Tonight's excellent Dexter 7.6 was an episode in double entendre. Dexter tells Hannah he wants to take her out. She thinks he means on a date. His voice-over narration tells us he means it as a hit - he wants to kill her in the classic Dexter manner. But we and he both know he also means something different - close to a date and what can happen after, if the date is not with a serial killer.
I've been figuring all along - see my review last week of Dexter 7.5 - that the contest in Dexter's mind between wanting to kill Hannah and wanting to nail her - in the erotic sense - would be won by the sex. Obviously there's been a strong sexual attraction in evidence. It was a close call tonight. But Dexter is, in his own way, getting better - i.e., a bit more able to break away from his way of life and death. He did get rid of the trophy slides, after all. And although Deb's attempt to cure him obviously didn't work completely or even mostly, it seems to have worked a little.
Because tonight, the combination of Dexter's healthy libido and his slight healing of serial killer urges resulted in something far different between him and Hannah. He knocks her out with his needle and puts her on the table. He tapes her mouth and body and then removes the tape from her mouth. He lifts his knife in the classic Dexter way and plunges it-
Into the table and then the tape binding Hannah. In the eternal battle between libido and thanatos that Freud saw metaphorically waging in all human beings, but which waged in Dexter literally tonight, libido won. Sex and life won over death.
It was good to see. Life is better than death. Dex and Hannah looked good on that table. When the two were standing outside the amusement park, all locked up, and Hannah asks Dex how they would get inside, he responds - by "breaking and entering". And you could say that's also what happened in the rest of the episode tonight. Dexter broke his ritual, and, well, entered Hannah.
Meanwhile, in the other most compelling part of the season, LaGuerta continues her probe of the Bay Harbor Butcher. Each week we get another facet from Dexter's six earlier seasons. Tonight is was Jordan Chase, Dexter's target in the Lumen year (Season 5). Deb even says Lumen's name at some point, inviting a comparison - at least, in my mind - between Lumen and Hannah.
No comparison. Hannah's much better - and will be a much better ally or whatever for Dexter as LaGuerta closes in.
And see also Dexter Season 6 Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 6.4: Two Numbers and Two Killers Equals? ... Dexter 6.5 and 6.6: Decisive Sam ... Dexter 6.7: The State of Nebraska ... Dexter 6.8: Is Gellar Really Real? .... Dexter 6.9: And Gellar Is ... ... Dexter's Take on Videogames in 6.10 ...Dexter and Debra: Dexter 6.11 ... Dexter Season 6 Finale: Through the Eyes of a Different Love
And see also Dexter Season Five Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 5.4: Dexter's Conscience ...Dexter 5.8 and Lumen ... Dexter 5.9: He's Getting Healthier ... Dexter 5.10: Monsters -Worse and Better ... Dexter 5.11: Sneak Preview with Spoilers ... Dexter Season 5 Finale: Behind the Curtain
And 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 ...4.9: Trinity's Surprising Daughter ... 4.10: More than Trinity ... 4.11: The "Soulless, Anti-Family Schmuck" ... 4.12: Revenges and Recapitulations
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 ReviewReviews 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
I've been figuring all along - see my review last week of Dexter 7.5 - that the contest in Dexter's mind between wanting to kill Hannah and wanting to nail her - in the erotic sense - would be won by the sex. Obviously there's been a strong sexual attraction in evidence. It was a close call tonight. But Dexter is, in his own way, getting better - i.e., a bit more able to break away from his way of life and death. He did get rid of the trophy slides, after all. And although Deb's attempt to cure him obviously didn't work completely or even mostly, it seems to have worked a little.
Because tonight, the combination of Dexter's healthy libido and his slight healing of serial killer urges resulted in something far different between him and Hannah. He knocks her out with his needle and puts her on the table. He tapes her mouth and body and then removes the tape from her mouth. He lifts his knife in the classic Dexter way and plunges it-
Into the table and then the tape binding Hannah. In the eternal battle between libido and thanatos that Freud saw metaphorically waging in all human beings, but which waged in Dexter literally tonight, libido won. Sex and life won over death.
It was good to see. Life is better than death. Dex and Hannah looked good on that table. When the two were standing outside the amusement park, all locked up, and Hannah asks Dex how they would get inside, he responds - by "breaking and entering". And you could say that's also what happened in the rest of the episode tonight. Dexter broke his ritual, and, well, entered Hannah.
Meanwhile, in the other most compelling part of the season, LaGuerta continues her probe of the Bay Harbor Butcher. Each week we get another facet from Dexter's six earlier seasons. Tonight is was Jordan Chase, Dexter's target in the Lumen year (Season 5). Deb even says Lumen's name at some point, inviting a comparison - at least, in my mind - between Lumen and Hannah.
No comparison. Hannah's much better - and will be a much better ally or whatever for Dexter as LaGuerta closes in.
See also Dexter Season 7.1-3: Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 7.4: The Lesson in Speltzer's Smoke ... Dexter 7.5: Terminator Isaac
And see also Dexter Season 6 Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 6.4: Two Numbers and Two Killers Equals? ... Dexter 6.5 and 6.6: Decisive Sam ... Dexter 6.7: The State of Nebraska ... Dexter 6.8: Is Gellar Really Real? .... Dexter 6.9: And Gellar Is ... ... Dexter's Take on Videogames in 6.10 ...Dexter and Debra: Dexter 6.11 ... Dexter Season 6 Finale: Through the Eyes of a Different Love
And see also Dexter Season Five Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 5.4: Dexter's Conscience ...Dexter 5.8 and Lumen ... Dexter 5.9: He's Getting Healthier ... Dexter 5.10: Monsters -Worse and Better ... Dexter 5.11: Sneak Preview with Spoilers ... Dexter Season 5 Finale: Behind the Curtain
And 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 ...4.9: Trinity's Surprising Daughter ... 4.10: More than Trinity ... 4.11: The "Soulless, Anti-Family Schmuck" ... 4.12: Revenges and Recapitulations
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 ReviewReviews 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
2 comments:
It's the Bay HARBOR Butcher, not City.
Thanks - I've corrected - I must've had the Bay City Rollers on my mind...
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