Dexter, Review Episode (7) "Nebraska" (Season [6])

By Time Spiral
November 14th, 2011 **SPOILERS**

Previously, on Dexter ... In Dexter Episode (6) Just Let Go, two shocking events set up the first half of the rest of the season. Brother Sam is dead. Dexter snaps and kills Nick at the beach, after delivering Sam's message of forgiveness. This conjures a standing ovation from the spirit of his dead brother, Brian. Travis snaps, loses his cool, and lets the whore free. This sets the stage for a confrontation between him and the professor.

In Dexter's Episode (7) called Nebraska we follow Dexter and his dead brother, Brian (aka, Ice Truck Killer), to Nebraska - and it's a wild time! Brother Sam makes a subtle appearance, Deb and Quinn have a serious moment, and the most interesting thing about the DDK is the fact that they seem to have strange "imaginary friend" rules. This episode is gearing up the final half of Season (6), but where is it going? We're still not sure.

Deb is drilled by LaGuerta, her new captain, because her numbers are in the toilet. The DDKs will either make my career, or break it, Deb utters. Then, right on time, they get a huge break. The whore of Babylon that Travis released went straight to the police. The team listens as the terrified woman explains that there were two, and she could tell one was dominant and one was weak. It tasted like metal, she explains as the team figures it is probably blood she was drinking.

Travis is enjoying breakfast with his Sister. He doesn't want her to go to work. She is his stone, his ground. When she is around he feels human. However, the moment she leaves the demon that is Professor Gellar shows up, this time, creepily staring through the kitchen window. Gellar approaches the front door and is promptly told to go F^%$ himself. Travis is done.

I'm sitting there watching, and the scene when he is with his Sister ended exactly as I predicted. You knew, the moment she walked out of the kitchen that Gellar would 'appear'. So, let's stop beating around the bush and talk about the most interesting aspect of the DDK - is Gellar real?

Is Professor Gellar a manifestation, similar to Harry, or Brian? Or is it a devious plot built-in by the writers to make us think that?

I think Gellar is real. Even though I'm slightly on the fence, and would be happy to be wrong, I think we'll find he's real, even if it is not in the capacity that you'd expect. I've come to the conclusion that you can no longer use things like "interacting with the environment" as a tell, because the writers have broken all those rules in this episode (on purpose?).

For instance: (1) Brian tosses Dexter a bag of body parts. (2) Gellar is manhandling those gators. (3) Was Brian eating that fast food with Dexter? I think he was ... Don't remember exactly. Things like this make is virtually impossible to tell if Gellar is real or not.

Even the whore of Babylon is purposefully ambiguous. The runner, when capture, was not blindfolded. Why? Because he was going to die. The Whore of Babylon was blindfolded. Why? Because the writers knew she would be let go and would then be an "eye witness." Of course, you cannot have an eyewitness and get such a vague testimony, uttering things like, "There were two, I think." But one is only ever referencing the other. The other person who was blindfolded, was the angel of death. Why? Because she might have escaped the trap.

I think the writers knew we'd be on to Gellar's obvious similarity to Harry, or Brian, and that the blogosphere and review scene would be festering on the possibilities. This whole thing is a meta-game, and we're eating it up. Too bad the actual DDK plot is not terribly interesting, or relevant (yet).

Deb doesn't meet with the psychologist in the episode, instead she has two encounters. One is with LaGuerta, where Deb is getting drilled, and the other is with Quinn. Quinn approaches Deb and you can see the look in his eyes. He apologizes for being the fool, and elaborates on a question he asked in a previous episode. We had something good, right?

I was legitimately wondering if this would be the beginning of them sparking the relationship back up. You could see it in both of their faces. They do care for each other. Quinn, being really smooth, makes a strong case and tries to steal the deal with a nice kiss. Deb, torn by her fear of commitment, declines, but at least they both know where they stand.

Dexter narrates his failure to see the light and the revival of his dead brother, Brian - that he killed. His boat sways gently, the skies are calm and blue. The grotesque garbage bags are sullenly thrown overboard. Brian digs in, and starts encouraging him to let loose, to go wild for a change.

Dexter shows up for work and Deb calls him into her office. He knows something is up, but is suddenly slammed with a bombshell. Trinity is back, says Deb, and he's killed two members of his family. Dexter, feigning internal struggle, weasels Deb out of some time off and Brian convinces him to travel to Nebraska.

When was the last time you had fun, Dexter? Brian asks after looking around his home. He explodes on Dexter, You're being domesticated! This pushes Dexter over the edge and convinces him to go after Jonah.

