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Monday, November 23, 2009

Dexter 4.9: Trinity's Surprising Daughter

This season of Dexter has been exulting in surprises ... Debra and Lundy being gunned down ... the Trinity killer not the man who fired that gun, after all ... and tonight's Episode 4.9 pulled out a last-minute stunner at the top of its league ...

The set up: a tale of two Thanksgivings - chez Dexter and chez Trinity killer - and Dex is at both of them (not at the same time - this isn't Fringe - but even so).

At Dex's, Rita allows the pain-in-the-A neighbor to kiss her, and Vince sees it. I never liked Rita, as I've said here before. I admit she looks great this season, but her character is like fingernails on the blackboard. But even she's preferable to -

Thanksgiving at the Trinities. The TK is emerging as a monster in all aspects of his life. Tonight we see him terrorizing his son, who wishes him dead, and pleads with Dex to join the unhappy family for Thanksgiving, to keep the monster in check. Before that little visit is over, Trinity's 15-year old daughter comes on to Dexter, the Trinity killer almost kills his son, and Dex almost kills Trinity.

That last act is the most damaging to Dexter, since, as he aptly says to himself, now Trinity has seen the monster in him, Dexter. One of the reasons this has been such a spectacular season of Dexter is that Trinity has made Dex not completely himself, violating Harry's code left and right. Killing Trinity with his - Trinity's - family in the next room would have been unthinkable to the more carefully controlled Dexter of prior years.

But I haven't gotten to the really sharp punch in the stomach surprise tonight. Trinity is reading the reporting in the paper on his exploits by Quinn's girlfriend Christine. In the last scene in 4.9, Trinity pays her a visit. She opens the door, sees a scowling Trinity standing there ... and says, "Hi, Dad."

Now, a lot of people - not me - have been saying all week that she was the most likely to have shot Lundy and Debra. The problem I had with Christine is that I didn't see any motive.

But as the older daughter of Trinity? Brilliant, like this whole season!







5-min podcast review of Dexter


See also
Dexter Season 4: Sneak Preview Review ... The Family Man on Dexter 4.5 ... Dexter on the Couch in 4.6 ... Dexter 4.7: 'He Can't Kill Bambi' ... Dexter 4.8: Great Mistakes

See also reviews of Season 3: Season's Happy Endings? ... Double Surprise ... Psychotic Law vs. Sociopath Science ... The Bright, Elusive Butterfly of Dexter ... The True Nature of Miguel ... Si Se Puede on Dexter ... and Dexter 3: Sneak Preview Review

Reviews of Season 2: Dexter's Back: A Preview and Dexter Meets Heroes and 6. Dexter and De-Lila-h and 7. Best Line About Dexter - from Lila and 8. How Will Dexter Get Out of This? and The Plot Gets Tighter and Sharper and Dex, Doakes, and Harry and Deb's Belief Saves Dex and All's ... Well

See also about Season 1: First Place to Dexter







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5 comments:

Unknown said...

Honestly, this season has been fantastic. The last minute curve ball was intense, I think Christine shot Deb. If you ponder it she has motive, she said earlier in the episode about how much Quin talked about Deb and cared about her, maybe it was jealousy, or maybe her father (Trinity / Arthur) had a hand in the fowl play, in the idea of getting Lundy out of the picture and off his trail.

Any one else have any input?

emurii said...

Christine's most obvious motive, I think, is the story. She's been saying how if she doesn't get a big story she's going to get fired. However, now that we know she's Trinity's daughter, I think it's also safe to speculate that she might have been trying to protect him.

dawn said...

All I can say about this episode is OMG. I know I sound like my kids but the first thing I did after seeing this episode is tell my husband(who doesn't watch) that They better win an emmy for this season and that I'm glad its only 50 minutes because I do not know if I could take more at one shot. Trinity is so scary and the whole dinner scene wow. What do you think dexter will do when he finds out about Rita. It will be very interesting. Oh and for the reporter to be his daughter genius. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving my dear friend

Paul Levinson said...

Hey, Dawn - my guess is Dex won't kill the neighbor, but he'll do something to dissuade him from pursuing Rita. You have a wonderful, warm Thanksgiving, too!

Welcome to Infinite Regress, Graham and Emurii.

Jill said...

I disagree, Paul. I think that at some point Dexter is going to set Rita and the kids free -- to go with Eliot or whomever or whatever.

Dexter has seen now what happens to people used as human shields for a sociopath. He's looked at Trinity's family and seen his own future.

There are strong elements of Pinocchio to the entire series. In some ways it's Dexter's journey to become a "real boy." But what would happen if he does? He would have to make amends for what he's done, which is murder even if it's people who got through the system or otherwise "deserved it". So how would this series end? Dexter's execution? Suicide? Either would be unsatisfying.

There's something tragic about Dexter Morgan. We saw it in the earlier episodes with the therapist. He's so torn between embracing his Dark Passenger (because that's all he knows) and becoming a Real Boy (with the attendant emotional stuff that goes along with that). I think that if not this season, then next season, he will set his family free and we will end up season 5 (and the series) with this sad, tragic man all alone with no one but his dark passenger.

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