What I’m Watching: Dexter

Dexter: Season 4, Episode 10 “Lost Boys” (B+)

After the shocking reveal at the end of last week’s episode, we get so much more insight into Arthur and his elder daughter as both break down in very different ways. Dexter’s discovery that Trinity actually kills four rather than three comes as a serious surprise, and contributes to the notion of Trinity’s pattern as extremely cyclical. The kidnapped boy seemed like he might be adhering to what Arthur wanted him to say, like calling him Arthur and putting on his pajamas, but there was a foreboding sense that this has all happened before, and having him come to see Arthur’s point of view only means he’ll go to his death happy, thinking he’s about to be released. It’s fascinating to see how Dexter works with people who have seen his true face, clumsily chasing after Arthur in the middle of a parking garage, and talking semi-openly and honestly with Jonah about the monster he knows Arthur to be. It’s also insightful to see Christine break down now that we know who her father is, and to know that her tearful calls to him asking for parental support will be ignored and catalogued away as insignificant compared to his greater quest of killing innocents to relive his personal tragedies. Christine’s ability to put together Arthur’s murderous past is impressive, and the fact that she did it by realizing her dream wasn’t a dream because a woman was murdered in the same exact way in the same exact house thirty years later was pretty cool. Unfortunately, that’s it for her as she’ll now be hopeless in questioning. Her loud cry of “Daddy?” as the police knocked on her down probably doesn’t help her case. Dexter’s saving the boy was good, but letting Arthur escape as he did so probably wasn’t. Fortunately Arthur still has no idea that Dexter isn’t really named Kyle (though I thought that Christine would accidentally connect the dots for him), and therefore Dexter will have to worry about someone else closer to him exposing his secret: a little boy who saw him leave in the middle of the night on the camping trip. Fortunately, this serial killer doesn’t harm innocent young children.