TV-Reviewed

Dexter has had a another great season so far. The one thing that had been missing was what Dexter and Miguel’s new friendship was trying to build up to for the ending of the season. We know we definitely have the conclusion to the skinner case to look forward too, but now we have the outcome of Dexter and Miguel’s relationship. This episode does a great job of focusing on the two of them.

In “The Damage a Man Can Do”, Dexter brings Miguel farther into the world that he’s never let anybody see. Miguel brings Dexter another target who’s been killing people to pay off his gambling debts. Miguel wants to do this one himself, so Dexter decides it’s time to teach Miguel the code. This was all interesting stuff, watching Dexter teach someone like his dad taught him. What made the moment more interesting was the look on Miguel’s face and the way he’s taking all of this in so well. Jimmy Smits does an amazing job with his character and he often doesn’t even need words to draw us in.

Harry appears in this episode too, trying to convince Dexter not to let Miguel know about the code. Imaginary Harry has been against Dexter’s friendship the whole season and it was fun watching as Dexter kept ignoring his father’s advice and continued to make his own decisions; it’s as if Dexter is going through his teenage rebellion phase now. There were some snags which almost led to Dexter pulling the plug on the whole operation when Miguel is recognized. It seemed somewhat impossible that Miguel wouldn’t be recognized and it’s also a bit naive of Dexter to have someone who is so well known assist in a killing. Miguel has a talk with Dexter and tells him about the Dark passenger that resides in him and it’s like someone is finally talking to Dexter’s heart.

Surprisingly the killing goes well and Miguel does the deed. There was a good amount tension right before, because Miguel’s face looked like one of shock when he realized the whole set up that Dexter has to go through, so there was doubt on whether Miguel would do it or not.

Michael C. Hall as Dexter and Jimmy Smits as Miguel Prado

The skinner case got more interesting when Debra gets a tip on who the skinner was, only it ends up being the guy who gave them information on who the skinner was. By the time Debra and Quinn figure it out though, Debra discovers that the skinner has him. I’m hoping that Anton isn’t gone, because he’s likeable and it would just be really messed up to have Debra dating the killer first season, then being overly paranoid second season, and now losing the man she loves, who wasn’t a killer, in third season.

Oh and by the way, Anton apparently has been working as a C.I. for no reason when it’s revealed that Quinn’s just kind of been stringing him along. This little plot seemed to be a way of casting doubt on Quinn and while we can admit that he doesn’t play by the rules, we’re not ready to admit that he’s as bad as Yuki made him out to be. It’s also nice to see Angel in a functioning relationship and all his worrying is turning out to be one of the more cheesier things about this season, but it works. Let’s also hope that La Guerta takes Ellen’s advice and goes and has some fun. La Guerta did have a brief thing when she tried to get back her position last season, but other than that, we haven’t gotten to see a fun side of La Guerta. I mean even Dexter had Lila last season.

In the end it looks like Harry might be right about Dexter setting something in motion that he won’t be able to stop as we saw Miguel head over to Ellen Wolf’s house in what we can only assume is to kill her. It’ll be interesting if Miguel starts to go off on his own, because then Dexter would most likely have to make a choice about whether to take him out or not. The relationship between Dexter is endearing, but scary at the same time because Miguel we never really know what Miguel is going to do next. We’re getting close to the end of the season and we still have the skinner case, Miguel’s actions, and Dexter still has to get married; so we’re definitely looking to see how all of these plots get advanced in the next episode.

Rating: 8.3