This entire Brian sequence is meant to illustrate Dexter's struggle with the light and the dark. But I believe it is an extension of the over arcing theme of the season: to put Dexter in unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations. First he's faced with religion for his child, then the idea of salvation through Brother Sam, then the idea that there could be light within him, via Sam and Harry. There is one event this all ties back to: his box. He dropped it, signaling that everything around him could change, suddenly, for the better or the worse.

Dexter arrives in Nebraska and finds some hole in the wall motel and digs in. The paranoid shopkeep immediately suspects something is up with Dexter and starts plotting a way to extort him. This, as you'd imagine, ends very badly for him.

Dexter finds Jonah, extremely quickly, and confronts him in his place of work. Jonah delivers an excellent performance, recounting the obviously fabricated lie about his encounter with his father, the Trinity killer. Brian tempts Dexter into a sloppy baseless murder, but Dexter resists in favor of the code. He needs to know the truth.

Detective Dexter quickly learns the story is BS while Jonah's house. Surprised, Jonah finds Dexter snooping around his house. Dexter knows, the cat's out of the bag, and is ready to kill Jonah right there. He admits that he killed Trinity. Jonah snaps. He turns, and runs before Dexter can chase him down - in broad daylight.

Borther Sam, and a brief moment of levity ...

Jonah calls Dexter (maybe he didn't change his number, idk?) and invites him to a fight to the death. Dexter, of course, happily obliges. During the scuffle, which Detxer would easily win, he learns that Jonah wants to die. Jonah reveals that Becca had killed herself, staging it to look like Trinity, and then Jonah snapped on his Mother for backing Trinity, and bludgeoned her to death with his hockey stick.

How do I live with this?! A furious Jonah calls out to a Dexter who is running over his imaginary dead brother with his car while fleeing an attempted murder scene. Forgive yourself, says Dexter, paying a deep homage to his late friend Brother Sam. And in a way, repenting for his betrayal that was killing Nick.

So, Jonah admits to killing his Mother, but Dexter lets him live? This is twice now that Dexter has taken the word of a victim so close to being on his table. He let Travis go based purely on a conversation. He let Jonah go over an emotional confession told at the brink of death. They are really showing us a new Dexter, one who is emphatically not sure of himself. He's lost his way, his confidence. This is truly the chaos we were expecting after he cracked his slides, and in many ways, his identity - his foundation.

Showtime has an excellent section of their site dedicated to Dexter. You should check it out! http://www.sho.com/site/dexter/. Plus, if you're not currently subscribing to Showtime, you really should be! They are running a special: get a $25 rebate if you have the service for three months. You can get Showtime by getting one of DISH Network's special deals, or by calling your current provider.

Dexter changed his methods for the Tooth Fairy, allow his body to be found and killing him via suffocation. He allowed his emotions to get in the way. He foolishly strangles Nick (who I mistakenly called Rickey in the last review, ha!) and drowns him on a beach. He had Travis. There was no way for him to escape, but simply said, "I didn't do it," and Dexter let him go. Jonah lied to Dexter several times, and then with his last breath, tells Dexter something and he believes him, and lets him go. All I can say, is - what the f#@&?

I'm not taken aback for the reasons you might be thinking. I like the fact that Dexter is being tested. He is second-guessing himself. Brother Sam, and his code, has instilled in him that, "you could be wrong. People can change." Maybe he thinks he can change? Maybe he is becoming a better judge of character. I don't know. Here is what I do know ...

Dexter has been in emotional turmoil in this season, but never really an any real "Dexter-like" trouble. The main killers are not on to him. No one is sniffing out his trail. He, nor anyone he knows, is in mortal danger. It's all just kinda ... easy. There have been so many opportunities, but the writers are skirting them over.

Will Dexter be punished for his SEVER divergence from the code? How are we supposed to think the code is paramount if he can go on a season long killing spree - ignoring the code - and not pay for it, at all? I don't know. This major lapse in consistency seems even more jarring than the strangely unimportant DDK storyline.

I'm waiting for the second half of this season to really pick up steam!

Be Peaceful on your way,

Time_Spiraling

• So that sweater vest guy could only narrow it down to 200 names? And it took him all afternoon? Ha. Penelope from Criminal Minds could have narrowed it down to one guy, in a matter of seconds, with zero information. What a loser.
• So ... Brian's gone after one episode and Harry is back? Will Harry hold Dexter accountable?
• Mike Anderson - poor guy. He only had what, one line this episode?
• Will Travis's Sister be the Whore of Babylon?
• Is Gellar real, or imagined, or are we all being played the fools by the writers?!
• Oh, and how did Dexter get Nick's body on his boat? Did he haul the dead body from the beach to his car? Did he drive his car onto the beach? Did he leave the dead body there, go get his boat, and cruise all the way over to pick it up? It's f&^$%ing Miami! He just has the body in chunks on the boat and we're supposed to think, "okay, he got him." No. This is taking your license a little too far.
• See you next week!