Thursday, November 22, 2012

My Review of Dexter's 7x08: "Argentina"


Written by Arika Lisanne Mittman
Directed by Romeo Tirone

Dexter: “You’re in love with me?”
Deb: “Oh my God – was! I don’t even know if I fucking like you. Forget it.”

Okay, that was one revelation that I was hoping that Deb would’ve never uttered to Dexter but for the sake of continuity, I suppose it had to happen and by doing it now, I do hope the show’s writers can now move past this because I don’t want to watch Dexter and Deb ever becoming lovers.

Thankfully though, judging by Dexter’s reaction, he doesn’t think of Deb that way but if their relationship wasn’t already strained, then this little reveal certainly put a massive dampener on things. Even now, the idea of Deb having romantic feelings for Dexter irks me out more than anything gory on this show.

It also didn’t help that Deb’s admission came straight after Dexter had no choice but to confess that he’s been sleeping with Hannah as well, which seems to be a knife wound to Deb as well. Deb made it pretty clear in this episode that she intends to take Hannah down, so now that she knows Dexter is helping the woman, it’ll make her more determined and eventually Dexter will have to choose between the two of them.

Hannah regardless of her morality definitely continues to be a bright spark of the season. I do think she genuinely care for Dexter and I even liked her trying to help him out with the Isaak situation but at the same time, I saw a glint of something when she learned that he had a son and two step kids and I’m not sure what that might mean for either of them.

I also liked that this episode eased up with Dexter being in love with Hannah. He clearly likes the fact that she accepts him but at the same time, he seemed less keen to admit to Deb how he really feels about Hannah, other than he won’t kill her for Deb, which was something that didn’t go down well.

Similarly while the dynamic with Hannah has been a joy to watch, the other thing I found amusing were Dexter and Isaak’s failed attempts to kill each other as well. I think Isaak spoke a lot of truth about the chances of him and Dexter being friends if circumstances were different but while he’s an engaging villain, the whole mob stuff is so boring to watch and this episode certainly didn’t do much to liven it up.

I really don’t care about Quinn and Nadia as a couple and George’s attempts of trying to move up the ranks would be a lot more exciting to watch if he were an interesting character. Eight episodes in and he’s still a tiresomely one dimensional guy who at this point, I wish Quinn would lose his rag and kill. Who knows – it might actually make Quinn interesting too if that happened.

As for the returns of Astor and Cody, it was nice to see them again, though it’s really hard not to notice that Astor has grown. Plus the fact that she’s smoking pot probably isn’t a good thing. It did seem like both Dexter and Deb kind of glossed over that subplot but either way, it was a good episode to see Rita’s kids in.

Also in “Argentina”

We didn’t actually go to Argentina in this episode but it was used as a metaphor for a sanctuary of sorts, due to a dream of Hannah’s when she was younger.

Dexter: “I’m not killing Hannah McKay.”
Deb: “Do you know how hard it was for me to ask you that?”

Maria actually found Dexter’s boat at the end of this episode. What else does she need now to connect him to the Bay Harbour Butcher?

Deb (to Dexter, re Astor/Cody/Harrison): “This is gonna be great, I love kids. I don’t love kids in general, just your kids.”

Dexter: “With all the people that wanna kill Isaak, why is it so hard to get him dead?”

This episode confirmed that Isaak is gay and that both him and Viktor were lovers. I actually wasn’t expecting that but nice one, show.

Hannah: “You didn’t trust me or you were afraid it would push me away?”
Dexter: “Maybe a little of both.”

Deb (re Hannah): “Are you in love with her?”
Dexter: “I don’t know.”
Deb: “Is it because she’s a serial killer? Does that turn you on or something?”

Angel got the restaurant and it’s called Papas. It also seems that he’s still working at Miami Metro for the time being as well.

Dexter: “You thought your enemies wouldn’t follow you into a gay bar?”
Isaak: “No, I thought I’d feel comfortable in a gay bar.”

Chronology: Not long from where “Chemistry” left off.

Easily the best episode of the season, “Argentina” had some lovely character driven moments between Dexter, Deb, Hannah and Isaak and with Maria closing in on Dexter too, it’s really going to be interesting to see how these myriad of storylines end in the finale.

Rating: 9 out of 10

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