You know when TV show reaches a certain pinnacle of quality and emotion at the end of a season and you wonder how will they top it the next? Well, it hasn’t happened with the latest offering of our favourite serial-killer/police-blood-splatter-analyst Dexter.
The end of the last series of Dexter built to such a climax with the immense Trinity-Killer storyline, and the genuinely shocking cliffhanger with the murder of someone very close to Dexter, it was always going to be a tough act to follow, and whilst there are some (and I stress some) quality moments, this season falls flat on it’s face in terms of execution, plot, and, in some cases, acting.
Perhaps the best thing for me is the early episodes when Dexter (Michael C. Hall, Gamer) realises early on that he cannot retaliate against Trinity; he can’t go back and kill him again because, well, he’s already dead. He can’t take action against Trinity’s family because they’ve not done anything to him, and it creates an interesting dynamic where Dexter is almost lost is now fuelled purely by revenge and guilt; he’s after justice, but he knows he will never fully have it.
However, all this gets spoiled at the end of the third episode when the series properly kicks in; my big gripe is that the main plot with Lumen (Julia Stiles, The Bourne Trilogy) is not interesting at all; there are only so many things you can do with a rape storyline, and it doesn’t help that the show decides to go in a Kill Bill style revenge direction. Dexter gets shunted to the side for most of the season whilst we see him becoming a mentor for Lumen in a join-the-dots story. There wasn’t a great deal I didn’t see coming all the way through and I expected more from the writers and production staff of Dexter. From episode four onwards season five just drags its knuckles in the ground, grinding out dull twists and tedious progression.
I’m not happy with the ending either. Without going into too much detail, there’s a chance for the show to go into a brand new exciting direction involving Dexter’s sister Deb (Jennifer Carpenter, The Exorcism of Emily Rose); all she has to do is pull a curtain back; but that opportunity gets bottled with the show stopping itself shy of pushing the big cosmic reset button. Thus, everything is back to normal pretty much the same as before Julia Stiles popped up. That moment presented a chance to save a disgustingly average and boring series with a truly fabulous ending, but instead the weakness in execution made season five simply stumble onto a disappointing conclusion.
I don’t particularly hate or dislike Julia Stiles as an actress, but, even ignoring the rubbish main plot, she doesn’t do a great job with the role she’s given; okay, she’s a rape victim and it’s her quest for revenge and/or moving on with her life; I don’t expect her to be happy, but after extracting her vengeance, she doesn’t change her personality or performance to suit her completed mission at all. I don’t want to keep comparing to series four and John Lithgow (Cliffhanger) as Trinity, but even the terrible duo of Miguel Prado and the Skinner from series three out do her acting; that’s how naff she is; and I wonder if she had a good time on set? And even Johnny Lee Miller (Eli Stone) seems to be loafing around, when he could make more effort as the (should be) charismatic motivational speaker Jordan Chase. Serious misfire casting wise here. Lord help us when Colin Hanks (Roswell) turns up for season six.
I’m happy to report, the regular cast still deliver, and whilst they don’t save the show, they do make some parts watchable; their reactions to the murder affecting Dexter in the first episode are brilliant and enjoyable to watch, the subplots are enjoyable – Batista (David Zayas, Oz) and La Guerta (Lauren Velez, Oz) are starting to deal with married life and struggling to adapt, Quinn (Desmond Harrington, We Were Soldiers) secretly investigates Dexter after the Trinity case appears to go cold, Debra struggles to cope with her brothers’ loss and new feeling towards Quinn, and Masuka (C.S. Lee, The Sopranos) provides the usual comic relief. Whilst I did like the added morsels on offer, unfortunately they can’t raise the series up to a recommendation.
Since Dex is damaged goods, and differs from the people around him, it’s not a surprise to learn that he doesn’t deal with all of the five stages of grief, yet the way in which he attempts to cope makes for some very interesting TV; he has a massive burst of anger (in a believable piece of acting from Hall) where he fights and kills a random backwater hick in the Floridian swampland (ignoring his code) and unleashing an almighty scream to release some of his pent up rage (don’t worry, the hick deserved it), and he goes through a crushing bout of guilt when he realises that he had multiple opportunities to kill Trinity way before anyone close to him got hurt; and it’s interesting to see how inheriting two step children leads to him becoming awkward, and causes the mask of sanity to start slipping from the monster; as Dexter seems too mentally broken to react like a normal human (his ignorance is perfectly encapsulated when he’s supposed to be making funeral arrangements, yet spends the time thinking about preparing his next kill).
So while there are a number of strong moments during the season, they are only moments, and looking back it’s a shame that the first disc starts this series with a five minute recap of the previous and superior one; It reminded me how good Dexter can be, and how series 5 is horrifically pedestrian and, ultimately, skippable.
