Dexter Review: 8.05 – “This Little Piggy”

Even though the supposed “Brain Surgeon” was killed by the Dexter/Deb duo, ‘This Little Piggy’ was one of the more boring episodes of season 8 so far. Certainly not as entertaining as last week’s ‘Scar Tissue’.

Dexter and Deb have a therapy session with Vogel and suddenly, after a brief angsty bitch session by Dexter, everything is okay again between the brother and sister. Deb wants to help Dexter kill Yates after the “Brain Surgeon” kidnaps Vogel because, as she said, “…the family that kills together…”. They are successful in ridding the world of Yates, but something tells me that the world is not rid of the “Brain Surgeon”. Why would it be Yates? If he is this easily manipulated and this precise thus far, how did he let himself get caught and why would he suddenly kidnap Vogel? I guess he could be the Brain Surgeon, but I wouldn’t like how little sense that makes. Also, usually there is much more of a chase than this has been with Yates. I would want it to be someone stronger; someone like Dexter.

Quinn goes to get a DNA sample from a man who is very wealthy and contributes a lot to the community, so when he gets a bad feeling about the man’s son, Matthews shoots him down. Here’s the thing….. the “feeling” Quinn got? Yeah, we all got that as well. What f-ckery is this, where they make the supposed psychopath look like an outright… well… psychopath! He is obviously up to something when you first see him. If that wasn’t telling enough, the kid asks Quinn a bunch of questions about the murder. So even dumb as rocks Joey Quinn can tell that there is something obviously wrong with this Hamilton kid. They should just play ominous cheesy 80s horror film music as he appears on camera.

There were other things that happened in this episode, none of which I particularly care about. Jamie brought over a cute friend for a double date with Dexter, but he had to leave (Vogel/Yates/Deb situation) and she was very cool about it. Blah. It is too far into the season to be adding new characters and expecting me to care about them.

The reason that Dexter is such a great show is because you get attached to these characters (Rita, Miguel, Lila, Maria, etc…) and you get to watch Dexter destroy their lives, leaving the audience feeling some sort of emotion about it. In the season 4 finale when Trinity killed Rita, the second I saw Harrison in the blood pool I began sobbing. When I saw Rita’s face, I cried my eyes out. John Lithgow still haunts my nightmares! But this adding new characters for a few episodes and then expecting me to give a shit? I dislike that. Like that woman detective who is trying for sergeant…. I cannot remember her name off the top of my head. If she wasn’t in the next episode, I probably wouldn’t even notice. I understand that the series is ending, I just thought it would go out with a bang!

Overall I give this episode a 2 out of 5, and mainly only because Deb and Dex are back together again.

 

Dexter: 8.04 – “Scar Tissue”

“Scar Tissue” began very strangely because suddenly with no explanation, Deb and Vogel have a relationship. I don’t really like that we didn’t get to see that part, but I understand that time is of the essence in this final season. Vogel is trying to get through to Deb, seemingly using tough love but she also could just be trying to push Deb over the edge by making her feel guilty. She seems very manipulative. Vogel also accidentally shows Dexter the notes she has been keeping on her activities with him, leading him to kick her out of his life!

In this episode, we also got to see the actual brain surgeon whose name is A.J. Yates. Apparently he was a patient of Vogel. She recommended that he get brain surgery to affect his behavior. Why the hell was he not the first person she thought of? Or, like I said last week, maybe she is controlling the brain surgeon too!

Deb is struggling with what Vogel described as making “the best of a difficult situation”. She said that she should have shot Dexter instead of LaGuerta. Vogel explains to her that Dexter doesn’t know any better but that Deb shot someone in cold blood even though she knew it was wrong.

Because of this struggle, we saw one of the most dramatic endings to a Dexter episode to date! Deb asks Dexter if Harry killed himself after she saw the tape from her father’s last session with Dr. Vogel. Dexter said yes and explained that Harry couldn’t handle what he created, meaning Deter. Deb told her brother that she knows how Harry felt but he only had it half right. SHE GRABBED THE STEERING WHEEL AND STEERED THE CAR WITH DEXTER AND HERSELF IN IT AND DROVE IT INTO THE LAKE! Holy sh*t! I was actually legitimately surprised. But in usual Deb fashion, after she was saved by a local man, she swam out and saved her brother.

There is so much going on right now in this show! Masuka just found out that he has a 20 year old daughter who has the same awesomely ridiculous laugh as him. He did get all disgustingly pervy with her before he knew who she was though… which was uncomfortable. But that’s just Masuka being Masuka.

