tvdinner&amovie

“I thought I was headed in the right direction, my dark passenger back behind the wheel, but if I was so sure I knew where I was going, how did I get so lost?” – Dexter

Talk to the Hand didn’t start with Dexter’s usual inner monologue, which typically addresses the episode theme and serves as a bridge for the last episode. Instead, we began the evening with Dexter heading back to the scene of his own crime. As far as penultimate episode’s go, this one was pretty good and unless everything is (unbelievably) neatly wrapped up in the finale, a lot of what happened will have an impact for seasons to come.

• Beth as Travis’ right hand (wo)man. Being tasked with helping end the world is a big deal and I don’t think Travis made his decision lightly, but why did he select Beth to gas the Miami PD instead of her husband?
• Did anyone else notice that the police mostly mentioned Travis in this episode? It was like they already knew Gellar is dead.
• Dexter wants Deb to excuse Matthews. Whether or not Deb understood why Matthews left Jessica there and tried to cover it up, there’s no way she’ll be that understanding when/if she learns her brother is a serial killer. Nice try Dexter.
• “What did stalkers do before the Internet?” This.
• Wormwood goes off. Anti-climatic isn’t even the right word. A week of speculating over whose hand that was and how many people would die. I even believed Quinn would somehow be involved. Dexter saved the day and Beth was the only one that died. Minor let down.
• “Maybe it takes a beast to catch a beast.”  Then the scene cuts to the “beast” feeding a sweet little cat, which was funny. Later, we realize Travis killed the cat’s owners and left their bleeding bodies right by the cat food, which was less funny and implied that Travis is a little beastlier than we may have originally assessed.
• How close is Matthews to Deb and Dexter? He mentioned in the second season that Harry asked him to watch over the two if anything happened to him. However, over the years, he’s never really interacted with them outside of police matters. This makes sense for Dexter, but I think if they’d been close, Deb would have latched on to him as a stand-in father figure years ago.
• “Your brother holds a very important place in your life.” Deb is realizing her feelings for Dexter may be of the romantic variety. The preview for this episode hinted to this, but I try not to take the previews seriously since they are usually misleading. Except this time, they were a major clue. Deb being in love with Dexter will completely change their dynamic. Also, I wonder if Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall were pleased  with this storyline, considering their less than “in love” status.
• Masuka’s creepy intern. Dexter doesn’t like Louis, who seems to pick up on that and also mentions that he wants to get in the game (the killing game?!?!), which is all followed by Louis drawing a palm chart onto the hand from the ITK case and shipping it (with care) to Dexter. Similar to Deb and her semi-incestuous feelings, this isn’t a story I see ending with the season finale.
• Sloppy, sloppy Dexter. Since when do you send video messages and since when is it a good idea to send one to the man the whole city and Miami PD is on the lookout for? What if they find him before you do and get his phone? Or, what if you think you’re going to catch him but he knocks you out and puts you in a boat filled with gasoline? What then Dexter?
• The beast with seven heads. Travis is a great artist and all, but his rendition of Dexter is creepy and makes Dexter’s forehead look massive. I’m sure this won’t go unnoticed by Deb and co. when its found (the fact that it’s Dexter, not the whole creepy forehead thing).
• LaGuerta is such a bitch. Her character officially has no redeeming qualities. If she were to somehow be killed off, perhaps by Matthews or one of the other 30 people that hate her, I would be all right with that.
• Dexter and Deb have a date heart-to-heart. As the camera focused on Dexter’s lips and their hands gently touching, it felt like we were in an indie love film. Will this be a recurring thing? Is this why Dexter’s been single all season?
• Dexter’s blood dripped onto the dock. The scene was very pointed, so I don’t think it’ll be one of those times when Dexter leaves behind some sort of evidence and no one notices.
• Thank you for not making the explosion a cliffhanger. We all knew Dexter wasn’t going to die, so I appreciate the show for not even pretending that was a possibility.

Next week: This is the Way the World Ends (season finale)

Completely speculation, but I think Deb (and everyone else) will realize that was Dexter on the boat. She’ll blame herself since Dexter got on Travis’ radar by saving her life and she’ll think this was done as payback. I don’t think Harrison dies, but I feel like Dexter will spend all of next season wondering how the kidnapping will affect his son later in life.