Famous person doppelgangers are weird.  My ex looked a whole lot like Avril Lavigne, right down to the vaguely-punky fashion sense (though it was the 90s at the time, so there was also some grunge happening).

The big moral dilemma of what to do with Doakes was actually riveting.

I think initially, Dexter was all "Awesome, I found a soul mate who understands me and is OK with who I am!"  (You know, like he always does.)  And then later he was all "Oh god no, this girl is insane and I'm gonna have to put her down."  (You know, like he always does… at least up until Lumen.)

Yup.  They've had good moments since, and even a decent season (not a great one) in S4, but the last episode-and-a-half of S2 is when the show went off the rails.  Basically as soon as they swept Doakes under the rug (or into the ashtray).

Lila definitely qualifies.  She found out Dexter was a killer and was willing to dispatch Doakes to cover up for him.  She was also a killer (arsonist) herself.  She's very much in line with the others.

How quickly we forget the Maria La Guerta Memorial Pug Face.

I agree with you.  "Dexter" has no patience, and they burned through one of their most promising story lines (Miami Metro directly going after Dexter, albeit unknowingly) too fast and too early on.  That run of episodes is still my favorite part of the whole series though - every single one managed to make it feel…

Almost eleven of which you'll actually enjoy listening to!

Apology accepted.  Now we can both move on with our "lives."

Because of the moral condemnation you're obviously trying to apply, regardless of the tone you think you took.

Next up on Hateful Shaming Comments of the Internet Damned: Steve Buscemi - not really that handsome!  And other mind-blowing revelations!

It's funny that no one bats an eye at the 1,000,000th "girl celebrities are awesome, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY'RE NAKED"-type comment, but you're up in arms because I gave a frank/jokey assessment of how she actually looks.

I also like 'em ridiculously bony with a giant head and a high amount of body hair.

…I met a critic

I thought that was weird too.  They were doing a pretty good, consistent job with character motivations and arcs up until this episode, then things got really wonky.  Not only does Dexter seem to trust Vogel again for no real reason, Deb's recovery from "rock bottom" was way too quick after how slow and careful they…

4 was a weird year.  The plotting was pretty bad and lazy, as it has been since season 3; but John Lithgow was so great that it covered up a lot of ills, and the final twist was probably the best ending of any Dexter season.  I feel like a lot of people love it more than it deserves because of those two factors.  But…

I'm liking this season OK.  The main plot stuff with Deb, Dex and Vogel is above-par for the show post-season 2; it's certainly better than the main plots from seasons 3, 5, 6, or much of the back half of 7.  The side characters and their plots are again useless, but they've never been anything else.

Sadly, I actually spent time thinking about this after the scene ended.  I assume Dexter will clean the blood off the rod while it's still in the bed, then pull it out.  Then they'll patch up the giant hole in the mattress with, I dunno, caulk or something.

I generally agree.  I mean, I don't feel like I know exactly how it's going to end, but I don't think the big, sort-of-happy family we saw in this episode was telegraphing what we'll see later.  It seems rather uncharitable of the reviewer to assume that, as well as assuming that the writers mean for Vogel to be…

The difference between a writer who knows what the fuck he's doing, and the many, many writers of "Dexter" who do not.