Sunday, May 24, 2009

My Review of Dexter's 3x05: "Turning Biminese"


Written by Tim Schlattmann
Directed by Marcos Siega

Miguel: “All that stuff, that's not for men. Right, Dex?”
Dexter: “Lying naked on a table, helpless? No, thanks.”

Yeah, surrendering to another person or thing isn’t exactly the ideal of situations for Dexter to put himself under. Dexter is like many men who like their freedom so when tonight’s episode threw some uncomfortable realities his way, Dexter couldn’t fake it as well as he would usually do.

Dexter loves Rita, this we all know too well by now but now we’re seeing a side to him that’s desperate to cling onto the familiarity of his old life. He’s not ready to change and he’s certainly not ready to move. Rita trying to push it only helped freak him out all the more.

He was uncomfortable when Rita and Sylvia first ganged up on him with the suggestion that him and Rita would have to move in together. Even Dexter’s attempts of wanting to sublet his apartment wasn’t taken seriously. Rita wanted a bigger commitment that Dexter wanted to give.

In the last two episodes we’ve seen him going from telling Rita that he wanted to be there for their child to him proposing to her in the most heartfelt of ways. Having him balk at the idea of the two of them moving could be seen as silly. Did Dexter really think that Rita wouldn’t suggest moving in together?

I’d like to think not but he certainly was put out by it and at one point he actually snapped at Rita and told her he didn’t want to move in with her. I’m surprised she didn’t smack him when he did that but Rita can sometimes do that. Instead she just looked crestfallen and continued making dinner. Bad move, Dexter.

It’s nice that when Dexter’s being a bit of a prick that Rita has someone to confide in. I’m starting to like Sylvia more than Miguel. She genuinely does have Rita’s best interests at heart and didn’t pressure her into buying any houses that she wasn’t sure of.

It was also Sylvia who was largely there when Rita started bleeding by taking her to the hospital. Even trashing Dexter couldn’t make me dislike Sylvia, probably because it was all too easy to understand why she wouldn’t be so sympathetic. It’s almost a pity that Rita and Sylvia’s friendship won’t make it past this season.

As for Rita, she very nearly miscarried and it was certainly enough to scare anyone. I’ve had sisters who suffered similar scares so I know it’s a terrible thing to have to worry about. Rita was lucky that she didn’t lose the baby but that was because she had Sylvia to take her to the hospital.

The near miscarriage was also something that got Dexter to get his act together. Emotions or the lack of, even Dexter wasn’t thrilled about the idea of almost losing his own child and the ordeal was enough to get him to change his mind about moving in with Rita.

When Dexter wasn’t trying to wrangle out of committing further, he was also falling into Miguel’s trap. The second Miguel started talking about wife killer Ethan was the same one I realised that he wanted Dexter to do his brand of justice to Ethan. Dexter didn’t exactly fail on that score.

The usual bout of research was done quickly enough and Dexter certainly had fun in dismembering Ethan, even if he couldn’t dedicate as much time to the whole thing as he might have wanted to.

As for Miguel confronting Dexter about Ethan’s death – beautifully executed scene. What would’ve horrified any of the other regulars on this series about Dexter enthralled Miguel to the extent that Miguel tried to use it as a further means of connecting with Dexter.

And that’s my problem with Miguel – he’s forcing a connection with Dexter for reasons that I don’t know. He intentionally set Dexter on a path to kill Ethan and something tells me that Miguel will probably be misguided enough into thinking that he can control Dexter. He’s going to have one hell of a culture shock when he realises that no one can control Dexter.

Speaking of control, Ramon re-emerged as slightly calmer and more together when he approached Maria about trying to connect a recent skinner attack to Oscar’s murder. The Ramon in this episode that I saw was probably the most tolerable that he’s been in the series so far but he still managed to rub everyone up the wrong way.

Quinn especially had no problem in telling him to back off but it was Masuka who actually got him to do it by contradicting one of his theories. In some ways this was an excellent episode for Masuka.

Attempting to be more politically correct and polite was never something that was going to stick. If Deb and Angel’s sarcastic remarks weren’t enough to get Masuka back to his foul ways, then eventually something else would’ve done the trick. Though I did love Deb teasing him like mad.

Deb certainly had a lot on her plate in this episode. First off all, she made the effort to try and get Wendell to talk to her but judging by the obvious fact that she was being watched, I think she might have put the lad in harm’s way instead and possibly even Anton too. It was also nice to see her and Quinn reach some level of civility as well.

As for Maria, she had exceedingly little to do in this episode at all but at least Angel made some effort with Barbara. Okay, she refused an initial date but now that she’s realised he’s not some sleazy creep, I think Angel definitely has a legitimate shot with her. I like Barbara and there’s definitely some kind of a spark between her and Angel that could make a pairing between them work.

Also in “Turning Biminese”

Bimini is a fishing resort, right? It was also the same place that Ethan chose to vacate for the last time.

Rita: “Dex, that’s our baby.”
Dexter: “A baby. Incredible.”

I’m loving the fantasy sequences with Harry in this episode and one of them featuring Laura Moser was nice. Same actress as Season 1?

Harry: “Marriage is 50-50. What’s yours is Rita’s. Better hope she insist on a place with central air.”

Angel (re Masuka): “What’s up with him? He doesn’t joke around anymore, he dresses better, he’s polite.”
Quinn: “Maybe someone pointed out the error of his ways.”

Actually, Masuka’s attire was more dull than polite. No-one in this show really wears muted colours, not even Doakes or Maria anymore.

Deb: “You know, I can take inappropriate Masuka. I can take porn-loving Masuka. I can even take flatulent Masuka. But this dress-shoe-wearing please-and-thank-you zombie Masuka is fucking creeping me out.”

Deb: “Is this about your stupid paper?”
Masuka: “You guys don’t get it. You hurt my feelings.”

I noticed the romantic vibe between Deb and Anton went up a few notches in this episode. She was quite protective of him.

Rita: “No doesn’t really work in a relationship, Dexter. Can we talk about it is a little productive.”
Masuka (to Ramon): “Your victim was smothered. That's not opinion. That's science. And science is one cold-hearted bitch with a fourteen inch strap-on.”
Deb: “And he's back.”

Dexter and Miguel played a fair amount of golf in this episode. Dexter even used his golf bag to hide his weapons, which was pretty clever.

Rita: “What are the rules about using the bathroom in a show house?”
Sylvia: “There are no rules. You gotta go, you gotta go.”

Dexter: “And here I am, paradox personified. Taking life. Creating life.”

This episode used David Bowie’s “Changes” during a scene. Interesting choice.

Miguel (to Dexter): “You have nothing to explain, nothing to apologise for, not ever. I’m behind you, I’m with you and I respect you.”

Chronology: About nine weeks since “Our Father”, just by far along Rita’s pregnancy has gone.

“Turning Biminese” is a strong point for the series. Fatherhood, commitment, Miguel are all the things that Dexter can’t either shake off or control to his liking. Still, I’m sure that Dexter will adapt whatever way he can to these new situations.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

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