I should have prefaced that we got not one, but two theories wrapped up in this episode. There’s the Gellar-is-dead theory that’s all but proven true, and then there’s Captain Matthews as the person LaGuerta’s covering for in the prostitute death case. One commenter last week noted that it made more sense that LaGuerta was covering for someone else — like Angel, for example. Why? Because, with what we know so far, it doesn’t make any sense that LaGuerta would care to cover for Matthews at all. What does she gain from Matthews not going to jail or losing his job? The only thing I can think of is that he has something to hold over LaGuerta, and it just hasn’t been revealed yet. Then again, it could simply be that, without her help, he’d just fess up that she knew all along and attempted to cover for him.
I have to admit that, though we saw it coming, the Gellar reveal was a disappointment. It got to the point within the past couple of weeks that commenters here believed the telegraphing of Gellar being “not real” was so over the top, that the real reveal would be that … he’s real! Hell, I even started to believe that! I’d really like to know what percentage of viewers out there did not suspect it and were truly surprised as hell at the reveal in this episode. Admittedly, the thought did not occur to me without a commeter’s help, so I could be one of those many if not for that.
The real story now is Lewis the intern. I fully suspect Lewis will be a huge part of next season, either because he fully knows about Dexter’s secret already, or he quickly comes close next season. The fact that he’s basing a game around the characters in Miami Metro tells me he’s got a lot of research to do. Dating Angel’s sister is merely a way for him to have gained easy entry into Dexter’s home, and the fact that he bought the Ice Truck Killer arm from the online auction house show’s he’s not all right in the head.
I’m having second thoughts about Deb and her relationship with her therapist. It seems to simply be that Deb’s just in need of help, and now she’s finally getting it. I’ll still keep a close eye on how that turns out, as the two of them are not through yet, but what I thought might turn out to be a romantic thing … not so sure about that anymore.
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Nov 27, 2011 @ 22:23 EST5EDT
Had a similar thought about the intern being the focus of next season. My theory is next season will be about Dexter trying to give up killing but will find out he has a stalker and that stalker will turn out to be the creepy intern.
I’ve always wondered if Captain Matthews knows about Dexter’s secret. That’s a strange theory I’ve had since season 2. He knew Harry. Knew how Harry really died. Don’t know about that theory now that he may be a killer of hookers.
Anyways good review.
Jerry
Intern = 20 something. Brian = Dexters older brother. Dex hit a 20 year high school reunion last season, killed the dude under the stairs (useless information, just trying to shake your memory.) intern = dark hair, tall, bony stature. Intern = too interested in dexter, obviously. Intern = ice truck killer hand. == intern = ice truck killers son.
It’s a long shot, but think about it.
*POST AUTHOR*
Hmmmm I like it! I will definitely keep an eye on him to see if there are clues. Him thinking Dexter was “so cool” sorta leans toward that “cool Uncle Dexter” vibe.
I am happy that the Gellar prediction turns out right(had to show my wife the credit you gave me Keith)… I really wonder what people thought that had no idea until the big reveal. I know I would have the need to re-watch all of the episodes to see what I missed.
The intern is a huge wild card. I think he knows a lot more about Dexter and the Miami PD group than we can imagine. His intentions are definately bad news.
I can answer that ;) I didn’t have a clue of Gellar not being real, despite of the fact that many details did nag at me somehow, but never going as far as making me realize what really was going on. When they actually showed Gellar dead I had this great “Wow, this is cool! Yes it all makes sense, but how didn’t I actually figure it out before” moment.
I think that, unless you frequent the Dexter forums or were actually looking for there to be a twist this season, the normal viewer was totally and completely surprised by Gellar being dead the whole time. I am usually insightful and see obvious twists coming, but I didn’t see this one at all. I can imagine how obvious it would be if pointed out – so, by the same standards, you should realize how oblivious the normal viewer was to this plot twist. I think the whole thing was set up in the best possible way. It certainly floored me!
Exactly. If you think about stories with similar surprises (eg. Psycho, The Sixth Sense), on first watch most people don’t catch the hints unless they know what to look out for. It’s only once you start thinking about it that you realize “hey, no one else sees or speak to him except that one character…” If the drama is enough to hook you into the story, then you’re probably not looking for the unexpected to begin with.
I can tell you that for me – just a regular viewer who hadn’t read any forums about Dexter nor sites about TV shows – the whole Geller-being-dead-and-only-in-Travis’-imagination thing is a huge surprise. I wasn’t expecting that and I’m glad that screenwriters surprised me like that (as far as the other seasons are concerned, I had pretty good nose for the plot’s twists; this time my sense didn’t work, but that’s actually a nice feeling – to be totally taken aback by the screenplay.
And about the intern – yes, he can be one of the main characetrs in the next season(s); he was too nice to be just nice and now we can see that under his shy, geeky appereances there’s a lot of bad and propably dangerous (at least for Dex) stuff.
By the way, I’ve just read all your articles about the 6th season of Dexter – and they are really cool. I’ll stay tuned.
