Argentina is just Argentina. Sigh.
Dexter continues to get ever more twisted this week as Dexter falls even harder for Hannah and Deb resurrects her intimate feelings for her brother.
“Argentina” bursts with emotional scenes discussing family and love interspersed with brief bits of extreme violence. Like “Chemistry,” it is a continued validation of the seventh season’s narrative and a wonderful character study.
Dexter, eating breakfast at Hannah’s the morning after Deb told him to kill her, asks about a January 1996 wall calendar. It’s Argentina, Hannah tells him, something of a metaphorical synopsis of her dream of escape and tranquility.
Dex goes over Deb’s to talk about her request. She says she’s sure, but he wants to prevent any more damage to her psyche. And also he’s in love with Hannah, but he doesn’t tell Deb that.
“Even though everything I just said is true,” Dexter narrates after their talk, “it doesn’t make me any less of a liar.” Oh, Dexter. You and your (sociopathic) conversations.
While buying donuts for the first time in far too long, Dexter narrowly escapes a drive-by shooting attempt by Isaak. Later, Dexter kills a hitman in Isaak’s apartment in the heat of the moment.
Meanwhile, Harrison — plus long-lost Astor and Cody — all have to come to Miami because of a medical emergency in the family.
In yet another intense staredown, Deb attempts to intimidate Hannah at her greenhouse in retaliation for Price’s death. “You haven’t even begun to be sorry,” Deb tells her boastfully. Normally, that would read as law enforcement blustering, but now, Deb has clout behind her hate — if she can manipulate Dexter into killing his new lover.
Dexter visits Hannah next, asking for advice on surviving Isaak’s scheming. They have a tangible connection more real than any Dexter has experienced on the show. They complement each other perfectly — both killers, both broken, both sexy. “No judgment, no fear, no panic,” Dexter narrates.
Dexter and company go to the beach, and Hannah ends up there, too, of course. She talks to him about previously wanting children and her jealousy of his life. “Nobody has a clue who you are,” she tells him. Well, not nobody.
At Deb’s, Dexter carelessly reveals he has been driving Hannah’s van to shake Isaak. Deb is outraged, but more emotional and messy than she should be. Something is really getting under her skin about Dexter’s relationship with Hannah. In a fit of desperate crying, Deb finally tells Dexter she is in love with him. Dexter stares at her like a brick wall.
She breaks down: “It’s one thing to be in love with your brother, but it’s a whole ’nother level to be in love with your brother who’s a goddamn f—ing serial killer.” Sounds about right. Dexter retorts, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say.”
“You never do,” Deb cries before kicking him out.
Further solidifying her place as one of the best women in drama, Jennifer Carpenter shines throughout the scene. Her veins bulge and her eyes flood as she pours her heart out. It’s a totally raw moment for the normally guarded Deb, and it’s beautifully sad to watch.
After following Isaak into a gay bar, Dexter discusses love with him. Isaak and Viktor were lovers, Isaak reveals: “You took from me the one thing that money and power can’t bring back.” As jazz muzak plays in the background, Isaak launches into the old we’re-not-so-different-you-and-I speech. He makes good points, though, many of which apply to Dexter’s budding relationship with Hannah. He talks about escaping after killing Dexter. Dexter mentions Argentina.
“The best we can hope for is to find a place where we don’t have to pretend,” Isaak proclaims. It’s a luxuriously long scene full of heart and sincerity.
“Everyone wants an Argentina,” Dexter narrates over an excellent slow-motion montage that closes out the episode. “But the truth is Argentina is just Argentina.”
We see Isaak listening to a voicemail from Viktor over and over. Quinn stresses outside the Koshka club. LaGuerta stares at the Slice of Life, Dexter’s boat he uses mostly to dump bodies. Deb catches Astor smoking pot outside her house and decides to join her.
“No matter where we go, we take ourselves and our damage with us,” Dexter thinks. So where is home? The place where “we can finally be who we are,” he concludes as he embraces Hannah in her greenhouse.
That damage he mentions is the theme of the montage. All of these characters’ lives have been deeply affected by Dexter’s decisions. Isaak’s lover is dead. Quinn fell in love with a doomed girl because of that investigation. LaGuerta is nearing the most shocking discovery in Miami Metro history. And Deb is just a wreck. The only one who’s doing well for himself is Batista (and I guess Masuka).
It’s a subtle and masterful conclusion that manages to point out Dexter’s Walter White-esque toxicity while maintaining a distinctive tone and calmness.
Emotions came to a head this week in a beautiful way for Dexter-Hannah and a shattering way for Dexter-Debra. “Argentina” shows that for Dexter, delusions of escape and perfection will always be destroyed by the crushing realities of accountability and sheer randomness.
He may think he’s found his one true love, but that looks to work against him. Next week, Isaak kidnaps Hannah. Also, LaGuerta talks to former Chief Matthews, who’s apparently still around.
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