Dexter: 6.07 Review
“Nebraska” (Season 6, Episode 7)
Brian’s return at the end of last week’s episode signaled what should have been a great installment this week, frustratingly though this wasn’t the case and somewhere along the road to Nebraska things took a detour. That isn’t to say the episode wasn’t good as it still had some brilliant moments, bringing back Jonah from the Trinity storyline was a nice addition and getting Dexter out of Miami helped pushed the envelope for the show. The biggest disappointment for me was seeing Dexter and Brian’s bro-mance end before it really had a chance to get going.
Having both Brian and Jonah in for an episode was a great idea but the execution came across unsuccessfully. The finale felt rushed, the characters mostly underused and a lot of loose ends still left untied. My biggest problem with the climax was simply that the set up was fantastic, trapping two killers in a hardware store, after hours, in the middle of Nebraska and then…nothing. What a waste, and furthermore Dexter storming off and leaving Jonah unharmed is very unusual given that he knows who Dexter is and that he killed his father which is in even more contrast to how much Dexter was emphasizing Harry’s code before entering the Mitchell’s house.
Brian’s affect on Dexter was a little strange, given how the two squared off way back in Season 1, I was curious to see how things would continue. At first it seemed that Brian was the blood brother Dexter always wanted and the two started off well but this dynamic turned more comical than sadistic and seemed a little out of the ordinary. Dexter hooking up with the girl in the garage for example, when you think back to how Dexter was when he met Rita it appears as if he’s a completely changed person around Brian.
What did work well with Brian’s return was his influence on Dexter when he confronted the motel owner. Seeing Brian grab the fork and ram it through the guys chest was delightfully gory and was the kind of raw dark input into Dexter that we wanted to see. Panning round to see Dexter holding the fork gave us some insight into how the Travis/Gellar relationship could be visually perceived as well, showing that the person who does the action could be the same their imaginary twisted partner.
Masuka’s intern is moving up in the world – he’s now got a lab coat and a date with Jaime. The best thing he’s done so far though is design the Dexter video game, soon to be in the bargain bin at a HMV store near you alongside other classic TV-to-game titles such as Prison Break and Lost. Saying that though I would still buy it, if for nothing more than being able to make Deb swear on demand. Speaking of which “where in f***topia are you?” was another corker from the under-pressure Lieutenant who this week took a kick in the stomach from LaGuerta over her stats. At least Quinn’s apology laid that story to rest so that things can continue and he can get back on track.
Things were a little quiet on the Doomsday Killer front this week, the ‘whore’ that Travis let go did stir things up a bit by acknowledging the professor in her statement, but for me I’m still not sold that he’s real as she conveniently left out any hardcore evidence of him.
Now we’re into the latter half of the season it will be exciting to see how things will play out between Dexter and the DDKs. It would have been better to see how Brian’s input could have affected this for the remaining 5 episodes but sadly now we may never know.
RATING – 7/10
Scene of the episode – Dexter confronting Jonah about the killings in the house was fantastic, the tension between the two after Dexter declares, “I know for a fact Trinity did not kill anyone in this house” was immense.
Reviewed by Rich Jepson, cult TV enthusiast and author of 24: Terrorism Through Television.