Dexter:” Fourth season finale”

“Dexter’s” fourth season seemed to take a trajectory that would leave the serial-killing family man comfortably in the suburbs, and bring the show to a dead-end. How could Dexter continue his dark, (anti)heroic deeds while enjoying domestic bliss? The season finale’s last scene found an exit from that narrative cul-de-sac --- but first, let’s consider what built up to it.

How do outwardly-harmless, obsessively-controlled mass murderers respond to personal chaos and threats to blow their covers? The first part of “The Getaway” offers the two characters’s contrasting idea of damage control. Arthur Mitchell enacts his exit strategy that involves heartlessly stealing from his wife and children before abandoning them in another unnerving family scene from Jon Lithgow and the supporting cast. Arthur freaks out in the name of self-preservation, but Dexter loses his cool at the thought of his family’s peril. Aware that Arthur could target his family (and unwilling or unable to turn him over the police), Dexter acts on impulse and shoves Quinn, drives recklessly through traffic, disrespects another cop and gets himself arrested.