which seem to be mercifully dwindling down. Gone completely is Batista’s barfight drama, though are we ever going to learn why LaGuerta had all that cash stowed away? The Santa Muerta case actually had some excitement to go along with it for a change, as our little Deb is growing up at last.
When a sting at a club goes bad, Deb finds herself in the exact same hostage situation with one of the brothers, but rather than puss out again, she pops him between the eyes. It would be a success story except the other brother got away, their informant was killed and a bunch of other bystanders got shot. Again, this whole thing seems like it’s going to have nothing to do with Dexter’s plotline, but usually the show has a way of making these things intersect.
“I’m seriously this time motherf****er!”
We got to see a little bit more of Quinn’s half-assed investigation into Dexter. He’s paying loser cop $500 to tell him things like “He hangs out with some girl” and then another $500 for him to actually research who this girl is. But I kept thinking to myself if Quinn just had this guy follow him, he’d see him breaking into places like Boyd’s house and the Cole’s house which would be far shadier than his association with “some girl.” Yes, it could bite Dexter eventually, and unlike season two, he doesn’t know it’s even happening, but it seems to be moving at a snail’s pace right now, and they dynamic duo seem to be going about it all wrong.
But onto the meat of the season, which is Dexter’s newfound mission to help Lumen track down and murder her rape posse. Dexter wants to exact justice solo, but Lumen says that doesn’t help her as she needs to participate.
Dexter as a show is often anything but predictable, and so the big ass wrench thrown into things this week was that when trying to move the bodies, Rape Posse member #3 is thrown into police crosshairs. Why exactly he was attempting to move the bodies is unclear (he may know Lumen is alive, but how would she know where those bodies were?), but in any case he gets in a car wreck, strewing the girls all over the streets.
Well that was unlucky.
Basic forensics turns up the owner of the car, Jordan Chase, the motivational speaker Boyd was obsessed with, and the forensics from the vehicle place the driver as his head of security, Cole. The pair’s excuse of a stolen car seems thin, and both are put under intense scrutiny, with Cole as a person of interest specifically.
Dexter and Lumen aren’t too pleased with the police correctly doing their jobs, so they stage it so Boyd Fowler’s wallet shows up in the wrecked car. Police break down his door, find 12 locks of female hair and a rape dungeon, and turns their focus from Cole to Boyd, though it should be noted all forensics in the car still point to him. What, Boyd only cleaned out HIS hair and fingerprints in the five seconds before he ran away from the truck? Use your heads people.
Dexter invades Cole’s home, but is outsmarted by the security chief who puts him in a stranglehold. He has to be saved by Lumen who had a “feeling” something was up, so she crashed through a window and bashed Cole on the head. Quite the instinct there, and Dexter realizes she might be a good partner to have after all. They find a picture of Boyd, Cole and the dentist from their teenage years, which implies they’ve all known each other for a long, long while, and opens up the possibility this has been going on for an extremely long time. But how and why was this rape club formed?
Excuse me, I have an appointment to go rape and murder some bitch.
I’m still unclear how many more people there are to hunt down. At the beginning of the show, Lumen lists only two, but then refers to “others” later and there are “others” in the photo as well she doesn’t know. Who are these two guys? Were they involved? Is Jordan Chase actually the watch guy and involved as well? Is he not one of the two unknowns in the picture? Is he the big fat guy before he slimmed down and became a motivational speaker?
Also, for as much as I appreciate that Lumen is eternally grateful to Dexter for saving and helping her, how the hell is she not asking questions like, “Why were you there killing that guy?” and “How do you know how to stalk and murder people so effectively?” Is she scared of him turning on her, or does she just not care and wants to use his power for her own devices?
I really like Lumen as a character, especially now that her and Dexter are working together. She’s a good fit for him, unlike the prick prosecutor he briefly teamed up with in season three, and the way he looked at her holding Harrison, I think he might see a future with her past this whole rape posse thing. Don’t you think?
One big happy murdering family!
I think she pretty much got her questioned answered when he told her that his wife was killed and later on when she found out he was working for the police.
Peter Weller is in no way a loser cop. The dude is freaking Robocop.
Jordan Chase is TOTALLY the Fat one in the picture ! I’ll put money on it ! And why is everyone giving Quinn so much shit ? Honestly, Granted, Robocop is actually staying focused, he’s greedy BUT he’s at least on task.
Do you think Doakes would’ve gave a f*ck Dexter was Debra’s sister ? Hell no !
That mexican cop girl is totally in cahoots with the Santa Muerte killers. Probably their sister. I’ve thought that the whole season and the fact that he paused and just punched her at the club is even more proof.
I figured they were cleaning things up since two parts of their crew were already missing including the guy they counted on to hide their evidence. For safety’s sake they have to assume everything he knew was compromised.
“Gone completely is Batista’s barfight drama, though are we ever going to learn why LaGuerta had all that cash stowed away? ”
He questioned her about it a few episodes ago. She said it’s her retirement fund, that she’s been saving for years. She didn’t tell him about it because it’s her money that she worked hard to earn and didn’t feel like she had to share it with him as a result.