Even before the credits rolled I knew I simply HAD to give this episode a review. I watched tons of series but I almost never review individual episodes (I've done that only twice up until now), but Dexter's Argentina deserves it. It can be argued, that the action or the signature crime/ritual murder/puzzle part was just plain absent. Also, Micheal C. Hall's acting felt a little plastic and forced in some places. But from an emotional and story standpoint, Argentina ranks in my Top 3 of all Dexter episodes. It was a really wild roller-coaster ride.
On one hand, Dexter made some of the biggest, stupidest, most obvious mistakes in the entire series to the point of almost breaking character. I was literally cringing/facepalming at many points. Now, I can see these only served one purpose: lurching the plot forward. Which led up to THE best two scenes in the season.
The first one was Deb's breakdown. It was one of, if not THE best performance of Jennifer Carpenter I've ever seen. The dialogue, the weight of her gestures and the genuine emotional filling took it away. I could totally believe she was seriously freaking out. I mean it looked, sounded and felt totally legit, with the little nervous outbursts, the storm of different emotions wanting to burst out to the surface all at once, even the tiniest of things, like how she cramped her fingers together. I mean, I saw many girls freaking out, and this is EXACTLY how it looks like, she couldn't have acted it any better even if she tired to. I don't know how much of that was cold script and how much was ad- libbed, but it was friggin eerie. Maybe she WAS freaking out, I dunno (seeing as she and Micheal C. Hall used to be an item, she no doubt has a reserve to pull from when it came to freaking out at him, even if it was for show). All I can say is: simply amazing!
The second one was the bar scene between Dex and Isaac. Ray Stevenson's performance in that scene was right up to Jennifer's. The "great reveal" didn't hit so hard, since most of us already suspected...that, but the way Ray delivered the whole thing, was just amazing. He gave a tremendous performance as Isaac all through the episodes, but this was his pinnacle moment up to this point. I truly believed the dialogue had real emotional backing for him (as much for Isaac as for Ray himself), and that snippet of script was solid gold. Yes, from a logical, character or story standpoint that scene should've never happened, but I'm still thankful it did. The things said in that scene maybe hit a little to close to home regarding losing loved ones, but that doesn't diminish any of the value in them.
All that, coupled with the ending adds up to one of the most powerful episodes in the entire series so far, and that's saying something.
On one hand, Dexter made some of the biggest, stupidest, most obvious mistakes in the entire series to the point of almost breaking character. I was literally cringing/facepalming at many points. Now, I can see these only served one purpose: lurching the plot forward. Which led up to THE best two scenes in the season.
The first one was Deb's breakdown. It was one of, if not THE best performance of Jennifer Carpenter I've ever seen. The dialogue, the weight of her gestures and the genuine emotional filling took it away. I could totally believe she was seriously freaking out. I mean it looked, sounded and felt totally legit, with the little nervous outbursts, the storm of different emotions wanting to burst out to the surface all at once, even the tiniest of things, like how she cramped her fingers together. I mean, I saw many girls freaking out, and this is EXACTLY how it looks like, she couldn't have acted it any better even if she tired to. I don't know how much of that was cold script and how much was ad- libbed, but it was friggin eerie. Maybe she WAS freaking out, I dunno (seeing as she and Micheal C. Hall used to be an item, she no doubt has a reserve to pull from when it came to freaking out at him, even if it was for show). All I can say is: simply amazing!
The second one was the bar scene between Dex and Isaac. Ray Stevenson's performance in that scene was right up to Jennifer's. The "great reveal" didn't hit so hard, since most of us already suspected...that, but the way Ray delivered the whole thing, was just amazing. He gave a tremendous performance as Isaac all through the episodes, but this was his pinnacle moment up to this point. I truly believed the dialogue had real emotional backing for him (as much for Isaac as for Ray himself), and that snippet of script was solid gold. Yes, from a logical, character or story standpoint that scene should've never happened, but I'm still thankful it did. The things said in that scene maybe hit a little to close to home regarding losing loved ones, but that doesn't diminish any of the value in them.
All that, coupled with the ending adds up to one of the most powerful episodes in the entire series so far, and that's saying something.