DEXTER: All in the Family

This was probably the most non-violent episode of “Dexter” we’ve ever seen. This is the second episode in a row where we’ve traded the violence in for real character development. And, to be honest, it’s nice to have a nice long breather like this, especially amongst all of the things that happened tonight.

Going into this episode, we knew that Miguel Prado would have to be dealt with. That was without question. What I think was on everyone’s minds was if he would “deal with it” or just, you know…deal with it. Sadly, from Showtime’s promo’s, we knew that Miguel would snap. What I didn’t expect was that it wouldn’t be Dexter who was getting knocked out. I thought he might take one for the team of self-preservation. But, in true Dexter fashion, when someone else can do it, let them.

I think we learned a lot about Quinn tonight that helped shape what’s going to happen to him during the course of the rest of the season. I like the fact that the team behind “Dexter” is sort of steering us in how to feel about him, we’re kind of left to make a verdict about Quinn. I mean, on one hand, he pretty much used Deb to “win” this week’s case of a Class D crazy lady who ended up killing her “boyfriend.” But, on the other hand, he got the job done and probably saved Deb from herself. So, it’s hard right now for me to judge one way or the other, but I’m honestly more interested in what the final straw will be in getting Deb to rat on Quinn to Internal Affairs.

One thing I thought about during this episode is that Dexter and Prado seem to be on two lines that eventually will meet in the middle if they haven’t already. Just as Dexter is adding people to his family (we’ll talk about that in a second), Prado is losing members of his. I don’t know if this week’s beach scene was the intersection point, but, if my theory holds true, things will end incredibly well for Dex and horribly for Prado (as some people are already suggesting in the comments).

In other news, how amazing was Dex’s first stab (no pun intended) at proposing? I struggled during this episode with some things I said at one point where I thought that Dex was feeling true feelings for Rita and the kids. Every time I think that he does have those feelings, he goes and does something like botching up the proposal or trying it again by citing the financial benefits to marriage. So, maybe like Quinn, we aren’t supposed to make a judgment on that either…yet.

Like last week’s episode and the theme of the jungle, this week Dex talked to us all about the different roles people play. On a slightly less serious level, his idea about Matsuka (who I know I haven’t talked about at all this season) is accurate: he’s the court jester, always trying to make people laugh. When he tried to be serious and have people treat him with respect, of course it blew up in his face. It would be interesting if they tried to make Matsuka serious now or at least involve him a little more in the cases.

I was really interested in LaGuerta going to Chicky Hines’ lawyer. Firstly, I didn’t see it coming at all, but, in retrospect, it was the only place really for the storyline to go. Secondly, it’s going to be awesome, as Prado is on this downhill slope (as I hypothesize he is), how this is going to affect his relationship with LaGeurta. Oh, and it’s awesome to see Anne Ramsay (from “Mad About You”) in what I can see as a funny/integral role in coming episodes.

Of course, we all knew that, in seeing her changing role of stricken ex-fiancee to crazy killer, Dexter was going to take Fiona’s words and make them his own. The odd thing was, even though I KNEW they were stolen, I had a hard time not believing him in what he said. And, as we saw in the previews for next week, we immediately will see the collision of Dexter the Serial Killer and Dexter the Family Man.

Instead of questions, let predict. Pick a character and predict what happens to them. Deb, LaGuerta, Dex, anyone. I’m interested in where you think all of these storyline are headed!

— posted by Philboy

Philboy is GMMR’s resident Dexter analyst. He spends his days studying Communications at Purdue University and his nights trying to keep up with his TV schedule without a Tivo. He awaits the day when Jack Bauer will save us all, but can live with Dexter, Chuck Bartowski and Ned the Pie Maker until then. He idolizes Barney Stinson and hopes to, one day, be the cop who declares someone dead in a procedural crime show.