Monday, November 28, 2011
Recap City / Television 'Dexter' Season 6, Episode 9
Posted by Marc Schultz on Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 9:32 AM
- Showtime
- "Wait a second, do we know you?"
Let’s start with the most significant reveal, which in lots of ways was the most obvious. I forget when Dexter started referring to Gellar as Travis’s “dark passenger” (last episode? The one before that?), but he does it so much this episode, starting from the first line, it made me wonder if Dexter also suspects—like viewers across the blogosphere have been suspecting for weeks—that Gellar is just Babyhanks’s murderous imaginary friend.
Turns out he does not suspect, but then I didn’t much either—I’m kind of slow, especially for a professional recap artist. But that voiceover had me reviewing in my head all the hints dropped last week, from Gellar popping up whenever Travis found himself alone to Gellar’s last-minute disappearing act. Looking back further, it seems like the episode Dexter spent with the ghost of his brother, the Ice Cream Truck Killer—one of a very few bright spots this season—was basically just a way for the showrunners to demonstrate how a dark passenger (like, say, a Doomsday Killer) can take over in times of murderous agitation without its host realizing. That episode also demonstrated how the dark passenger can be defied, with the right kind of moral objection. (Which, I can’t help thinking, will likely be the way Dex gets Travis to let Deb go after Travis kidnaps her in a forthcoming episode.)
All of which makes it pretty clear that Gellar is already dead, and that Travis is really in charge of the doomsday killing spree. And when Dexter finds a trap door to the basement, and the only thing they’ve bothered to light down there is a deep freezer, the coming reveal couldn’t be more obvious: Gellar’s in the freezer, already dead, and Travis has you trapped. Yawn.
Anyone who didn’t have suspicions about Masuka’s intern shuffle probably just hasn’t been paying attention, and I can’t really blame them: it’s the literally the dullest Dexter subplot ever, handily beating out the previous record-holder, Laguerta and Batista’s romance. Fortunately for you, Dexter reminds us about the Ice Cream Truck Killer mannequin hand that the intern took down from the internet, then shows us the intern’s suspiciously fancy apartment full of “collectibles,” and then making “collecting” the topic of conversation, and then just going ahead and showing you the ICTK souvenir sitting under an end table. Don’t get me wrong now: just because something’s predictable doesn’t mean it isn’t intriguing. And yet, somehow, YAWN.
Competing for the title of Most Obvious and Irrelevant plotline is the hooker OD case. From the moment Laguerta showed up at the crime scene, we knew she was covering for the dead hooker’s John. Since there’s really only one character she can cover for—her boss, Matthews—it’s barely worth registering the reveal that Matthews is, indeed, the John she’s covering for. YAWWWWWN.
At least Deb is getting slightly more interesting. I like how she confuses Dexter with her “you’re a chair, I want a table” thing, and her new “break the pattern” directive can only mean good things on a show that’s terminally stuck in a rut. The murder scene was pretty boss, too. And it’s hard not to enjoy Quinn and Batista trying to beat the crap out of each other. Also, maybe they’ll be stranded with the broke-down Trans Am for the rest of the season! Well, a man can dream, can’t he?
Finally, some use for Travis:
- How did Dexter discover that atheism professor in the first place? I think I missed the connection between “2Lot” and the faculty director.
- Wait, does the guy with the IP address live in the park? And who in the world has their IP address memorized, especially someone who doesn’t bother to secure his signal? Isn’t that suspicious in itself?
- How did Travis have time to grab the professor, hide him, and then get Dexter out of the elevator? In fact, how did Travis make that elevator stop from the outside? And FOR GOD’S SAKE WHEN IS DEXTER GOING TO KILL SOMEONE AGAIN?
- Why does Dexter continue to say things like “I hate to root against my own team”? ALL HE EVER DOES IS ROOT AGAINST HIS OWN TEAM.
- “When it comes to matters of the heart, always follow your dick.”
- “Oh my God, we took pictures.”
- “I know a few people who aren’t using their identities.”
- Oh yeah, and apparently Dexter Jr. made it into that Catholic school after all, and Dexter’s a good daddy because he helps out at snack time. But as he explains to Ghost Dad, he needs to kill Gellar in order “to be a better father to Harrison.” Because, uh, better fathering through bloody vengeance?
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