Pike Ludwell

Anyone else notice that one of the names in the vet's ledger of people who bought Ketamine was "Al Chung" - "for his cows". In Season 3 Albert Chung was a burglar who killed a woman when taken by surprise. He ended up getting a sweetheart deal from Ellen Wolfe and that PO'd a bunch of people, including Dexter and Masuka (also because he made Asians look bad.) Dexter never killed him - he apparently went into a brief prison term. Either the writers are just having fun, or that ledger entry means something.

Wait till the next big snow. Snow comes down, covers everything, and then send an anonymous tip to the police about a weird underground space there.

There were at least two of those titanium items. I lost track of where the other one was, but maybe it was in Dexter's cabin. The cabin burned down, but titanium is burn resistant so it could be found. Still wouldn't be sufficient evidence to convict (so arrest and prosecution unlikely). Dex could just deny knowing anything about and could easily make it look like the insane Kurt was framing him. Dex needs to make sure the police find Kurt's underground lair. That would put most of the attention to Kurt and show his insanity. Maybe just leave that hatch door up, so when police start investigating his disappearance they'll see it.

I'm surprised that a regular Curb viewer doesn't get how leaving that much space in a line would annoy someone. It annoys me and it's a common annoyance. She was further than 6 feet and she apparently wasn't doing it because of social distancing - she would have said so. It was hilarious that race was brought into it - social commentary about how a lot of these things escalate in recent years. And it was all just plain funny. Larry could have written in someone whipping out a phone and making a viral video. But it's good he didn't - would have been too involved a plot and Larry wrote it well - moving on to the discussion with Leon. Hilarious stuff.

Yes Dex is a neat freak, but that doesn't mean there aren't other neat ways to handle spatter. And the way he uses plastic is at odds with the higher imperative of his Code -- don't get caught. He spends an inordinate time with the plastic - time in which someone could witness him. He needs fast mobility in case of unexpected events, like on this episode. There are more efficient ways of containing spatter than covering the whole room. And those alternative ways can be done very neatly.

Some plastic is wise. I realize it's about blood spatter, but I was saying he overdid it -- covering basically the whole room? As a blood spatter expert he could have come up with more efficient ways of handling it. Maybe a a little plastic strategically placed under and beside them and a little plastic "tent" above them, would work. A key thing of his Code is don't get caught. Using that much plastic slows things down and impedes rapid escape, if necessary, and just complicates things. Then there's the purchase, installation, and disposal of a massive amount of plastic. The more time he spends at the site the greater the chances of someone seeing.

Dexter at least has dropped the whole blood between the two slides thing. I was hoping he'd drop the plastic thing. I've always thought it was such an overdone part of the ritual it was ridiculous. Kurt said to Harrison "Just pay it forward" -- the same thing he said to the latest runaway girl. Probably a fake out by the writers to make people think he'd be the next kill. But their fake outs often have some element of truth. He's going to use Harrison in some way to further his psychosis, but probably not trying to kill him - at least not for one of his rituals. So the guy plays *"Runaway"* in the bar, and the bartender tells Dexter he does this a lot. She even predicts the song. The writers could have had Dexter astutely becoming suspicious about that - at the same time he did get to wondering about the guy dancing and in good spirits even after the death of his son. He just didn't go the extra step. Yes, just someone playing a song like Runaway would not normally make one suspicious, but together with other things, such as in general Dex knows that the guy is a weird old bird, he could have kept thinking about it, but apparently the problems with his son were distracting. Maybe when word comes of this new runaway killing next episode, Dex will remember, and will put two and two together and start looking into it.

It would have been more interesting if the girl imprisoned this time had figured out a way to not be a victim. She tried, but she couldn't overpower the guy. I just don't like repeatedly seeing people we have developed sympathy for get killed by the same psycho. Time is past due for something bad to happen to the old psycho. Angel/Angela -- that can't be a coincidence, but I wonder the point of the similar names. Maybe Angela will contact Angel and say she's found Dexter and just wants to know more about him. Lots of ways this could go, with this knowledge she now has. But there is basically no reason for her or Angel to think he's a killer. Probably Dexter will have a good alternate explanation as to why he left Miami and changed his identity that satisfies her, and that could be the end of it.

So, Harrison is asked by the butcher if he's Jim's son, and he replies "That's what they say!" hmm The Dexter writers in the past were known for fake outs. This line probably got many suspecting even more that "Harrison" is not the real Harrison -- so he likely is the real one. (It could also be reference to the fact that the name isn't Jim. Ambiguous.) But I think he's lying about Hannah being dead and other things of his past. Or maybe she is dead but he killed her. Lots more to come out about the kid. The school kid being bullied does look to be a candidate for shooting up the school, with Harrison stopping him. But that could be a fake out too - too obvious.

I don't think it's known yet how Harrison located Dexter -- he couldn't have found him on his own. Hannah must be behind it and could soon make an appearance. Maybe he'll even move to Argentina by the end of the season.

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No new episode this week?

Looks to be an interesting show this week. Matt Taibbi, Katherine Mangu-Ward (editor of Reason), and musician Stevie van Zandt.

[Deleted because people are misunderstanding the issue here too much.]

I'd never heard of a Hebrew tradition of twirling chickens - I don't pay much attention to religion. But if true it's great to see Bill ridicule it, like he does with ridiculous practices of any religion. Who else openly ridicules religion? For that sort of thing alone his show is worth having, but there is so much more that makes it worth watching.

Rachel and Shane were to head to Tahiti for the next leg of their honeymoon. So maybe it's set in Tahiti.

A lot of references to rich *white* people, often said with a tone of hostility. Lots of race consciousness, and racial hostility. The writer is reflecting an anti-white tone that has been accepted in the media as well. But the writer did a good job of bringing other ways of thinking as well - bringing different modern POVs into the dialog.

Moynihan didn't have enough chances to speak. And later in the discussion he really had to fight to get any words out.

They whittled the finale to the least consequential sort of "big" ending possible, so they'd have plenty of possibilities left over for next season. I'm disappointed because I wanted the cretin Kevin gone and for Allison to prove to be more of a competent, heroic sort of person. But they reduced her.

So it's going to be like this each show -- stupid idiotic sitcom nonsense with the husband and friends acting like intelligence-challenged lunatics? I am hoping the dumb sitcom stuff ends and I don't have to suffer through it any more, and we get into more of a drama. But I suspect that's not likely.

HBO Max outage in my area. First time ever I haven't been able to log on. Probably because so many signing on to see Mare -- they can't handle it.

It's not about expecting complete rationality. Just don't hit. In my world anyway, slapping someone like that, who has come in good faith to console and make peace is not justified and is a very big deal, even if it related to the death of a son, especially when the son's weakness and incompetence was the bigger cause. She's like one of those annoying mothers whose son can do no wrong, and she blames others, carried to an extreme where she gets violent.

So many are defending Mrs. Zabel vigorous reaction. Fact is, at the scene, he acted with such gross incompetence he should probably not have been on the force to begin with. It was to such an extent that it absolves Mare of responsibility. Mrs Zabel needs to recognize he was in the wrong profession and she, who apparently believes he was led around into a situation he couldn't handle, and was an easily manipulable, weak lad, should bear some responsibility for his death. She should have talked him out of joining the police since it's a dangerous job, and she knew he was that weak.

Yeah. I thought it great that they disposed of him in the second episode. And I gave great credit to the writers. But then they unfortunately brought him back through a sort of miracle recovery.