Dexter season 3 episode 2 review

Finding Freebo sees Dexter pulling off the gas a little, but putting one or two pieces in place for the future...

The first episode of the new Dexter series took our sociopath pal into uncharted waters. Not only did he kill an unscripted bystander, but he’s also going to become a father. It’s the latter of these revelations that’s really got him reeling. As Dexter so succinctly puts it, he’s ‘not in the business of giving life’.

The Oscar Prado case doesn’t help his mindset. Dexter’s killed the brother of a well connected Miami family and the brother of a determined assistant district attorney. Things could be worse, but it’s actually difficult to see exactly how.

Dexter needs to find ‘Freebo’, the person he actually set out to kill before this case becomes more interesting than is good for his reputation. Freebo has seen Dexter, so he needs to find him first, and ‘solve’ the crime he committed.

This is one of this show’s strengths, to see crime in an entirely different way, and explore the possibilities.

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In the meanwhile it’s revealed that Lt. Maria LaGuerta previous had a close relationship with Jimmy Smits’ character Miguel Prado, and that Debra Morgan is investigating the murder of a women who was Freebo’s girl. Things in Dexter get complicated fast, and it’s the unravelling of these puzzles that’s most of the fun.

However one change I’ve noticed in this season is that they’ve created some plotlines about which Dexter has no knowledge, one of which is that Debra is being leant on by Internal Affairs over her co-worker Joey Quinn. That’s a back-burner element, but it’s in here for some future plan.

Another subtle line of this story is about Miguel Prado who’s getting nervous that the investigation into his brother’s untimely death might dig up more than the killer. He invites Dexter and Rita over the Prado family home, with the intention on getting the inside line on the case developments. But it’s also about Dexter balancing his home commitments and potential fatherhood against the necessity of finding Freebo before the disturbingly efficient department he works, and the combined efforts of his sister, Batista and the entire Prado family. But time isn’t on his side!

Overall this is a somewhat piecemeal second helping in places, but the effort getting to the business part of the story has a decent payoff ultimately. Actually, that���s a slight understatement as the last five minutes are totally electric with Dexter, Freebo and Miguel Prado on an unpredictable collision course!

What it does right is the scenes with Smits and Michael C. Hall which are intense, Dexter all control introspective and Miguel all raw emotion and fire. It’s like watching an Argentinean Tango at full throttle

The resolution of ‘Finding Freebo’ was like the slow ponderous clunking climb up the big rise at the start of a rollercoaster, and it’s now time to scream uncontrollably on the uncontrollable descent…

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Read our review of the season opener here.