'Dexter's' Been There, Done That

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

So, here I am this week. Still doped up on antibiotics. Still trying to escape the throws of this combination sinus/bronchial infection. And yet, even I could tell that Miami Metro Homicide was just a little too anxious to get the Icetruck Killer.

Again.

Oy vey. Have we not heard this one before?

In watching last night's episode of Dexter, am I the only one thinking it was just overly convenient the now supposed IK suspect (Neil Perry) stuffed road kill as a hobby and had a dead body buried under his double-wide with a perfectly severed leg? Even with my memory haze at the moment thanks to my cold medicine, hasn’t the IK’s MO been pristinely-perfect-neat-and-tidy? Since when did he become a hack job slob that lives in a dump? This obviously cannot be the same dude who expertly sliced up Tony Tucci whilst sucking on cough drop lozenges. From the looks of that trailer last night, a sterile environment is the last thing on Neil Perry’s mind. As is any sort of medical expertise.

Poor Miami Metro. You’d think they’d have learned their lesson with Tucci.

Speaking of lessons … Jeremy Downs didn’t exactly learn his, did he? I mean, when Dex lets you off the hook, you are supposed to take the hint. Still, I’m not sure I was terribly convinced Jeremy was such a tortured soul – in either episode in which he appeared. Suffice it to say I’ve seen more disturbed teenagers on Cold Case, and thus, his whole I’m-empty-on-the-inside thing didn’t quite seem as convincing as Dex’s I’m-empty-on-the-inside-thing. Then again, Dex is the master, so perhaps everyone would pale by comparison.

As expected, thugbeat ex-husband Paul made his long awaited appearance, complete with kidnapping – er, I mean, picking up – Rita's kids from school without telling anyone. And as expected, he proceeded to try and weasel his way back into the lives of Rita, Cody and Astor. Ugh. I’m sorry, but didn’t we just want Dex to skip the niceties and start slicing and dicing Paul at first sight?

Of course, if he had done that, we wouldn’t have gotten to see Rita tell off Paul.

Two words: GO RITA!

I haven’t mentioned as yet how much I love Julie Benz’s wounded bird portrayal of Rita. There is something truly captivating about the sweet, genuine vulnerability that is always brimming just beneath her surface. It’s never too much, and it’s never too little. So often, she seems to only be holding it all together by a thread, yet she can become so instantly insightful, almost like a therapist, in talking directly as to the horrors of her previous life with Paul. She doesn’t shy away from talking about it. If anything, the brutal honesty with which she does discuss it reveals the quiet strength within her – the one that has allowed her to survive.

A strength that got even stronger this week.

GO RITA!

Interesting other notes this week:

- Deb and Doc Rudy: could she have finally found a decent guy? (See Cold Case, miracles do happen, and you can give a homicide detective a decent bloke every once in a while; try it some time).

- Dex v. Paul: okay, how many of you want to bet Paul is not long for this world? As in, that whole make-him-go-away-forever thing is imminent?

- Laguerta: How does this woman still have a job? Shouldn't she be sigining a MAC cosmetics deal or something? Does she actually do anything other than look good for the cameras? Suffice it to say I liked the fact Captain Matthews completely stole her thunder this week. Too bad so sad for you, Laguerta.

- We are going to get the real IK next week, eh? Well, even if that is a deceptive promo, we clearly now know Neil Perry is a fraud.

Let the chess match continue.

The first season of Dexter airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on CBS. Check out Showtime's official Dexter Web site for the inside scoop on the series.