Quinn and Jamie are fighting, but at least Jamie is naked for it this time!

And I know I said this last week but I feel compelled to say it again…. I will RIOT if Quinn is the one who finds Dexter out! I have been re-watching season 4 and that is when Quinn began to develop suspicions about Dexter as a person. He has always had a feeling about Dexter and in season 5, he even has Dexter followed by a private investigator named Liddy! Imagine what he may put together now that he may become sergeant and with Deb as messed up as she is! Yikes! So many questions…. I do not want to wait a week! However, since I must, join me back here next week to read my rants and raves!

Overall I would say this episode was about a 4. To be very clear, the 4 is mostly because of how amazing the ending was. The back story is great, but I am glad we are finally getting back to the action!

Dexter: 8.03 – “What’s Eating Dexter Morgan?”

Dexter has been pretty difficult to watch over the past few seasons. It has been hard to keep my attention to the television. Frankly, I think maybe I just have really low expectations, even though I am still excited to find out how this series will end. I felt like this episode was slightly better than the first two, but I attribute that entirely to Debra Morgan.

First things first, Deb gets pulled in to the police station by a cop for a DUI and calls Quinn to come get her. Her reaction to finding out that she knocked down a parking meter cracked me up! Quinn had to lie to Jamie to go pick up Deb, but this whole episode wasn’t littered with his usual level of douchebaggery. Not only did he tell Dexter what was going on with his sister (I am counting it because he thinks she may have a problem) but he also puts himself out there and asks Deb if she thinks she may have a substance abuse problem! That takes serious balls to say to someone.

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In a moment of old school Dexter & Debra quality time, Dex took his sister to a restaurant to see a guy whose life she saved while she was a part of Miami Metro. Dexter was trying to get through to his sister that she has done great things for this world. Unfortunately, the incident caused her to get wasted (shocker!) and stumble into the Homicide Department where she confessed to killing LaGuerta to Quinn! When Deb confessed I thought first that OF COURSE she confesses to the most shady cop in the joint! He would cover anything up with no second thought. Second, I felt fury rise up within me and thought that it better not be Joey Quinn, Miami Metro’s frat boy, who takes Dexter down! I will RIOT! Quinn hands a drunk Deb off to her brother and Evelyn Vogel. Dexter takes her back to her house, but only after slipping her the needle! Ooh… phrasing… he dosed her!

Sussman’s body was found in an apparent suicide crime scene, but Dexter knows the truth; he was being forced to do the real “Brain Surgeon”‘s dirty work. With that case closed, Dexter looks for another suspect and came across a cannibal named Ron Galutso. He is not the man scooping out pieces of brain and leaving them for Vogel, but he is eating brains! Gross. As usual, Dexter takes out the trash and continues his search for the real Brain Surgeon.

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Dexter’s new mommy seems to be making a case study out of him. Evelyn sort of drops a bomb on Dexter when she asks why he didn’t kill his sister when she found out what he is. Dexter tried to explain that he loves her and why, but Evelyn insists that his love for Deb is entirely self-serving, and not about her as a person. In the preview for the next episode, Deb is shown the videos of her father with Vogel. Deb asks if Harry killed himself. Dexter also apparently kicks Vogel out of his life. I cannot help but think about what the significance of Vogel is going to be. Maybe she is a psychopath herself and she’s the Brain Surgeon, or at least knows who he is. Maybe she wants to take out Deb herself so that Dexter can be her own personal… ahem… garbage man.

All the small things: In this episode we saw Harrison for the first time in forever, but only for about a minute in the very beginning. Joey Quinn and Jamie Batista had a fight because Quinn keeps rushing to Deb’s side and he lied to Jamie about having to go in on a case when he picked Deb up from her DUI. Also, Angel helps Quinn study because he recommended him for the Sergeant spot.

Overall I would say this episode gets a 3 out of 5. It was more interesting than the first two of this season, but still leaves much to be desired.

ED. NOTE: This pic seems appropriate, for whatever reason you like.

Dexter: 8.02 – ‘Every Silver Lining’ Review

‘Every Silver Lining’ was a very dramatic episode. Since this is the final season of Dexter, every episode counts, and I think this is a great example of that. With the introduction of Evelyn Vogel, plus Deb’s apparent breakdown, this will hopefully be one season we will not soon forget. This and the first episode seem very predictable and at times dull because we Dexter fans are used to being exposed to amazing kill scenes and other psychopaths. However, I must hold out hope for season 8!

