DEXTER: Dirty Harry

Before we get started, can anyone figure out the connection between the title and the episode? Sometimes it’s really blatant, sometimes it isn’t, but usually I can come up with it. Maybe I’m just being a little dense on this one. Anyway…

Is it me, or are the writers doing a better job at giving us a bit of a gut punch at the end of each episode? I want to save the ending for later, but it was a real gut punch to me and, I think, somewhat of a game changer. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

This week, we jumped right into Dexter finding out about Lundy’s death and Deb’s gunshot wounds. It turns out that Deb’s one gunshot went right through, so she would be okay, at least physically. Lundy isn’t so lucky though, as he had three gunshot wounds. It was deliberate. It was Trinity.
Needless to say, Dex is the only person who can see this. Everyone else goes tracking down the man believed to be the Vacation Killer, since the MO in Lundy’s shooting was the same. Angel uses our favorite Miami reporter to leak some information out and the suspect’s meth head girlfriend ends up taking him out. I guess we’re assuming he’s the Vacation Killer and that this storyline is wrapped up for the most part, because there’s much more going on.

Deb is messed up (well, more messed up than usual) after the shooting. Losing Lundy sends her over the edge, understandably. Everything that Deb touches seems to end up broken and I fear what is coming for her in future episodes. Most of the time, Deb is lost until something or someone provides something for her to latch on to. I feel like this is going to be another one of those times, but it could be dangerous for her and everyone around her.

The Deputy Chief is pushing Angel out of the department. After LaGuerta disclosed their relationship without consulting Angel first, the Deputy Chief sees the firestorm coming from a mile away. So, LaGuerta is being told to transfer him out of Miami, and he’ll get a promotion for his work on the Vacation Killings. I would hate to see Angel leave and, furthermore, I don’t see the point in it, unless the actor wants to leave or something like that. I’m actually buying the relationship between he and LaGuerta and I think that he’s always been a good character to drive the police work component of the show along.

And, most importantly, Rita is getting more and more suspicious of Dexter. She found out that Dex kept his old apartment, contrary to what he had told Rita and even Debra. While he tried to pawn off the apartment on a trunk of Harry’s old stuff, the lying is becoming too much. Frankly, I’m impressed with the writers that they didn’t have Rita just take Dexter back. It would have been way too easy and unbelievable. A lot of Dexter’s lies are being found out and the relationship is getting closer and closer to its tipping point. As things get more and more tense, either the truth will have to come out (and I mean all of the truth) or the relationship will end. I think the way they’ve characterized Rita is such that she won’t take too much crap from Dexter anymore.
The action really ramped up at the end of the episode, as Dexter put together the pieces that Lundy left behind and figures out where Trinity will strike. He couldn’t stop Trinity from killing the coffee shop worker, but he did follow him from the building…to his wife and kids. Yes, indeed, Trinity has a family. Trinity isn’t the lone wolf that everyone has made him out to be. Trinity is much more like Dexter than anyone, especially Dex himself, could imagine.

I loved this twist. While I’m almost positive that Trinity will have to die at the end of this season, I think Dex is going to grapple with killing him for the rest of the season. It’s not going to be as easy as most kills, since the similarities are so glaring.

Overall, this was a great episode that kept both the character building and action going to come up with a total game changing twist, in my opinion.

What do you think of the big reveal at the end of the episode? What implications will this have on the rest of the season?

Philboy is a Midwesterner who spends his days doing PR for a small Catholic university. His can’t miss shows are “Glee,” “HIMYM” and “Dexter”. His thoughts for the week are, “I can’t believe I bought Rachel and Puck getting together,” and “I have quite a lot of traveling ahead of me this week, don’t I?”