The Season 3 finale of Dexter managed to wrap everything up neatly, if a bit hurriedly, concluding with a big, happy wedding scene and the same words the season opened with: “Life is good.” Dexter has grown into a new role, the supporting cast have all had their own personal triumphs, and the dangers set in motion by rogue elephant Miguel Prado have been defeated. This is the first truly happy ending the series has had, and all things — save for that single spot of crimson that dripped from Dexter’s sliced arm onto the white of his bride’s wedding dress — seem to point toward a rosy new beginning for all concerned. Of course, that won’t really be the case, and already the set up for next season promises to by an interesting one.

But what of the season we’ve just finished? Opinion seems divided on Season 3, and I think I understand mostly why that is. Each season has had its own tone. Season 1 was our introduction to Dexter, and here he is at his darkest and most dislocated, and perhaps most plausible. Season 2 was a thrill ride, with the discovery of Dexter’s crimes and his dangerous relationship with Lila threatening to push him beyond the code. Season 3, then, is the season in which Dexter’s place in the world is examined. Like the first two seasons, the writers refuse to leave Dexter standing in one place for too long by creating some real changes in his life.

In the finale, Dexter watches the dead body of Miguel Prado being loaded into the back of a coroner’s van and reflects that you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their best friend. In many ways Prado is the motive force of this season, once Dexter himself early on loses control of events through the accidental encounter with Prado’s youngest brother. This feels a bit different than the first seasons where, although Dexter has always had to react to the likes of the Ice Truck Killer, or a hyper-vigilant Doakes, Dexter remained the pivot point upon which everything teetered.

Of course, once Prado steps outside the code by killing Ellen Wolf in ‘The Damage A Man Can Do,’ the ball is firmly back in Dexter’s court. The next three episodes were the best of the season, as Dexter and Prado volley back and forth in a battle of wills that gradually built into a lethal crescendo. I really enjoy what the writers have done in handling the two primary conflicts of the season, Prado and the Skinner, as their refusal to do the obvious — certainly in the case of new guy Quinn — kept me guessing to the end. More importantly still, the lack of outlandish twists of the kind posited by some fans — Miguel’s wife is the Skinner! Masuka is another serial killer! — kept the show grounded in a way that is vital if we are to take the premise at all seriously.

‘Do You Take Dexter Morgan?’ was in many ways a fitting end to a quieter season. With Prado dead in the penultimate episode, our thunderous climax had passed. But, the clean up was at least as interesting as it reinforced those things the season truly was about. Dexter’s conversation with an imprisoned Ramon, for whom he approached a kind of empathy by channeling his own brief experiences of brotherhood, was an unexpected scene, perhaps my favorite of the episode. For the first time we see the similarities of these two adversaries, how they were both damaged by Prado, and how both of them had come to learn the truth behind the facade.

And again, it is Dexter’s insight into the mind of his opponent that informs his second showdown, this time with the Skinner. I felt the build up to this was a bit rushed, and I personally wasn’t completely on board for the conversation with Harry, but I loved Dexter’s taunting of the Skinner. He hit him exactly where it hurt, and his willingness to break his own hand to escape nicely highlighted his practical ruthlessness. Yes, he did turn into super-Dexter, but he always does — he has, after all, basically trained himself to be proficient at killing at an intimate distance — and his prowess is no more implausible than that of any other action hero.

There were a few things that I found mildly disappointing in what was otherwise a fine, and necessary, season. One very simple thing I wanted to hear from Prado was his realization that Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher — but those words were never said. Too obvious and important a thing to miss in my opinion, and it would have been a nice tie-in with the previous seasons as well as a touch of reality in the relationship between Dexter and Prado.  I also felt the Skinner was a bit bland — surely an ex-member of a South American torture-squad could have more oompf? Another thing I felt could have been handled with a bit more flare were the appearances of Harry in nearly every episode. The focus was on fatherhood, which was good, but I felt the dialogue was sometimes flat and perhaps a bit oversold in places. Previous seasons made excellent use of Harry in flashbacks with a young Dexter and Deb — let’s hope we see those again, as I think they work much better than the ghost of Harry, and I don’t need to be reminded of Six Feet Under by having Michael C. Hall talk to yet another dead father — especially when Six Feet Under did it better and more organically.

Dexter is not an ensemble show, that much is very clear, and at times I found the sub plots of the supporters less than interesting. I should care about these characters, but for the most part I don’t get much beyond merely liking them. All of them are in fact far more interesting in relation to Dexter himself than when they are doing their own thing. For example, Batista’s few exchanges with Dexter this season, congratulating him on marriage and fatherhood, or contemplating a vigilante attack on the man who beat his girlfriend, were far more compelling and emotionally-charged than any of his relationship woes or his admission to LaGuerta that he’d been chasing hookers. The same goes for Deb and LaGuerta. Rita I have never found particularly interesting as a character, and in a season building up to her marriage with Dexter she still never really found a chance to shine. I don’t think any of this has to do with acting, as there aren’t any performances that draw attention to themselves as flawed, in my opinion, and there are certainly more than a few good ones among the supporting cast. I’d have to chalk it up to writing, but moreso to the essential framework of the show.

