What did readers, writers and critics around the web have to say about “Sunshine and Frosty Swirl,” a perverse Dexterian cocktail of blood, sugar and horse tranquillizers?
Commenter Ami disputed that Deb was in any real danger as the episode opened, noting “I’ve seen her run to chase down a bad guy and this one lacked the ‘OMG I’VE GOT TO RUN’ feel.” Still, Lieutenant Morgan’s vacillation between protectiveness and disgust had a lot of viewers cheering the show’s newfound emotional depth. (Not only that, but, as Alex Moaba at The Huffington Post observes, Deb’s ambivalence has so far translated into some immortal Deb-isms. Like “This isn’t a fucking pajama party, Dex” and “All of this is very very fucking wrong.”) Kimberly Roots at TV Line saluted “the love behind Deb’s decision to become a one-woman clinic” but warned, “Deb, if you think getting between Dex and his D.P. is going to end well, I’ve got a bra-eschewing, fire-lighting, crazy British chick you might wanna talk to.”
The Louis Question continues to loom: Who is Masuka’s nerdy intern, really? What’s he got against Dexter? And will he or screwdriver-happy mob boss Isaac win out as this season’s chief baddie? One reader speculated that Dexter would end up dispatching Louis by feeding him to the Ukrainians. Others wondered whether he was another long lost brother, or perhaps related to one of Dexter’s victims. There was also uncertainty over whether Dexter’s restraint when it came to Louis indicated progress. True, Louis ended up sedated on a park bench instead of at the bottom of the bay, but he also didn’t fit the Code requirements: Rather than a killer-at-large, he’s just, in Ami’s words, “a d-bag with mad hacker skills.”
I loved commenter Zeddie’s insight that Masuka may be on the hook to repay Dexter for Dex’s silence about the missing ITK hand. With LaGuerta back on the trail of the Bay Harbor Butcher, Dexter will be searching for ways to deflect suspicion onto his Miami Metro colleagues. (Or will Quinn take the fall? He seems dazzled enough by a lithe Russian stripper to veer off the straight-and-narrow.)
A few other worthwhile tidbits.
On Dexter’s gruesome Why I Kill monologue:
Cassie Berube at The Baltimore Sun:
Although we the audience have been with Dexter from the beginning and adore him despite his murderous flaws, it was completely different hearing him speak of the experience. We got a glimpse of what drives the Dark Passenger, but I’m not sure I wanted it.
On the honesty theme:
Kimberly Roots:
I like the way Michael C. Hall plays it, like he’s so sorry that his answers are cutting his sister into pieces but he knows that not answering her is no longer an option.
Finally, a grateful hat tip to Joshua Briseno for hunting down the official “How to Cure A Serial Killer in Ten Easy Steps” guide.