(And sorry for my possible mistakes – I rarely use English and it’s not my first language)
The intern storyline is definitely going to be interesting from here on out, because we don’t know quite what his deal is. I love the theory that he’s Brian Moser’s son and Dexter’s nephew, and these writers are smart enough to make that work. But even if he’s just a fan, he’s still an interesting character who will shake things up. I’m also excited to see how Mike Anderson is involved with storylines moving forward. I wonder if they’re going to phase out the self-destructive Quinn and that’s why they’ve brought him in. Right now we’ve got one more cop character than we’ve had up to this season. Somebody gon’ die.
I’m noticing a couple of storylines that have kind of been shelved this season: First, Dexter’s relationship with his stepkids. Haven’t heard from Cody and Astor since last season. Wasn’t he going to rekindle that a bit? Second, Quinn’s knowledge that Dexter wasn’t quite on the up-and-up. He decided to stop messing with him for the sake of his relationship with Deb. But with that no longer a factor… well, I suppose he’s had a lot on his mind. But they haven’t even been shown interacting. Maybe they’ll bring that back and have Dexter forced to kill him off? Who knows.
On a different note, the preview for next week with Deb’s therapist saying that Dexter is her “safe place”, and Deb alluding to how she’s going to change her life, makes me suspect that this will be the year she finally finds out about (and condones) his secret life. Someone here pointed out that it happened that way in the novels, and a lot of us were expecting that at the end of last season – really it was *this close*. We’ve still got a lot of time left between now and season’s end, and with all the changes in Deb’s life already this season, this logically follows as the right time to make the big reveal to her.
I am of two minds concerning this week’s Geller-reveal. I definitely had begun to believe/hope that Travis was not pulling a Norman Bates on us, and that Geller was still alive and kicking, since the “he’s not real” foreshadowing had been dropping like anvils all season. However, I must admit that I did not notice the hints early on, and was first introduced to the “he’s not real” theory by a Television Without Pity recap a while ago. So I’m not entirely sure if I would have found it so obvious if the idea hadn’t been planted in my mind weeks ago.
The various reveals each season are part of what make me love Dexter so much as a show and because it is such an atmospheric program to begin with, I often suspend my disbelief (and plot analysing) considerably while watching because, to me, reveals like Trinity’s surprise-daughter in season 4 are the things that make this show so great. So ultimately, I’m not sure if I’m more disappointed that Geller is dead and part of Travis’ imagination, or that I basically got spoiled at such an early point in the season.
That being said, I have been telling myself that if the writers have been making it so obvious, perhaps its a red herring in itself. I will be interested to see how the next 3 episodes play out, now that we know that Adama… I mean Geller… is on ice. I suspect there are still a few more plot turns for us to discover, especially with the heavy handed Matthews/LaGuerta story-line in the mix along with the reappearance of the ITK’s prosthetic hand in Intern Puppy Dog’s apartment.
As for Lewis, I am really excited about this latest development. I agree with the post and subsequent commenters that it would be great if he took on a bigger role in the next season. I’m not sure I am on board with the theory that he could be Dexter’s nephew via the ITK, but then again, this is Dexter — anything is possible and if there are familial ties to be had, they will probably be exploited!
The writer/showrunner interview is up at the Showtime site and discusses who knew what and when. Their provided direct link doesn’t seem to work, so you have to click on “Scott Buck: Get Gellar” below the main video.
I don’t think I would have twigged to the reveal early if I hadn’t read it here. I’m not usually good at spotting unreliable narration in fiction.
LaGuerta doesn’t gain much of anything from Matthews losing his job. She just made Captain, so she won’t replace him as Deputy Chief right now. However, by covering up from him so that he keeps his job, she will effectively have one over on him, which she can leverage in the future. She could simply have stayed out of the matter, but once she told Deb to close the case, she was complicit with Matthews. It seemed to me from the car scene that she was the dominant one in the relationship now, not Matthews.
Now that Deb’s having regular sessions in the therapist’s office, I don’t see that transitioning to a romance. Deb may have boundary issues, but I don’t see the therapist being unstable enough to risk her license dating a patient. The real story there is that the therapist hasn’t met Dexter and therefore hasn’t been snowed by him yet. She’s already zeroed in on Deb’s relationship with her brother this episode, and will help her remove her blinders in the future where he’s concerned in the midst of breaking her patterns. I agree with Adam S. that Deb will find out and will eventually come to accept him for who he truly is.
I think all of your comments are great. I did not know prior to the reveal that Geller was dead. And I like the twist very much. I do question Dexter though. He is usually so meticulous and detailed to a point its obsessive compulsive. Yet he never even saw Geller once with his own eyes. It was always Travis saying “there he is” or something to that effect. Dexter usually camps out, hunts, and finds the people he kills first and sets it up perfectly. Here, he set up the kill room for a person he never even saw once. Just think his carelessness could be questioned. Really like the idea of the intern being Dexter’s nephew.
alec, good point with Dexter’s carelessness. It’s nothing like him as we know him from previous seasons. He always needed a certainty about his victim’s fault and now he just assumed that it’s Geller, not even knowing if he really exists. I guess it’s because he got Travis completely wrong. He thought he is not capable of killing all those DDK victims and maybe that’s why he was so sure about Geller being really guilty. But still, it’s not like Dexter, it’s like he’s losing his cold, extremely circumsept mind. We’ll see how it ends for him.