How do you top Season 2 of Dexter? The season where the main protagonist was the one being pursued? How do you raise the stakes after that? Well, if Season 3 is any indication, you don't.
Season 3 of Dexter started off with a lot of potential, and pretty much wasted all of it. The previous season ended with Dexter declaring that he was going to evolve and follow his own code from now on, but then he spends much of this season advocating for Harry's code and bickering with a dream version of his father. Even more, the premiere has Dexter accidentally breaks his code by killing who he thought was an innocent person and having to grapple with that. It's a fantastic way to raise the stakes after Season 2... and then we learn the guy he killed did some bad stuff and that conflict is immediately resolved. Instead, Season 3 is about Dexter befriending that guy's brother, a District Attorney named Miguel Prado, and slowly letting him into the true nature of his life.
Let me get this straight, this is not a bad storyline. Miguel is a genuinely fascinating character with a lot of nuances, and I'd say this season is a pretty strong character study of the guy. The first half of the season is a bit slow and basically just "Dexter makes a friend", but as Miguel starts to justify killing people he hates and reveals his manipulation of Dexter, he becomes a genuinely chilling antagonist. He has great chemistry with Dexter and as the season goes on, their conversations start to feel like a game of mental chess between the two of them. However, this storyline only really gets good for me around two-thirds into the season, and even then it lacks the gripping tension and heightened stakes from the first two seasons. Those seasons left me wondering how Dexter would get out of the situation he was. With this season, I was pretty damn confident Dexter would kill Miguel by the end, and he did. I'd probably enjoy this storyline more if it hadn't come after Season 2, but after such a high bar, this season didn't even come close to reaching it.
Thankfully, the rest of the cast did a pretty good job of picking up the slack. While not as fleshed out as the Ice Cream Killer or even Miguel, I liked The Skinner as another neat "serial killer with a gimmick" for the police station to try to take down, and when he starts targeting characters we actually know and care about, the storyline begins to develop the tension and personal stakes that the Miguel storyline kinda lacked. And while Dexter's arc from last season wasn't continued all that smoothly, Debra spends the whole season trying to earn her detective shield, and I ended up rooting for her the whole way. She also had another interesting love interest in the laid-back and smooth Anton, played by David Ramsey in a role way different than what I was used to seeing him play (Diggle from Arrow). But my favorite storyline from this season was easily the one with Rita, where she learns she's pregnant and starts to plan a wedding with Dexter. While those types of storylines usually don't stand out to me, watching Dexter deal with the thought of being a father and committing to his relationship with Rita is just really engaging. This really is one of the few shows where I can say I like the relationship drama more than much of the actual plot.
While most of the season felt a bit average, there were some great episodes near the end:
Go Your Own Way: When I said that Dexter and Miguel were playing mental chess, this was really the episode I was talking about, and it's probably the best one of the whole season. It starts a bit slow, but then Dexter and Miguel start making moves to ruin the lives of each other and the people they care about, at which point the season's stakes really start to be felt. Dexter and Miguel's conflict impacts Rita, LaGuerta, Debra, Anton, and Sylvia, with no one really leaving the episode unscathed. It all culminates in a great confrontation on the rooftop, a great twist that connects the two previously disconnected antagonists, and an awesome cliffhanger that ended up just being a fakeout next episode.
Do You Take Dexter Morgan?: This was another really satisfying finale. While not super unpredictable, the final confrontation between Dexter and The Skinner was surprisingly intense, and all of the storylines get fairly strong resolutions. Debra looking into her father is probably the best hook for next season we got yet, and the wedding between Dexter and Rita was a sweet way to end off the season.
Overall, Season 3 was a decent season of Dexter, but it definitely suffered coming off the heights of Seasons 1 & 2. Miguel was an interesting character and the subplots were fantastic, but the lack of stakes or tension until the last few episodes really dragged it down for me.
3/5 Stars
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