Showtime Dexter “Helter Skelter” #709 Help

Showtime’s Dexter, season 7 episode 9, is entitled “Helter Skelter.” (“Helter Skelter” is the title of a Beatle’s song. The Beatle’s a referencing an amusement park slide in Britain named “Helter Skelter.” The term means disorderly and disorganized. )

I’m going to entitle my review “Help” because “Help” is also the title of a Beatle’s song. In this episode, the characters need help from other people.

Let’s start with Sirko, a boss in the Ukrainian mob, the Koshka Brothers, who has vowed to kill Dexter in revenge for Dexter killing his lover, Viktor. But now there is a bit of a switcheroo—The higher-ups of the Koshka Brothers have turned on Sirko and they are trying to kill him. They have sent hit men after him.

Dexter killed the first hit man in the last episode because both he and the hit man had the same idea—wait for Sirko to return to his apartment and then kill him. When Dexter arrived at Sirko’s apartment, the hit man tried to kill him, but Dexter ended up killing the hit man. Now the bosses have sent two more men for Sirko—these men are highly skilled assassins. 

Sirko shows up at Dexter’s apartment and says he wants to be Dexter’s roomie so the assassins will not know where he is. He says that if Dexter will help him kill the assassins, he will abandon his plan to kill Dexter. Dexter refuses. Dexter is rooting for the assassins, and should they fail, Dexter still feels that he can kill Sirko before Sirko kills him.  (The plot is getting very helter-skelter.)

So Sirko has to motivate Dexter a little more. He has his right hand man, Yurg, kidnap Hannah. Now, Dexter must help Sirko to save Hannah. Dexter stabs the first assassin at a rifle range, but he needs Sirko’s help to get the second one. Sirko is the bait to lure the assassin to the deck of a deserted merchant marine vessel. The scheme works. SEirko shoots the second assassin. Sirko leaves, but Dexter stays behind to clean up the blood. Unfortunately for Sirko, George the local boss who runs the sex-club, has also followed George. George shoots Sirko and runs off. 

Sirko is still alive. Dexter wants to help him by taking him to a hospital, but Sirko says he knows he cannot survive this gut wound. He needs Dexter’s help one more time. Dexter takes Sirko to his boat. Sirko dies on the boat, and Dexter “buries” him at sea. Sirko wanted this because Viktor was also “buried” at sea; he wants to be with Victor for their eternal rest.

Sirko is gone and I’m not sure I like that too much. First Sirko and Dexter were well matched in cunning and ruthlessness.  It was exciting to watch them play “Who Will Kill Whom First.” Second, they were developing a complex relationship. Sirko was teaching Dexter a lot about himself and about love. The only other person Dexter speaks to  so openly is his father. His dead father. His dead father who is just Dexter’s imagination or hallucination.   

Before Dexter would agree to help Sirko, he had asked for “proof of life.” He spoke to her with a camera phone and was able to see the room where she was being held. He noticed a soccer ball in the background. He realized that one of the Columbians that Sirko had killed was a soccer player, and he deduced that Hannah was in the dead man’s house.  Debra goes to the house to investigate. 

Hannah is an independent woman used to taking care of herself. She is not waiting for Dexter to help her. She hatches a plan of her own. She tells Yurg that she has noticed some green tomatoes growing in the backyard. If he will go out and pick them, she will make her grandmother’s recipe for fried green tomatoes for them. Since this is Hannah, I’m immediately thinking poison. I’m wondering if there is a convenient stash of poison handy.  Not exactly. Hannah simply over seasons—she adds so much pepper that Yugo is choking and gasping for water.  

While Yurg is disoriented, she knocks him over. Hannah’s legs are chained to a chair, so she cannot run away, but as they struggle together, she manages to bash him over the head with a lamp. Unfortunately for Hannah, Yugo manages to stab her. Hannah shimmies across the floor trying to get to the phone to call for help, but she collapses. 

Debra has gone to the house. She finds the two of them on the floor and checks them for a pulse. It looks like Hannah is “gone” and this has conveniently solved Dexter’s dilemma concerning whether or not he should be romantically involved with Hannah.   

Debra is against this relationship.  She has given up on asking Dexter to Kill Hannah, but she is still concerned that Hannah might kill him. “She’s a killer,” she tells him. “You’ll never be safe with her.” Dexter has the perfect comeback: “You’re safe with me.”  This is the “touché” moment of the week. 

It turns out that Yurg is dead, but Hannah is alive. Debra called for an ambulance.  Later as Hannah lies in her hospital bed, she asks Debra why she didn’t just let her die.  “I’m a cop”, Debra answers. It seems Dexter was right in the last episode when he told Debra that she would not be able to live with her guilt if Dexter killed Hannah on her orders.   

Dexter and Hannah are reunited in her hospital room. We can see how strongly Dexter has fallen for Hannah. He tells her how scared he was when he thought about never seeing her again. The only other time he was that scared, he tells her is when he was three years old sitting for two days in a pool of his dead mother’s blood.  Hannah has been trying to get Dexter to “commit,” and now that he has, she seems to have some mixed feelings about it. I feel that this relationship is not going to work out well for Dexter. Dexter kills for emotional release, but Hannah kills for personal gain.  I think Hannah is safe from Dexter, but as for Dexter being safe from Hannah, all I can say is, “Watch out, Dexter.”  

A few other plots are underway.  One involves a serial killer dubbed “The Phantom.”  Miami Metro Police have found two bodies so far of people who were doused with gasoline and burned to death. Dexter analyzes the crime scene and deduces that the killer stayed to watch his victim burn.  

Nadia got a little help from Quinn, although I’m not so sure this “help” is going to be a good thing for her. George decided to enjoy a little afternoon-delight with Nadia, more to mess with Quinn than anything else. Quinn was enraged, and punched George out in a fierce beating. He then grabbed Nadia and left with her, shouting over his shoulder, “consider this her notice.” 

And LaGuerta is still trying to find the real Bay Harbor Butcher. Her investigation is leading her closer and closer to Dexter. She goes to Tom Mathews for help. A while back, LaGuerta was playing office politics and had gotten Tom fired so she could take his job. Tom is not inclined to help her. However, he gets back with her later and says he will help her if she will help him get him a job back on Miami Metro, just long enough for him to qualify for his pension. It looks like LaGuerta is going to go for this deal. 

If LaGuerta discovers Dexter’s secret life, will there be any help for him?  I read that season 7 is going to run right into season 8 without the usual wrap-up of the plot lines.  So we may have to wait a while to find out if there will be any help for Dexter.

 

 

This picture or Issac Sirko is from http://o.getglue.com

R.I.P. Isaac

 

Helter Skelter

When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again.

Do, don't you want me to love you
I'm coming down fast but I'm miles above you
Tell me, tell me, tell me, come on tell me the answer
You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer.

Helter skelter, helter skelter
Helter skelter.

Will you, won't you want me to make you
I'm coming down fast but don't let me break you
Tell me, tell me, tell me the answer
You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer.

Look out
Helter skelter, helter skelter
Helter skelter.
Look out 'cause here she comes.

When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again.

Well do you, don't you want me to love you
I'm coming down fast but don't let me break you
Tell me, tell me, tell me the answer
You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer.

Look out
Helter skelter, helter skelter
Helter skelter.

Look out helter skelter
She's coming down fast.
Yes she is.
Yes she is

Help

Help, I need somebody,
Help, not just anybody,
Help, you know I need someone, help.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody's help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured,
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me.

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,
My independence seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then I feel so insecure,
I know that I just need you like I've never done before.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody's help in any way.
But now these daya are gone, I'm not so self assured,
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me, help me, help me, oh.