Insert spoiler warning here.
We are eight episodes into season 4 and I’m getting sort of an uncomfortable sensation, the kind of thing I’d prefer not to notice — like I just stupidly sat in a puddle of rainwater and was hoping in the few seconds it took for it to soak through to my drawers that I hadn’t actually just gone and sat in that damn puddle. The uncomfortable sensation that finally soaked through to my drawers last Sunday night is ‘meh.’
So the season so far, though I hadn’t really wanted to admit it to myself in my last write-up, is giving me a dose of ennui. It isn’t bad per se — but neither is it as good and compelling as Dexter should be. As it has been. As it very well may be, in the final four episodes of the season. The horrible sensation I have is indifference, something I could never have said about this show in the past.
Granted, this began insidiously last season with some of the side plots. As I said in the Dexter Season 3 Recap, Dexter is not an ensemble show. Meaning the cast is there to support Dexter, and not each other. Or, in the absolute worst case scenario, they aren’t there to engage in a very forced inter-office romance with all the sexual chemistry of a box of baking soda french-kissing a can of creamed corn and expect us to care. LaGuerta and Angel writhing on the conference room table while Henry Winkler soars overhead in Daisy Dukes is not what is good about Dexter.
Not that the season hasn’t had its moments. The revelation in episode five that the Trinity Killer was, contrary to all expectations, a family man and pillar of the community was really nicely done — the best surprise of the story so far. But what came after, Dexter’s curiosity and conflicted interest in Trinity, has fallen flat. Strangely enough, while every other actor is better and more interesting when they are in scenes with Michael C. Hall, I’m not seeing that dynamic when he is paired with John Lithgow. Lithgow as Trinity has a scary intensity that works well when he is on his own, but seems rather camp when paired in scenes with Hall. Whether it’s just the contrast of over- versus understated acting, or weak writing, I can’t really say. Jimmy Smits chewed the scenery but he and Hall seemed great together, and I always wanted to see the next scene with those two. But in the case of this season . . . one thing I can say for sure: when the Trinity Killer and the Bay Harbor Butcher get together we should hear thunder rumbling in the distance, not elevator music.
The snark is heartfelt — and it’s a substitute for me expressing just what is wrong with the season. Because, frankly, I don’t know. Is it that Dexter himself isn’t in danger as he was in previous seasons? True enough, the early storyline of the accident and missing body did feel more interesting than most of what followed. Is the problem the repetition of story elements? Deb as victim again — this woman should be in some heavy therapy at this point — Quinn as Doakes, Jr., only with all the predatory menace replaced by clumsy amiability. Is it the falling back on easy formula — right down to the cinematograpy — that just feels wrong in a show that was so daring in its inception?
And what about the shitty sets, or the green screen body dumps off the Slice of Life, complete with (I suspect) CGI water splashes? Is it just me, or is this show getting smaller? Do runaway hits often demand budget cuts, or is it more of a case of slashing costs to up the profits when it’s assumed we’ll watch anyway? The parking lot set is small and crammed, the exterior shots rarely give us any sense of place (I suppose when the ‘place’ isn’t actually the city it’s supposed to be, that might be a good thing), and everything, aside from the constantly exposed breasts of Courtney Ford, just seems fake.
Any one of these things wouldn’t bother me. Or even any two or three if the core elements of the show that had kept it compelling over three seasons were still in place and firing on all cylinders. But something is off. I should care that Dexter feels real emotion after mistakenly killing an innocent man, but this time I’m the one left feeling empty. The road trip culminating in Trinity’s attempted suicide and Dexter’s ironic rescue should be a classic act two climax — but when I sat down to write this review I actually had to rack my brains to remember what happened.
Maybe it’s just me.
And now we have a possible Rita affair plot? Are we expected to care? The reveal that Deb and Lundy may not have been shot by Trinity was interesting, but then who was it? That might be the clincher that gets me back into the resolution of this storyline but, so far, I 
just can’t summon the interest. Used to be I couldn’t miss this show, looked forward to it all week. Now I DVR it and try to remember to watch it before next Sunday rolls around.
Road Kill indeed.
At least Masuka is still funny.
- More Reviews of Dexter Season 4
- Dexter Season 4: Family, Suburbia, and Killing For Two
- Getaway: Dexter Season 4 Finale and Recap
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Interesting commentary and it’s helped me see what’s been bugging me. I like this season better than you do; however, I have been shifting around in my seat a lot. Last week’s episode had some tense tense moments–I remember turning to my daughter and saying something about my stomach was clenched, but you know, Bill, I can’t think of why.
