‘Dexter,’ “Slack Tide”

image courtesy vulture.com

Apologies to you, readers, for going M.I.A. last week. Last week the tide of my life was going out, and fast, but it appears that this week, like the metaphorical tide in the opening sequence of this week’s episode, my life will be in slack tide this week. Probably for just a moment, but I’ll enjoy it while it lasts. Dexter, too, should know to enjoy the calm while it lasts. Seven episodes into this season, we’ve started on the downhill slide towards the finale, and it’s bound to end badly for someone…

An arm is found inside a gator at the opening of the episode, but Dex recognizes that there were ligature marks on the wrists. The gator bit the arm off, but the body was tied up before that. The owner of the arm is identified as a nineteen year-old aspiring model who had an appointment with a photographer the night before she went missing. The photos from the shoot are eerie, and what’s more, the photographer was a suspect in a rape years ago. Dex thinks he’s found a new victim, but Harry thinks he should focus on killing Trinity. When Harry asks what’s holding Dex back from killing Trinity, Dex says he still has lessons to learn from Trinity. Harry balks; he taught Dex to not be like Trinity. Dex has a doozy of a comeback, though–Harry also told him he could never be with anybody or have a family, and that he was a monster, which Dex no longer believes. Later, Batista digs up three more missing models who fit the same profile as the known victim of their suspected photographer serial killer. Dex goes to the photographer’s studio to investigate and finds traces of blood and a broken piece of fingernail which fits with the arm from the gator’s stomach. Dex has all the evidence he needs.

Meanwhile, Dex is looking for a way to get some space from his family and closer to the Trinity Killer as his other alter ego, Kyle, the anonymous, loving and exasperated father of an ersatz family. Under the false pretense of asking questions about parenthood, “Kyle” agrees to go with “Arthur,” aka Trinity, on a morning excursion. Which turns out to be chopping down trees in the woods. Trinity is acting very weird–he can’t get the chainsaw started, then seems infuriated when Dex can. Dex proceeds to use it to cut down a tree while Trinity seethes. Dex can’t figure out what’s going on, and they head back in the direction they came from in Trinity’s van. On the way, they hit a deer which ran out in front of them. It’s in pain; Dex wants to kill it out of mercy, but Trinity can’t do it. He looks stricken at the sight of something innocent which he hurt. Harry mocks Dexter for choosing Trinity as a role model and encourages him to kill Trinity while he has the chance, but Dex puts the deer out of its misery instead.

Quinn’s reporter sometimes-girlfriend wants to do a hero piece on Deb, but Dex is having none of it. For one thing, he doesn’t want the reporter snooping around his family life, and I think he genuinely cares about Deb besides. In an attempt to get Quinn to stop the reporter from interviewing Deb, Dex threatens to reveal Quinn’s money-stealing ways at the Vacation Murders scene.

That turns out to not be the best decision, as it reignites Quinn’s malignant curiosity about Dex’s life and habits. In helping Deb move into Dex’s old apartment, he learns that Dex kept the apartment for some eight months after he got married. He wants to know what Dex is hiding, but it’s not going to be easy to figure out. At least, Dex hopes so. Unfortunately, his hopes are probably in vain, because Quinn takes page from Doakes’ book and tails Dex on a late-night jaunt to stalk, abduct, and hopefully kill the photographer. But he notices Quinn, sends a pretty lady to momentarily distract him, and exits in a hurry. Mission aborted.

Deb has all Lundy’s evidence, minus what she thinks Trinity took from the scene of the shooting (which Dex actually stole), and she plans to tell Laguerta all about it. Dex knows Laguerta will see it as a massively stupid conspiracy theory and dismiss it, so he thinks he’s good on that front. Where he’s in trouble is with Deb’s search for the informant Harry had an affair with. She’s one case file away from Laura Moser, Dex’s real mother, and he knows that it’s just a matter of time until she follows that trail to the Ice Truck Killer. The Ice Truck Killer, of course, will lead to the real Dexter, and that’s gonna lead to trouble. But first, she has to interview another confidential informant named Valerie. She basically tells her that Harry slept with all his confidential informants. Deb comes to Dexter, completely distraught over the destruction of her idealized vision of her father. Dex reminds her, slyly, that everyone has secrets, and some just aren’t meant to be found out. She leaves Laura Moser’s file with Dex, who says he’ll return it. Harry obviously wants him to destroy it, but as Dex starts to put her photo in the shredder he panics. “I can’t let her get cut up again,” he says.

Following Arthur’s parenting advice, Dex signs up Cody from the Young Sailor’s Club and is forced to chaperon a sailing excursion for his son and three of his son’s friends when his original plan to kill the photographer goes awry.

The question of the episode, though, is just what the hell Trinity is building in his garage. And in the final seconds, we finally got our answer: a coffin. Who it’s for and why he’s building it from scratch remains a mystery.

However, the biggest twist in the episode was that Dex, distracted by family life and possibly a burgeoning connection with Trinity, kills the wrong person for the model murders–the police prove conclusively that it was the photographer’s assistant! Obviously, Dex has some reassessing to do, and it couldn’t come at a worse time; midway through this season, we viewers just know some bad stuff is about to go down.

Share