After the anti-climatic ending of season 2 and the writing disaster that was season 3, I am guessing the writers were given enough time to come up with a decent plot line for season 4: a worthy rival. This review contains spoilers.
Award winner John Lithgow stars as the Trinity Killer. A methodical serial killer who has been able to stay under the radar for over thirty years by killing in sprees of threes (eventually it is discovered that it is actually four). On top of being able to accomplish his murders without being detected, Trinity is also a family man, which leads to Dexter befriending him in order to understand how to live his new life as a serial killer, family man, and also recent father of a newborn.
Special Agent Lundy is brought back, as he has recently been able to track Trinity to Miami. However in an unexpected turn of events, another great character is killed off, leaving the series with Dexter and Deb carrying the show- since it was obvious that Trinity was going to be killed off too at the end of the season.
I have to say, this was one of the few times in which Dexter felt really threatened by an external force more powerful than him. Perhaps it was Lithgow’s presence that gave Trinity that aura of superiority, wonderfully manifested at the end of episode eleven when he walked into Dexter’s safeguard, Miami Metro’s Police Department.
As it happened with Moser, a fitting finale would have been Trinity getting away, having murdered Rita, and leaving Dexter defeated and craving for revenge, a revenge that could have been deeply explored onto season five and even further. Instead, we were left of with the season I playfully refer to as “Super Mario Dexter”.
Stay tuned for my review of season five.
HR