Dec 5, 2010

Dexter Watch: Hop A Freighter

Dexter Watch: Hop A Freighter I had a feeling tonight’s episodes of Dexter would be a lot of build-up and sure enough, we were left with a couple of big, gaping cliffhangers to torture ourselves with until the finale next Sunday.

The situation with Liddy collided with Dexter and Lumen’s pursuit of Jordan Chase tonight. Meanwhile, Deb has almost all the pieces of this mess put together. The only one she’s missing is Dexter.

Liddy's story started messy, played out messy and so I doubt any of us are surprised that it ended messy. With his union appeal shot down, Liddy’s a man with little to lose. He thought if he could serve Dexter to the cops on a platter, it would be enough to get them to reconsider canning him and revoking his penchant. Of course, Quinn wanted nothing more to do with it. We saw tonight that he really is serious about Deb. It seems that finding a woman who can handle him, call him out on his b.s. and not play games ranks higher to him than following a hunch on Dexter, even after seeing the photos of Dexter and Lumen dumping stuff at the marina.

Dexter figured out that he was being watched and traced the surveillance equipment back to Quinn. He didn’t realize it was Liddy who was following him until Liddy jumped him, restrained him and hauled him in a van to a pier to wait for Quinn. It’s not often that someone sneaks up on Dexter and certainly not when Dexter thought he was doing the sneaking but it happened tonight. Fortunately, Dexter has a quick mind and managed to attack Liddy in the van just as the ex-cop was trying to get him to record a confession to go with the video tapes. Wrestling ensued and ended with Dexter stabbing Liddy with his own knife. Quinn showed up just as blood was trickling from the van but when Liddy didn’t respond from inside the van, he left, taking a drop of the man’s blood with him.

So, Liddy’s dead, which was inevitable, but this is where it gets really interesting. Dexter now knows that Quinn knows at least some of what’s going on. When Liddy’s body is found, Quinn may deduce that Dexter knows what’s going on. Dexter knows that Quinn knows and Quinn knows that Dexter knows. Is there going to be some major conversation in their future?

Also, when Dexter was sneaking up on the van, he said (to himself), “I never wanted it to come to this.” Was he planning on killing Quinn? We all know the first rule is “Don’t get caught,” but does that mean killing a relatively innocent man to protect himself? He went through all of this in Season 2 with Doakes and eventually settled on letting Doakes take the rap for the Bay Harbor Butcher bodies. As much as I didn’t want to see Dexter get caught, I wasn’t in love with the idea of him pinning his crimes on someone else (no matter how unlikable Doakes was). That situation resolved itself (thanks to crazy-Lila). How will this one resolve?

My theory on how Dexter deals with Quinn is similar to my theory on how Quinn deals with Dexter. He doesn’t. Maybe that’s too optimistic but, if Quinn survives this (and I really, really hope he does), I’d like to think that Deb is the common denominator in the equation. Both of them love her. Neither of them would want to hurt her by going after the other and if Dexter thought that Quinn was really going to walk away from his pursuit, perhaps he’d be willing to do the same if it meant not seeing Deb hurt and disappointed. Again, too optimistic?

Moving on. Liddy wasn’t the only character to die tonight. Jordan lost the last of his (known) puppets tonight when he bludgeoned Emily in a fit of rage with a fireplace poker. This came after he used Emily to lure Lumen to her house. Dexter was supposed to be with her but he was off dealing with Liddy at the time. Jordan’s made it far in his crimes without getting actual blood on his hands but that ended tonight when he killed Emily. He made off with Lumen, who, judging from the trail of blood and the knife she left behind, was putting up a fight. Dexter made it to the house to find Emily’s body and enough clues to know that Jordan took Lumen somewhere.

I know I’ve spoken of my hope that Lumen would survive this season and up until tonight, I believed she would but now I’m not so sure. It wasn’t the way things ended for her tonight that has me worried about her fate. I think we all knew she and Jordan Chase were going to cross paths again. It was seeing her and Dexter curled up on the floor, snuggling and planning their next move that had me thinking she’s a goner. I just don’t see a happily-ever-after scenario for them. So, either she survives and lives to walk away (to return to her life or rebuild a life for herself away from Dexter), or she dies. The biggest problem with the latter option is how it will affect Dexter. If ever there was a chance to redeem himself for Rita’s death, it’s now. Losing Lumen may very well undo him.

And on a random side-note before we move on, I thought it appropriate that instead of buying Lumen a piece of jewelry as a token of their budding romance, Dexter bought her a little knife to put in her purse.

Finally, Deb is hot on Jordan Chase’s trail. After a visit to the dead Dentist’s wife, who I’m pretty sure was the girl that gives Seth Green a dirty look in Can’t Hardly Wait (she may have other notable roles but that’s the girl I pictured when I saw Mrs. Dentist’s face tonight), they learned that Jordan Chase changed his name and possibly got plastic surgery. Learning he changed his name allowed them to find the connection between Chase and the other guys and confirm that he’s somehow involved in the barrel-girls’ murders. Deb also figured out that one of the victims survived and is killing off her attackers and that she probably has help. The only thing she doesn’t know is that Dexter is the one doing the helping.

Deb decided not to go through LaGuerta to get the court order to keep Chase from leaving town after she expressed doubt in Deb’s vigilante theory. It was beyond irritating to see LaGuerta question Deb about the decision and then semi-smugly hand over the court order she got after Deb’s request was denied. It’s not as though LaGuerta’s established a good line of trust between herself and Deb. Sure, situations aren’t black and white but when you pin your own mistakes on someone else, it shouldn’t be difficult to see why that person wouldn’t trust you.

What are the predictions for next week’s finale? I think it’s fair to say that there will be blood. There always is. And I’d be genuinely surprised if Jordan Chase managed to walk away but after last season’s finale, I think it’s also safe to say that no one is untouchable.