Monday, October 5, 2009
Uncategorized 'Dexter:' Season 4, Episode 2
Posted by Curt Holman @Curt_Holman on Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 7:34 PM
One of my favorite running gags on the recently-retired animated sitcom “King of the Hill” would show a Spanish-language soap opera running on various characters’ televisions. It was called “Los Dios y Los Noches de Monsignor Montenegro” and presented the torrid adventures of an ass-kicking man of the cloth in mirrored sunglasses. He’d whisper his catch-phrase “Vaya… con Dios!” before, say, whipping out an Uzi at a baptismal font.
Watching “Dexter,” it’s so easy to get caught up in Michael C. Hall’s performance as a different kind of avenging angel that one forgets how soap operatic the Showtime series can be. Whenever “Dexter’s” subplots take telenovela-worthy turns, I usually make “Monsignor Montenegro” reference. They’ve been coming fast and furioso in the fourth season, with one regular now entering a potential love triangle, and two others having a secret affair. “Dexter’s” version of the Miami police department looks more like the set of a day-time drama, anyway: ever thought about how uniformly young and hot the cast is? Is it too much to ask for the precinct to have a Dennis Franz type? One imagines that the equivalent of a grizzled vet in this department would be a 29 year-old former J. Crew model.
The new episode, “Remains to be Seen,” features a reliable soap opera gimmick: amnesia induced by a blow to the head. In this case, at least, the script feels closer to the realm of possibility, as Dexter’s concussion gives him short-term memory loss after he flips the family minivan. (In)conveniently enough, the only thing he can’t remember is what he did with the body of his latest victim, so he has to retrace his steps and stay ahead of his colleagues and family while shotgunning Red Bull. I remember the idea of keeping a concussion victim awake from a "MASH" episode that had Hawkeye Pierce delivering a 20-minute monologue.
If you can get past the contrivance, the memory loss offered a snappy, suspenseful episode while we’re waiting for the Trinity storyline to hit high gear. It’s like a mini-Memento, that Guy Pearce noir flick, and it’s fun seeing our anti-hero race the clock and, in effect, match wits with himself. Dexter provides a formidable opponent for Dexter.
I especially welcome the return of “rock star FBI profiler Frank Lundy” because he’s one the rare characters on the show who seems like a match for our secret suburban serial killer. With all due respect to Sgt. Doakes, Miguel Prado and The Skinner, none of Dexter’s antagonists have really seemed in his league since the Ice Truck Killer from Season One. (I wonder if “Dexter’s” creators patterned him after Scott Glenn’s character in The Silence of the Lambs?) Keith Carradine radiates cool professionalism in the role, kind of like a zen cowboy, and reminds me of the more dissipated take he gave in a comparable performance as Wild Bill Hickock on the early episodes of “Deadwood.”
Lundy/Carradine might seem smart just because he has a high forehead – but no one’s got a higher forehead than John Lithgow, which might not bode well. After last week’s nude killings, it's a relief to see Lithgow wears clothes this week. The first time we see him, he’s written the “sever” in “several” on a crossword puzzle, but generally maintains a "nice guy" front that would be wholly convincing if we hadn't already seen his depravity. He even uses a dog for a cover story, then discards it. The cad!
Dexter, however, finds it nearly impossible to put an affable face on his sociopathic behavior this week. I love those shots when Michael C. Hall turns away from one of Dexter's pals, all smiling and normal, and then she goes into slow motion and his face turns into a brooding mask of wrath as the "dark passenger" voice-over kicks in. In a small way, Dexter gets busted this week when Rita discovers the severity of the car accident and shows up at his office pushing The Stroller of Blame. Dexter's attempts to make everything seem okay backfire on him again. Which reminds me: does Rita (or anyone) still think Dexter's a recovering drug addict, which was a big deal in Season 2 but seems to have been forgotten?
In the soap opera stuff, Lt. Aguerta (Lauren Vélez) and Sgt. Angel Batista (David Zayas) continue to make a sweet couple, and their relationship informs a nice scene between Aguerta and Deb, which makes you forget they used to be arch-enemies. Of course, workplace romances always cause trouble, and this week – oh noes! – Aguerta emasculates Batista in the Tourist Murders case (which looks to be shaping up as a recurring ‘B’ plot on the show). It looks like the ho-hum corruption subplot with Quinn will finally come up again, with the Improbably Hot Reporter substituting for last season's Improbably Hot Internal Affairs Cop. Will anyone bust Quinn? Will Deb throw over Anton for Lundy? Will Aguerta and Batista take their relationship public? Until next week, vaya… con Dios!
Comments (2)
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I really liked this article. Me and my girl have been watching these episodes like mad the last few weeks until last weekend, and we noticed a lot of these trends we weren't to impressed with that were reoccurring, though we love Dexter on the whole. Your article puts quite well and nice a lot of the things we are having problems with, mostly looking at this new fourth season. The first episode was quite a 'What the hell?!' after another 'Really?!' followed by 'Dang it' a few times. To note most, these love-live issues are the ones that disappoint us the most.
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