Season Seven was seen by many as a rebound for everyone's favorite serial killer - I never found Season 6 as bad as the general consensus judged it to be. The seventh season finale with Deb shooting LaGuerta to protect Dexter's identity was a shocker indeed.
At this writing the show is halfway through the eighth season and the first big bad has been dispatched. Were those first six episodes of a stature one hopes for in a final season? If you employ the metric that a hero is only as interesting as the villain he faces then those episodes were a bit of a bust. The Brain Surgeon turned out to be a pale shadow behind the curtain.
On the other hand those episodes offered up great opportunties to explore Dexter and Deb's background with the introduction of Charlotte Rampling's Dr. Evelyn Vogel. The show has done some retconning here bringing the Vogel character in the show mythology as a psychiatrist who helped Dexter's dad - Harry develop the 'Code' that Dexter has based his kills on. While it somewhat undermines Harry as a character, because we have been led to believe for seven seasons that he was acting alone, the plausibility of Harry seeking professional help makes sense. Plus the introduction of Vogel has allowed for some interesting exploration into Dexter's and Deb's early years.
It intrigues that Deb has had the more interesting arcs the last two seasons. Her discovery of Dexter's Dark Passenger and then her decision to kill for him have led to some intense scenes between them. Jennifer Carpenter has been given some meaty material to play with and she has definitely made the most of it.
Especially in Season Seven.
Charlotte Rampling has such interesting eyes - they give her the air of being in two different places at the same time. This works especially well for Vogel because it invokes an air of uncertainty about her motives. Are her motivations proper and humane? Is she really trying to help these sociopaths? Or are these people irrelevant to her and nothing but guinea pigs that allow her to explore the darker side of the human psyche?
Now it appears that Vogel wants to continue the experiment by having Dexter become the mentor to a new serial killer. Intriguing.
Hannah has returned and that looks like it will be the last major arc of the final season. Not sure if that is the way I want the series to play out but with Hannah married and Dexter tutoring his heir apparent, Zack Hamilton, hopefully the last six episodes will bring all things to an unexpected conclusion.
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And that is enough serial killer postings for awhile.
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Time for something lighter!
The Map Of Time by Félix J. Palma - inspired by my Cemetery Dance Grab Bag in which was the second book in a series - The Map Of The Sky. Since the local library had the first book in the series, I decided to read that one first.
The concept is intriguing - late 19th England and a story that mixes historical fact with fiction. In this book H.G. Wells plays the role of connective thread with three stories that are tied up with time travel. Historical figures come in and out of the story - John Merrick aka The Elephant Man, James Joyce, Bram Stroker to name a few. Also tied into this is a version of Jack The Ripper who is caught after just murdering his fifth victim.
The bulk of the book deals with alternate timelines that turn out to be false except for the one dealing with Jack the Ripper. H.G. Wells turns out to be much more than just a writer about time travel but actually its father.
This is an interesting book on several levels beyond the ones just mentioned. Written in his native tongue of Spanish, I am very curious how much of the English translation brought the Old England tone to the prose. The books also breaks several writing conventions including POV switches - sometimes several times in the same chapter - and on occasion invokes an omniscent third person viewpoint that knows and sees all -but is never identified. Perhaps that revelation lies in the sequels. It reminds me when Stephen King used the same conceit late in final volume of the Dark Tower.
I enjoyed it for all these elements - and despite some of them - and look forward to reading The Map Of The Sky which deals with The War Of The Worlds really happening and Edgar Allan Poe on an Antartic Expedition.
A very fun, genre bending book.
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