By Mikhail Shevchenko
Contributor

And they’re off! Taking the lead is An Arm and a Leg followed closely by Head and Shoulders who ironically has neither a real head nor shoulders on his jockey!

No, this isn’t a horse race, but the opening scenes of the most recent episode of Dexter. While the last two episodes were devoid of gruesome crime scenes, this episode both started and concluded with signs of the end of days compliments of Professor Gellar and his pupil Travis Marshall. Gellar and Marshall’s lives are given more depth in this episode than before, as this episode reveals more about Gellar’s life and more about the dynamic between he and Marshall. We also see some pretty interesting happenings with the lives of Miami Metro’s finest, particularly the interactions between Quinn and Bautista and Masuka and Ryan. Overall this episode was pretty good, especially as it gave a bit of background on Gellar.

Behold a Pale Horse

In this episode we find out that Gellar was a professor from the University of Tallahassee, and was fired for stealing an artifact gladius that belonged to John the Revelator. I’m curious as to what got him down the path that he is one as well as how he got partnered up with Travis Marshall.  We start to see more tension develop between Gellar and Marshall, as the latter’s desire for a life outside of their homicidal activities becomes a point of contention. I’m sure we’ll see Travis try to obtain more independence in the coming episodes but I also see Gellar solidifying his influence even more, which brings me to my next point. I’m very curious as to what power Gellar wields over his underling. Does Travis actually think Gellar is some sort of apocalyptic prophet? And how exactly did these two get together; was Travis possibly a student of Gellar’s or even a former colleague from the university?

A Cross in the Sky?

We also see Dexter toy a little more with the notions of faith and religion in this episode. As his son Harrison is hospitalized and undergoes surgery Dexter has a lapse in character and actually tries to bargain with god on Harrison’s behalf. This is a new side to Dexter that we haven’t seen before in previous seasons. This is propagated in a way by his continued interactions with Brother Sam. In a way, Brother Sam has the same type of darkness as Dexter, but is his polar opposite in that he manages to subdue his darkness and control it. Perhaps Dexter is using this friendship in order to figure out a way to wrestle control from his own darkness. This begs some interesting questions however; Is Dexter looking to be saved and with what could be a hundred murders under his belt is there even a way for him to say no to his Dark Passenger?

Magic Carpet Ride

As usual, there is always something going on Miami Metro Homicide and this episode was no exception. Masuka’s relationship with Ryan takes a twist as he discovers that she stole the prosthetic hand from the Ice Truck Killer evidence collection. I wonder if this spells the end for the roller derby-ing, killer obsessed intern. I certainly hope not, as it has been pretty funny watching Masuka’s interactions with her. One particularly funny moment in the episode came when Quinn and Batista were on the way to interview a person of interest. Quinn finds a joint in Batista’s new car and the two proceed to light up in what is easily the funniest scene in the episode. I don’t normally watch Dexter because for the supporting characters, but these interactions have proved great in letting up some tense moments in this episode.

New Boss in Town

Another slightly comedic side story on the show has been Deborah Morgan’s ascension to lieutenant of the homicide division at Miami Metro. I say comedic because it is almost with a Michael Cera-esque sense of awkwardness that she is slowly fitting into the job. It’s easy to see that she’s still getting used the hang of things and acts almost like a new kid at school even though she’s been around for years now. From the press conference to the wardrobe switch Deb’s actions as lieutenant has added a welcome lightheartedness to this episode.  On top of that her story with La Guerta has added another layer to the politics at the station, as I’m sure the two will have some kind of confrontation in the coming episodes.

In the end I say this episode is one of the better ones of this season. Along with what we learn about Gellar we also see that Dexter has set his sights on Travis. This is interesting because it is done fairly early in the season. At this point last year he was only nursing Lumen back to health, let alone helping her get revenge. At this point in season four he wasn’t even aware of Trinity’s identity.  ’m very curious to see what he has in store for Travis and how this is going to affect the prophetic work of Gellar. While this episode was more serious than anything else it still had a layer of humor to it. I was particularly interested in was a comment Dexter made early in the episode while talking to Brother Sam explaining the moon’s control of the tides. It seemed to me that it was a veiled jab at some comments made by Bill O’Reilly, which can be seen here.

I invite everyone to share your thoughts and comments below…I like Dexter, you like Dexter, so let’s talk about it!

Front page image, image 1 and image 3 from dextergr.blogspot.com. Image 2 from unrealitymag.com.