A tenuous Halloween connection to be sure, but it's a show about a serial killer. Close enough.
Also, spoilers. Duh.
Dexter is becoming a tad predictable by its 4th season. There's a season-long story arc involving a certain character, usually another serial killer, who ends up being dumped into the ocean by the final episode. At least this go-round spares us the usual "Dexter is in danger of being found out and is about to give up killing but then everything resolves itself in the end" episode. And while Dexter himself remains as fascinating as ever, the rest of the cast is becoming more and more expendable. I've always liked Deb, and Masuka remains dependable comic relief. But Batista and Laguerta are completely useless, Rita is a pain in the ass, and Quinn is a tenth of the antagonist that Doakes was. If there's any character on scripted television capable of X-Pac heat, it's Quinn.
Fortunately, the show still has some trump cards. One is Michael C. Hall. Big shocker; he's been awesome from day one. The other is John Lithgow. Lithgow has a reputation as a comedic actor these days but as anyone who's seen Blow Out knows, he can pull out the crazy. As this season's Big Bad, he'd be required to do much of the heavy lifting even if the suplots and their characters weren't so weak. Like Jimmy Smits before him, he's more than capable of pulling his own weight. Of course, Smits' Miguel Prado was more fiery and imposing than Lithgow's Trinity Killer, not to mention younger. Initially it's a bit silly to imagine a somewhat doughy older man as a legendary serial killer. Lithgow makes it work.
It doesn't hurt that his character is written as one sick sumbitch. Lila was crazy in that psycho-ex-girlfriend sense; Prado was a loose cannon. Trinity - the series' first true recurring serial murderer since the Ice Truck Killer - is a genuine psychopath. His dysfunction is responsible for one of the most twisted episodes since the first season, and by extension one of the best (envelope pushing is, after all, one of the reasons we watch Dexter): "Hungry Man." The theme of two opposing Thanksgivings makes for a good narrative in general, but the part of the holiday spent with Trinity's family is an awesome train wreck. From Trinity's teen daughter propositioning herself to Dexter, to Trinity calling his wife a cunt at the dinner table, to Dexter completely flipping out, it's compulsively watchable. After earlier lame-brained episodes showing Dexter trying to cope with suburbia that went nowhere, it's refreshing to see something so inspired and original. Also, Deb and Masuka are forced to be around children. Gold, Jerry, gold.
Then there's the series finale's big reveal: Rita pulls a Teri Bauer and gets herself killed in the final minutes. It wasn't a gut-punch ending for me, since I'd had it spoiled. Honestly, it was something of a relief. Rita had been bitchy and a perpetual thorn in Dexter's side for most of the season, having gone from sweet but damaged when she was initially introduced to constantly nagging. I'm intrigued by what the series does with the aftershocks of her murder. Myles McNutt lays out some very interesting potential directions, but from what little I've gleamed about the current season, it's business as usual for the show's structure. I still love Dexter - check that, I still love Dexter Morgan, and two or three other characters - but if the 5th season ends with the special guest star du jour wrapped in plastic on a table, my patience may have come to an end.
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