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Dexter<\/a><\/p>\n Course Correction<\/p>\n \n Season 10<\/p>\n Episode 7\n <\/p>\n \n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n 4 stars<\/p>\n ****\n <\/p>\n \n Dexter is feeling the misery of balancing his responsibilities as a father with his career as a murderer. Does Dexter Morgan have a favorite Taylor Swift song<\/a>? This is the question I found myself asking at the start of the latest installment of Dexter: Resurrection, when I realized that the lush locale Prater and his serial-killer club had spirited away to was the famous Oheka Castle<\/a>, where the \u201cBlank Space\u201d music video<\/a> was filmed. To be clear, this has nothing to do with the episode itself \u2014 curiously, the connection never comes up, even though I\u2019d pinned Al as a Swiftie \u2014 but it\u2019s a fun little detail in a season that continues to delight me. I\u2019m having such a good time, in fact, that I\u2019m actually feeling a little bummed at how quickly Dexter is offing his fellow dinner-party guests. What\u2019s the rush?<\/p>\n But while I would love to spend more time with Prater and his serial killer pals, I can acknowledge that the show\u2019s breakneck pacing is one of the biggest points in its favor, particularly given the wheel-spinning of the first few episodes. We again pick up right where we left off, with the impromptu helicopter ride that closed the last episode<\/a>, depositing Dexter at the castle, along with Prater, Charley, Al, and the surprise second Gareth. (Presumably one of the Gemini twins has a different name, but we never learn it.) With Mia dead by \u201csuicide,\u201d Prater has decided to gather his guests for a toast to Lady Vengeance, another fabulous food spread (Dexter finally drops the veganism bit), and a little show-and-tell. \u201cThis is a much easier way to vet my victims,\u201d Dex\u2019s voice-over notes. \u201cTime to hear the tale of Rapunzel.\u201d Perhaps unsurprisingly, that tale turns out to be even more unpleasant than the Brothers Grimm original. Al shows the others a video of him strangling a ponytailed jogger while giggling, eventually telling her corpse, \u201cPop-Pop says it\u2019s time for a haircut.\u201d Dexter is so disgusted that you might forget he\u2019s a murderer himself. All of these people need to die, but for that to happen, he\u2019s going to have to stay alive \u2014 and that means giving his own presentation.<\/p>\n Harry tries to talk Dexter out of pretending to be Red \u2014 Ronald Schmidt was an amoral animal, and that\u2019s not who Dex is. I get the distinction, but I do feel like we\u2019re splitting hairs a bit here. Nevertheless, Harry\u2019s words have an impact. For show-and-tell, Dexter decides not to give a demonstration on sawing off ride-share drivers\u2019 heads, instead delivering a speech about the double lives he and his compatriots are forced to lead. \u201cThis Red Schmidt you\u2019re looking at is the mask I put on,\u201d Dex shares. \u201cOnly a select group of people get to see the Dark Passenger, and once they see him, they die.\u201d Honestly, I found the whole thing a little dull (sorry!), but Gareth and Al can relate to the message. Prater, who was expecting gory details, is a little harder to read, though his face twitching doesn\u2019t seem like a great sign. Later, Gareth notes that \u201cRed\u201d refusing to divulge his methods is unusual and not what Prater wants from show-and-tell. While Gareth doesn\u2019t seem to know that \u201cRed\u201d is really the Bay Harbor Butcher, he\u2019s the first to acknowledge the Dexter-shaped elephant in the room. \u201cIt\u2019s funny how everything keeps going off the rails this year,\u201d he muses. \u201cI keep asking myself, what is different?\u201d Dexter will need to take care of Gemini before his suspicions deepen. In the meantime, though, their benefactor wants to have a chat.