My Review of Dexter's 4x09: "Hungry Man"

Written by Wendy West
Directed by John Dahl

Dexter (re Trinity): “What kind of father keeps a coffin in his garage?”
Harry: “What kind of father keeps blood slides in his shed?”

Isn’t Harry rather less helpful with Dexter this year? There was a time when I enjoyed his appearances but now, they’re starting to become a little annoying a degree. I get they serve a purpose in pointing out a lot of Dexter’s thoughts/foibles but sometimes I wish we would get some more encouraging ones for a change this season.

Having one Thanksgiving meal is tough but when your first one involved having a front seat row to Trinity seriously losing his shit, then be thankful to getting out of that house is an understatement. Nice way for the writers to show us just how truly nuts Trinity really is.

It’s not a shock that Trinity’s controlling ways have his family both living in fear and hating his guts in equal measures but seeing it played out didn’t exactly make for pleasant viewing in the slightest. Trinity’s the type of man who breaks his son’s fingers and locks his daughter in her own room. I can only imagine what he does to his long suffering wife.

Dexter’s penchant of making rash decision this season doesn’t seem to be letting up. It’s nice that he wanted to help Jonah but if anything, Dexter should’ve just killed Trinity before the Thanksgiving meal instead of attending it and making a bad situation ten times worse as a result of stopping by.

He already knew that Trinity was a threat to his family since the previous episode, so Dexter’s lack of inaction is starting to bother me. It also didn’t help that he strangled Trinity in front of his family at all and it really didn’t help that if Sally hadn’t intervened, Dexter would’ve stabbed Trinity so carelessly and publicly too.

Right now, Dexter’s options are limited. He’s already shown Trinity his true side and if he doesn’t act fast then Trinity is either a) going to kill him or Rita or b) sick the cops on Dexter. Either are possibilities that Dexter can easily avoid if he finally acts quickly and does away with Trinity once and for all.

I can only imagine as well the consequences that lies ahead for Sally, Jonah and Rebecca as well. Jonah especially seems to be the most at risk given that he shattered Vera’s ashes all over the place and took to smashing up some of Arthur’s awards right in front of him. If doing damage to a car earned him broken fingers, then I wouldn’t be surprised if Trinity actually tried to kill his own son. He already came pretty close to doing it in this episode alone.

However the only positive thing about Trinity that occurred this week was Dexter being made aware of the fact that he wasn’t responsible for Deb’s shooting/Lundy’s death. This episode seemed to painfully point out that the culprit to that one was Christine after all. This now makes some kind of twisted sense given that she’s also Trinity’s daughter.

I genuinely didn’t see that one coming at the end of this episode. When she opened the door, I actually expected that Trinity was coming to kill her. He could still do that but I got the impression that he’s either a) been kicked out by Sally and needs somewhere to crash b) needs someone to talk because he’s all het up or c) is acutely aware of his daughter’s dark side and wants to berate/guide her or something to that effect.

Either way, this episode served to highlight just how fantastic this whole arc has been as a whole. Making Christine a more important cog in the wheel has definitely paid off and now that Deb seems to be closely aware of who shot, I have to wonder if that was Christine’s motive all along. She did seem to feel a little guilty when talking to Deb about Lundy’s last breath and all.

Besides all of that stuff with Christine now makes her a more fascinating character to the extent that it’s even harder to care about her relationship with Quinn. That being said, I do get the impression that she genuinely cares for him but sense that he’s more into Deb than her. She more or less even said that to Deb as well during their scenes at the office.

Deb’s obsessive manner with her work this week also saw her being told to back down by Quinn during the holidays and the fact that she had been emotionally blackmailed into attending Thanksgiving was amusing. Still, it was nice that she roped Masuka into proceedings as well, especially as he was put to good use.

Okay, so while I don’t think Rita will have an affair with Elliot (despite the impression that she’s tempted to), Masuka did see a kiss between them and it will be interesting if he keeps that information strictly to himself or decides to tell. Dexter’s reaction if he does find out would also be interesting too.

Also in “Hungry Man”

The episode’s title seems to come from a brand of food that Harry used to eat during Thanksgiving after his wife passed away.

Jonah (to Dexter): “I know it looks like we have the perfect fucking family but in that house when he’s there, it’s not a life, it’s a tour of duty.”

I take it that Trinity’s beating of Jonah is following the same pattern of abuse he suffered from his own father. For a moment, I actually thought he locked Rebecca in the coffin when he went to get her.

Dexter (re shooter): “How did I not see that?”
Deb: “You were too close. That’s what happens when you make it personal.”

Dexter: “I’ll be at Arthur’s by one, home by four. A serial killer’s Thanksgiving recipe for success.”

Because of Deb’s swab ideas, Miami Metro managed to solve three rape cases, three burglaries and two murder cases.

Deb: “You have a speciality?”
Masuka: “A river of chocolate love that melts in your mouth.”
Deb: “Wow, you can make anything sound perverted.”

Maria: “You never know when you wake up in the morning what the day will bring.”
Angel: “I love you. I love you.”

I really do think it’s a shame that Angel and Maria are still being forced to keep their relationship under wraps, especially given that it’s easy to root for them as a couple.

Astor: “Are you the one my mom told me not to talk to?”
Masuka: “Awkward.”

Dexter (re Trinity): “I’m thankful to be out of that fucking house.”

Chronology: November 2009 if the main event is anything to go by.

This was an absolute riveting episode. “Hungry Man” certainly pushed the Trinity arc in the best way possible and Dexter desperately needs to do some damage control soon, it’s episode like this that make me glad to be watching the series all over again.

Rating: 10 out of 10.