Farewell Rita Morgan

After discovering Rita dead in the bathtub, Dexter Morgan has a lot to explain - to the Homicide Department and FBI, to Rita's children, and most of all, to himself. How will America's favourite serial killer overcome the newest challenges in his life?


Dexter 5.01 Review - 'My Bad'

Guest Starring:

Christina Robinson as Astor Bennett

Preston Bailey as Cody Bennett

Rick Peters as Elliott

and

Julie Benz as Rita Morgan

The police arrive on the scene to take Rita's body away.
Image copyright of Showtime.

The season five premiere of Dexter commenced right where season four left off - the immediate tragic aftermath of Rita's death. In fact, a severe majority of the episode was focused purely on Dexter and Rita - namely with Dexter fruitlessly attempting to organise a funeral with Debra, or the constant flashbacks to Dexter and Rita's first date. Admittedly, i believe that everyone needed this episode to grieve in their own way for Rita's character, and it is a relief that the writers and producers didn't skip ahead six months in the traditional style. It gave everyone a chance to cry (or cheer for the Rita haters), and prepare everyone for a proper start to the season in the next episode.

Moving away from Rita, not much else of importance occured in this episode, aside from three interesting events. The first event i speak of involves Quinn and Debra. In a somewhat unconventional method, Debra, in a moment of desperation, ended up having sex with Quinn on Dexter and Rita's kitchen floor. Immediately afterwards, she gives Quinn the cold shoulder, so to speak, and avoids talking to him. Awkward. However, it is an interesting plot point, one that the writers will most likely pursue during the course of the season. Where it leads, however, no one will quite know until we get there.

Dexter observing another funeral at the funeral home.
Image copyright of Showtime.

The second interesting event that occured today involves Quinn yet again, but this time for a different reason - Quinn approaches LaGuerta suggesting that they look into Dexter and treat him as a suspect in Rita's murder. LaGuerta, of course, is appaled and tells Quinn to leave Dexter alone. However, Quinn does end up having a little chat with the next door neighbour, who tells Quinn about Dexter punching him out after he kissed Rita at Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, that was as far as Quinn got in his little 'investigation', leaving open a myriad of possibilities of what could occur later on in the season. Will he be the next Doakes? Stay tuned.

Dexter consorts with Harry after killing an innocent man.
Image copyright of Showtime.

Lastly, the third interesting event that occured in the episode involved Dexter and an unfortunate abusive redneck. After insulting Rita to Dexter's face, Dexter temporarily loses it and beats the poor man to death using the anchor hook attached to the bathroom key.What occurs next was one of the most haunting sounds i have ever heard - a loud primal scream raging forth from Dexter as his rage and anger over Rita's death cannot be satisfied since Trinity is already dead. What strikes me in particular is the fact that Dexter has just killed an innocent man, and does not feel any remorse for doing so. Admittedly, the guy was a complete dick, but he was still innocent. I wonder if Dexter will stay true to Harry's Code this season, as he's already broken probably a dozen rules just in the first episode, along with one of the most important - never kill an innocent. Granted, Dexter has killed two relatively innocent people before (Oscar Prado in S3, and the creepy photographer in S4),  but he has never killed out of pure impulse and rage. It seems we could be in for an interesting journey this season.

Now, time for my final marks for the episode:

• Potency of the season's theme(s):  **********
• Editing & Scenes of Relevance:  ********
• Lead character's connection with audience:  ********
• Lead actor's effectiveness in role: *********
• Secondary character's connection with audience:  ******
• Secondary actor's effectiveness in role(s): *******
• Visual Effects:  *******
• Music Appeal: *******
• Originality of the episode's narrative:  *******
• Integration of multiple story arcs and character relationships:  ******

Overall Mark:  75 / 100

Grade Percentage: 75%

Overall, i quite enjoyed this episode and its fond farewell to Rita Morgan. However, with the funeral now complete, i am looking forward to seeing Dexter Morgan return to his after hours adventures and see what the writers and producers have in store for us in the remaining eleven episodes of the season. 

Until next time, ciao!