1x08 Unfair Game

[5.8/10] Criticizing Dexter for being implausible is a bit unfair at this point. The show’s always had a loose-at-best connection to reality. So if you’ve tolerated that for eight seasons, what’s a ninth?

That said, Kurt Caldwell’s goon chasing Dexter through the woods post-car crash was a bridge too far for me. I don’t know why. Dexter has always had sequences that amount to supervillains doing battle with one another. But something about the pair getting into a car crash, with Dexter getting shot in the leg and the goon getting garroted, while they’re both still able to stalk one another for what appears to be hours, verges into the absurd.

It reminds me of Deb swerving her car into the water with Dex inside late in season 8, where a random bystander rescues them and is then never heard from again. It plays as too convenient an out for dex being kidnapped by the bad guy’s mook, and a cheap excuse for a stalking sequence.

That sequence isn’t even particularly good! The direction and cinematography is fine, but nothing to write home about. The goon is forgettable. The only cool moment is Dexter bursting through the mirror to tackle him. Even that feels a touch silly and unbelievable, albeit mildly justifiable through the coolness alone. The whole thing comes off cheap and unnecessary though.

I’m similarly sanguine about Angela putting the pieces together that there’s much more to Jim Lindsay and even to Dexter Morgan than she’d realized. Dexter fans have seen this song and dance so many times already. We saw it with Doakes. We saw it with Deb. We saw it with Quinn. And we saw it with LaGuerta. Maybe the endgame will be interesting, but the series has gone to the “someone close to Dexter might find out his secret!” well so many times that it has very little power anymore, even with a long break between outings.

Plus, there’s not much intrigue to Angela’s scenes because the audience already knows everything she’s uncovered. So there’s no real tension. I want to give New Blood credit for playing fair, having her connect the dots on ketamine injections and find the commonality per Batista’s advice. But in practice, the scenes come off as dull.

I wasn’t even a big fan of the scenes with Kurt and Harrison, which are theoretically the most character focused. Kurt’s grooming of Harrison is undeniably insidious. And I can appreciate the poetry and thematic heft of Harrison struggling with his feelings about his father, and so turning to someone who has both issues with his own father and issues with his son. You can see the two actually bonding, and why they would, while Kurt encourages Harrison to embrace the same sort of pain and anger that he feels.

It just goes on forever, and everything’s written on the screen. I generally like the performances, and I particularly appreciate that Kurt seems to genuinely like Harrison but feels compelled to complete his ritual anyway. It gives him a little more depth and makes him a little less cackling. But their scenes are a bit too staid and too blunt to have much meaning.

Of course, then Dexter’s part of this takes over and it turns into an implausible “I try to run you down with my car and miss, and you leave your gun but go running off in the woods” bout of absurdity. Again, it’s churlish to complain. This has been Dexter’s M.O. since the beginning, but it feels pretty tiresome to me now in a way it didn’t then.

That said, once again, I still appreciate the emotional undercurrent of the relationship between Dexter and Harrison. Harrison is disappointed with his father, feels alienated from him, because he thinks they’re too different. Only, when Dexter opens up to him, explains how he too has dark urges and wants to help his son deal with them, that they form a real emotional connection and he’s able to give Harrison what he really needs. The reconciliation happens a little fast, but it’s heartwarming enough to get a pass from me.

What’s more, the lesson is strong. Dexter holds parts of himself back, because he’s (understandably) worried about passing on his damage to Harrison. But it’s only when he’s open and honest with Harrison that he’s able to break through and truly help him. Only then can both father and son give and get what they truly needed. A show about a serial killer isn’t a great place to go for moral instruction, but you can find worse parenting advice out there.

Overall, most of this one felt tedious or downright cheesy to me. But the episode gets some credit for building to the catharsis of Dexter and Harrison’s reunion.