Friend…Or Foe? Season 3 Focuses on Relationships
The overall plot in the third season of Dexter is whether or not Dexter truly has has a friend he can comfortably confide in, and even share his darkest secrets. Jimmy Smits of NYPD Blue fame stars as Miguel Prado, the Assitant Deputy Attorney of the Miami Metro area and he is very upset when his younger brother is found dead in a drug dealer’s house. The odd twist here is that Dexter inadvertently killed this brother while trying to dispatch the drug dealer at the house who had gotten away with murder. Dexter is able to hide this secret from Miguel Prado throughout the entire season. The two strike up a friendship that Dexter is extremely cautious about at first. Miguel seems to have the same zeal and desire to bring justice upon those that escape the law, but his ‘code,’ or lack of one, is what ultimately gets him into trouble with the law, and with Dexter. The drama and anticipation that goes into this relationship is very potent and Smits does a superb job as Prado.
The Oscar Prado investigation and relationship with Miguel isn’t the only thing on Dexter’s mind. Rita gets pregnant and leaves her job, although Syl, Miguel’s wife who works in real estate, hires her as an assitant. The two become friends and their bond grows closer when Miguel’s relationship with Syl begins to greatly suffer, to the point he’s thrown out of the house. Rita keeps very busy for most of the season planning and preparing her wedding to Dexter, which finally happens during the final minutes of the season.
The show’s other great characters have a lot of development, too. Deb, Dexter’s hard working, foul mouthed sister, cracks the case of the new serial killer in town, The Skinner. She also falls for a Confidential Informant (CI), not unlike her father did in years past, although she doesn’t find out about this until late in the third season. Deb must also contend with a pesky Internal Affairs agent who wants details spilled on her new partner Quinn, a cool under pressure, but sometimes sneaky, officer. Quinn tricked Anton Briggs, the CI that Deb falls for, into being a CI under the table. So legally, he’s not a CI but Quinn pays him in cash, and has Anton thinking this is normal procedure. Anton isn’t happy when he finds out he has been putting his neck out on the line without obligation, which puts an interesting twist on the relationship between Deb, Quinn, and Anton.
Relationships seemed to really be the central focus for this third season. Angel Batista, made Sergeant during the first episode to replace Doakes who was killed at the end of season two, finds love with an officer from vice. Angel is one of those characters you hope the best for, because he’s such a clean cut, dependable nice guy. Vince, Dexter’s colleague in forensics, tries to get coworkers to come to a conference that he is keynoting, but when they don’t, he spends a couple of episodes upset about it. He turns to his normal comical form late in the season, and hooks up with a woman who plans bachelor parties.
LaGuerta meets Edith Wolff, an attorney who is giving Miguel a lot of trouble. When she’s found dead, Maria is greatly saddened, but her friendship with Miguel provides key insight onto the murderer’s identity. Harry, Dexter’s late father, is also a big part of this season. There are several scenes where Dexter thinks about his father and they talk about what is going on in Dexter’s life at the time. His father mistrusts Miguel, and warns Dexter of the danger of not only sharing Dexter’s dark secret, but involving Miguel in it. Lastly, Camilla, Dexter’s long time friend in the records department, dies when her long time smoking habit catches up with her. The final days of her life are made a lot better by Dexter.
On Blu-ray
The Blu-ray release of Season 3 is very similar to the previous two seasons. This three disc set contains all twelve episodes and a handful of uninspired extra features. The menu music is different this time around and for what it’s worth, I didn’t like the menu’s design this much time around, but that’s a minor point. Other than that, the packaging and overall presentation are on par or better than the first two seasons.
Visually, Dexter looks great. I was surprised at how good many of the scenes looked. The only detractor were some grainy scenes, but these are few and far between. The audio presentation is fine too for this dialogue driven show. No complaints.
For extra features, there are several, all BD Live based, and nothing all that great except for the interviews. The extras include:
-Dexter By Design: Book Excerpts
-First two episodes of The United States of Tara, Season 1
-First two episodes of The Tudors, Season 3
-Interviews with Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Lauren Velex, and David Zayos
I could care less about the bonus episodes from two other Showtime shows, and I really wish more effort was put into extra content for this excellent show.
To the summary…