Dexter Season 6 Episode 4 - A Horse of a Different Color

We thought after the last couple of episodes that Dexter might be leaning towards trying religion. His own myths have collapsed around him, leaving him in a pretty vulnerable place. We can feel Dexter's tension as he and Harrison attend a baptism Brother Sam performs. He's still skeptical, but Brother Sam's faith is an anomaly for him he observes:

You'd think science would've made religion obsolete, but it hasn't. Go for a swim, come out a new man. If only I believed it were that simple. But Brother Sam believes, and because of that, he's fulfilled. It's written all over his face.

Dexter realizes that a "God-of-the-Gaps" sort of faith isn't what he sees in Sam. When he asks Sam about it, Sam tells him,

It's not about the dunk. It's about surrender to something greater than yourself.

This plays out powerfully when Harrision's appendix bursts and Dexter has to rush him to the hospital. Sam meets him there and through their conversation, Dexter realizes he can't control Harrison's fate. In an intimate, private moment in the hospital hallway, Dexter reaches out, surrendering himself to a God he's not sure is there. He offers up a bargain:

I don't know how this works, but if there's something I need to do in return, I'll do it.

After Harrison recovers, he's debriefing with Harry and decides his prayer didn't mean anything, that it was an act of desperation. Harry (a manifestation of Dexter's own conscience) replies,

Are you sure? Harrison's okay, and you did make that pact…. and if there is [someone out there], you'd better be ready to pay the piper.

Dexter turned to God once in an act of desperation. Will he continue seeking as his myths crumble around him?

What does God want from Dexter? Will God provide a better framework for Dexter to understand his own existence, his own purpose? This is certainly what one of the Season 6 teaser trailers implied: that Dexter is God's avenging angel, meting out justice to the wicked. But if that's the case, then Dexter may not be too different from Gellar, who seems to see himself similarly.

Time's Almost Up

Speaking of Professor Gellar, we get a lot more insight into his brain in this episode. We learn two very important facts:

First, Gellar was a professor of Religious Studies in Tennessee. But he was fired three years ago for stealing a sword alleged to be the Sword of St. John the Revelator - author of the book of Revelation. This is almost certainly the murder weapon we saw Travis wield in episode 1.

Second, we learn that Gellar is counting down. In each victims' remains, Dexter finds a scrap of paper with numbers written on it: 1237 written on the first and 1242 written on the second. Because the killings happened 5 days apart, Dexter is able to determine that the numbers are counting up. But to what?

In Revelation 11, God sends two witnesses to prophesy on the Earth. They are to prophesy for 1,260 days - 3 1/2 years. In the symbolic world of the Revelation, this is the number for incompletion, a number of evil. * So what does this mean?

Something happened to Gellar just under 3 1/2 years ago that made him think the apocalypse had begun. He stole the sword of the Revelator and has convinced himself that he's somehow helping to bring it about. Gellar's master plan comes to fruition in 18 days.

Predictions and Resolutions

First, in my previous post, I speculated that we would see a kill embodying the demonic locusts of Revelation 9. Gellar kills a girl Travis takes out and then defiles (read: sleeps with) by dressing her as an angel and booby trapping her body. When the police find her, they trigger the kill and release a swarm of locusts. In Revelation 9, the angel of the bottomless pit, Apollyon the Destroyer, is released with a swarm of demonic locusts. BOOM goes the dynamite.

Score so far: Writers 2, JR. 1. My predictions based on this episode:

1. We have 18 days left until Doomsday. Expect a lot more bodies. I've already predicted kills based on the monstrous cavalry of chapter 9, the Land Beast of chapter 13 and a woman riding a beast in chapter 17. We may see a lake of fire (20), something with poisoned water (8) or vultures feeding on dead victims (19). It's going to get a lot more shocking and a lot more gruesome.
2. Gellar is using the sword to imitate Jesus, who has a sword coming out of his mouth. Gellar sees himself as an agent of judgment. Most likely, Gellar sees himself and Travis as the two witnesses. Whatever happened 3 1/2 years ago convinced him of that.
3. Dexter is going to test drive his belief in God. I can't imagine that a Christian Dexter (read: Christian serial killer, Dexter-as-avenging-angel) will be a sustainable motif to use next season, so Dexter ultimately will reject God. Why? My guess is either Brother Sam's martyrdom or seeing himself reflected in Gellar and deciding he doesn't need God after all. Maybe both.
4. Dexter will find meaning… probably in Deb and Harrison.

What do you think of season 6 now that we're 1/3 of the way done? What might salvation look like for Dexter? Where do you think the season is headed?

*3 1/2 shows up all over the place - in chapter 12, for instance, a woman who represents God's people is protected from Satan (in the form of a Dragon) for 1,260 days.