TV-Reviewed

“Blinded by the Light” was a much better installment than the episode that came for it, but it wasn’t good in the usual style that Dexter usually is. It shed more light on Dexter’s inner psyche and his adjustment to being part of the social world.

Rita found that Dexter’s accident was much worse then he initially led on, which lead up to Dexter being driven around all episode. We never saw Dexter drive himself around again for the whole episode; something subtle like this really makes you realize how much time the writers and production staff put into this show.

Dexter’s one goal is to not get caught and for that to happen he’s had to integrate himself into society, becoming one of us. He’s gotten a wife, the house, three kids, and a car.  From the outside, he looks like the modern man. This week Dexter gets to know his new neighbors. We first see them at a backyard barbecue, which had Dexter try a little too hard to fit in when he pushed Aster into the swimming pool. It was one of several laugh out loud moments on the show. Most of these moments had Dexter embarrassing Aster and having to realize that she’s not a little girl anymore, even though I thought it was weird that she was going after a guy in community college.

There was a funny, but cute moment as Dexter awkwardly tells Aster that he’s sorry, he’s dumb and she tells him that it’s okay if he acts dumb. He also ends up having to take an interest in his neighborhood when a there’s a vandal running loose, breaking mailboxes, knocking over things, and spray painting gates — all the stuff that your average junior high to high school kid does.

To stop the vandal, the neighbors set up a neighborhood watch. Normally Dexter wouldn’t care about any of this, but in his effort to fit in he decides to take part and start figuring out who it is so he can get the neighbors out of his hair.

I have to hand it to the writers, because they totally tricked me with thinking that it was Andy’s son who was the vandal, but it was also confusing because Dexter ran the prints and they were a match. Despite the moments of confusion, it was funny when Dexter tried to stalk the son and ended up having to run for his life not to get caught. Thank God the neighbors aren’t very good at finding people because it’s one of the few times where I got a little scared wondering how Dexter was going to get out. When Dexter confronts Andy about him being the vandal (with a mask of course), we ended up feeling badly for him because of him losing his house, job, and wife. It’s one of the few times where we’re glad Dexter didn’t kill him.

Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan and Julie Benz as Rita Morgan

Fear seemed to be a major theme in this episode though. The husband ended up stopping due to fear of losing his kid and the Trinity Killer’s victim ended up taking her own life for fear of losing her family. Speaking of the Trinity Killer, these little bits that we get are some of the creepiest stuff on Dexter yet.  It almost feels like a tease because we get so little of the killer and it has me eagerly waiting to see how the Trinity Killer and Dexter will end up crossing paths.

Then we have Deb, who looks likes she’s about to sabotage the one good relationship that she’s had. Now that Lundy is back in town, Deb is really starting to get back in the rhythm she was in before and it’s actually fun to see the two working together since they are just alike.  Keith Carradine is great when he delivers lines perfectly, even as he’s flirting like a gentleman. I like the two together, but I just hope Deb doesn’t end up self-destructing this relationship because Anton so far is a really good guy.

We also got more of dirty cop Quinn who ends up confronting Dexter, this time over Dexter giving away some tickets he gave him. These heated meetings are interesting because there really seems to be a hatred slowly boiling on Quinn’s side for Dexter.  Quinn really flips when Dexter calls him a dirty cop and it almost seems as if he’s trying to convince himself that he’s not a dirty cop. Either way I’m looking forward to when things come to a head between the two.

LaGuerta and Batista are still hiding their romance and to be honest, it’s boring. We know they’re together and watching them try to hide it isn’t that fun because I don’t think that them getting caught would have too big of a repercussion. It’s also hard to get involved with relationship because they’re given such little time, maybe give us some kind of sex scene or more time of them spending time together and I can get involved; It was scary though when they ended up getting fired at by their suspect.

The ending of this episode might possibly be the most interesting moment of Dexter when Dexter finally decides to destroy this light that blinds him every time he walks to his house. It was a moment where the real Dexter was shown and it was only for a moment, but Rita ended up seeing it. I don’t think this is anything major, but it’s definitely something that Rita won’t ignore and might possibly raise some suspicion about who Dexter really is.

I thought this was a good episode and it was good in the most subtle of ways. I’m looking forward to seeing what challenges await Dexter next episode and to see whether we get to see him explain to Rita why he damaged the light.

Rating: 8.3