(S04E04) - "You're the one who wanted a challenge ... and now you've batted the beehive." - Harry to Dexter
That quote sums up this season in a blood spattered nutshell and really all of good television, for that matter. How do you reinvent a show that works without completely reinventing the wheel on which it got there?
In Dexter's case, it's giving America's most squeezably soft serial killer an opponent truly worthy of his skills and talent without boring the audience or completely overpowering or outing him. In other words, keep the shark in the cage so you don't even have the inkling of an opportunity to jump over it.
Last week's face off with a real, first-class scumbag managed to do just that, but it brought it right back to the "Jump the Shark" moment with its shocker ending. The show managed to drive their parents' Aston Martin DB9 home from the high school prom without speeding, crashing or scratching the thing, only to accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake as they pull up to the house and crash the damn thing right through the living room.
Dexter's hunt for the killer police officer was pure bloody fun. Zoey Kruger is someone that only a person without any heart, both figuratively and physically, couldn't hurt. She kills her whole family and blames the mess on a drug dealer killed in a separate incident because her killer instincts conflicted with being a mother. Kruger, played in a cold and alluring style by Christina Cox, gives Dexter a great opportunity to reevaluate his own position in life as a father and realizes the true benefit of killing her isn't just filling the hole left by his Dark Passenger's Kirstie Alley-sized appetite for destruction. He learns his true feelings about his wife and kids and that he's willing to be a good father over being a better killer. And if the rules of television physics are true (e.g. any object that remains in motion will eventually collide with another oncoming object to keep the plot moving), his devotion will be put to the ultimate test.
From the looks of things, Dexter's life could somehow collide with the Trinity Killer since he seems to be getting closer to hitting for his personal cycle of twisted death. His scenes continue to leave bread crumbs to the true nature of violent tendencies, and the pacing is good enough that just about anything could happen. The Trinity Killer could become some kind of weird space alien, sent to Earth to study the malleability of human flesh for a giant supercollider that needs a giant skin tarp. Prove me wrong at this point.
Then all this warm television goodness comes to a screeching halt with what could be the show's official "Jumping the Shark" moment or "Nuking the Fridge" moment or "Picking up According to Jim" moment or whatever the official phrase is for a show that has reached its point of no return. Debra and Lundy's mysterious shooting was jarring and had me aching to know the trigger man, but what happens then? How can a show get better without killing off the entire cast Dynasty style?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-20-2009 @ 3:59AM
Ashley Boyd said...
So there are what, three paragraphs dedicated to overstretched metaphors but nothing about the ending?
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10-20-2009 @ 5:23AM
J. said...
Was it just me or was that ending similar to one the on ER where Dr. Carter and Lucy Knight both get stabbed by the schizoid patient and both wind up facing each other lying helpless on the ground?
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10-20-2009 @ 6:03AM
diipa said...
Trinity killed lundy and only wounded debra. Framed it as a robbery. You heard it from me first!
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10-20-2009 @ 11:00AM
MJL said...
Really going out on a limb there huh?
10-20-2009 @ 6:14AM
Dennis said...
I expected Lundy to become the third victim...
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10-20-2009 @ 7:29AM
bruce said...
Well of course the triggerman is Trinity. Trinity killed Lundy and hurt (but not mortally) Dexter's sister - so now Dexter is personally involved. The only clue as to Trinity's identity will be the description of him on Lundy's tape recorder.
I'm really upset that Lundy was killed off. He was one of my favorite characters, I was thrilled to see him back this season (totally unexpected), and to have him killed off was a big disappointment for me.
Oh well. That disappointment was somewhat mitigated by Dexter's victim this week - I usually don't care too much, but for some reason I really got a lot of pleasure out of watching Dexter go after this one evil cop. Maybe it's b/c I don't like cops and find them inherently corrupt, but for the first time I was really cheering Dexter on as he hunted her down, and got a big smile when he put the knife in her. A murderous cop is a far worse villain than someone like, say, Freebo. Or some random gang-banger.
On another note, it seems Dexter is coming to the realization that Rita and the kids are more important than Harry's Rules. Maybe even Rule #1 (don't get caught). Though getting caught would destroy Rita and the kids, a two birds with one stone sorta thing....