And that framework is, of course, all about Dexter. Which is what makes this season a winner, because it explores the character in new and unexpected ways, and refuses to let him become a caricature of himself as would be all too easy in a show of this kind. Dexter creeps toward developing his own moral compass, working outside the code to, first, protect his new family, and then to spare a friend’s suffering. He reaches out too in a very human way to Miguel Prado — sharing the dark part of himself in a bid for real, if admittedly pretty damned twisted, friendship. He took the chance on Miguel, and in the end found himself manipulated and used, but it was as much his own reasoning as it was the dictates of the code that guided how he dealt with the situation. He wonders as he mimics the right words and actions (in particular in the brilliant ending of episode 4 in which Dexter proposes with the words just uttered by an obsessed murderess) if he might one day become something like a normal person — if by acting out his role, he can become it. So, in the ultimate expression of that desire for normality, we see Dexter not only married but soon to be a father — a big change in his life, and one that opens all sorts of possibilities for next season.

Of course, it seems Deb might be poised to find out more about her brother as she investigates Harry’s infidelity, and the contrast between Dexter’s more-than-likely constrained nocturnal pursuits and the prosaic demands of his new life should make for some interesting television. But one does have to wonder, as Dexter did upon contemplating marriage, just what will he do if they move into a house with central air? The real challenge for Dexter has always been the keeping of his secret, and I’m looking forward to Season 4 in which I expect that secret to again be threatened in new and interesting ways.

• Dexter Season 3: Still to Die For
• Dexter Season 3: The Damage a Man Can Do

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.

• Dexter Season 3: Still to Die For
• Do You Take Dexter Morgan? Season 3 Finale and Recap

Since the demise of my beloved Deadwood (shot in the back at Nuttall’s No. 10 Saloon), there isn’t a whole lot to get me excited on television anymore, with two exceptions. Mad Men, a stylish and anthropologically fascinating show about a Madison Avenue ad agency on AMC, and Dexter, a police procedural/serial killer thriller/fish-out-of-water black-comedy-drama on Showtime. Both deal with double-identities, perception, and how living one’s life can be the same thing as lying; but as only one of those shows even loosely fits within the purview of this site, then that’s the one I’ll be talking about.

Dexter really is superb — dismiss, those of you who haven’t seen it, all the obvious hackneyed plots and characterizations you might imagine a show that’s protagonist is a serial killer might employ to win your affection. I didn’t want to like Dexter when I turned it on the first time, I was prepared to roll my eyes at any heavy-handed attempts to whitewash or skirt around the very real fact that the central character kills people for pleasure. Well, the character of Dexter is surprisingly sympathetic and not, as one might imagine, just because he only kills other killers as a rule.

Anyway, a dissection of the entire show is beyond my purpose (and endurance) — I want to remark on Season 3. For fans that haven’t seen the first four episodes consider yourselves warned — for those of you that haven’t seen Dexter at all I highly recommend you get a hold of the first season and check it out and give the rest of this post a dodge.

I’ll start by saying I doubt Dexter will attain the heights of suspense it did in Season 2 — with Dexter’s own killings being investigated, Doakes breathing down his neck, and a psychotic new girlfriend who fed upon his own ‘dark passenger,’ Season 2 had me ticking away the days until the next episode in a way few shows ever have. Of course, at the end of the first season I was convinced the show couldn’t top itself, so I’ve been wrong in the past . . . .

Season 3 is a somewhat different fish from Season 2, thus far more fascinating than suspenseful, more a character drama than a thriller. It took four episodes to really hook me (not that I wasn’t along for the ride from the word go, I just wasn’t emotionally invested) but last night’s ‘quiet’ episode got me excited again. Here was an episode in which no killings took place, Dexter engaged in no ‘night work’ or clandestine deeds, instead balancing the manipulation of Miguel’s brother against his own decisions to embrace a life with Rita and her kids.

Firstly, the manipulation was excellently enacted. One thing I’ve missed in Season 3, thus far, was the dislocation of Dexter, the sort of emotional naivete he exhibited in the first two seasons. But last night contrasted Dexter’s ‘reactive’ and ‘active’ states in a fascinating way — and Michael C. Hall proves once again what a tremendous talent he is. When caught unawares by a social situation, Dexter is circumspect, parceling-out his  words with care and always looking for behavioral cues from the people around him. Last night showed him in overdrive, posturing and mimicking behavior that would achieve the sort of results he was looking for with Miguel, Miguel’s brother, and finally Rita. Dexter, an actor in every situation save the commission of murder, becomes totally animated, minutely and specifically normal when he’s acting out a role with a purpose in mind.

Acting, of course, was the overriding theme of episode four, and one that capped-off the rising action of the first third of the season. So far we have seen Dexter reject his father’s dictates and start making his own moral decisions, be confronted with the prospect of fatherhood, and become open to the idea of a possible friendship with Miguel — one growing from something he understands, namely death. All of this threatens to demolish the performer’s facade that is Dexter’s protection.

But the performance reaches a crescendo, the ‘will-to-normal’ exerts itself in an acting tour de force in the last scene of the episode, when Dexter proposes to Rita. It’s exactly what she needs to hear, the kind of soul-bearing pronouncements impassioned lovers make to one another — and it also happens to be parroted almost completely from a deranged woman that just that day was apprehended for the murder of a man she obsessed over. A beautiful juxtaposition that would have been cynical and creepy from the lips of a character who knew better, but from Dexter it had a redemptive quality that elevated the whole exchange — it was Dexter feigning emotion by crafting a lie salvaged from his own dark world in order to brighten someone else’s. It was Dexter addressing the ultimate question of his existence — could he become real?

Can any of us? Here is the brilliance of the show, the confluence of the dark and mundane, the aware and the instinctual, the notions of self and the lies we live out everyday. ‘Serial killer by night, cop by day’ is a great soundbite — but Dexter continues to prove that it is so much more than that.

• Dexter Season 3: The Damage a Man Can Do
• Do You Take Dexter Morgan? Season 3 Finale and Recap