Review: Dexter ‘Every Silver Lining…’

I have to admit, when I found out that this week’s episode of Dexter, “Every Silver Lining…” was directed by Michael C. Hall (Dexter himself), I was a bit skeptical.  He’s been a long-time producer on the show, but this is the first time he’s sat in the director’s chair.  After seeing it, however, my doubts have been removed.  This second episode of season 8 is proving that we have a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks.

As we left off from last week, Debra was a complete mess, working as a bounty hunter and being chased by a hitman.  Dexter is beginning to doubt himself, seeing his actions as the cause of pain among those close to him.  To make matters worse, the mysterious Dr. Vogel has made herself a part of Dex’s life and she just happens to know exactly who he is and what he’s been doing all these years.  Oh, and there’s some crazy guy cutting out pieces of people’s brains.

The episode begins with Dr. Vogel giving Dexter a little more information concerning her intimate knowledge of him.  Apparently, she use to be Harry’s psychologist and, upon learning about Dexter’s psychopath issue, decided to help Harry steer lil’ Dex’s killing urges in a productive direction.  Now, she has come to Dexter for help.  She fears that the “Brain Surgeon” is a former patient of hers and needs Dex to do what he does best. 

Not only that, but Vogel is pretty pleased with the way Dexter has turned out, having a unique view that serial killers are part of the natural ecosystem, predators to cull the human population.  Through Vogel, Dex learns more about his past and discovers the reason behind some of his current habits, such as his need to collect blood slide trophies and the tendency to confront his victims with their crimes before offing them.

So off Dex goes to hunt down the latest serial killer, but complications arise.  Masuka finds a fingerprint and so Dex must race the police to get to the killer first.  Eventually tracking him to a hunting lodge, Dex finds him dead.  As it turns out, the guy wasn’t the killer after all, just a dude forced by the real killer to commit the act.

On Deb’s side of the story, she is still out looking for the missing jewelry so she can make the big bucks.  Unfortunately, the hitman, El Sapo, finds her, beats the crap out of her and steals the prize.  Later, El Sapo turns up dead.  After a little bit of investigation Dexter discovers that his sister is indeed the person that put some bullets into the hitman and has to scramble to get rid of the incriminating evidence.

I like the way the latest season is delving into Dexter’s past and revealing some of the details concerning where it all began.  We’ve seen his origin, but not much is known about how he got from there to here.  Combined with Vogel patting him on the head and telling him he’s a good boy, Dexter is learning more about the things that make him more human than the typical killer.  In direct contrast, Debra is becoming less and less humane, transforming into a vigilante of sorts, albeit with a much less rigid code than anything Dexter uses.

Another thing I enjoyed was that the writers saw fit to bring up the Deb loves Dex story arc once more.  It hasn’t gone anywhere and perhaps never will, but it’s good to see they haven’t just shunted it to the side as something from last season that no longer needs to be addressed.

Maybe it’s just my paranoia (or my lingering distrust of psychiatrists due to Hannibal), but I’m getting the feeling that Vogel is the main bad guy here.  I’m guessing that the “Brain Surgeon” killings have something to do with her and that her newfound affection for Dexter is part of some plan to turn him into her latest experiment. 

All-in-all, another good episode and the season is still moving along well.  Let’s just hope it doesn’t slow down mid-season as many others have.  For a sneak at what next week has to offer, head to this site and check out the trailer.

Dr. Vogel courtesy of seriable.com