Irish Nanny For Hire

Dexter 5.03 Review - 'Practically Perfect'

Guest Starring:

Maria Doyle Kennedy as Sonya 

April Lee Hernandez as Officer Cira Manzon

with 

Shawn Hatosy as Boyd Fowler

and 

Julia Stiles as Lumen Pierce

This week's episode of Dexter took a very interesting and unusual turn for viewers of the Showtime original series. Immediately after the opening credits, we are thrown into what appears to be a police interrogation led by Debra against a rather innocent young woman. However, all is not as it appears as, moments later, the camera pans out and we see that it is actually is....a job interview being conducted by Debra. An interview for what you ask? Why, to babysit and look after little Harrison of course.

But i'll get back to that shortly.

Debra interviewing possible candidates for the nanny position.
Image copyright of Showtime.

After watching this week's episode of Dexter, it's safe to say that a number of significant events occured within the fictional Miami universe. After a slow start to the season (with Rita's funeral in 5.1, and the kids' departure in 5.2), things have finally started to pick up, albeit at a slow but steady pace.

First off the bat, Harrison's nanny. After interviewing many prospective individuals, Dexter finally decided on his ideal nanny - the beautiful Sonya, a lovely lady from Ireland. Although not much really occured on this particular story arc (aside from the initial hiring and a brief moment of suspected kidnapping half way through the episode), it's a sure bet that the writers have something in mind involving Sonya and Harrison before the season's end. What will it be? A possible kidnapping? Only time will tell.

Nanny Sonya looking after baby Harrison.
Image copyright of Showtime.

[Reviewers' Notes: For the record, i really enjoyed the Sonya character this episode. She has this strange calming presence while she is with Harrison, similar in the way that Rita did back in S4. Plus, with such an interesting and fresh character, there are so many different possibilties and sceanrios the writers can integrate into her character. I really do hope that Showtime's producers keep her around, at least until the end of the season.]

Next on the agenda - Dexter's continued hunt for Boyd Fowler. After researching the mysterious Boyd Fowler in the previous episode, Dexter's hunt finally reached its climax today - albeit not as smoothly as he had planned. After Boyd recognises Dexter at a cafe, the two of them organise to meet up the following morning in order to teach 'Darrell' the basics of being a roadkill cleaner. After setting up his kill room, Dexter goes to meet Boyd and together the two of them head over to a couple of roadkill spots and do their work. However, a short time later, after Dexter makes a call about a dead alligator on the side of the ride, he and Boyd end up in a quiet area where Dexter takes the liberty of knocking out Boyd with his M99 tranquilizer. However Boyd, in a surprise reflex, whisks around and fires his tranq gun into Dexter's stomach before passing out. Dexter too, collapses, and before they know it, the two of them are in an ambulance being whisked to the hospital.

What follows is a slightly humourous scene where Boyd and Dexter cover for each other, while they both know they're out to kill the other. Eventually, after Boyd escapes from the hospital, he returns home only to fall prey to Dexter once again - this time without a surprise reflex. After the ususal back and forth monologue between Dexter and his victims, he stabs Boyd in the chest with his knife, but instead of killing him in the abandoned tourist shack, Dexter ends Boyd in Boyd's own basement, using newspapers as a substitute for plastic wrap.

Then....something unexpected happens. Dexter sees someone staring at him from behind a door. Preparing to strike, Dexter makes his way over to the door, rips it open and sees.... a woman covered in filth and raggedy clothes. She attempts to flee, Dexter restrains her and then.....end of episode.

What will Dexter do with his new unwelcome guest? No idea. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Dexter sharpening his blade in preparation of killing Boyd Fowler.
Image copyright of Showtime.

Moving on from Dexter's story arcs, the episode also focused on several other story arcs as well. Although nothing significant took place with Quinn's researching into Kyle Butler, Debra's newest case, the Santa Muerte murders, gained some momentum as she and her new partner, Cira, interviewed a local man who claimed to know all the people in the area, and who could possibly assist Miami Metro with their investiagtion. Unfortunately for the poor man, he turned up dead at the very end of the episode, effectively bringing Miami Metro's case to an abrupt halt. Of course, i don't think it's over yet, but as for how long this story arc will play out? Only the writers and producers know that for certain.

Finally, we come to Batista and LaGuerta's brief storyline for the episode. In a nutshell, the only relevant things that took place was Batista admitting that he had beaten up Sgt. Lopez, and that Sgt. Lopez had passed out while on duty due to his injuries, bringing Internal Affairs into the storyline, and into LaGuerta's life.

Sadly, that was pretty much the summary of the entire Batista/LaGuerta arc for the episode. Hopefully, next week's episode will provide some more depth into this particular storyline.

Overall, my final marks for the episode:

• Potency of the season's theme(s) identified in the episode:  *******

• Editing/Scenes of Relevance:  ********

• Lead characters connection with audience/actors effectiveness in role:  *******

• Secondary characters connection with audience/actors effectiveness in role:  ******

• Music & Visual Effects:  *********

• Originality and appeal of the narrative:  *********

• Integration and effectiveness of multiple story arcs and character relationships:  ******

Overall Mark:  52 / 70

Grade Percentage: 74%

All in all, this week's episode of Dexter was quite good and has done well in setting the stage for the following episode, and in turn, for the rest of the season. What i look forward to the most next week is seeing what Dexter will do with his unwelcome guest. Will he let her go? Will he kill her? Stay tuned to find out!