Dexter season 3 episode 10 review

Holy crap. No…I mean holy bungee jumping naked with your hair on fire crap! I don’t know what I mean, because this episode of Dexter tops any TV show episode I’ve seen since Jack Bauer cut a guy’s head off as part of a plan, or Buffy was entirely in song, or Picard became Borg. I’m sat here buzzing like I’ve been under heavy mortar bombardment for the last 45 minutes.

I don’t know what nutritious breakfast writer Tim Schlattmann has but I’d put hard money that it’s sprinkled with the sort of neural stimulants they try out on people who’ve been comatosed for 25 years!

There isn’t any other way to say it. The tenth episode in this season, Go Your Own Way, is a total mind job.

Early on in the proceedings Dexter outlined the possibilities mentally as he exchanged pleasantries with Miguel and his wife over dinner. The first choice is obviously killing him, but being such an important person, that might attract the wrong sort of attention. The second option is extract Miguel from his life, but given what he already knows about Dexter Morgan, that might be tricky. That leaves only the third option: control him by getting some evidence that would implicate Miguel in the death of Ellen Wolf!

What then proceeds in dramatic form are two caged tigers, each circling for advantage, signs of weakness and overall control. And with such fine actors on display, it’s mesmerising to watch.

But back at the station, Lt. Maria LaGuerta is running at flank speed in an attempt to get the killer of her friend Ellen, and she’s already got a local barman as a suspect.

Dexter sees ‘opportunity’, and goes to have a quiet word about how, with his position in that office, he can watch Miguel’s back, so to speak. This doesn’t go down well with Mr Prado; he’s rather too used to getting his own way.

The Ellen Wolf suspect isn’t much use, except he admits he called at her house and she didn’t answer. But he did see a black SUV with distinctive halogen lights, strangely similar to the one Miguel drives. But Maria hasn’t made that connection, yet.

Rita hasn’t played a very active role in the bigger story this season, but that’s all about to change. Rita and Miguel’s wife, Sylvia, are out shopping for a wedding dress when Rita can’t help tell her that she thinks her husband is having an affair. He isn’t, but she’s taken Dexter’s lack of previous interest in discussing the subject as confirmation. That has major implications later in the story when Miguel decides to counter Dexter’s actions by trying to charm Maria LaGuerta. He ends up at her apartment drinking wine and makes a pass at her.

It’s all going well until Dexter knocks at the door under the pretence of resolving an evidence issue! Maria’s embarrassed, but Miguel is caught entirely off-guard. But he’ll get used to that, because when he steps outside, Sylvia is waiting for him and accuses him of having an affair with Maria. Miguel doesn’t see it this way, but he really ought to have thought about what might have happened if Dexter hadn’t turned up. As Miguel drives away Maria notices his car, and how it fits the description of the one seen outside Ellen Wolf’s.

Miguel and Dexter have another snarling match that convinces our favourite serial killer that he’s going to have to sort this man out properly. He convinces the home help at the Prado house to let him into Miguel’s office, where he finds the ring taken as a memento from Ellen Wolf’s killing. He replaces the ring with a dry-cleaning stub, which, when Miguel finds it, takes him to collect the bloody shirt. There is no charge for the shirt, because they can’t get the blood out…even if it isn’t human.

By now the tension is notched way above a comfortable point, but I was still quietly confident that Dexter could handle Miguel. He’s something of an amateur compared with the professional Morgan killing machine, I presumed.

There are subplot elements I’ve not mentioned to do with Angel, Joey, Debra and Anton, but they’re entirely overshadowed by what happens next so I’ve left them out of this coverage.

Dexter and Miguel have a meeting on the roof of the police building, and Miguel threatens him to the point of no return. Dexter concludes it’s back to option number one, however challenging that might be. Except a third person was privy to that conversation, the still missing ‘Skinner’ killer, George King. He’s watching from another building via binoculars, and Miguel calls him directly, when Dexter leaves, to tell him that this man he was observing knows where Freebo is! Miguel isn’t a psychopath like Dexter, but that doesn’t mean he can’t find one when he needs one.

It looks distinctly like Dexter might have bitten off slightly more than he can chew with Miguel, and to support that hypothesis, in the closing short Dexter is abducted by King and thrown into the trunk of a car. Oh crap!

George King plays for keeps, and with nobody even knowing Dexter is missing, he might not be as lucky as Anton got.

There are only two Dexter episodes left, all the timeouts have been used, and the ball is deep in the opposing half. Can Dexter throw that Hail Mary pass and kill both George and Miguel while remaining off the suspect list? It’s a big ask, but I know he has the talent to do it.

Go Dexter…

Read our review of the previous episode here.