Dexter Season 3: The Damage A Man Can Do

by Bill Ward on November 17, 2008

in Film & TV

This weekend the third season of Dexter hit the three-quarter mark — a good time to pause, take stock, and blog. I talked a bit about my impressions of the first four episodes a month ago in a post called Dexter Season 3: Still to Die For, and today’s post is of a similar kind.

Firstly, last night. Episode Eight, ‘The Damage a Man Can Do’ sees the story-arc with Miguel reaching a new and, for me at least, unexpected level. It seems as if Dexter has created a monster with his tutelage in murder, and Miguel gives every indication of an unwillingness to play by Dexter’s rules.

In other words, he ignores the code. This entire season has been about Dexter’s struggle with the code, and it’s that psychological tension along with the other dominant story thread, Dexter’s entry into ‘the real world’ as a husband and father, that are the driving engines of season three. I think this season is the quietest of all — though the thrills certainly seem to be ratcheting up for the final quarter — and that quiet has allowed for some character development in unexpected directions.

One scene from last night’s episode sums up season three for me. Dexter and Miguel at the camping store, buying the implements of murder. It’s black comedy that’s also weirdly endearing, as Dexter — fixing up a ‘starter kit’ for his new best buddy — actually experiences the bond of friendship, something denied him by his nature, and by the code.

Already Dexter has scraped the code on more than one occasion and not regretted it, especially in the case of the mercy killing of Camilla in ‘Easy as Pie.’ And it seemed as if his newly developed moral compass that allowed him this flexibility was working well when he refused Miguel’s request to kill Ellen Wolf. But, with last night’s episode, indications are the whole thing will blow up in his face.

Because Miguel lives by his own, personal code of self-interest and feels he’s above anyone else’s. In sharing the kill with him, in letting him get that taste of power, it does seem as if Dexter has unleashed a monster he will be forced to stop. Alas, for Dexter, it seems as if the temptations of friendship have blinded him to the practical usefulness of the code he lives by. Alas, for Miguel, it’s almost certain he’s about to discover just how ruthless his new friend is when threatened with discovery.

Dexter does manage to keep the engine ticking with a hormonally distressed Rita by picking up an engagement ring, and Deb does seem to have gotten the break she was looking for on the b-plot Skinner case, but Season 3 is really about Dexter and Miguel — indeed, perhaps the most intimate moment in the entire series occured last night as Dexter and Miguel shared a kill. Here is the real marriage that Dexter has fallen into and, like some marriages, it seems as if it may have remained a happier one had some things never been shared. Like some marriages, it will end badly.