TV Review: Dexter 3.7 – Easy as Pie

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 10, 2008

Dexter, Showtime, Airs Sundays at 9 PM ET/PT

Episode: “Easy as Pie” (Season 3, Episode 7)

Synopsis: Miguel offers Dexter a new potential victim, but after properly vetting her, Dexter isn’t sure she fits the Code. When he informs Miguel of this, he reacts with anger, making Dexter believe the new friendship is in danger. An old sickly friend of Dexter’s, Camilla, reinforces this idea, when she asks Dexter to help end her life, insisting she would never ask a friend to do something against his conscience. Meanwhile, Rita finds out that Sylvia is beginning to suspect her husband, Miguel, is having an affair. Debra ends up revealing to Anton that he is being used as bait to lure the Skinner, forcing her to find new way to find the Skinner. As a result, Anton realizes Debra cares for him more than he thought.

Review: It feels like just last week I was talking about how Dexter’s third season was headed in the right direction for fans of all shapes and sizes — especially those fans who were feeling particularly disenfranchised with the new, touchy-feely Dexter. But while last week seemed to kick-start some action, it left a few loose ends that needed to be tied up this week. And even though some folks won’t want to hear this, it was another relatively kill-less, yet well done episode this week.

Above all we see the re-emergence of Dexter and Rita’s wedding, something that will be front and center later on in the season. This situation is used well to continue to force Dexter to deal with normality, but more specifically friendship. That theme leads us, as it has for almost this entire season, back to Miguel Prado. The only thing I see wrong with the whole Miguel Prado, serial killer’s assistant story line is that it always seems to work itself out too easily. In this week’s show, we see a very interesting twist to Miguel — a darker side that might drive him to a place where Dexter is not willing to follow. But as you will see, what starts with intrigue ends blandly. And perhaps that is the only thing that is bothersome about season three, it all seems to work itself out too easily in the end — we are yet to find Dexter in a really nasty situation. So far his greatest battle has been with coming to terms that he too can be a real human being.

But I’m not giving up hope — in fact, I would still argue that Dexter is going strong. The performances are strong, as always, from Michael C. Hall and others; the supporting storylines are gaining momentum, especially Deb’s sordid affairs. And the writing, well that is still top notch. Take for example a little moment shared by Deb and her informant/soon to be lover Anton — nothing says ‘I want to be on you’ like when you say, “I’ll be your bait.” Stay tuned, Dexterites, because there is a storm building around Dexter’s little normalcy bubble — and at some point it is going to be unleashed.

Up Next Week: Miguel brings Dexter another “project,” but this time he wants to get his hands dirty. Dexter realizes it’s time to teach Miguel the Code – for his own safety as well as Miguel’s.

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Did you catch this week’s episode of Dexter? If so, please feel free to discuss is below.

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