Spoilers

“Blood Drive”

I was more impressed with this episode of Dexter: Original Blood than I had been for a few episodes. Then Dexter did something so stupid that it defies explanation.

In the last few minutes, he captured Captain Spencer and wrapped him up on his table. He taunted him for awhile and then decided to let him escape. I understand he was doing it so he could follow Spencer to where he had the missing Nicky hidden away, but there are so many things that could go wrong with that idea that it is shocking. I mean, just off the top of my head, the police captain could decide to turn Dexter in and frame him for the death of the kids. I can’t believe that would be hard to do… especially since Dexter had already cut off Spencer’s little finger, something that everyone knows the killer had done.

Spencer’s motive for kidnapping Nicky (and the kid before whom he killed) was fairly week too. I mean, just to get back at his ex-wife, he was going to torture and kill his own son? That felt so bizarre. I assume the other kid was taken and killed as a way to throw off the investigation, but that was so out there that I just do not accept that any of this made sense.

The flashbacks this episode were more engaging, which was not typical for this show. They featured the two traumatized brothers, Brian and Dexter, being adopted by Harry and Doris and having Brian be psychotic. It feels like it was a bit of a stretch from Brian and Dexter seeing everyone killed to Brian trying to suffocate baby Deb with a pillow to make her stop crying. The time frame seemed rushed.

I do think making the serial killer involved in this season Dexter’s separated brother is a good twist. I’m just not sure that this is done well either. Brian did not show much emotion about being separated from Dexter as a child, so having the separation be the driving force behind Brian’s murder spree did not feel right. Maybe it was just his excuse to unleash his own Dark Passenger, which makes more sense to me.

I believe there is only one more episode remaining for this season so we’ll see how things get wrapped up. The Brian storyline does not feel like it can be finished up in one episode, especially an episode where the Dexter-Spencer story is still a high priority. Still, we’ll see what happens.