To Catch a Vandal

This third episode of the exciting series “Dexter,” is slowly peeling away the layers of plot and character development. Suburban life is not so bad, but as pleasant as it looks, there are still dents in a perfectly peaceful and caring community. Just ask Dexter. In this episode, entitled “Blinded by the Light,” there is a vandal on the loose, destroying Dexter’s neighborhood. Houses are being filled with graffiti, cars are being smashed and property is being destroyed. The question is who is the vandal, and what Dexter will do to stop these inconvenient actions from taken place.

“Blinded by the Light” takes us into the details on what drives the Trinity Killer, played by John Lithgow (“Ricochet,” “3rd Rock from the Sun”), to commit his murders, as we see the sadistic killer drive a woman to an abandoned building and force her to jump several stories in the beginning of the episode. As the series moves forward the audience, will get more details about the Trinity Killer and what causes him to commit these horrific murders.

Dexter, under Rita’s orders, cannot drive because of his recent concussion. He now has to listen to Rita sing songs to baby Harrison while Dexter sighs and gets a bit impatient by the expressions on his face while going to work. Dexter’s run ins with agent Lundy do not seem to help, either. Every time they encounter each other, it is like Dexter wants to run away and avoid Lundy as he continues to pick Dexter’s brain about the Trinity Killer. An intriguing scene in this episode involves agent Lundy explaining to Dexter his drive to catch serial killers, and how Trinity’s cause for killing is similar to how Dexter kills his victims. The expression on Dexter’s face was priceless because he knows that Lundy is very smart, and if there are any slipups, he can figure out Dexter’s secrets.

A comical moment in this episode is when Dexter comes home from work and sees the entire community has come together for a neighborhood watch meeting. With Dexter joining the team, he suspects one of the neighbor’s kids to be the vandal. With matching prints from a soda can and a spray can, Dexter quickly goes on the hunt and tries to scare the boy. When Dexter finds out that the boy is not the vandal, it comes to a huge surprise to Dexter who the real vandal is and why.

After Dexter puts the vandal in his place, he goes home and begins to break the spotlights by his home with aggression as Rita looks on with concern. Suspicion can only be an understatement as we wait what will happen next.