“Dexter” — There’s Something About Harry
Wow. That was unsettling. When I first watched Dexter on Showtime a little over a year ago I was expecting a certain kind of show. I was expecting something morally complex, intense and pitch black, to my surprise the series has always been far more fun than I (or anyone) would expect of a series about a serial killer to be. The thing is, despite the enjoyment that the week-to-week shinanagins may bring, Dexter has never really achieved the level of moral uncertainty I’ve long thought it was capable of… until this week. More after the jump…
This was a fantastic episode. Even those things that usually drive me crazy about this show (like every character not named Dexter) came through this week including perhaps the first truly great performance from Eric King as Doakes (well, the Deb/Lundy stuff is still out of place, but it seemed like such a small part of the episode it’s hardly worth griping). What set this episode apart was how the creators spun everything around and pointed the finger at us. It’s almost like they were saying through Dexter’s actions, “You’re complicit in this!” It was the first time where I, as a viewer, actually stepped back from the episode thinking, “Wait a minute? Why am I rooting for this guy?”
This is saying a lot, especially since the episode’s big revelation (that Harry ended up taking his own life because he had created a monster) was played against a literally shocked Doakes, a character who up until this moment has been little more than a paper-doll wearing the hard-ass tough-guy-cop clothes. We can moralize all we want about the murder of murderers, but it is something altogether different to have to watch it. This too creates a lot of problematic gray. I believe Dexter when he says that Doakes is a killer too. Is firing a handgun from behind a badge really all that different than wielding a cleaver under the dark of night? Well yes… but also no.
Dexter has always been a character about rationalizing behaviors. I’m curious how he’ll justify what he has done and what he will inevitably have to do over these last two episodes now that he knows the truth about his father’s death. What’s interesting is Lila, outside of being batshit insane, might have been right about him after all. Her code, while drenched in its own problem (and with a stomach currently full of ruffies) is at the very least less messy and has so far caused considerably fewer deaths. Dexter, the show, needs a character like Lila. He needs a foil, and she’s a damn good one (also happens to be easy on the eyes, and that’s always nice).
