Dexter Review: “Smokey and the Bandit

Yes, Dexter reviews are back and here to stay, as you guys really did a good job last week of letting me know you like and appreciate these posts, and I should keep writing them. I had a bit of a crisis of faith, but now I’m back and ready to start talking about one of our favorite shows.

I’m not sure what to make of this season yet, but I like the direction it’s heading. It’s unusual for Dexter to show us the actions of the killers disconnected from all other plotlines in the show, especially by full on showing their faces and voices, and establishing them as characters well before they cross paths with Miami Metro or Dexter.

The Colin Hanks/Edward James Olmos duo were rarely featured, only in brief snippets that showed them tormenting their latest victim, a kidnapped jogger who they forced to repent for his sins. Did they actually know this guy, and choose him for a reason? The same question goes for the fruit vendor. Or are they just random “sinners” that are being abducted for their “holy” purposes? I think they are in fact random, but I could be wrong.

It’s also a little hard to be intimidated by Tom Hanks’ kid and William Adama.

I’ve been a little unsure of the duo thus far, as even though they’re clearly violent and have been driven mad with religious fervor, it’s going to be exceptionally hard to top last season with Jordan Chase and his rape/murder posse, which in my opinion, is the darkest the shows ever gotten.

I’m not sure if these guys are “darker” per se, but judging from that last scene, they’re the most batshit insane killers to date. Cutting two people apart, stitching them back together and sending down Main Street on painted horses? Ho-lee shit. How the hell do you do that without being seen? Who was the other zombie rider?

Outside of the strange snake case, the cops and Dexter haven’t been too intrigued by these guys, but the undead horse parade is an event that should not only get their attention, but realistically get national news coverage. That’s a viral video if I’ve ever seen one.

“AHHHH GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!”

The “procedural” plot of the evening was Dexter hunting down a longtime serial killer who had gotten away with it, and was now in his twilight years, bored and starting to kill again. It was a variant of the Trinity season condensed into one episode, as Dexter got another look at what his life might be like if he didn’t end up in jail or dead. As always, it was a scary picture. The plot would have been pretty boring if there hadn’t been a twist where the old man figured it out, but even still, things more or less went according to plan. The OCD maniac in me freaked out when Dexter dropped all his slides on the ground and couldn’t keep track of his kills any more. Almost as frustrating as when he lost his entire collection in season two.

I like Deb as lieutenant, it gives her character some depth for a change, and now her freakouts are now non-Quinn related and mostly justified. Hopefully she’ll learn to step up and kick some ass soon. La Guerta is back to being a huge bitch, and this show really doesn’t know what to do with her character. She was a villain in season one, then became nice for a few years, then became a bitch again at the end of last season blaming Deb for that nightclub shooting. No reasons are really given for these switches, and it’s something that really bothers me about her character.

Lastly, is anyone else getting the vibe that there might be more to Masuka’s new intern hottie, Ryan, than meets the eye? Yes, perhaps she’s just a serial killer fangirl, as evidenced by her stealing the Ice Truck Killer evidence, but could there be more to it than that? Could she possibly be a killer herself, slowly ensaring Masuka and the rest of the department in her web? It would certainly be an interesting development.

Fangirl or fearsome freak?

Hopefully Dexter will cross paths with the God killers soon, spurred on by the incoming shitstorm that is two stitched together corpses riding down the street on horseback. Let’s not pretend that wouldn’t be a national news story 24/7 from this point on until it was solved. I can’t wait to see what other ridiculousness the pair has in store. I’m predicting some nails and some crosses next.

 

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15 Comments

  1. the other “zombie rider” was the mannequin CH’s dropped in episode 2 and EJO was hand painting during some cut scenes. Two riders for the price of one?

    IMO, Ryan is probably going to figure out Dexter was related to the Ice Truck killer, and she’ll end up a causality in Dex keeping his identity secret.

    Really loved Deb’s attitude toward the interviewee at the end of the show, but then again, that’s why we like her.

  2. GREAT to have you back Paulie, missed ya. And yeah, I have been saying for YEARS that Masuka needs his own subplot and THIS looks VERY promising. I wonder how Deb’s gonna react when she finds out. And Colin Hanks isn’t there to look intimidating, rather he’s there to look mostly psychotic…which he does. It’s all in his eyes. They’re very glassy.

  3. Since I started watching Dexter I’ve always wondered what the end game would be. Will Dexter get caught? If so by whom? Will the show end with Dexter still being Dexter and leave it open to fan interperetation? Well after these first couple of episodes I have a prediction.

    Dexter will manage to control his dark passenger for the sake of his son and well….himself.

