Dexter – Recap & Review – Once Upon A Time…

photo: showtime

Dexter
Once Upon A Time…

Original Air Date: Oct 9, 2011

Karen Belgrad – Senior Editor
karenbelgrad@
thetwocentscorp.com

Fairy tales always carry a message. Usually it’s one about self-esteem or true love. This episode of Dexter plays heavily on the lore of fairy tales, but how many end with “then your daddy killed the big baddy and put his blood on a glass slide?”

Dexter is heavily weighing the type of information he will pass on to his (incredibly adorable) two year old son, Harrison. He wonders what will be passed on directly versus what Harrison will just pick up along the way by chance. He probably wasn’t counting on the toddler talking about “Daddy’s box” (of blood slides).

Dexter has always had routines in his life, but they used to be about vigilante killings and body disposals. Now they include bubble baths and monster-slaying bedtime stories. And wondering to himself if monsters can change.

This week, Brother Sam (guest star Mos Def) is on Dexter’s radar. He’s a murderer who got off on a technicality, but then went to jail on a drug charge. He’s free now and dedicates his life to running a body shop and employing other ex-cons. He seems on the up-and-up, but Dexter is suspicious of his conversion. He humorously dents his minivan and brings it to the Good Sheppard Body Shop for repairs. He sees Brother Sam counseling his “flock”, but curious about the whereabouts of a missing employee (Nick).

Later, he follows Brother Sam to Nick’s house, hears a gunshot, and sees Brother Sam dump a body in the trunk of his car. Convinced it’s time for Brother Sam to die, he goes to the body shop, where a large watch dog betrays his presence. Brother Sam invites him inside (to get his garage remote) where Dexter is surprised to see the employee is still alive. Turns out Brother Sam really has changed and was rescuing Nick from a drug binge. But some thugs come looking for Nick. Brother Sam confronts them, but Dexter takes one down and flashes his badge (actually lab-geek identification card), saving the day. Brother Sam declares it a miracle.

In other parts, Quinn has finally gotten around to proposing (over pancakes) to Deb, who’s response is bewilderment, profanities, and a request for time to consider. However, Deputy Chief Matthews also has a proposition for Deb. After her taking down the restaurant shooter becomes an internet sensation, he’d like her to be the new lieutenant (not Batista). Her response is “Holy f**k balls, you’re serious.” I love Deb! Out of loyalty to Batista, she talks to him first, and he feigns happiness for her. Deb also wrestles with who she will be as lieutenant, as she will outrank her father’s legacy, which she had always tried to honor. She opts to stop trying to make her dad proud and impress Dexter instead. She turns down Quinn’s proposal, which saves us from another Batista-LaGuerta mess. He doesn’t take her wish to stay status quo lightly, and kicks her to the curb. Deb moves back in with Dexter.

LaGuerta’s not happy that Batista didn’t get the job, and lashes out at Matthews. Matthews puts her on thin-ice notice. Personally, she could not be on the show and I don’t think I’d notice. Batista, to his credit, wonders why Matthew’s hatred of LaGuerta always messes with his life.

In religious nut job world, we get a little more insight into Edward James Olmos and Colin Hanks. We only get Hank’s name, Travis Marshall, but I’ve gone and looked it up and Olmos is playing Professor James Gellar. So henceforth, Travis and Gellar will be used for identification purposes. Travis visits his sister, Lisa (played by actress Molly Parker), who professes to miss him and asks him to skip a night of “work”. Returning the next evening, Gellar burns himself with a hot poker to show how Travis’s sins have hurt him. He alludes to not being able to save Lisa, so I’m guessing this is all some 2012/end of the world type story? Travis knocks out a jogger with a rock and brings him to Gellar.

Thanks to his encounter with Brother Sam, Dexter finds out that one of the thugs, Julio, killed a local barber (Hector Nuñez). Dexter kills Julio and brings the blood slide home. He also brings Harrison his own wood box, fills it with toys, and hopes he is distracted from daddy’s box. In addition, Dexter opts for a Three Little Pigs pop-up book instead of a daddy monster tale. He vows to hide his dark passenger from Harrison, so his son can have a happy ending to his own fairy tale.

So that was that for this week’s episode. This season is starting off rather slowly, eh? I get that Dexter is worried about what to pass on to his son, but hopefully the whole anvil-style of faith/good/evil/etc… won’t be hitting us over the head all season. I do have to give props to Deb for not swearing during her press conference. I didn’t know it was possible.

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