Deb’s & Dex kissing in a tree, K I S….eeeew sick.

The penultimate episode of season six of Dexter wasn’t too much of an improvement on recent episodes but there were a fair few bits to keep us entertained. The sub-plot about Debs and Dexter was pretty gross, more importantly though – it was pretty pointless. After watching Debs interact with a psychiatrist for a few weeks we’ve been waiting for her to have some sort of realization about her brother’s true identity. Instead though we are given some Freudian crap about her having secret desires for him? Come on, the show can do way better than this. I just hope that this was a poor reason for her to quit seeing the quack and figure things out for herself.

With just one episode left I really hope things can end with a shock and have Deb find out the truth. What better way to look to the next season of the show than with Deb’s eyes wide open? This would be the perfect way to let the characters dictate the plot rather than the inverse, which has sadly too often been the case for this season. I shouldn’t get too far ahead of myself though because there’s still plenty to say about this episode.

The opening for this episode was great. I was really draw in to the dialogue and enjoyed seeing Dexter get back to his investigative roots by dissecting his own crime scene. This alongside Quinn speeding towards Angel’s last whereabouts and Beth awkwardly sneaking into Miami Metro was ace. It really got the episode going and set up what should have been a near perfect edition. Annoyingly though this wasn’t the case as the ‘attack’ on the Homicide department went off more like a fart than a firework. Beth should have rented ’24’ season 5- that’s how you gas a government building. Masuka could have been Dexter’s Edgar! Alas I digress…

The attack wasn’t completely wasted as Dexter did take a hit with some repercussions that made for a somewhat entertaining climax. Although, the EMT who was treating Dexter did give us a big hint that he could feel dizzy ‘especially after physical exertion‘. Talking of the climax, I was completely stumped as to how Travis would find Dexter? I mean there was no hint of it anywhere in the episode. The video message with the boat fully on display, the fact that Travis wrote it down on his hand…they didn’t give anything away. Luckily though incase you hadn’t figured it out…Dexter told you.

This was really poor and thinking logically surely Dexter sending a video of himself to a serial killer’s cell phone saying “you know who I am, you know what I am…the beast is coming for you” is going to look slightly suspicious. Debs getting hold of that video could make for a great epiphany though.

Oh and Quinn came out with a classic line during the hand’s on investigation of the fountain crime scene, “why would Gellar cut off his own hand?” Haha wotta plank. Speaking of hands, Dexter looks set to get an interesting package from Louis in the post. There’s growing speculation as to what Louis is all about, given his obsession with ITK and with Rudy’s reappearance in Nebraska I’m starting to wonder whether he could be Rudy’s foster brother? Hmm…

Whatever the case is, here’s hoping we’re in for a solid finale next week. For me three things need to happen. 1. In the words of Omar from The Wire, Travis needs to get got. 2. Debs needs to realize (not fantasize…eugh) about Dexter & 3. We need to find out what’s going on with Louis’ and more importantly what his connection to Dexter might be.

7.5/10

Scene of the Episode – Deb really brought it when she was putting Quinn & Batista into line, likewise during her exchange with Daniels. Hopefully the finale will have plenty of scenes with Deb owning.

Reviewed by Rich Jepson, cult TV enthusiast and author of 24: Terrorism Through Television.