Dexter: Something about Harry

When the last episode of Dexter was over, a friend I was watching it with turned to me and said, “That was just a single hour?” Yes, it did seem longer, not because it was tedious, but because so much action and emotion was packed into a single episode.

Suddenly Doakes is more than a glowering menace, Dexter more a conflicted monster than a focused hero, Harry something of a twisted lunatic, and Lila … well, some skanks never change. And yet, as the backstories of the other characters continue to unfold, she becomes more interesting. What, after all, drew her to Dexter in the first place? And what is making her do anything, even frame a good policeman, just to keep him? Clearly, she has no love of donuts and, absent the droll internal monologues, Dex is somewhat boring. But it was just coincidence that had them meeting at the same NA meeting, wasn’t it?

Watching the secretive Dexter and the loner Doakes get down and soulful with each other was some of the best acting on the series (may the powers that nominate remember this when the Emmys roll around), so astonishing that it almost seemed a bit sad when Lila pulled up in front of the cabin and rushes for next week revealed that Doakes has escaped.

Realists that we are, we know that the series is ending for the season. Hopefully, the questions, the problems and the characters — those that survive to Season 3, that is — have some sort of resolution in the next two hours.

Only two …