Dexter s2 ep 2
“Here’s hoping I’m back on my game”, says Dexter; a remark which cuts to the heart of the challenging morality of this programme. We hope he is as well. We really do. Particularly when the remark comes during Dexter’s pursuit of someone like Little Chino, the vicious gang leader who escaped from Dexter last week.
This week’s masterfully paced episode gave us not only Dexter stalking the prey who got away; it introduced Keith Carradine as Frank Lundy, a sharp eyed Federal investigator brought in to hunt the Bay Harbor Butcher, whoever he might be. Doakes is chasing Dexter but doesn’t know why; Lundy is chasing Dexter but doesn’t know it. Little Chino himself goes after Dexter in one dazzling, almost hallucinatory sequence, forcing Dexter to hide in the sewers where, as torches and lightning dance around him, he flashes back and forward between the present day and the moment of his discovery in the shipping container with his brother, their grasp being broken. Not for the last time this episode, as it happens.
But pride of place in an episode crammed, as ever, with beautifully mounted scenes went to Julie’s confrontation with Dexter about whether he had contributed to her ex-husband’s death. Michael C. Hall’s miraculous ability to get under the skin of the character was fully explored here, as Dexter weighed every word, every gesture. Wonderful stuff.
Oh, that scene at the end.. it might be my favourite scene out of the whole series so far. But then there’s so many favourite scenes.
Actually the first time I saw that scene I did the loud intake of breath shocked thing. It was so unexpected. But I am known for reacting to things that happen on tv shows (not just Dexter) with the loud intake of breath – and sometimes even speaking out loud without realising it. I believe I shouted “No!” at the tv when Chino ran away in s2e1.
I loved the extra close ups on Dexter in that Julie & Dexter scene you mention. Often they were giving us from just above Dexter’s eyebrows to just below his mouth, which seemed a little odd but it really gave us an opportunity to see what Dexter was thinking under the surface – even though you could tell at the same time he thought he was giving the poker face to Julie.
It was a great episode – they all are, though. The only one I wasn’t completely sold on at first was episode 9 of season one, but I think it was a combination of the let down from the excitement of episode 8 (oh, how I loved episode 8!) and the whole dancing thing which didn’t seem quite right. When I went back and re-watched it a few times, I did learn to appreciate the episode better.
Do you guys record the eps so you can watch then again later? I have s1 on dvd, s2 is out here August 21 but because I knew it would be a long wait I dvd-recorded all of s2. There is so much to take in when you watch them.
Cheers,
Snoskred
Series 2 is genius, I have seen it all.
I can’t wait for September to roll around so I can smugly claim to be watching Series 3 -fresh and hot from the USA.
The people I work with must hate me? LOL
Jed, I don’t have FX, do you know if ITV will show season 2 eventually?
Snoskred,
The hand-out-of-the-lake scene at the end? It certainly caused an intake of breath here as well. I was pleased, though, that it wasn’t just there for shock value; it dealt very well with a theme which had resonated throughout the episode.
On that point though (and putting Patrick Duffy in ‘Dallas’ aside) where did this trend of dead characters reappearing come from? It used to be that an actor didn’t renew his contract and his character was killed off. Now it seems to be part of the deal. At least Michael C Hall should be used to it after ‘Six Feet Under’.
Red – don’t know. Get FX.
I thought unpopcult was supposed to educate and inform. Hmph.
As for getting FX, Freeview (is it even on Freeview?) and Cable haven’t reached deepest darkest Lanarkshire yet. You need a BT line for Sky and I’m *so* not talking to those (insert your own favourite expletive) after my last e-mail form their “customer service” team.
Note: The above represents the views of the commenter only. Don’t sue cj or jed.
I like your DIY disclaimer, Red
I’ve done a bit of digging and the buzz on the internet is that ITV have the second-run rights to Dexter and can only show it after FX finishes showing season 2, so unlikely to be before 2009. However, no confirmation yet from ITV as to when and indeed whether they will show it all, so it may be a while before we know either way. Us Friday Night Lights fans for instance are still waiting to hear if season 2 will ever make it onto ITV4, while season 3 is about to start in the USA.
FX isn’t on Freeview, so it wouldn’t make any difference if you got it. It is available on Cable and Sky, so you could wait for Cable or make it up with BT, if the need for Dexter becomes too strong, I guess. Or buy the season 2 DVD on import from the USA and get a multi-region DVD player to play it on?
‘Dexter’s nominations in the Emmys might persuade ITV to give it another go.
Thanks cj. (You are better than jed
)