I hope this season don't end up being comprised of nothing more than Dexter learning to be a dad, a "kill of the week" and a little bit about the Trinity killer sprinkled in each episode only to cumulate with Dexter killing Trinity at the end of the season. That would make this the first season of Dexter not better than the previous season. For a show that keeps getting better and better to take a big step backwards would really suck since there's so little good TV on these days.
I really wish Lundy didn't have to die. I would have liked to have seen Deb dumb Anton, who is worthless and annoying, and end up with Lundy. Yeah he's old, but he is good for her. She needs a calming, steady, stable influence and Lundy was ideal. Now he's dead. Damn.
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10-20-2009 @ 12:17PM
collin said...
Somehow... I liked this review better.
10-20-2009 @ 12:20PM
collin said...
Bruce's review, that is.
Sorry Danny, but your review borders on Dennis Miller's MNF rants.
10-20-2009 @ 12:59PM
Ken said...
THIS is the type of review I expected when I read the story. Good job, Bruce.
10-21-2009 @ 9:16AM
afg said...
Bruce - GREAT review! The only place where you and I differ is that I do not feel that season 3 was better than season 2. I think season 2 was the strongest thus far, followed closely by season 1.
Lundy rocks as a character and Carradine nailed that performance. He had a great effect on both Dexter and Deb. The writers could have done so much more with him. Once again Dexter got an easy out.
10-20-2009 @ 7:57AM
patrick said...
what's with the jumping the shark ending references? hell if anything, i'd say the show got back on track. I've been wondering since dex's car flipped over when something interesting was going to happen again.
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10-20-2009 @ 8:40AM
Jack said...
I agree the "jumping the shark" references are premature (and tiresome. Someone in the TV writing biz make a new catchphrase!).
And of course the shooter was Trinity. He saw Lundy was getting way too close. It's not a "Dallas" style mystery!
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10-20-2009 @ 8:50AM
Jables said...
"So there are what, three paragraphs dedicated to overstretched metaphors..."
Seriously guy. Easy on the metaphors next time.
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10-20-2009 @ 8:53AM
Eric H said...
And Nuking the Fridge, that a movie term, not a TV term, snark correctly if you are gonna snark at all.
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10-20-2009 @ 10:31AM
freedom55 said...
Very strange review. Please just say what you mean. What is with the strange Kirstie Alley "fat joke" in the middle of a Dexter review.
As far as 'Jumping the shark" This show is about as far away from that as you can get! It was a great episode that drove the story forward and the big AH HA momentt was not the cliffhanger at the end, but Dex realizing that he actually has some real human feelings for his family! A great scene, acted perfectly!
I am sorry to see Lundy go too (if he really is dead?)
10-20-2009 @ 12:41PM
MacGuffin said...
The review sucked, but it was a damn good episode.
Beyond all the details, its always a good sign of a show when the kill off great characters. That indicates there are no sacred cows and anyone could be offed. Hate to see Lundy go, because Keith Carradine was awesome in this role.
BTW, the triggerman is Anton. Jealous BF.
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10-20-2009 @ 1:05PM
FNB said...
What's with everyone thinking the killer was Trinity? Trinity isn't just a murderer he's a psychopath, everything he does has to fill a pattern. The obvious killers are the Vacation Murderers, who up until this moment have been a major undercurrent without a point, this was the point of them. It was in a crappy motel (well the parking lot) just like the other murders, and they took his wallet. Anyone who disagrees, im taking bets.
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10-20-2009 @ 1:21PM
Eldritch said...
Bravo. My thoughts exactly. It's can't be Trinity. That's too direct and obvious. It was the Tourist Killer.
10-20-2009 @ 3:09PM
metajerk said...
Ah, see I thought it was Trinity disguising it as the Vacation Murderers, after he read the paper and realized he was found out. If this is the case I imagine Dexter will realize whom it really was and go after him.
10-21-2009 @ 5:19PM
Steve said...
I think it's Trinity.
Here's my theory. Towards the end, there was that strange scene where Trinity picked a fight with a complete stranger and let himself get beat up. Perhaps he did that to mimic a "revenge" murder that happened a while back, so he'd be able to justify shooting Lundi.
And moreover, why did Trinity intentionally bump into Lundi in an earlier scene? Does he want to get caught? Did he want to talk to the person he was eventually going to murder? Did he steal some kind of identification?
Any thoughts on this?