<\/p>\n After keeping Dexter in suspense with a well-placed pause, Prater confides that he found the detail-free share \u2026 spectacular. \u201cNever seen anyone allow himself to be so vulnerable, so relatable,\u201d he gushes. Dex\u2019s unprecedented honesty inspires Prater to confess his own convoluted origin story. After Prater lost his parents in a car accident, he began writing letters to Cooper Morris, the drunk driver who killed them. When they finally met face-to-face, Cooper admitted that it wasn\u2019t an accident \u2014\u00a0he deliberately drove his truck into Prater\u2019s parents\u2019 car. Prater pressed for the details and, in subsequent conversations, formed a bond with Cooper. \u201cWe were both prisoners of the world\u2019s morality,\u201d he tells Dexter, and as is the case with most billionaires who love the sound of their own voice, I have no idea what this freak is talking about. Eventually, Cooper revealed himself to be a serial killer, thus beginning Prater\u2019s fascination with murderers. \u201cI felt so connected to him, more so than my own parents,\u201d he says. There\u2019s some vague explanation about how collecting serial killers and their trophies gave Prater a sense of control, but the real takeaway for me is how good Peter Dinklage is at selling absolute nonsense. Noting that the share reminded Prater of his foundational relationship with Cooper, he tells Dexter, \u201cThe truth is never boring. You never know what it may spark in someone.\u201d<\/p>\n Thankfully, that doesn\u2019t inspire Dexter to unmask himself to Prater, which I suspect would end poorly. Instead, he decides to have an honest conversation with Gareth, first confronting him with the knowledge that he\u2019s a twin. It\u2019s an electric scene with exceptional performances from Michael C. Hall and David Dastmalchian \u2014\u00a0really can\u2019t say enough good things about this cast \u2014 as Dexter appeals to Gareth\u2019s ego before making his move. He wonders aloud if twins really sense each other\u2019s pain. \u201cDid you feel a sting in your chest last night around 8:20?\u201d he asks Gareth. \u201cThat\u2019s when I stabbed your brother in the chest.\u201d Dexter knows exactly what he\u2019s doing when he reveals himself to be a killer of killers \u2014 it\u2019s an invitation for Gemini to attack. With Prater, Charley, and Al watching from a distance, Gareth breaks his wineglass and advances on Dexter, slashing his arm. It looks like self-defense, then, when Dex gets control of the glass and fatally plunges it into Gareth\u2019s neck. In the aftermath, Dexter claims that Gareth was bragging about taking out the other serial killers as the \u201cultimate share.\u201d Now the Bay Harbor Butcher has gotten rid of both twins and solved the problem of the missing Lowell by implying that Gemini is responsible. \u201cThree birds, one stone,\u201d Dexter\u2019s voice-over says smugly, and I\u2019d advise him not to get too cocky here. While Prater buys his new favorite killer\u2019s version of events, Charley isn\u2019t shy about her own suspicions.<\/p>\n But Dexter is too busy focusing on his son to worry about Prater\u2019s right-hand woman. \u201cWelcome to the life of a serial-killer dad,\u201d his voice-over says as the helicopter lands back in the city. \u201cKill a pair of twins, then rush to a college tour with your son.\u201d Harrison\u2019s pursuit of doing good has led him to the Collings College of Criminology, which is mostly just an excuse to introduce a new love interest (Emily Kimball\u2019s Gigi) and tell us a little more about the New York Ripper. When Dexter arrives late \u2014 given the day he\u2019s had, who can blame him? \u2014\u00a0Harrison is already sitting in on a forensic psychology class, where none other than Detective Wallace is giving a lecture on her serial-killer white whale. Along with some shockingly gruesome slides (lots of intestines and Jack the Ripper\u2013style organ removal), Wallace shares that the New York Ripper is still traumatizing the relatives of his victims by leaving voice-mails taunting them about his brutal crimes. Dexter, who once again can only process information in relation to his son, is troubled by the detective\u2019s assessment that \u201cpsychopaths are not capable of empathy or love. They are emotionally deficient individuals who behave only in service to themselves.\u201d It\u2019s very \u201cis this fucking play about us?\u201d<\/a> coded.<\/p>\n After the lecture, Dexter clarifies to Harrison that while he doesn\u2019t experience love the way others do, he feels differently about his son than anyone else. (It\u2019s pretty clear to me that Dex does feel love, but the show has always been inconsistent about the depths of his psychopathy.) Wallace is surprised to see Harrison at Collings, though she\u2019s grateful for the opportunity to meet his father, especially since Batista has been spinning tales about the true identity of the Bay Harbor Butcher. Dexter does a fairly unconvincing job of painting his former Miami Metro colleague as an unreliable narrator, telling Wallace, \u201cHe was a good guy, kind of spiraled when he found out his partner was the Bay Harbor Butcher.