My Review of Dexter's 4x07: "Slack Tide"

Written by Scott Buck
Directed by Tim Hunter

Dexter (re himself/Trinity): “Okay, two serial killers going for a ride. Why do I get the feeling this joke only ends with one of them coming back?”

Well, if Dexter had actually attention to Harry’s pretty constant insistence on killing Trinity, then their little ride would resulted in one serial killer coming back alive. Of course, there are many things that Dexter still needs to learn and it’s too early for Trinity to hit the big one just yet.

One of the things that Dexter had to learn this week was the art of getting Cody and Astor into hobbies so they wouldn’t keep pestering him every five minutes. This would have been a fantastic thing if Astor wasn’t so hard to please and if Cody’s hobby didn’t involve adult supervision but Dexter should’ve read the fine print in relation to getting Cody into sailing.

It was a risky thing for Dexter to sneak off during his sailing camp meeting with the kids and other parents to go and kill this week but at the same time, it still didn’t stop Dexter from deciding that Jonathan Farrow had to die there and then. Times like this, it would’ve a great thing if it had been a deterrent for Dexter.

Remember at the start of the previous season when Dexter bumped off Miguel’s brother? Back then, it was the first time that we had seen Dexter kill an ‘innocent’ person but this time around, Jonathan Farrow was even more of an innocent person in spite of the fact that it looked so obvious that he must’ve killed Estrella.

He was certainly sleazy enough when he was being interviewed by Angel and Deb and even prior to Dexter killing him, Jonathan didn’t seem overly sympathetic towards Estrella’s death or the deaths of the other girls that he photographed that had been killed as well.

The reveal of Farrow’s assistant being the murderer was definitely a dramatic kick in the teeth for Dexter. He really has gotten to a point this season where he’s become too distracted with his commitments that he’s making monumental mistakes and the worst part is that he’s also attracting Quinn’s attention in the worst way possible.

Quinn was already annoyed with the friction between him and Dexter but at the club when Dexter ditched him, Quinn did seem more suspicious than ever. It also doesn’t help that he’s openly questioning Dexter on the fact that he thinks Dexter has something to hide as well. If Dexter doesn’t watch himself, Quinn might get one over him.

One person Dexter should keep an eye out for as well is Deb. She might have backed off for now on researching Harry’s former CIs but I can’t see her giving up on tracking down Trinity anytime soon. She got Maria to start up an investigation and given how erratic Trinity was behaving in this episode, Deb could strike lucky and nail the guy if Dexter doesn’t get a move on and kill him already.

Trinity this week himself was definitely. Being openly snappish with Dexter aside, I found the fact that he was unable to kill a deer a really odd character moment. This is after all, a man who’s killed plenty of people for the last four decades without a problem so getting squeamish over Bambi is definitely one of those moments that stick in your head, plus I get the feeling that he’s aware of the fact that Dexter is trying to pull a fast one on him.

As for the less enjoyable parts of the episode – I’m not gonna complain about Angel and Maria or Christine being so bloody ever present but I am gonna complain about Rita. Seriously, writers give the girl something better to do outside of nagging Dexter all the time – that’s all I ask.

Also in “Slack Tide”

We got a nice family moment at the start of this episode with Dexter, Rita, Deb and the kids out on the boat.

Angel: “Let’s get a search here. Maybe we could find more body parts.”
Dexter: “A head would be nice.”

The actor who played the man who found Estrella’s arm in the alligator, he played Sam’s dad on True Blood as well.

Dexter: “Dear Abby, I’m a serial killer and I need advice on how to keep my kids from taking over my life.”

Quinn (re Maria/Angel): “You put two people in a room together and eventually they’re gonna fuck.”
Deb: “Wow, that’s romantic. You should have that tattooed across your fat head.”

In this episode, we were also treated to Elliot and his girlfriend fighting, prior to the two of them breaking up.

Harry: “You’re taking a risk here.”
Dexter: “Isn’t that what life is – a risk?”

Harry (to Dexter, re Trinity): “He spent his life killing innocent people but he can’t kill Bambi? This is your new role model, Dex?”

We saw Trinity making a coffin here and while I thought might have been for his next victim or Dexter; I’m beginning to wonder if it’s for himself.

Harry (to Dexter): “It’s every father’s nightmare – disappointing his children.”

Chronology: Eight months since, “Do You Take Dexter Morgan?”

Not a bad episode at all. “Slack Tide” however isn’t an episode that moves anything forward, so it’s not a favourite episode either. Still, here’s hoping after the Farrow blunder that Dexter takes the initiative to learn from his mistakes.

Rating: 8 out of 10.