dexter season 7

tv:  The seventh season of Dexter picks up right where the sixth left off.  Despite its awesome tease in the opening moments of Dexter running in the wake of his sister Deborah finding out his secret, which we later find out is just another hunt, we resume in the church, with Dexter standing over Travis's body with his sister finally seeing his true self.  That true self being Dexter with a victim on his table.  It is Dexter's most true self because it is where he feels most himself and in control of himself.  Killing and preaching his code to those he kills with his pristine plastic wrapped table as his alter of truth.  It is also his most true self because as the show has progressed, and the writers have enhanced the monologues that come before the kills, we see Michael C. Hall, who plays Dexter, at his best and most comfortable, allowing the dark passenger his character often talks about to take hold and show the most base instinct of the character he plays.  His sister who witnesses this event and truth, runs more on a pure emotion most often shown through an eloquent use of profanity that occasionally covers up the fact the she is nothing but a brilliant dogged detective, and loving sister.
The seventh season seems to put these two at odds.  We see in this first episode Deb trying to make sense of what Dexter has done, putting together the pieces as only a true detective can when faced with someone with whom they are so closely related, by doing  it methodically and based on the facts she has.  As Deb puts the pieces together, Dexter continues to weave his lie hoping that it will deter his sister from pursuing the truth about him.  This is where the other hand off from season six is.  In season season six Dexter was a little more sloppy.  We saw him kill in a more passionate way, both with Trinities son in his trip to Nebraska and when he confronted the killer of Brother Sam, played by Mos Def.  The newest season begins with Dexter's sloppiness taking hold in the form of arrogance, as he believes that he can not only lie to his sister (about why he killed Travis), but then show her his ability to lie when they are at the crime scene and he covers up what he has done by telling a lie to the rest of Miami Metro about how Travis died.
Little did he know, Deborah would not be dissuaded by the manipulation of her persuasive brother in regards to her questions.  Over the course of the episode the two are elegantly put at odds against each other.  One as the dogged cop their father once was.  The other as the monster whose impulse was harnessed by the code of that same father.  And in the end it was not that code, but the arrogance born from the success of following that code, that juxtaposed the doggedness as Dexter continued to reassure himself that his sister would let things go and things would be OK  despite the question of whether or not he believed it as he looked in on his son with eyes on the verge of tears saying that everything would turn out alright.  (I must confess that I am used to shows where a profession such as "everything will be OK" means exactly the opposite, i.e. http://robpoppost.blogspot.com/2012/09/breaking-bad-finale.html)
As the season, and the series progress, the story of what happens will be about these two opposing forces.  With Miami Metro's most recent hire, and most talented detective, Mike, now dead, it is up to Deb to decide whether or not she brings to light what her brother that lives with a dark passenger has done.  And it seems that the show is going to do that by drawing on the past to threaten all that Dexter has done; already calling on images of the Ice Truck Killer, as Deb remembers the table covered in plastic wrap, and LaGuerta finding the blood slide that Masuka attributes to Dokes, the Bay Harbor Butcher.
As all of these things are brought back to light, a show that I have always thought looked more like a villain of the year show that would only press forward into the future rather than effectively using its past, is now showing that it has a broader vision in mind that will draw on meticulous continuity and storytelling.  Things from the past will be brought to light as all of our characters are thrust forward into a dark ending that revolves around this brother and sister who, despite what they now know about each other, love each other very much.  The pressure will come down on Dexter(and maybe even more on Deb) as he tries to keep his secret and he will continue to dodge the truth.  He will ultimately have to become, through his lies to Deb about his killing of Travis and his continued attampt to perpetuate that lie to everyone else in the world, something he has already become, the thing that he states in this very episode; the constant traveler that has to make last minute adjustments.