    I think this theory holds up well if Brother Sam stays on the up and up. I mean he’s clearly a guy with some serious darkness, Dexter even notes it when he first sees him. Couple that with the way Walter Kenny turned out, “the world oldest asshole” ,after Dexter used to idolize him. I think Dexter is starting to see that at some point he has to find a way to stop. Maybe following Brother Sams lead. Maybe. Just a crazy thought of mine.

  4. Am I really the only person that doesn’t like the religious overtones of this season one bit?

    The only two things I’ve truly enjoyed from the bad guys this season are Edward James Olmos’s voice and the execution of the Four Horsemen scene. The actual idea of using the Four Horsemen I find to be rather stupid, but its cinematic execution was absolutely awe-inspiring.

    C’mon Paul, get on that fact. Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Not zombie riders

  5. Did I miss something? I thought they only killed one guy (jogger) and used his parts and mannequin parts to make all four horsemen of the apocalypse? Where are you getting two? The snakes guy was not one of them, they found his body.

    Even in the post-show interview they said they used one guy because it would be less-violent to kill one and they weren’t trying to do anything that big yet… but after they made the Frankenstein monsters they ended up more disturbing than they ever imagined.

    I agree La Guerta is a flipflop, but I think that IS her character. She’ll do ANYTHING to get ahead. I think Angel tried to make her more human, but she just couldn’t stop throwing people under the bus for her selfishness. She is jealous she has no skills as a cop and has only ridden coat tails and blackmailed to get ahead. I think she wants to be human, but her arrogance and pride make it impossible. It reminds me of regular business politics.. I don’t think it’s that they don’t know what to do with her.

    I think Ryan is just a fucked up sex-addict type who gets off on this stuff. I think she will find missing evidence or something to raise suspicion on Dexter. Maybe she’ll end up hunting him. I seriously doubt she is a serial killer or wants to do anything like that, only an obsessive fan-girl.

    The slides falling, imo will be the turning point for Dexter this season. He’s been on top of his game, but things are going to change. His dialog there was foreshadowing, the chaos to come.

  6. Not that your wrong, but the Hanks/Olmos serial killer pair we heard dubbed in the preview for next week’s episode as the Doomsday killers, which sounds a little more apt, dastardly than the God’s killers.

    Anyway, I agree that as sensational (if implausible) as the kill reveal played off, it would have to become huge national news, the type of coverage that would have us all asking Casey who? Also, national exposure in a big bad case could prove an interesting complication for Dexter. I hope in the shows end times, they bring in that element, partially because it will amuse me to see the glare of the world’s camera light in Deb’s face as she wrestles with how it could have taken her so long to catch her brother, the predator. What? You know that’s where it’s going.

    I’m less sure about Ryan’s trajectory, how sinister she will become. The character who also has that question mark over his head, Rev. Mechanic dude, also stands a chance of his inner darkness coming out. It just depends on how bleak a worldview the show wants to portray. With the Lumen resolution

  7. Absolutely right about the La Guerta heel-face turn and vice versa. In this season, it appears that maybe she’s covering something up for Mathews or actually trying to help Deb without putting herself on the line.

    The Four Horseman thing was pretty obvious. You should have known as soon as the 1st horse was onscreen.
    These types of mistakes are generally what bother about your reviews. And Dexter goes for blatant, instant gratification symbolism as opposed the covert style of Breaking Bad.

    Now, in matters of opinion, I disagree with the “Jordan Chase rape/murder posse” being the darkest. Trinity is easily the evilest, most foul being to grace the show. And he’s the only one that managed to do a real number on Dexter (Ice Truck Killer is a close second).
    The Doomsday Killers could bring about the end of Dexter or at least really fuck up his life. That would definitely bring the series back up to the grandeur of the 1st and 4th seasons.

  8. I think that Edward James Olmos is a ghost (he has yet to speak to anyone else), kind of like Dexter’s dad and also Colin hanks is killing bad people, only to Colin, everyone is a sinner. Boom.

  9. It kind of bothers me that since this is the second time Dexter has lost his slides that we won’t know what his real kill count is.

    Nice appearance by Cohagen.
    And Dexter is obviously taking his car to Mos Def again.

    Are they going to mention some of the other plotlines from season 5? Astor and Cody?

  10. Some theories:

    EJO is not real. He is Colin Hank’s “Harry”. The murders have not been random if you are familiar with the Book of Revelation. The Revelation bit checks out because Hanks appears to believe the world is ending when he is talking to his sister.

    The new assistant is either going to be directly related to Dexter or she may be a former foster sister to Brian Moser.

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