“Dexter, if you don’t let that darkness go, it won’t let go of you.” – Brother Sam
The relationship between Dexter and Brother Sam has been one of the more interesting friendships our dear serial killer has had over the course of the series. Whereas Lila and Miguel encouraged Dexter’s dark passenger, Brother Sam actually challenges Dexter to push against it, even though he has insight into Dex’s predicament. It’s lead to some great conversations between the two and some especially poignant scenes, such as Dexter begging God to help his sick son by the hospital vending machines.
This plotline has consistently delivered even as the doomsday killers sometimes lag, and dammit if I wasn’t just as upset as Dexter to see Brother Sam go last night. Mos Def, Mos, Yasiin, or whatever it is you’re calling yourself these days, you will be sorely missed.
As the Episode Five closer showed, Brother Sam was gunned down in his garage by a mystery assailant. Dexter deduces that Julio’s gang must have been involved, and suspects the punk whose head he smashed with a baseball bat. A little investigating reveals the perp is Leo, a three-time arrestee and apparently awful baby daddy. For once, Miami Metro is not far behind Dexter, thanks to Mike Anderson, doing his best ’70s cop with enormous shades and hilarious “flamingo” coercion methods.
The police surround Leo’s home and, in the ensuing shootout, gun him down. They find the missing garage security tape in the house, but Dexter feels something’s off. Upon watching the footage, he notices Brother Sam’s dog doesn’t bark. As Dexter well knows, there are only two people who don’t piss off Eli: Brother Sam and Nick.
Over at the office, Deb is still struggling with the alienation that comes with being the boss. After her last session with her mandated shrink, she decides to throw a housewarming party to reconnect with her coworkers. But she doesn’t count on Quinn taking up the task of making her feel as awkward as humanly possible. First, she finds out he slept with Gellar’s former TA/lover (because Trinity’s daughter just wasn’t enough) and basically compromised the investigation.
She’s also stung that Batista kept this from her. Then, after she tells Quinn she doesn’t care who he fucks, he shows up at her party smashed, with a chick from the bar. After she bails, he hits on Jamie and then asks Deb in front of her partygoers if she ever really loved him. That proves to be kind of a buzzkill, so the night ends with Deb sitting on her couch, considering the shrink’s business card. I’ll say it now and I’ll definitely say it again: Jennifer Carpenter has been delivering amazing work this season. It certainly helps that Deb’s storyline has been well-written, but her feelings of estrangement and anxiety come across quite convincingly.
Brother Sam wakes up from his coma and calls Dexter to his bedside. Dexter tells him that he knows Nick was the shooter and he’ll make sure he pays. Brother Sam weakly says no, and asks Dexter to tell Nick he forgives him. He doesn’t trust any of his shop boys to deliver the message. Dexter doesn’t think he can overcome his urge to hurt Nick, either, but Brother Sam insists there’s a light in Dexter and he just has to let go of his hate.
Brother Sam passes soon after this emotional encounter, and it’s about this time that Nick shows up. Dexter takes him to the beach and lays down his cards: He knows and wants to know why. Nick tells Dexter that Brother Sam is full of shit, that his life didn’t get any better, and so he wanted to go back to Julio’s gang. The reentry fee was Brother Sam’s life. Rather than be remorseful, Nick gleefully taunts Dexter about how, thanks to Leo, he’s totally going to get away with it. Dexter wants to respect Brother Sam’s wishes, but can’t take this smug sonofabitch, and drowns him in the ocean. When he turns around, Brian(!) is waiting for him.
Two more things happened in this episode that are worth noting. First: The show lent more credence to the theory that Professor Gellar is a figment of Travis’s imagination, much like Harry (and now Rudy) is for Dexter. When Travis goes to visit his sister, she tells her students what a wonderful artist he is. Then, in Travis’s next scene, we see him talking to Gellar, who’s just finished a detailed religious painting. Methinks these scenes were too close together for it to be a coincidence. Second: Masuka’s new intern is a big fan of Dexter. Ugh, and here I was thinking he might actually be normal. He hasn’t done anything psycho yet, but no one on this show can be that into bloodwork and still be sane. Let’s just hope Jamie, whom he chatted up at Deb’s party, doesn’t get mixed up in whatever it is he ends up doing. We don’t need another poor, innocent guest star down for the count.
Some stats and info about Dexter, “Just Let Go”
TV SHOW – Dexter
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 6 Episode 6
AIRED ON – November 6th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Showtime
GENRE – Drama, Crime Dramas, Office Culture, Thrillers
CREATED BY – James Manos, Jr.
CAST – Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, David Zayas, James Remar, C.S. Lee, Luna Lauren Velez, Desmond Harrington, Julie Benz
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.