I know there was a part in there that really freaked me out–maybe it was when I realized his next victim would be the conniving reporter–but details about WHAT freaked me out????
I had the same thought about Doakes and feel disappointed that it’s so similar and with Quinn who I really have no idea who he is. He is all over the place which may be their intention but I’m not liking it.
The Angel/La Guerta affair. I kind of like that… Being on the older side myself (and older than them that’s for sure), I enjoy a little elder romance. But I don’t think the writers are handling it right. It’s all too simple. At this point they should be irreconciliably apart, angry. Otherwise, it’s just plain boring.
Everything this season feels like it’s tied up with a little bow and not entwined. Complicated yes, but not complex.
Sooo… Hmmmm again. Thanks for writing this. Got me going this am.
Oh and thanks too for the Beasties. They always make me smile.
Sure thing, Gay, thanks for weighing in — I’m honestly not sure if my snark attack is more to do with mood than anything. Hopefully the writers will make me forget I ever brought up Henry Winkler with their final four episodes.
Wow, I just read my very same thoughts. I have only put them in short blurts on facebook but this had everything I’ve wanted to say.
I finish each episode with “oh” not “HOLY ”
I get ready to walk my dogs and the wife says “We can’t go now, we’ll miss Dexter” because I totally forgot. Then I say “Yeah, well, it’ll be on again” see agrees and we walk the dogs.
This scenario would have NEVER played out in season 1 or 2
Exactly, I practically set my watch by the first two season, now I sometimes forget it’s on!
My thoughts on this season will depend an awful lot on how it ends; right now, I can see where it might be headed, both good and bad, but exactly how it will end is, I think, still anybody’s guess. The writers have surprised me before in their ability to tie things up at the end and deepen Dexter as a character in the process. So, with just a few more episodes left in the season, I’m perfectly content to wait and see.
But you’re not wrong that something’s felt a little off with the season. It’s been kept afloat by some great performances — particularly Hall and Lithgow, but there’s nobody in the cast who’s especially bad. It isn’t an ensemble show, despite its continued efforts to pretend as such, but can you imagine how intolerable the non-Dexter/non-Trinity scenes would be if the actors were as bad as the characters were bland?
Again, I think a lot depends on where they go from here, how this season ends and — maybe more importantly — how soon the writers are willing to end the series as a whole.
I agree, the acting is good all around, and fortunately that’s never been a problem. It’s just that some of the characters are, as you say, bland, and can’t carry storylines predicated on the audience being inherently interested in them.
It did occur to me that the shooter may be the reporter, but I left it out of my post as too outlandish. I really hope that isn’t the case, but in hindsight I’m thinking it just might be. I find the notion pretty ridiculous.
But, as you say, the writers have surprised us before — I’m not about to give up. I think I would like to see next season be the last, however, as I think they can do a lot with a storyline that offers real consequences, rather than one where everything is reset at the end in preparation for another season. I’d hate to see Dexter stretched to the point of parody, but I can see that happening.
I agree that next season should be the last. I think there’s only so far you can take Dexter’s quest to be a Real Boy before it becomes ridiculous and all the edges to the character are sanded down. As funny as the show can be at times, as much as Dexter’s falling into family man mode, it’s worth remembering that he’s a sociopath who kills people.
And oh man, I hadn’t even thought about the reporter as a suspect, but it makes a lot of sense. I think it’s a terrible idea, of course, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that’s where they were going.
The reveal would probably get rid of the character, though, so that would be a plus…
A couple of people here and there have guessed either the reporter or Quinn as the shooter -is Quinn that much taller than Masuka- so that wouldn’t surprise me, neither would it being some no name who just pops up at the end. The only shooter who would surprise me is if it was Mathews that would be a shocker. Who ever did it the writers need to give them a good reason, something better than psycho reporter would be nice.
The thing I haven’t liked about this season is why is Dexter keeping Trinty alive? I know ‘he wants to learn from him’ but either the writing or acting isn’t selling it to me. Seeing Dexter give Trinity the same treatment Prado gave him last season is a nice flip the switch plot, but needs better writing. My problem with this season is I’m tired of the big bad villain of the season even if it’s a really scary creepy character. I would rather see Debra finally put the pieces together about Dexter and have the fallout from that, it would be more interesting to me than Dexter learning from Trinity.
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