TV Series: Dexter Season 4

This week I'm finally continuing with "Dexter". Over the last three days I've watched the whole fourth season with my son Benjamin (three episodes on Friday, three episodes on Saturday, six episodes yesterday). I didn't want to watch more than three episodes yesterday because I was feeling tired, but Benjamin insisted on continuing. "Dexter" is just too addictive.

We finished watching the third season in January, five months ago. We would have continued sooner, but Benjamin wasn't allowed to visit me. You know, Coronavirus and stuff. This stupid disease is disrupting my life even without anyone in my family getting ill. The only person in my immediate family who has caught the Coronavirus is my mother-in-law, who lives in an old people's home in Korntal. Most of the residents caught the virus last year. There were a few who died, but my mother-in-law wasn't very ill. It's hit and miss with this virus; some people are affected more than others.

There have been big developments between the seasons. At the end of season three Dexter and Rita got married. She was already pregnant, I don't know in what month, but probably in the first half of the pregnancy. Now they have a baby boy, Harrison, who's 10 months old, so this season must take place at least 15 months after the end of the third season. Maybe some devoted fans have been able to pin down the chronology.

The passage of time can be seen the most clearly in the aging of the actress Christina Robinson as Dexter's step-daughter Astor. Okay, she's aged less than 12 months in real life, but she's developing fast. She's now 11 in real life, probably the same age as she's meant to be in the series, but she looks older.

Dexter's step-son Cody, played by Preston Bailey, is also aging fast. Preston is 8 years old. In the series they're supposed to be two years apart. Rita says that when she first met Dexter Astor was 9 and Cody was 7.

The fourth season features John Lithgow as Arthur Mitchell, the Trinity Killer. He's given that nickname because he's been killing people in groups of three for thirty years: a young woman is bled to death in a bathtub, an older women is forced to jump from a high building and a man is bludgeoned to death with a hammer. The detectives discover late in the season that it's actually a group of four, because a young boy is buried alive. This remained unknown for years because it was the only one of the four murder victims whose body was hidden. That means that he's not a Trinity Killer, he's a Quadrinity Killer. I've been assured that the rarely used word quadrinity is correct.

I find that the season gets off to a slow start. Don't get me wrong, it's enjoyable all the way through, but it isn't until the sixth episode (of twelve) that it becomes truly fascinating. That's when we begin to know the Trinity Killer. We finally meet his family and get to understand his motivation. He's a school teacher and a good Christian. He's a deacon in his church, and in the school holidays he volunteers to build homes for the homeless. This is when a cat and mouse game begins. Dexter visits the church and becomes Arthur's friend. That is, Arthur thinks of him as a friend, but Dexter intends to kill him, just not yet. He thinks he can learn from Arthur how to balance a family life with being a serial killer.

Dexter picks other victims while he's waiting to kill Arthur Mitchell. One of them is Zoey Kruger, played by Christina Cox, a policewoman who killed her own husband and daughter and made it look like a home invasion. She's someone who couldn't balance family and killing.

Ironically, when Arthur tries to kill himself, Dexter saves his life. That sounds absurd at first, but we have to remember that Dexter isn't merely a vigilante; he gets pleasure out of killing. It would be a disappointment to watch his next victim take his own life. However, the complications in the final episodes make Dexter regret sparing Arthur's life.

There's so much that happens in the series. I've only just scratched the surface. To do it justice I'd have to review every single episode, rather than just write thoughts about the whole season. Angel Batista and Maria LaGuerta become a pair. Dexter's sister Debra is torn between her lover Anton and the former FBI agent Frank Lundy. Debra is searching for information about her father's lovers. And there's much more. The only series I can name with greater complexity is "The Sopranos". I've already watched "The Sopranos" three times, but I need to return to it again.

For now I'm sticking to "Dexter", because Benjamin is staying with me all week. That should give us time for one more season.

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As I've pointed out before, the complete series of "Dexter" has only been released on DVD in the UK. If you want it on Blu-ray, order it from Germany. The original English version is included, and the menus are in English.