\u201d When he starts talking about how the blood-spatter evidence in the New York Ripper crime-scene photos doesn\u2019t match Wallace\u2019s theory that the killer used a crowbar \u2014 aided by the fact that Dexter has seen the real hook-style weapon the Ripper used in Prater\u2019s collection \u2014 it\u2019s clear that our anti-hero is showing off. He\u2019s feeling dangerously untouchable, which is later underlined by his dismissal of Harrison\u2019s concerns that Batista could be a problem for them. At least one Morgan isn\u2019t underestimating the threat.<\/p>\n When Dexter arrives home, however, he gets a rude awakening in the form of Batista giving salsa lessons to Blessing and his family upstairs. \u201cSurprise, hermano,\u201d Angel says, a kinder variation on Doakes\u2019s \u201csurprise, motherfucker,\u201d but with the same underlying message. Dexter offers his old friend a ride back to where he\u2019s staying, and there\u2019s enough subtextual menace that it briefly seems like he might be about to do something very reckless. But Dex decides to use his words instead of a knife. In the car, he drops all pretense of camaraderie. \u201cI\u2019m only gonna say this once,\u201d he warns. \u201cStay away from me, from my house, my family, and especially my son.\u201d This is, to my memory, the most naked animosity we\u2019ve seen between Dexter and Batista over the course of the franchise, and it\u2019s thrilling to watch. For his part, Batista refuses to back down, telling Dexter he won\u2019t let him get away with what he did to Mar\u00eda, Doakes, and Deb. Here, Hall leans fully into his character\u2019s dark side as he growls back, \u201cIf I really am who you think I am, this can\u2019t possibly end well for you.\u201d Batista doesn\u2019t scare easily, though, and frankly, he doesn\u2019t seem to have much else to live for at this point. He gets out of Dexter\u2019s car when prompted \u2014\u00a0but not before leaving his AirPods in the side pocket as a makeshift tracking device. As the ELO song<\/a> playing over the final scene promises, \u201cThere\u2019s gonna be a showdown.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Batista aside, Dexter really needs to keep an eye on Charley. She\u2019s vaguely threatening when she\u2019s patching him up after his fight with Gareth, telling Dexter how close he came to bleeding out from a wound to his radial artery. \u201cI\u2019ve seen it happen,\u201d she notes. \u201cI\u2019ve made it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 It does look like Charley and Prater may end up on opposite sides in the coming weeks. The tension between them keeps ratcheting up. When she points out that the exposure at the castle is less than ideal, Prater snaps back, \u201cDo what I fucking tell you to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 I\u2019m very curious to see how the New York Ripper ties into the season. Is he going to score a last-minute invite to Prater\u2019s final dinner party \u2014 and could it be someone we already know?<\/p>\n \u2022 Given her age, I\u2019ll rule out Gigi as a Ripper suspect, but I\u2019d take that over her being another love interest for Harrison, given that Elsa has already been filling that thankless role. Kudos to Gigi for her bold flirtation technique, though. She implies that her arm injury has kept her from masturbating, which prompts Harrison to ask for her number. Good for her!<\/p>\n \u2022 Harrison\u2019s thinking that he could do good by joining the NYPD is laughable, but also appropriate for this series. Harrison will be following a proud family tradition! The Morgans love being cops almost as much as they love using their positions to murder or cover up murders.<\/p>\n \u2022 Was anyone else irked by the fact that it was fully dark out when Dexter landed back in New York at 4:35 p.m.? Perhaps there was a total solar eclipse that the show forgot to mention.<\/p>\n VULTURE NEWSLETTER<\/p>\n Keep up with all the drama of your favorite shows!<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n
\n Photo: Zach Dilgard\/Paramount+ with SHO\n <\/p>\n