Sunday Night is Cutthroat

Rarely will a series enter its fourth season without having experienced any major creative hiccups. Showtime's Dexter is that series. New episodes began last night after a nine-month absence (fitting since Dex is now a new daddy), and it was as easy as ever to get sucked back into the world of the Miami Homicide Division and its kooky killer hunters.

The hour opened with Dexter (Michael C. Hall, solid as ever) being severely off his game; baby Harrision is not sleeping well and it’s driving Dex nuts. In a hilarious Murphy’s Law-style reenactment of the series’ title sequence, Dexter is unable to squash the mosquito on his arm, his normally crisp white T-shirt has baby puke on it, and his shoelace breaks when he pulls it tight. If all this sounds like no big deal, remember that Dexter is a meticulous man; his continued freedom requires that everything be just so in order for him to get away with his acts of vengeance. Which is why it’s such a shock to see him screw up in court, mixing up case files and allowing a murderer to be released. Of course, all this means is that Dex has found his latest mark, and it couldn’t come at a better time. Firmly ensconced in the horrors of suburbia and family life, he’s been jonesing for a kill (Dex somehow equates murder with being there for his son, saying he’s “killing for two” now. Isn’t it amazing that we care so much for this guy who has such a deeply warped mind?)

It wouldn’t be Dexter if there weren’t a serial killer to track in between scenes of our loveable main character killing people of his own. This season, that killer is played by John Lithgow. We got two brief glimpses of Lithgow’s Trinity Killer last night, once when he created a literal bloodbath by killing a woman in her tub and again when he showered in scalding hot water. If there was a problem with the episode, it was these scenes. Gripping though they were, it was a strange shift in POV, since much of the show, especially the murders, is seen through Dexter’s eyes. Still, the marvelous Lithgow will no doubt devour this role, and his character’s presence brings back Keith Carradine as Agent Lundy, now retired from the FBI but determined to find the one that got away.

The episode ends with Dex so exhausted that he rolls his car after falling asleep at the wheel. While we know our “hero” will be fine, the real trouble lies in the fact that he was driving back from his kill site at the time, with several trash bags full of body parts in the back. How’s he gonna get out of this one? That’s the beauty of this show, which puts the mouse so close to the cat that the cat has no idea it’s even there.

Also back last night was CBS's The Amazing Race, returning for its 15th season fresh off another Emmy win. For the first time in Race history, a team was eliminated right off the bat during a ho-hum challenge in which the correct license plate had to be found on an entire wall filled with license plates. It’s hard to feel too bad for the team (Eric and Lisa, who decided that it was their fate to “set [the others teams] free” ) since we only knew them for about a minute before they were sent packing, but how depressing must it have been that their race began and ended in the L.A. River.

Outside of the usual assortment of married and dating couples, the remaining eleven teams have among them two Harlem Globetrotters who go by the names Flight Time and Big Easy; gay brothers Sam and Dan; and Zev & Justin, one of whom (Zev) has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism that makes social interactions and unfamiliar settings a challenge (so far he hasn’t let it effect his game play).

The Amazing Race works on several levels: there’s the team component (so many couples have used this show as a means of measuring whether their relationship can be successful), the scenery aspect (you’re guaranteed to see parts of the world you never would have known existed otherwise), and the sheer fun of the race (in classic Race tradition, we already had our first sprint to the elimination mat last night, where on-and-off daters Garrett and Jessica went home). All that plus the vicarious thrill of watching people eat wasabi bombs in Tokyo and knowing that you don’t have to. Put another stamp on my TV passport, please.