Dexter: Resurrection 1.6: What's Half of Gemini

Another excellent episode of Dexter: Resurrection -- 1.6

[And there will be spoilers ahead ....]

First, let's talk a little about Batista.  He tells the NYPD detectives -- Wallace and Oliva -- exactly what's going on, to a tee.  I have to say, much as I really like Batista, this means only one thing: Batista will have to die.  He knows way too much about Dexter and how he operates.  Whether Dexter will kill him, or a possible long shot, Harrison, or maybe Batista will just get hit by a bus, he'll have to go.  A season 2 beginning with Dexter behind bars just doesn't strike me as likely,

But speaking of which, I was sorry last week to see Mia arrested, and I was even more sorry this week to see her permanently gone.   Shows the depth of danger Dexter will be facing once Prater is on to him.

And there were two notable things about Dexter's righteous kill tonight.  First, I liked that the body of Dexter's victim was a shower curtain away from discovery (by Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine as Blessing -- starring at this same time in Smoke)*. Second, the fact that the Gemini killer was so named because the serial killers were identical twins was a cool twist in the serial killer narrative genre.  One of the best of the many good things about Dexter: Resurrection is that it pulls out so many stops.

And it does this with a winning attention to detail, like Doake's photo as the Bay Harbor Butcher, and Dexter's face when he sees this.  Michael C. Hall not only hasn't lost a beat in  his current performance as Dexter, I'd say he's better than ever.

*And shout-out to The Sopranos' Steve Schirripa and his brief appearance in this episode.  Lookin' good!

See also: Dexter: Resurrection 1.1-1.2: The Imposter ... 1.3: Killers and Prey ... 1.4: The Nefarious Club ... 1.5: Father and Son and the Watch

And see also Dexter: Original Sin 1.1: Activation of the Code ... 1.2-1.3: "The Finger Is Missing" ... 1.4: The Role of Luck in Dexter's Profession and Life ... 1.5: Revelations and Relations ... 1.6: On the Strong, Non-Serial-Killer Parts of the Show ... 1.7: First Big Shocker ... 1.8: Dexter's Discovery ... 1.9: Brian's Story ... Season 1 Finale: Satisfying

And see also Dexter: New Blood 1.1: Back with a Vengeance ... Dexter: New Blood 1.2: Dark Tendencies ... Dexter: New Blood 1.3: Fathers and Sons ... Dexter: New Blood 1.4: Harrison and Kurt ... Dexter New Blood: 1.5: No Satisfaction for Serial Killers ... Dexter: New Blood 1.6: Breaks and Arm Breaks ... Dexter: New Blood: 1.7: Dexter vs. Kurt ...Dexter: New Blood 1.8: The Hug in the Car ... Dexter: New Blood 1.9 One Down, One To Go ... Dexter: New Blood Finale: Superb, and I Didn't Like It All

And see also Dexter Season 8 Premiere: Mercury in Retrograde, Dexter Incandescent ... Dexter 8.2: The Gift ... Dexter 8.3: The Question and the Confession ... Dexter 8.4: The "Lab Rat" and Harry's Daughter ... Dexter 8.5: Just Like Family ... Dexter 8.6: The Protege ... Dexter 8.7: Two Different Codes? ... Dexter 8.8: "A Great Future" ... Dexter 8.9: The Psycho Son ... Dexter 8.10: Watch Out, Buenos Aires ... Dexter 8.11: "Not the Old Dexter" ... Dexter Series Finale: Solitude, Style, and a Modicum of Hope

And see also Dexter Season 7.1-3: Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 7.4: The Lesson in Speltzer's Smoke ... Dexter 7.5: Terminator Isaac ... Dexter 7.6: "Breaking and Entering" ... Dexter 7.7: Shakespearean Serial Killer Story ... Dexter 7.8: Love and Its Demands ... Dexter 7.9: Two Memorable Scenes and the Ascension of Isaac ... Dexter 7.11: The "Accident" ... Dexter Season 7 Finale: The Surviving Triangle

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 Geller 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

And 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 

Smoke 1.6: A Perfect Narrative Structure

I usually wait until the end of the season before I post a second review of a TV series for which I reviewed the first episode or two after the series began.  But episode 1.6 of Smoke on Apple TV+ was so remarkable, with such a perfect narrative structure, that I had to say a few words about it now.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Most of this episode is devoted to current and former arson investigators closing in on the disquieting truth, to say the least, that Dave Gudsen (brilliantly played by Taron Egerton), an arson investigator, is himself one of the two arsonists literally lighting up the town, culminating with his last defender, Police Chief Harvey Englehart (well played by Greg Kinnear) finally coming to this conclusion himself.

But as the lights are about to go out for Gudsen, he realizes that Freddy Fasano (brilliantly played by Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine) is the other arsonist.  Gudsen rushes to the house which Fasano is about to burn down with him and his latest victim inside, and stops Fasano in his tracks with a fire extinguisher.  In other words: at the very moment that Gudsen is about to be denounced and arrested as one of the arsonists, he's become a life-saving hero, in a brilliantly balanced story in which Gudsen is hero and anti-hero at the same time.

His personal portrayal -- his depiction as a man -- is noteworthy and perfectly balanced too.  Earlier in the episode, we find him unable to consummate the encounter with his ex-wife in bed.  At the end of episode, we find him standing triumphant, a superhero, fire extinguisher in hand -- having prevented the blaze and driving Fasano to the ground -- and very clearly aroused.

An episode eminently worthy of an Emmy.

See also Shocker at the End of Smoke's Second Episode