The enemy of my enemy is my friend on 'Dexter'

With Dexter approaching its second season finale, this seems like a good time to check in with a recap, take a look-see how fans are responding.

[This recap will feed spoilers to you like so many drug deals to the alligators.]

One of the most intriguing things about this season of Dexter has been the collapsing time frame. While there was suspense in the show's first year, there was less urgency. Dexter killed at his own leisurely pace and, up until the last two or three episodes, the Ice Truck Killer wasn't a pressing concern either.

From what I can tell, the show's second season has taken place over the course of one or two weeks and the past two or three episodes have been packed into a matter of days. Lundy's investigation has been spectacularly efficient and the result has been that Dexter has been scrambling all season, fighting for his own life, rather than taking others. For some fans, the absence of Dexter-approved carnage has been a problem, the absence of a victim-of-the-week somehow draining the main character of his essence.

Of course, that's what this season has been about. Killing his brother left Dexter impotent and unsure of his identity. The brief run in AA was about Dexter attempting to master his desires and Lila entered as a sexually voracious drug that proved to be even more self-destructive than serial murder.

Sunday (Dec. 9) night's episode, then, was another example of Dexter reevaluating himself.

The episode's best moment, to my mind, was Dexter sitting quietly with Angel trying to reassure his colleague that Lila's trumped up date rape accusations wouldn't stick.

"You know Angel, if I got to choose a person, like a real person, to be like, out of anyone, it'd be you," Dexter told him. Angel didn't know what to make of the confession, but as played by the always-superior Michael C. Hall, it was a moment of sublime revelation. Dexter hasn't exactly had a lot of role models over the years, a lot of positive figures to dream of emulating. Recent episodes have, in fact, focused on the weakening of his father's hold, both of Harry's code, but also of the bond Dexter felt to the man who ultimately killed himself rather than face what his son became.

That conversation with Angel was the start of a brief period of doubt on Dexter's part, doubt that culminated in the second best scene in the episode. I'm not sure why it took Doakes so long to escape from the flimsy cage in the cabin, but it wasn't surprising that once Erik King's character broke out, he ran afoul of the drug dealers Dexter had summoned. Nearly as good as Dexter's realization of his Angel-idolatry was Doakes realizing that as bad as Dexter was, his sociopathic former captor was still a better bet for salvation than two pushers with no grasp of English. Being able to speak English to Dexter and appeal to his conscience was an advantage Doakes didn't have with the dealers.

"I've really enjoyed our conversations, James," Dexter said. "I lie to everyone I know, except for my victims, right before I kill them. It's hard to establish much of a rapport there."

That caused Dexter to temporarily contemplate turning himself in, taking the steps necessary to set up the women in his life, to establish a living trust for Deb and leave Rita with the minivan. Of course, he later came to realize that Deb and Rita depend on him.

"You decide who you are, who you wanna be and you hold onto that, ride it out," he discovered.

Other thoughts on the episode:

E-mail

• Digg
• Facebook
• Fark
• Yahoo Buzz
• Stumbleupon