By Mike Horky
Dexter is a show that loves to surprise
its audience, as proved by the miraculous comeback from season six that the
show managed to pull off in the majority of season seven. Tonight’s episode, "Every Silver Lining" pulled the exact
kind of surprise, improving drastically from last week’s premiere, and
introducing key plot points that could give us a deeper understanding of Dexter
as a character. It also made good use of Evelyn Vogel and brilliantly expanded
on the relationship between Deb and Dexter.
But
this episode wasn’t all about Dexter and Vogel; Deb gets plenty of time to
shine as well. Fresh off of her sting with criminal Andrew Briggs, Deb is
trying desperately to find out where he hid his stash of stolen jewelry, so she
can get a cut of it from the freelance agency she works for. The good news is
she finds the jewelry. The bad news is hired hit man El Sapo finds her, beats
her senseless, and takes the jewelry. It could have stopped there, but Deb
tracks him down and shoots him point blank in his car. This is pivotal moment
for Deb, who’s been emotionally compromised and spiraling out of control ever
since she killed LaGuerta last season. She’s irrationally killing people now,
and lying about it. When Dexter visits her and asks her about her injuries from
her fight with El Sapo, she lies in an attempt to distance herself from Dexter,
which is normal; he did influence her to kill LaGuerta. This leads Dexter to
find out about her most recent kill through evidence at El Sapo’s crime scene.
Deb has suddenly become the one thing Dexter could have never thought of; she’s
becoming a killer like him. Her motive for killing El Sapo is non-existent, and
Deb is no longer the innocent victim Dexter sought to protect with his serial
killer methods. Now she’s the kind of person he’s been stopping for years, and
it’s his fault. Dexter exposed Deb to his secret life, convincing her
subconsciously that killing those who deserve it is just because holes in the
legal system let criminals like El Sapo off easy. In this sense, Dexter has
created a monster out of Deb, which is brilliant development for both characters.
Dexter now must live with the guilt of turning his sister into a killer and
losing the one stable emotional partner he had left in the world. He begins to
realize the consequences of his actions, a welcomed element that has been
missing in past seasons. Meanwhile, Deb must deal with losing her past self and
gaining her new dark passenger, all while losing in Dexter what he is losing in
her; someone who understands her. The scenes between Carpenter and Hall are as
brilliant this week as they were last week, and Carpenter is definitely shining
this season. She plays the emotional wreck that Deb has become with such brutal
force, that at times it’s almost unbearable to watch. "Every Silver Lining" manages to answer so many questions, and bring
so much character depth to the foreground, making the rest of this season seem
very promising. It’s a huge step for Dexter’s persona, and a huge step for what
could be his downfall.
Grade: A
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