In episode 5.02 ‘Hello, Bandit’, Dex is back on the hunt despite still dealing with the aftermath of Rita’s death and being a single dad.
Luckily he has one less thing to worry about (well, for the time being anyway.) After bailing on his interview with the FBI in last week’s ep, he sat down with the same smarmy agent from the crime scene and his bespectacled partner to get it over with. It was a well done little scene that quickly and seamlessly transitioned through several stages: Dexter being incredulous and angry at being accused, one of those smart fake outs that this show does so well (‘We know you were at Arthur Mitchell’s house…working the raid’) and ending with some trademark dry humour (‘Why would he go after your wife?’ ‘Because he’s a serial killer?’)
But he’s still not completely in the clear, as the dreaded sketch artist has struck again, and this time they didn’t whip up a perfect portrait of Jesus Christ like in Season 1. Miami homicide interviewed Trinity’s wife and kids, who obviously spilled that he was spending a lot of time with a certain Kyle Butler before he disappeared. Apparently none of them could agree on exactly what Kyle/Dex looked like, and the sketches are rather featureless and creepy looking. But that nosy Doakes wannabe Quinn is still on Dex-alert and seems to maybe see something in the combined sketches that nobody else does. And Quinn has a kinda-sorta nothing happened-but actually it did relationship with Deb going on, so I really hope they aren’t going for a total rehash of the season two angle where somebody Deb is having a relationship with (back then it was Lundy, now Quinn) is the one investigating Dexter.
But Deb could probably be forgiven for spending time at Quinn’s pad, cos hers was a little overcrowded this week with Dex moving the kids in temporarily to get them away from the bad-vibes family home. Cody seems to be doing ok, and baby Harrison seems to enjoy the soft glow of a blood-detecting blacklight just as much as his daddy does. I found that storytelling scene in the moving truck very cute despite it being quite disturbing when you think about it, which is a testament to how likable Dexter’s character is. But Astor is still all ‘This is all your fault, you ruined everything!’ And honestly, I got a little annoyed with her. It’s not that I don’t understand that a 13 year-old is going to be angry about their mother getting murdered and be looking for someone to blame, but something about all her dialogue is not hitting the mark, and all my sympathy is actually for Dexter rather than her. It could possibly be that, as great as the young actor Christina Robinson is, that she just doesn’t have the maturity or the acting experience to deliver the necessary emotion.
Everyone’s favourite serial killer with a code is back for the fifth season of one of the smartest, most well-written, and consistently brilliant shows around. And this time, Dexter Morgan will need to deal with death in a way he never has before, considering that the last body we saw as Season 4 ended was his wife Rita in a bathtub full of blood, and his baby son crying on the bathroom floor being “born in blood” just as Dexter himself was. The bathtub kill was a signature of the Trinity Killer, aka Arthur Mitchell, who Dexter killed before he returned home and discovered the body. Did Trinity strike earlier, or was this a copycat kill?
This episode picked up immediately afterwards, and I think it did a great job of setting up many major conflicts that will continue to be important throughout the season.
Dexter as a suspect – As the first police arrive on the scene, Dexter is clearly still in shock and, not thinking about what the consequences may be, says ‘Rita’s inside. It was me.’ He could have been referring to many things: that he did not kill Arthur when he had the chance, that he was not there at the moment Rita returned home, that he knew his life as a serial killer would eventually cause this. Whatever he meant, it sounds iffy to Deb, and even iffier to the swarming FBI agents. Throw in the uber-suspicious Quinn, who looks like he’s going to become the new Doakes and be Dexter’s antagonistic co-worker, and it looks like Dexter may be the most intensely scrutinised for the one murder that, ironically, he did not commit. If or when this happens, it will be very interesting to see how his friends such as Angel, LaGuerta and especially Deb deal with him being a suspect, as well as what actions Dexter will take to clear his name.
Who really did it? – The bathtub murder was done many times by Trinity in the past. But it’s not set in stone that the was he perpetrator, and knowing that this show loves to shock and nothing is ever what it seems, there’s a good chance it wasn’t him at all. Rita was married with kids, which doesn’t fit with his other bathtub victims who were always young single women. Looking up Dexter’s address led Arthur to Dexter’s old apartment, the one where Deb now lives. Did he find Dexter’s real address? Also the neighbour Elliott, the one who made a move on Rita, looked a little suspicious to me, and it also could be someone completely different who hasn’t been introduced yet. So many possibilities, so much to keep us guessing!
Dexter the family man – As a viewer I was sitting there dreading the moment when Dexter would have to tell his step kids, Astor and Cody, that their mother was dead. Of course it was gutting to watch those kids have to take such awful news, but as this show sometimes does, black comedy worked very successfully and did not take away from the tragedy of the scene. With the kids having just returned from Disney World, Dexter finds himself having to break the news while wearing a Mickey ears hat, and Michael C. Hall also got to temporarily channel David Fisher with the line ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’ Older daughter Astor does not take the news well at all and lashes out at Dexter, and Dexter later toys with the idea of fleeing to give the children a better life before being urged to return by the ever-present ghost of Harry. Now that they’ve got that out of the way I really don’t think they’ll return to it again, which means that we’re going to see Dexter as a single father to three kids. What kind of father will he be? Will Astor accept him or will things get worse? Just how hard will it be to balance work, killing and kids without Rita? Will baby Harrison have psychological damage from the time spent at the crime scene?
