The Mo and The Ro

I’ve updated the discussion on the messageboard as well – come join, it’s free, fun, and you can feel internet important.

Entertainment Weekly got some tidbits from Executive Producer Sara Colleton on season 5 – warning this can be constituted by some to be some big bad SPOILER ACTION.

“We have spent the last month sitting around, talking and really debating how best to deal with the aftermath of [Rita's death]. We uniformly decided that we don’t want to jump ahead. We need to see Dexter go through the process that we’d all have to go through if such a horrible thing had happened to us. We need to see him doing everything from the big emotional things like grieving the loss, to the mundane things like arranging a funeral, getting the kids dressed, and all the other things that are usually done for men because their wives or mothers do them. They have no idea how to handle all of these things. As we saw, Rita was really the caretaker of their baby. It would be cheating the audience of their catharsis to not see Dexter go through that mourning period and see how it affects him or to not see him dealing with the blowback of what he essentially caused. So we will not jump to Harrison as a 5 year old yet.”

On the standard formula of Dexter chasing a single enemy through 13 episodes:

“John Lithgow is a tough act to follow. If there was ever a year that we could take a step back from the Big Bad formula and go deeper into Dexter and his psychology, this would be that year. That said, Dexter has a dark passenger that won’t go away no matter how much he yearns to be normal. That rears up and needs to be dealt with. He may even dive deeper after this traumatic loss of Rita. We are working on a way that feels original and fresh and unique to what he has just gone through. It cannot be the way it has been before. In [Season 1], he was terrified of any kind of intimacy because intimacy equaled being discovered. Then he slowly realized he had a need to be known and he set up a family and tried the best he could to balance it all. And now, he sees what being known brings him and he had it ripped out from underneath him suddenly and that will have some affect on him.”

Now if you’re following the discussion, you know my thoughts and what I want from a fifth season…this looks like a good start.

Frankly offing Rita was a good start so I guess kudos to a good finale for season 4, let’s keep it going.

*Spoiler Alert*

If there are any of you who have not seen the remainder (in this case the last 3 episodes or so) of Dexter for the current season, then skip this entirely if you hate being told what happens.

For the rest of you…here’s what happens.

Let’s just start out by saying that things definitely got interesting here towards the end thankfully. Now, that said, I had always been a fan of the John Lithgow Trinity character from the get-go, and having Lundy die made things interesting. Lower points in the season revolve around more Deb crying scenes because her life is a train wreck, Quinn becoming the new Doakes to Dexter, and Rita basically being filler material to have Dexter’s “normal” life conflict with his…well, actually that side with the Dark Passenger should be labeled his normal life. And now it – no quotes around the word.

I knew there had to be a reason to get this Christine, annoying reporter extraordinaire, on screen so much that didn’t have to do only with her topless scenes (we will not debate those however – they stay). Trinity’s daughter? Following in Dad’s footsteps like Deb did in Harry’s? That was cool. I thought for sure they’d make it Anton or someone equally as lame who would be revealed to be the real shooter. I bet that guy’s still pissed off though, must suck to be mad at a dead man for stealing your girl – can’t hit him.

Now, the big twist that all my facebook newsfeed was really, well, it was a twist, but I’m not upset. I’ve been on record that Rita was a drain on the show and as interesting as it was to watch Dexter balance home life and his extracurricular activities, I found her to be as annoying as Marge Simpson was in the first few seasons of that show – “straight man” fodder (in this case obviously that name doesn’t help but it is an acknowledged role) to tell everyone why they’re wrong, and to provide the moral compass. Boring. Thankfully The Simpsons dumped that role on Lisa so it was easier to ignore, and now Dexter as a show can dump that role onto someone else who doesn’t play as big a part. Although the one I would choose does play a big part, and was already the moral compass for most of this season and that’s this ghost of Harry that Dexter now converses with.

I suggest for next season Dexter get to have conversations with the Dark Passenger too.

Oh and some characters got married, whoop-de-do.

Join the discussion on the messageboard.

*Here it finally is – so late that I have another episode to watch right after this is written. I’d say you waited for genius writing, but really I’ll phone this one in. Enjoy your free review.*

This episode blurred the lines between who really is the father figure here. Arthur Mitchell may have figured out how to keep a family separate from his “work” well enough to make Dexter envious, but his battle within working out what he does seems to be making him Dexter’s protege at times.

The Deb/Lundy shooting is finally of interest to me. Guess now that Trinity is not the suspect, I’m wondering when they’ll finally tell us that Anton did it and we can all move on with our lives.

I still don’t care that Angel and LaGuerta are banging again.

So it seems Dexter is becoming somewhat reluctant to ice Trinity. Guess he’s too valuable as a Dear Abby type to get rid of yet.

Although the whole thing with the deer, and getting angry about the chainsaw….maybe Harry was right, it was time to do him in.

Oh wait, then what would be we do for the rest of the season.

Yes we know this will play out as such until the end, hey maybe it’s formula, but having Quinn be the new Doakes will not continue the interest if Trinity dies now, so here we are, doing the dance. Seriously though, what is up with that? Doakes cannot be replaced, so Quinn just needs to go back to having the occasional sex scene with his reporter girlfriend and we’ll leave it at that.

The last minute or so really shape things up for what is to come. I won’t spoil it for those of you yet to watch the TiVo, but I was pleasantly surprised at this turn. It reminded me of season one twists that would be thrown Dexter’s way from time to time. I really believe that premiere season has been the best. Queue debate time in the comments section!

So just finished this week’s Dexter. No deaths, but more Lithgow – and now we know what makes him tick! Sweet. Also, here’s to hoping this lame Rita drama storyline has gone away. Sadly, as much as I love subplots and depth, that was detracting from the storyline I felt – in regards to the flow anyway. (Even though yes it is necessary, as Dexter adjusts to married life, etc, etc, etc…)

So I’m just queuing up episode 5 of Dexter after having to sit on it all week. (and those of you who saw the previous episode know how hard it was to wait to see the beginning)

*Spoiler – but really guys if you haven’t seen it yet too bad*

I see Lundy is under a tarp so I guess we know where that character arc is going. Hoping this opens up the door for John Lithgow’s serial killer character Trinity to appear in a larger role starting from this point. Fingers crossed, because really this guy is super creepy when he wants to be – too good.