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TV REVIEW: FTN reviews Dexter SO8EO4 Scar Tissue

July 24th, 2013 by Andrew McCarroll Comments

BEWARE…killer spoilers ahead.

This episode opens with Vogel and Deb walking through LaGuerta’s murder in the container. Vogel takes Deb through every action that took place and does her best to convince her that she made the right choice in what she did and that it is normal to try and protect her brother. When this doesn’t work, she shows Deb tapes of Harry’s sessions discussing the code and how they are trying to focus Dexter’s murderous tendencies; this also does not seem to have the desired effect on Deb.

Meanwhile, Dexter continues his hunt for the brain surgeon killer and manages to track a cable installer called AJ Yates. Dexter finds that Yates has a scar on his head in a similar position to where the killer has been removing his victim’s skulls. When Dexter questions Vogel about this she does a very unconvincing job of telling him that she half remembers something about an issue with his brain scan but never followed up to see what was done about it. Dexter breaks into Yates’s home and finds a collection of women’s shoes and begins taking prints from them. He then calls Vogel to let her know what he has found, however, Yates emerges from a hidden room and overhears their conversation. This makes Vogel 3 for 3 on her patients becoming serial killers – either she is the world’s worst doctor or she has been attempting to set up her own therapist version of The Hunger Games.

Quinn, who we are told has nailed the Sergeants exam, is out celebrating with Angel and Jamie. When he overhears the cop who found Deb drunk in her car making fun of her, he does the levelheaded thing and punches him. Jamie is not impressed, but then, perhaps realizing that if she dumps Quinn the only line she will have in the show is “Harrison is asleep, I will see you tomorrow Dexter,” quickly gets over it and instead decides to mount Quinn and treat us all to another shot of her backside. We learn that Matthews is not too keen on Quinn becoming Sergeant and instead prefers…what’s her name?… that seems to do nothing but stand still at crime scenes and pass messages onto Masuka a day late. Speaking of Masuka, he again tried bravely to lift the episode out of its blandness with a hilarious scene when he finds out that he has a daughter as a result of a sperm donation in his college days – although the last few beautiful women who have spoken more than two words to him have turned out to be nut cases, I wouldn’t bet on this ending well for our lovable little perv.

Debra then straightens her hair and decides to go back to work – we know she is taking it seriously because she has strewn a load of files across the floor. Her boss Elway sees this and is suitably impressed enough that he graduates her from liquids to solids and the two discuss their mutual issues with their families. Deb returns to Vogel’s home – where she is now willingly living apparently – and begins going through the rest of the files on Harry. She finds one just before his death where he is struggling with what Dexter has become and admits that he is unable to live with what he has done. This jolts Deb into wondering if she can also live with the consequences of her actions.

Having found the prints he obtained are matched to a number of missing girls, Dexter returns to Yates’ home only to find it has been cleared out and Yates has fled. He then stumbles upon Yates’ own kill room and discovers that Yates was aware that Dexter had been there. There, Dexter uncovers a wounded girl stuffed in a locker who he rescues. He then asks Vogel to go through Yates’ house with him in order to try and uncover where he might have fled. This leads to Dexter finding Vogel’s files on Yates’ computer, including recent entries discussing Dexter in great detail and in a not too flattering light. Dexter is seething at this discovery and doesn’t take too kindly to being Vogel’s little lab rat, warning her that once he has taken care of Yates he is done with her. Dexter then lures Yates to his father’s nursing home and again makes another sloppy attempt at capturing his prey with Yates escaping.

The episode reaches its crescendo with a seemingly better adjusted Deb visiting Dexter at work and asking to go for a drive to discuss their many, many issues, which Dexter is only too happy to do. During their conversation Deb reveals that she watched the last session Harry had before he died (it wasn’t, there was clearly a space at the end of the shelf) and she confronts Dexter about Harrys death. Dexter confesses that Harry killed himself because he believed he had created a monster. Deb says she thinks she understands how Harry felt but says Harry “only got it half right” before grabbing the car’s wheel and sending them into a lake. She then decides that it probably wasn’t the best idea she has ever had and swims back to rescue Dexter – originally the episode was to end with Deb giving Dexter mouth to mouth but the producers have commented that they felt this would just confirm that Deb will always look out for Dexter and would take away the tension from any future confrontations between the pair. They need not of bothered as this story arc has more than run its course and Debra’s constant flipping back and forth has become tiresome, hopefully this reaches a conclusion sooner rather than later.

Overall the episode was a slight improvement on last week’s dire effort but is still nowhere near as exciting or interesting as a show reaching its conclusion needs to be. The show seems to be trying to set up a big final rug pull ending as opposed to building up an exciting twisting turning rollercoaster of a final season. Hopefully Deb rescuing Dexter will finally mean she has made a choice to accept him and we can build some momentum again as another scene of Deb angry confused and at the point of tears will just be monotonous at this stage. The show has almost ground to a halt after an exciting opening two episodes and it’s looking like it is going to limp to the finish line as opposed to stride confidently towards a satisfying climax.

Worth a donut: Masuka and his daughter sharing the same laugh was a nice touch. The Brain Surgeons kill room was suitably creepy and high tech and shows he might pose a more difficult challenge for Dexter than some of his more recent foes

Strap it to the table: Debs incessant winning is now a chore to watch.

2.5 Out of 5

 

Andrew McCarroll never quite built on the dizzying career heights that he hit at 6 years old, when as a member of the “Ghostbusters” he would charge his neighbours to remove any unwanted spectres. Now retired from slaying spooks, he spends his time obsessing over superheroes (especially Batman) and devouring shows like Dexter, Game of Thrones and Archer in a manner that would make Galactus proud. You can follow his rants on twitter @andymc1983