SPOILER WARNING! The following contains MASSIVE SPOILERS for the sixth episode of ‘Dexter: Resurrection’ titled ‘Cats and Mouse’ - Proceed with caution.
After officially crossing the halfway point of season one, Dexter: Resurrection continues to subvert expectation and deliver some of the most intriguing storytelling in the show’s long history. Even while weaving several thrilling, high-concept storylines together, Dexter and Harrison’s complex relationship remains the powerful emotional core of the show.
That powerful family dynamic has never been more apparent than in episode six, Cats and Mouse; An episode that skillfully balances the show’s twisted playfulness against a number of touching, character-driven moments. Read on for my full review and analysis.
EPISODE RECAP
Before we jump into the analysis, let’s take a look at the most important story developments in the episode:
- Blessing informs Dexter that his mother, Prudence, passed away and invites him to attend her wake. Upon hearing the news, Harrison comes to attend the “solemn” occasion with his father and the two bond over their shared losses and the lessons passed down from Harry.
- At Prudence’s wake, Blessing is overcome with emotion, causing him to cut his eulogy short.
- Harrison picks up a pamphlet from NYU as he starts to consider his future but quickly realizes how expensive it would for him to pursue.
- Charly pays a visit to Red’s apartment and finds that it has been abandoned. When Prater calls to confront Red about it, Dexter says that Prater’s group spooked him so he left his job and his apartment for the sake of reclaiming his anonymity.
- Batista pays a visit to Detectives Wallace and Oliva where he explains his theory about Harrison & Dexter being responsible for Ryan Foster’s death and the framing of Mia. He convinces them to let him tag along for their interview with Mia.
- Prater calls a meeting at his home to discuss the concerning developments with Lowell and Mia. At the meeting, Dexter sets his eyes on Gareth (Gemini) because of his obnoxious narcissistic tendencies.
- Dexter follows Gareth to a local book store where he catches him leaving a mysterious “dead drop” for an unknown third-party and realizes that he is definitely hiding something from the group.
- While babysitting for Elsa, Harrison has a confrontation with her low-life landlord. When he realizes the man is responsible for Dante’s ongoing health issues, he imagines stabbing him in the eye with a fork.
- Upon returning home, Dexter finds Gareth in his apartment. Dexter plays on his narcissism to turn the tables on Gemini and decides to kill him right there in his living room.
- When Blessing knocks on his door, Dexter is forced to hide Gareth’s body in his shower. Blessing apologizes for an outburst he had earlier and opens up to Dexter about how his mother saved him from a life as a child soldier in Sierra Leone.
- Harrison meets Dexter for breakfast to discuss his disturbing impulses and Dexter steps up as a father to assure him that his urges don’t define him. He encourages him to stop comparing himself to Dexter and instead to pursue his own path.
- When Batista and the detectives arrive at the prison to interview Mia, they find that she has hung herself in her cell. What they don’t realize is that Charly paid a corrupt prison guard to arrange the whole thing.
- Dexter is beckoned by Prater for a meeting at a helipad where the group is to be ushered to an unknown location. In a shocking twist, a car arrives just in time for takeoff and Gareth steps out; Revealing to Dexter that Gemini is actually a pair of twins who kill together.
"Death comes for us all"
Rather unexpectedly, episode six starts by taking a very grounded approach to addressing the inevitability of death; albeit through Dexter’s usual skewed lens. When Dexter learns that Blessing’s mother, Prudence, passed away after an ongoing health issue, his buried humanity bubbles to the surface as he struggles to show support for his newfound friend. Simultaneously, he continues to reap the rewards of his heartfelt confession to Harrison in last week’s episode. His son shows up to support him and the two share a touching moment that illustrates the positive generational legacy of Harry Morgan and honors the memory of both Rita and Hannah.
Of course, our favorite unconventional anti-hero always finds buried truths and opportunities for growth rooted in the darkest of human moments. After hilariously miscalculating the tone of the wake at Blessings apartment, Dexter grapples with the fact that despite his unconventional relationship with death, he remains out of his element when forced to confront it head on. But it’s this situational comedy that the show is known for that continues to give it depth and dimension all these years later. Truthfully, it's hard to comprehend but watching him struggle to fake human compassion for the sake of his friends somehow ends up making him just as human as the rest of us; Maybe even more so in some bizarre way.
"We all have that one case that haunts us"
As detectives Wallace and Oliva debate the ongoing Ryan Foster investigation - with Claudette not convinced of Mia’s guilt but unsure of how to connect the dots - it’s Batista who brings answers. While Angel’s pursuit of Dexter has served as a slow burn over the course of the season thus far, his relentless determination finally brings him into the fold in a tangible way this week. Not only does he offer up his theory about Dexter being a serial killer who coached his son, he drops a bomb on their investigation when he identifies Harrison as his suspect.
Watching these two investigations finally start to coalesce convinces me that the writers are playing it smart with this highly anticipated plotline. Not only do the stakes feel significantly higher now, the outcome feels more elusive than ever. Batista and Dexter are destined for a showdown but the context and tensions surrounding that reunion is anybody’s guess. Given their history and the fervor that was felt from the fandom after New Blood ended, I can’t help but feel like it will ultimately overshadow whatever is coming with Prater in the final episodes.
