My Review of Dexter's 4x08: "Road Kill"

Written by Melissa Rosenberg And Scott Reynolds
Directed by Ernest Dickerson

Trinity: “I have nothing to give you.”
Dexter: “Generosity of spirit, Arthur. I know those are more than just words to you. Tell me they’re not just words.”

As emotional guilt trips go, that’s certainly not one of Dexter’s best ones but as road trips also go, this is certainly not one of the most successful ones either. I mean, it makes total sense that Dexter would not succeed in killing Trinity in this episode but it’s also frustrating that he’s being careless as well.

First of all, why was there such an urgency to kill him right now? Dexter’s had weeks to do it and practically gate crashing Arthur’s trip to Tampa seemed rather dumb, especially for someone as smart as Dexter. He could’ve waited until Arthur returned from his trip to do the deed instead of pestering Arthur to take him along.

The way Dexter’s acting right now, he is eventually going to attract the wrong kind of attention from Arthur, especially with the longer he delays in killing the guy. Arthur snapped at him several times in this episode before Dexter tried to keep his interest with the spiel about a hunting accident and even that was problematical.

I’m not surprised that Arthur would see Dexter’s confession of accidental murder as a means of trying to unburden himself but Dexter shouldn’t feel too relieved just yet. If Arthur’s erratic behaviour continues in the manner that it’s going, then Dexter might find himself becoming a bludgeoning victim within the next few weeks.

Alarms bells went off this week when Arthur took Dexter to his old family home and told him how all his family died. I’m going to assume that in regards to his father, that Arthur actually did kill him and it was interesting to see how much of Arthur’s mask kept slipping in this episode.

He was snappy with his own family over chores, he railroaded another family with some dark subject matter and at one point in this episode, Arthur even came close to ending his own life. Had Dexter been savvier, he could’ve let Arthur drop to his death but because of divine intervention, Arthur now lives and believes that Dexter is his hero. It can only become a matter of time before Arthur realises how wrong he about Dexter.

Speaking of wrong, the one thing that can be said about Arthur is that he wasn’t the killer of Lundy and shooter of Deb. It’s a shame in a way but at the same time, it’s a great move on the show for not being so obvious and from a career perspective, it also meant that Deb got to be back on the Trinity case.

I felt bad for Deb this week when she was finally able into being open with Maria that the bludgeoning cases were Trinity related and her big coup meant being kicked off the case due to her circumstances. Still with Trinity revealed as innocent of the Lundy debacle, it does mean that Deb can kick some ass on the Trinity after all. Sorry, Dexter but your sister is kind of fantastic this year with this whole case.

However the question now becomes that if Deb wasn’t shot by Trinity, then who did it? I’m going to assume that it’s a character that we’ve already seen on the series and as much as I’d like to see the back of Quinn, I cannot see it being him. Perhaps it’s Christine. It would make some odd kind of sense.

She looks to be about the same height as the shooter and her desperation for a story would be motive enough for her to actually try and create one of her own. Plus, she’s also behaved rather oddly in this episode, especially with Quinn and some of her scenes with Deb have been kind of odd. Right now, she’s probably the only candidate to being the shooter at the moment.

In other storylines this week, I couldn’t help but enjoy most of Angel and Maria’s scenes this week. I knew they wouldn’t be able to stop seeing each other and it’s nice that they managed to get some private moments during the office. Plus it’s a lot better than Rita’s subplot with the single neighbour, Elliot, who’s still rather annoying.

Also in “Road Kill”

Thanks to Deb, every 60 something bloke in Miami is getting swabbed to see if they’re Trinity. Dexter managed to get Arthur to avoid it. Farrow has also been reported as a victim of his assistant.

Deb: “This’ll cheer you up.”
Dexter: “Not if you’re making headway on Trinity.”

With Arthur’s erratic temper in this episode, I get the impression that both Jonah and Rebecca are actually scared of their father.

Dexter: “What does one pack for an out of town kill? Gotta pack light. Don’t want to raise suspicion. I just need a reliable tool, something I can count on.”

Maria: “Everything goes through you.”
Masuka: “There goes my plans.”

Dexter went to a convention in order to get time off work and keep Rita’s mind at ease (as well as an alibi). He even got his picture taken with Sonny Skies.

Trinity: “There are few things harder to bear than remorse.”
Dexter: “Remorse?”
Trinity: “Guilt, remorse, it’s what separate us from the animals. Your conscience is eating away at you but you’re gonna feel better. Confession is good for the soul.”
Dexter (to himself): “All the more proof I don’t have a soul.”

Masuka seemed to be going into interesting details to Quinn about Dexter and Lila. This can only make Quinn more suspicious of Dexter.

Christine (to Quinn): “My editor laid it out. Either I get a lead that bleeds or I’m done.”

Dexter (re Trinity): “Yesterday he was jumping down my throat; today he’s the happy dancing man. Is that mask of his crumbling?”

So, the coffin from the previous episode was intended for Trinity after all. I wonder if he’ll try to use it on Dexter when he finds out the real identity of his new friend.

Trinity (re family deaths): “I never told anyone any of this.”
Dexter: “So why did you tell me?”
Trinity: “So you’d know you’re not alone, you’re just like me. We’re both responsible for the death of an innocent.”

Dexter (re Farrow/Trinity): “I killed an innocent man and saved a guilty one. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Chronology: Pretty much where “Slack Tide” left off and this episode was a Harry free zone.

Something of an odd episode this week. There was a lot I did like about “Road Kill” but it also felt rather pointless for Dexter to embark on a road trip when it was obvious that his attempts to kill Trinity wouldn’t work.

Rating: 8 out of 10.