| Yoda | 12-12-10 05:50 PM |
I thought we had a newer thread for this? Apparently not. Talking about season 5 openly below, so look out, anyone who's still catching up...
Quick rant: the penultimate episode of this season was really, really disappointing. The Liddy plotline had weaved a brilliant tapestry of misunderstanding that pointed Dexter's suspicions squarely at Quinn in a way that made perfect sense...and then they wrapped it up in one scene, and not in a particularly clever way, either. Dexter has the wrong idea about what's going on and has no idea he's completely lost, so what happens? Liddy kidnaps and clears everything up for him in about five minutes, before Dexter kicks him and kills him. All cleaned up in one neat little bow. That's pretty lame. Liddy felt like a powder keg all season, and his story just fizzled right out.
I will say that I don't dislike the season as a whole; my frustration mostly comes from missed opportunities like this, and the fact that the show is usually a bit more elegant than this.
I have to reserve some judgment until after tonight's finale, of course, because the show could go in any number of directions. For example:
Here's what I think we'll see: Quinn and Emily getting Dexter and Lumen's rap pinned on them. It fits very, very well. Deb's instincts are dead-on, as usual, so she's looking for both a victim who got away, and a vigilante (male) who's helping her. Emily is a victim, just like Lumen, and now she's dead; perfect timing. Quinn's in huge trouble when they find out Liddy's been killed, because tons of things point to him: the blood that dripped on his shoe, the angry voicemail he left Liddy right before the blood dripped on his shoe, the fact that he's probably been seen with him, and the fact that he had equipment that'd been checked out in Quinn's name. The fact that we've clearly been conditioned by the writers to like Quinn more and more as the season has gone on is probably a giveaway, too; they want his arrest to have a huge impact, and that sort of thing helps.
One downside to this is that we have to go over some familiar territory: Deb dealing with the fact that she'd fallen in love with another killer. If handled perfectly it could be interesting and really send her off the deep end. But even so, it might feel a little stale. The really gutsy thing is to have Quinn find out Dex's secret, and either be blackmailed into keeping it to himself (unlikely), or admiring what he's doing enough to let him keep doing it. That's probably not going to happen, but it'd be the bolder choice, I think.
Still, Quinn going down for Dex's crime is decent in that he'd essentially be letting an innocent man go to jail (if not get the death penalty, depending on the specifics), for a crime he committed. It'll depend on the execution.
Anyway, who's watching tonight? Any predictions? And what would you like to see? I think we can all assume it's still too early in the series to expect anything earth-shattering, like Deb learning Dexter's secret.
Quick rant: the penultimate episode of this season was really, really disappointing. The Liddy plotline had weaved a brilliant tapestry of misunderstanding that pointed Dexter's suspicions squarely at Quinn in a way that made perfect sense...and then they wrapped it up in one scene, and not in a particularly clever way, either. Dexter has the wrong idea about what's going on and has no idea he's completely lost, so what happens? Liddy kidnaps and clears everything up for him in about five minutes, before Dexter kicks him and kills him. All cleaned up in one neat little bow. That's pretty lame. Liddy felt like a powder keg all season, and his story just fizzled right out.
I will say that I don't dislike the season as a whole; my frustration mostly comes from missed opportunities like this, and the fact that the show is usually a bit more elegant than this.
I have to reserve some judgment until after tonight's finale, of course, because the show could go in any number of directions. For example:
- Dexter kills Chase and Lumen stays with him and helps him raise the kids.
- Dexter kills Chase, Lumen stays with him, and they run off together (unlikely, but Dex'll clearly be tempted).
- Dexter kills Chase and Lumen moves on with her life.
- Dexter kills Chase and Lumen dies in the process.
- Lumen kills Chase and stays or runs off.
- Lumen kills Chase and then kills herself (there've been hints about how there's "no getting past" that kind of trauma. She might not have a lot to live for after getting her vengeance).
Here's what I think we'll see: Quinn and Emily getting Dexter and Lumen's rap pinned on them. It fits very, very well. Deb's instincts are dead-on, as usual, so she's looking for both a victim who got away, and a vigilante (male) who's helping her. Emily is a victim, just like Lumen, and now she's dead; perfect timing. Quinn's in huge trouble when they find out Liddy's been killed, because tons of things point to him: the blood that dripped on his shoe, the angry voicemail he left Liddy right before the blood dripped on his shoe, the fact that he's probably been seen with him, and the fact that he had equipment that'd been checked out in Quinn's name. The fact that we've clearly been conditioned by the writers to like Quinn more and more as the season has gone on is probably a giveaway, too; they want his arrest to have a huge impact, and that sort of thing helps.
One downside to this is that we have to go over some familiar territory: Deb dealing with the fact that she'd fallen in love with another killer. If handled perfectly it could be interesting and really send her off the deep end. But even so, it might feel a little stale. The really gutsy thing is to have Quinn find out Dex's secret, and either be blackmailed into keeping it to himself (unlikely), or admiring what he's doing enough to let him keep doing it. That's probably not going to happen, but it'd be the bolder choice, I think.
Still, Quinn going down for Dex's crime is decent in that he'd essentially be letting an innocent man go to jail (if not get the death penalty, depending on the specifics), for a crime he committed. It'll depend on the execution.
Anyway, who's watching tonight? Any predictions? And what would you like to see? I think we can all assume it's still too early in the series to expect anything earth-shattering, like Deb learning Dexter's secret.