This episode begins with a videotaped session between Harry and Evelyn Vogel. Harry is going on about how he showed Dexter a crime scene and how his deranged son reacted. Dexter even took a piece of bloody glass as a souvenir… his first blood slide.  Evelyn has known all about Dexter for a very long time. She is the one who convinced Harry that Dexter’s urges could be controlled, and she helped come up with his code; the code that Dexter has lived his whole life by. What is that going to do to Dexter emotionally, assuming he has those types of emotions? Is he going to take Evelyn on as a mother-figure knowing that she had such a large hand in raising him? Or is he going to lose that sense of morality when choosing his victims, because the code wasn’t really Harry’s? Or Vogel could just be manipulating him in an extreme way and using what he does only for personal gain.

Vogel reveals to Dexter that the killer from the previous episode could be one of her former patients. Dexter at first shows no interest in helping her, but later agrees after finding the second dead body missing a piece of his brain.

Deb and her boss go to check out the place that she lived with Briggs, her now deceased boyfriend. As they head out to go to the storage unit, El Sapo (hitman from the last episode) sees Deb. When she goes to the storage unit alone to look for the stolen jewelry, she finds it in a dresser drawer, but it gets stolen by El Sapo. She attacks him with little regard for her own life, and he kicks the shit out of her. Which is easy of course, she is the size of a ragdoll.

After checking out Sussman’s (the man who matched the fingerprints found at the Brain Surgeon crime scene) home, Dexter and the team get called away because of a man found dead in his vehicle…. El Sapo! Masuka finds another gun in the glove box… which is obviously Deb’s gun! Dexter drives over to her place and she is sleeping soundly on the couch. She wakes up and they talk. She explains that she didn’t want to hate her brother, she wanted the opposite (sexy time!). Then she kicks him out. I cannot help but think that Deb and Dexter may be perfect for one another now, both having killed. I wonder if Vogel can provide that type of therapy… yikes!

Dexter gets to the Sussman’s cabin. He sees that Sussman hung himself. Dexter goes to Vogel who helps him understand her views on psychopaths and how they are a gift to society. She explains that psychopathic traits can be found in CEOs and politicians.

Dexter ran the blood on the window glass from El Sapo’s car. He realizes that it was Deb who killed El Sapo (totally called it!). Right after he realizes this, Deb walks into the precinct to answer some of Quinn’s questions about the El Sapo case. Dexter pulls her out of the room and takes her outside to talk to her. He tells her he knows she killed El Sapo. She asks Dexter to switch the gun that Masuka found from evidence so that they don’t know it is Deb’s. Deb tells Dexter that El Sapo is not the first person she shot, and he may not be the last. This is either a cry for help, or (more probably) a confession of her intentions. She seemed pretty shaken up when Quinn showed her the photos of the El Sapo crime scene, but I do not think that will stop her. Especially since she now has drugs to calm those worries.

Vogel calls Dexter and tells him that someone is inside her house. He comes over and makes sure that it is empty. She realizes that she was left a DVD. On the DVD you see that Sussman was forced to suffocate the victim because he was held at gunpoint. Whoever the real killer is, he was not Sussman and he is still out there.

Dexter also tells Vogel that he destroyed Deb and that he is a mistake.
Vogel then hugs him in a somewhat creepy & motherly way and tells him he is perfect.

In many ways I am excited for season 8. First off, I would never have guessed to see Deb on the wrong side of the law. She is now a liar, a druggie, and even a murderer! But how far will she go? What I do love about this season so far is that it leaves me asking questions. For example, will Dexter and Deb ever make up? Will Deb keep killing? Will she and her brother join forces and create a brother/sister dynamic duo of vigilante superheroes? Will Deb kill Dexter, since she has already admitted that she should have? Will Dexter have to kill his sister? Wouldn’t he have to if she kills someone innocent? If he had to kill his sister, would he then kill himself? Where the hell is Harrison if Jamie is trolloping around with Quinn and Dexter is out the whole episode? What ever happened to Astor and Cody? And with Quinn’s suspicious eyes and his constant tracking of Deb, will douche-of-the-century Joey Quinn be the man who finally takes down Dexter Morgan? There are too many questions to be answered just yet… but I cannot wait to see what happens next!

I give ‘Every Silver Lining’ a 2.5/5 – On pace with the season 8 premiere.