I started bringing Season 3 to work with me on my 16-hour shifts Saturdays and Sundays. There is only so much cleaning you can do after midnight when everyone is sleeping, so I need to keep my mind occupied and alert. Dexter is just the person for that.
Season 3 starts off with the relief of pinning Dexter's Bay Harbor Butcher tendencies on Sgt. Doakes, and Lila killing him in the process. With Lila slain by our antihero, we start off a new year with a pregnant Rita, and Batista as the Detective in charge of everyone. You would think this might cause conflict, but it doesn't, considering Batista's likability and work ethic.
Dexter finds a killer drug dealer named Freebo and goes into his house to try to kill him. What he doesn't expect is another man there, trying to find Freebo as well. Dexter and this man get into it, and in self defense (for once) Dexter kills him with his own weapon. Dexter flees the scene and panics, hoping that he covered all of his tracks in the heat of passion.
The man he killed turns out to be the brother of the powerful District Attorney, Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits). Dexter's sister is of course leading this investigation in hopes to get her detective shield, and Dexter is in even more trouble than before. Miguel confides in Dexter, and starts spending time with him, becoming his first true "friend". This is fine on the surface, but conflicts with Dexter's obvious extracurricular activities.
Dexter finds Freebo and kills him systematically, only to be caught red handed outside by Miguel Prado who was searching for his brother's alleged murderer. Dexter freezes, but makes up a story about self defense and wanting to catch the bastard that killed Oscar (Miguel's brother). Miguel hugs him and thanks him, and walks away. What? He walks away? Yeah.
No, normally I would think this guy is cool, and I do think that for a lot of episodes. So does Dexter. Him and Rita double date with him and his wife, Silvia, and Dexter seems to be normal. he goes against Phantom-like visions of his father as a conscience, and embraces this new friendship. Who can blame him? He's been alone...forever. Even with Rita, we know he is alone.
This year instead of screwing the lead detective, Debra sleeps with a confidential informant named Anton. He was hired by a new white guy detective named Quinn, but the paperwork was shabby, and put the three of them in a lot of paper-work type danger. Even though Freebo was killed by Dexter, there is another killer connected to him called The Skinner, and he ends up getting Anton in his grasp. Debra just can't win when it comes to he vagina, can she? Oh well, maybe next year.
The series goes on, and Batista gets a love interest, Quinn turns out to be a decent guy, and they save Anton before he dies. They find out that The Skinner is a tree trimmer, and narrow his profile down. Debra finds a key witness and gets him to talk, but doesn't take into consideration that he is only a child. She ends up getting him skinned and killed in the process, and is haunted the rest of the season for it.
Dexter and Miguel end up spending so much time together that Miguel calls Dexter out on his vigilantism. He says that he respects him and that he wants in. He helps Dexter find victims to slay, but quickly gets carried away when he mentions Defense Attorney Ellen Wolfe. She, like Miguel, like pretty much every sad bastard that gets killed on this show, is very close with Captain Maria LaGuerta. She fights daily with Miguel, and he begs Dexter to kill her after he gets a few lessons in "Harry's Code". Dexter refuses, saying she hasn't killed anyone directly, but is only doing her job. Miguel doesn't like that, and pays her a visit by himself.
Dexter finds out quickly of Miguel's disloyalty and confronts his friend. Miguel plays it off as a mistake that he should easily forgive, and tells him that he knows all of his secrets. He also gives him the shirt he was wearing the night Dexter killed Freebo, which has the deceased's blood on it. It is incriminating and Dexter could use it at anytime. Or so he says... Dexter tests the blood on the shirt only to find that it belongs to a cow, and that his friend has been lying to him this entire time. His "Friend" has been using him for his own volition, and he was blind to it the whole time. Dexter has a fantasy of tearing his lab apart and screaming Miguel's name angrily at the top of his lungs before blinking the thought out of his mind. This was really nice to see, considering we never see Dexter lose control like that. A real human moment for him. Very nice work, Michael C. Hall.
We soon find out that Miguel let The Skinner go free, and sicks him on Dexter in exchange for the favor. He gets caught cheating by his wife, and thinks that Dexter was behind it besides other things. Surprisingly, Dexter had nothing to do with it, and karma just kind of worked itself out. It also works out when Dexter sticks a needle in his "friend"'s neck and kills him in the way The Skinner does, and leaves his body out in the open. A perfect way to end a terrible friendship.
This scene was beautiful. As morbid as it sounds, the cinematography was the best it has ever been on this show. He strangles Miguel, and the color seems to leave Dexter's face instead of Miguel's. His face goes from tan to pale to white to almost blue, the background fading completely to black. Does this symbolize the loss of a friend? The loss of someone he could trust? Is he back to a heartless monster? Or is it relief? I think it's the latter.
Dexter gets ready for his wedding day, but is captured by The Skinner. He anticlimactically outsmarts the skinner while being hogtied, and escapes with a broken wrist. Debra finds out where The Skinner was hiding, and Dexter throws his body from the rafters onto a cop car before escaping into the trees.
He arrives at the church with a cast, and him and Rita get married. Debra is his new Best Man, considering that Miguel was his first choice, and Dexter has its first "Happy" ending. It seemed a little out of character, but the narration of our hero says that he might actually feel happy, like it is a new and strange thing. The way it is filmed compared to the rest of the season definitely sets this moment apart from everything else. Who knows what happiness his new child will bring to him in Season 4? Only time and DVD's can tell.
I think this was the best season of Dexter to date.
Great jeorb.
No comments:
Post a Comment