I'm Joshua. The photo is of Jennifer Carpenter. But to be fair, I do perform as a Jennifer Carpenter-influenced drag character named Debbi-Morgan Fuckballs.

I don't think it's implausible that the writers will follow through on revealing Dexter to Deb. But, honestly, given this show's history of pretending major reveals never even happened, I'd much rather they leave it alone than reveal it and not have it mean anything except for four episodes of Batista being all…

Yeah. All of this. That's the problem with the show now, it really feels like the writers think I'm stupid, and that makes the show not only boring and bad, it makes it insulting.

I've held onto that possibility for a while, that Gellar is not actually dead but is also not the person we've been watching all season. I'd much prefer that to him being dead, because at least it might give Olmos the opportunity to do some better work.

I hope there's some stunning, genius twist coming, but I'm not sure how there could be at this point. And I'm not sure the reveal can be executed in a way that's not laughably awful.

They're definitely setting something up, and I fear whatever it is will lead to Deb stepping down from the Lt. position. I don't fear this because I'm so in love with the storyline, but it at least shook things up a little and keeping Deb in that position through next season would be something of a show of good faith,…

I have to think more about this. The year-over-year audience growth is astounding, and a testament to the fact that people are sticking with this show. I'll be curious to see if the streak continues next year, at which point I'll be more likely to buy the theory that there's a direct relationship between the show's…

The issue with the ending, much like when Dexter first confronted Travis, is that it makes Dexter seem like a complete idiot. Considering that he's been hanging out with not one, but two ghosts this season, one would think that Dexter, master detective, would have come to that conclusion sooner, and the fact that he…

It's been extremely hard to grade the episodes this season because as I've mentioned, I still don't feel like I completely understand the vision for this season. The Dexter and Deb stuff had the potential to be interesting this week, but then when I get to a scene like the Batista/Louis showdown, I can't help but…

I don't mean to condescend, it's just a reaction to what seems like a lot of "Emily didn't like this episode, therefore Emily is an idiot" commentary. And while your comment isn't quite that extreme, it still suggests that there's one correct reaction to this episode and those who disagree with that assessment are…

Yes. All of this. The inconsistency is something you were either amused with or put off by, and that's the main determinant of whether or not this episode worked for the viewer.

I just got around to watching this episode earlier, and I gotta say, I'm in the minority with Emily. It left me a bit cold. I like the show. I understand the show. I understand in medias res. I think it's possible for all these things to be true, and for me to not have loved this episode.

How soon is now?

I'll be the first to admit that my distaste for the Sam and Dexter scene shaded my impression of the entire episode. That's just how much I hated it. The Magical Negro trope is so problematic for me, and this was such an egregious example of it.

I get all of this, and honestly, if they'd figured out a way to execute Brian's return in, say, the first two or three episodes, I'd be really excited by what it could mean for the direction of the season. To deploy it in the way that they have feels so much to me like "Look over there for a few episodes!" that it's…

My…mistake.

Precisely. And the scene with Dexter really highlighted the issue. The writers know good and well they haven't shown us anything to really justify a deep emotional bond between Dexter and Sam, so they have Harry sell the idea to Dexter and to the audience by extension. I don't buy the Sam and Dexter relationship. At…

I didn't mind season three, and I enjoyed Jimmy Smits, but by that time the "Dexter meets someone who shares his darkness but not his code" model started to wear thin.

I don't agree with much of this, obviously, but I can't express how much I love the use of "Armond White" as a verb.

Fixed!