Remember we’re studying Season 7 Episode 7.

The episode is called CHEMISTRY.

In Dexter’s opening lines of dialogue – an internal thought – he tells us:

DEXTER (V.O.)

Chemistry, I've heard some people have it,
an attraction that can't be quantified or explained.
Is that the reason behind this? Loss of control?
Maybe the desire to get Hannah on my table was
just a way to deny the affect she has on me.

But what is the affect Hannah has on him? Why did Dexter choose to fuck her instead of kill her?

Perhaps because Hannah is beautiful, but also deadly, just like the flowers she uses to kill, the flowers she is constantly surrounded by – the symbol of her beauty as well as the source of her evil – the perfect rose and its thorn.

The writer takes great care in selecting Hannah’s toxin of choice – from the plant aconitum  – also known as aconite (from a Greek word meaning ‘without struggle’). Aconite has been nicknamed ‘the queen of poisons’. Isn’t Hannah Dexter’s queen of poisons ?

The writer not only contrasts chemistry with botany but also compares the healing and destructive potential of both with the healing and destructive potential of Dexter’s relationship with Hannah.

Chemicals and plants can be both medicinal or poisonous – healers or killers.

In Season 7’s main plot which will Dexter and Hannah’s relationship turn out to be – poisonous or medicinal?

And when the entire series’ main plot is tied up in Season 8 which will Dexter eventually be – healed or killed ?

I’ll be looking in greater detail at the dialogue in this opening scene soon.

Read it here: Dexter Season 7 Episode 7: scene 1

The episode scene by scene breakdown can be found here.

Comments welcome.