‘Dexter’ season 8 premiere review: Evelyn Vogel changes the game, Charlotte Rampling shines
You may or may not have been too familiar with Charlotte Rampling’s work prior to watching the “Dexter” season 8 premiere on Sunday night, but after watching this episode, we have to believe that you are almost immediately a fan. What a fantastic performance this was in setting the stage: She plays Dr. Evelyn Vogel, a specialist on psychopaths. She’s smart, astute, but there is a perfect air of creepiness about her that suits someone that is so obsessed about killers. It is almost as though she is what producers initially wanted for Louis Greene, but they changed the course when they realized that the character was not quite working.
The way that Evelyn managed to shake up Dexter’s universe, and thus the entire show, was by giving him the knowledge that she knows about Harry’s code; and thus, this is a threat that Dexter cannot do away with so easily. She can reveal him at any time, even if she has no proof of anything right now, and it’s possible that, unlike LaGuerta, she could be taken seriously. This creates a whole new set of stakes for Dexter that he hasn’t quite faced.
Despite a weak start trying to set the stage for what has happened in the past six months, they pulled it together by the end of the episode. Harrison was more a part of Dexter’s world, which gave him a sense of weight and importance. He wasn’t just putting himself in danger anymore by making a late-night visit to save his sister, who has gone off of the rails to get away from him and start some sort of new life.
Even the Deb story makes some sense: He needed Deb to survive, and not the other way around. This was far more sensible than that crazy “Deb loves Dexter” bit that came across back during season 6. It also makes sense that Dexter taking away something more from her (a sign that he is really starting to fall apart at the seams) would separate them further.
Finally, at least some of the supporting characters got their due. We learned that Batista is struggling to let go of LaGuerta, and thanks to this romance with Quinn, Jamie is actually starting to look like an adult with some sort of independence, rather than just Dexter’s lackey forced to spend her entire life with his kid. (What happened to her school ambitions?)
The most important thing about “Dexter’s” premiere is that it set the stakes early, showed that our “hero” is close to completely falling off the edge, and that the real threat to Dexter is not the “Brain Surgeon” that is starting to take victims; it’s that his support system is gone, and his responsibility is high. This was the best overall premiere in years, and shows that despite some missteps the past couple of years, we are genuinely excited for what comes next.
Overall, did you enjoy the “Dexter” premiere? Be sure to share your thoughts below! If you want to hear more on the season ahead via our new video series, be sure to check out the link here.
Photo: Showtime