Dexter at Altamont

It's time to check back in with you're favorite serial killer, and it appears our poor anti-hero is having a crisis of faith. No, Dexter hasn't lost his faith in God, he didn't really have that to lose, Dexter instead worships at the code of Harry, the late foster father/detective. Lately, though, all the lies that have surfaced have Dex taking his eye off the ball, getting emotional and sloppy with his 'work.'

Not only was Harry using Dexter's mom as an informant, but also for intimacy. So when Lila theorizes that Dexter has some Oedipal issues to work out, she has no idea how spot on she is. But when she tells Dexter to get some closure with her mother's killers, she's really handing him a cocked and loaded gun. Dexter pays lip service to Lila's request for peaceful closure with the one killer left to confront, but having "Gimme Shelter" play while he strolls into the bar is certainly an indicator that things are going to turn from peaceful to violent real quick. The song, while overused now thanks to Scorsese's three turns at it (Goodfellas, Casino, and The Departed,) is still the perfect song to encapsulate that change in climate from well-intentioned to bad.

Gimme Shelter is of course the document of the change in climate for 1969, where the year of Woodstock ended with the violence of Altamont. The Rolling Stones intended for a peaceful concert, but hiring the Hell's Angels to provide security is too unlike sending a serial killer to get peaceful closure with his mother's killers. As the song says, "war, children, it's just a shot away."

Meanwhile, I don't know about you, but I find the parallel graphic novel character (The Dark Defender, drawn by comic artist Tone Rodriguez) a bit tiresome. If anything, though, it does provide Dexter with the thought of Lila as a potential superhero sidekick. He seems to be grooming her as an accomplice, which can only end badly for Lila, who's in way over her pretty little head.

Previously: That 7-10 Split is a Killer (Season 2 preview)

tags: music, television, soundtrack, dexter, rolling stones, martin scorsese, showtime,