If we thought last week’s episode of Dexter ended on a dark note, “A Horse of a Different Color” somehow managed to top it. It seems too early in the season for things to be falling into place, however something tells me it’s only going to get darker and more complicated from here.
Dexter was too busy tonight dealing with work and personal problems to stalk any prey, which left us without a kill-room victim, however Gellar and Travis’ kill of the night almost made up for that. Ignoring Gellar’s mild threat about consequences, Travis went ahead and dated (and bedded) a cute waitress. After watching Travis and the waitress go at it (effectively shredding what was left of my positive associations of Edward James Olmos with the kind, brave, loyal Bill Adama), Gellar tied the girl up and set her up in a creepy spiked-collared angel get-up. He rigged her up in a greenhouse and set up a Raiders of the Lost Ark-like booby-trap for the detectives to trigger when they came upon her.
Deb saw the fishing wire but it was a second too late and the waitress ended up spiked to death by her collar as her angel wings spread behind her. Gross. Creepy. Horrible. This has to be a major first for most of these characters. We’ve seen the Miami Metro homicide detectives find heads and body parts and other scary mutilations, but have they ever accidentally participated in a murder before?
Locusts came next, but those were just for show. And all the while, Travis was there watching it. No one seemed to notice him, aside from Dexter, who can usually smell his own.
Seeing what happened to the waitress tonight, I can’t help but be even more convinced that Travis’ sister is going to be brought into this at some point. We know Gellar didn’t want Travis spending time with her, and tonight we found out what he’s willing to do to Travis’ distractions. It’s only a matter of time before he’s distracted again.
Doomsday
The cops are already on to Gellar, which is interesting, as it seems pretty early in the season for them to be on the right trail, however, as they noted, Professor Gellar, who is apparently known to be a Revelations expert (Revelators! Mount up.), has gone “underground” and is believed to have stolen a sword that is likely to be the weapon used to stab the previous victims, including the horseman guy. Between trying to track him down and possibly being side-tracked by other potential killers, there are still plenty of ways to keep the detectives busy not-finding Gellar and Travis, while Dexter has better luck. The fact that Dexter seems aware that there are two killers (noting differences in how the bodies of the victims were handled), added to him spotting Travis, gives him more of a lead than the cops have, anyway.
This season has its official big-bad nickname! Gellar and Travis are the Doomsday Killer (or killers if/when Miami Metro figures out that there are two of them). It was fitting that tonight marked the official naming of the season villain, considering three others were also referenced tonight. Dexter and Deb noted the similarities between the mannequin-man and the Ice Truck Killer’s preference of playing with body parts. And later, Ryan brought up Trinity and the Bay Harbor Butcher (Dexter!) when she inquired about other serial-killer artifacts.
Ryan
Since we’re on the subject of Ryan, we may have figured out her motivation tonight. Masuka found out that the fake hand from the Ice Truck Killer evidence box made its way online and it didn’t take him long to figure out that it was Ryan who put it there. It was almost too obvious that it was her, which is why I’m questioning whether or not her only interest in serial killer evidence is to earn some cash. She told Masuka she was into roller derby and then voila, the hand shows up on eBay, posted by a user named RollerGirl (or something like that). To top it off, some random person calls Masuka to verify that the hand was real. Am I over-thinking this, or did she set the whole thing up for Masuka to catch her? And if so, why?
Brother Sam
Dexter’s interest in faith was sparked tonight when Harrison ended up in the hospital needing his appendix out. While Dexter waited for his son to get out of surgery, Brother Sam shared his discovery of faith, and decision to live a better life. Dexter didn’t seem quite sold on it, but he did take a moment to pray for Harrison, or rather, to beg and bargain with God in exchange for his son’s health. After Harrison was out of surgery, Dexter and Harry conversed about faith and God.
I don’t know how I feel about Dexter’s exploration of faith and religion in this season. While it’s interesting to see him listening curiously to Brother Sam and even witnessing a baptism, it all seems more or less observational at this point. I’m not sure I can picture Dexter coming out of this season changed spiritually, but I may be surprised. There’s still plenty of season to go, after all.
Deb steps up
Deb had her first official press conference tonight. LaGuerta was all ready to step up and address the horseman issue with the press, but Matthews reminded her that it’s Deb’s responsibility to do that, now. Of course, when LaGuerta relayed the order to Deb, she made it sound like it was her call to have Deb do the press conference, saying she thought it would make the situation look less critical. Then she casually mentioned that it falls under Deb’s job description.
Deb has probably one of the worst potty-mouths of any character on TV. If you can think of someone else who is more creative and liberal with swearwords, feel free to disagree with me there, and tell me who could fill up a swear-jar faster. In the meantime, the press got a taste of Deb’s favorite four-letter word tonight when she predictably got flustered during a question and stated bluntly that all she cared about was “catching the f*cker that did this.”
Matthews loved the press conference. Maybe he was just trying to be supportive or maybe this is exactly the kind of blunt honesty he wants from the person dealing with the press on behalf of the department. It would certainly explain his choice in promoting Deb in the first place. Either way, things worked out fine for Deb, despite LaGuerta’s obvious hope to see her fall on her face on TV. New-guy Mike Anderson noticed LaGuerta’s gleeful expression during the press conference. Deb not only did well tonight, but her choice to hire the Chicago detective is proving to be extremely successful. In addition to making note of LaGuerta’s sneakiness, he also happened to be the man to point out the Revelations connections between the Doomsday victims.
Random whatever...
Since when does Dexter examine bodies? Not to be overly critical, but I thought his area of expertise was blood spatter, not picking over corpses. It would’ve made a little more sense if there was some other lab-person present with Dexter sorting through body parts and extracting clues from the victims’ remains. Sure, we’re used to seeing Dexter standing over a body on a table, but seeing him discussing his findings felt like strange and unfamiliar territory, tonight. Thoughts?