What continues to surprise me about this slow build is that despite Batista’s limited screentime each week, his contributions to the story always feel significant. This week alone, he gained two valuable allies while continuing to underscore the significance of the events in New Blood. But perhaps more importantly, he once again draws the audience’s attention to a villain that now appears to be looming unseen in the background: the New York Ripper. Ultimately, I just find it very impressive how tightly choreographed the season feels given the creative risks that it took to get us here and Batista is at the center of it all.
"I’ll just come out and say it… I’m a fan"
Ironically, Dexter’s disdain for narcissism in other killers often blinds him from his own. As the walls close in around him, he continues to operate with confidence despite the obvious risks. In this case, he finds himself tailing Gareth (Gemini) to a local bookstore where he witnesses him leave a “dead drop” for an unseen third party. If you ask me, Dexter needs to work on his espionage skills a bit but it was fun to watch his own arrogance distract him from the task at hand. As he stops to read about himself in a book about serial killers, it becomes clear that his presence didn’t go unnoticed.
The real fun begins when Gareth shows up in Dexter’s apartment later that night; Clearly intent on finding out why “Red” was following him. The scene that follows encapsulates the very best of what makes Dexter so enthralling; It’s tense, funny, twisted, and by the time it’s all said and done, someone is dead. Dexter does a miraculous pivot that plays to Gareth’s delusions of grandeur and then manages to subdue him with a hilarious nod to ‘The Princess Bride’ (if you know, you know). Make no mistake, this will most certainly be remembered as another unforgettable moment in a season that is full of them.
Of course, this clever game of cat(s) and mouse was also orchestrated to set the stage for a jaw-dropping twist at the end of the episode. Dexter sets up a kill room in his own living room and quietly dispatches Gareth as Prudence’s wake continues directly overhead. When Blessing comes downstairs to apologize for an emotional outburst, Dexter is forced to hide Gareth’s corpse in the shower. It’s an insanely well crafted sequence because not only is the audience forced to sweat the obvious tension, but Ntare’s (Blessing) emotional performance in this moment actually works to lull Dexter and the viewers into a false sense of security. His grief and unexpected backstory raises more questions about his role in the series before shifting on a dime to once again create a hilarious (but brief) moment of panic. Quite frankly, this is Dexter at its absolute best.
"That Morgan sense of justice"
When Resurrection was announced, my biggest trepidation was that rebounding from that confrontation in the woods of Iron Lake would be a nearly insurmountable task for the writers. Luckily, they rose to the occasion and constructed a beautiful arc that, as of now, doesn’t undercut or cheapen that climactic moment. If anything, they have made it more impactful by making it into a crucial stepping stone in his evolution as a character. He’s learning to recognize his son as an individual and identify openings where he can finally step up as a father without sacrificing his own identity; It’s quite touching and quickly becoming one of my favorite themes of the season (if not the entire show).
When confronted with another violent urge, Harrison starts to backpedal but Dexter ceases the opportunity to really come into his own as a father. He uses all of his experience as a killer to illustrate all of the ways in which Harrison is nothing like him. He compares him to Deb, points out the ways in which his reactions make him normal, and highlights something he calls “the Morgan sense of justice;” A cornerstone of their family legacy that each generation has approached differently. It’s a throughline of the show but one that has never been articulated quite like this before and I found that it gave this moment great depth. Quite honestly, this scene alone made great strides toward painting Dexter as a character who might be worthy of redemption on some level and I honestly didn’t think that was in the cards.
Of course, the finale of New Blood continues to be a formative moment for Harrison as well. He finally understands the twisted nature of his father yet he still reels from guilt and loneliness that was born the moment he pulled the trigger. As the two continue to reconcile, he finds himself in a situation where he needs his father more than ever; but not in the way he thinks. Harrison is a character who could have easily been molded into “Dexter 2.0” but I applaud the writers for resisting that urge. In fact, he’s clearly on his own path of self-discovery and if you ask me, that is making him just as compelling as Dexter himself.
"How did I not see this coming?"
While the clues to this revelation were certainly there, the story of the season was constructed well enough to keep the mystery somewhat ambiguous until the perfect moment. In all honesty, this twist felt very reminiscent of when Dexter discovered that Trinity was a family man way back in season four. While I had my suspicions after the somewhat unceremonious kill earlier in the episode, I still felt an intense sense of satisfaction to see it come to fruition. Not only does this twist introduce another interesting quirk to the compelling Prater storyline, it just might be the beginning of the conflict that shapes season two and beyond.
While they are certainly spinning a lot of plates already, it feels like they just might have a long-term plan in mind for the first time in the show’s history; As opposed to each season being more-or-less self-contained. Will Gareth #2 (?) also become another victim of the Bay Harbor Butcher or will the loss of his brother make him Dexter’s nemesis once Prater is a thing of the past? Whether or not any of this comes to pass is yet to be seen but the mystery of it all just adds to the intrigue and excitement surrounding this revival and that’s worth praising.
“Cats and Mouse” is an absolute whirlwind that features all of the ingredients that make a landmark episode of Dexter. It features a strong emotional core that pushes our characters to new heights while delivering tension, dark humor, and yet another victim to Dexter’s growing bodycount in the big apple. More importantly, it does all of this (once again) while dropping another big twist and keeping the pacing tightly controlled throughout. If they can keep this up for four more episodes, Resurrection season one just might be remembered as one of the greatest seasons in the show’s long history.
Score: 9.5 out of 10