Protégé or Predator
At the end of last week, Dexter decided to spare Zach Hamilton’s life, opting instead to teach the young killer “Harry’s Code” as per Vogel’s suggestion.
Zach is eager, showing up at Dexter’s apartment, which Dexter tells him can never happen again. Dexter also recommends that he gets a job and starts developing a cover life. When Zach shrugs off the idea citing his familial wealth, Dex puts him in his place, telling him, “You’re weird and you live with your mom.”
Note to every weird guy that lives with his mom reading this: Dexter thinks that makes you look like a potential serial killer. Maybe you want to change things up a little, get a place of your own.
Dexter and Dr. Vogel have a conversation about Zach, during which Vogel reminds Dexter that he was able to keep his urges in check through until he was 19 because (1) he had Harry by his side, and (2) he hadn’t killed before, but those elements don’t hold true for Zach.
The onus is on Dexter to be a good guide for his new student, and he has to understand that since Zach has already killed, he’s likely to want to kill again… soon.
After getting a helping hand from Zach at the exclusive club, Dexter schedules a meeting with him, but blows him off when he goes to see Hannah.
Pissed off, Zach turns up at Dexter’s apartment (doesn’t he listen?!), hammering on the door until Cassie pops her head out from next door to inform Zach that it appears Dexter is out, and ask if there is a message, to which Zach responds with something I’m not allowed to type in this space.
That call that broke up Dexter and Hannah’s quiet moment in the parking lot and summoned our blood spatter expert to his own apartment complex is actually a call for the apartment next to his double unit.
Cassie’s dead, and Dexter immediately wonders if Zach is responsible. “Can anything good come from putting two killers together?” he wonders, connecting the episode’s two main stories, setting us up from what should be (hopefully will be) a strong closing stretch in the week’s ahead.
Quick Hitters
Jamie and Quinn are moving in together, and Angel’s not happy about it. Seriously, that’s the extent of what we got from this story this week. Oh yeah, Quinn got in trouble for tailing Zach Hamilton, and told to knock it off.
Masuka reconciles with his daughter after last week’s “Here’s a bunch of money” fiasco, and goes to visit her at the “sports bar” she works at. I use quotes on sports bar because it’s a topless establishment, and Masuka gets weirded out by seeing his daughter’s boobs. She’s says the gig is temporary, he gets Angel to agree to hire a lab assistant, and when he pitches the job to Nikki, she declines. The job may be temporary, but evidently you make more than $13.75/hour working at a topless sports bar in Miami.
Elway gets a little more screen time this week. Deb snaps at him about something, and instead of walking away, he calls her on it, ending his “I gave you a job, give you your space” rant with an emphatic “maybe be gracious instead of a bitch” or something to that effect. They later have an “I’m sorry/Don’t mention it” moment, and it’s pretty clear that Deb is eventually going to agree to go out with him.
Harrison ignores Deb when she comes to the house because he’s enthralled with Rastamouse. In case you were curious, Rastamouse is a real show, it’s available (in parts) on YouTube, and yes, I’ve watched a couple episodes.
My Two Cents
This show was full of “Really? That’s it?” moments, the biggest being Hannah doing absolutely nothing to the two people she drugged other than leaving Dexter on the side of the road on the outskirts of town.
I want to be more annoyed about it, and if the show weren’t coming to a close I probably would be. But as much as I hate hackneyed “this will work” moments like this, I can’t be too critical because we’re moving forward and I want to see how everything is going to end.
Ultimately, I guess that speaks to the way I’m watching Dexter right now. It’s really more of an “I want to see how they’re going to end it all” situation, as opposed to holding to the standards they set in the previous seven seasons. I’d have been pissed if The Wire went out like this, and the fact that I’m accepting of it from Dexter kind of leaves me feeling like the show has jumped the shark.
Or been left on the side of the road.
Until next week… it’s been a slice.
