Dexter (TV Series) Circle Us (2010) User Reviews

Serendipity

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 9 July 2014]

A man wearing a suit hires workers to remove the barrels with the corpses of dead women from the swamp. While he is driving his pickup truck, he is hit by a drunken driver and the barrels are dumped on the road. Dexter is summoned to the spot and he learns that the truck belongs to Jordan Chase, a popular motivational speaker. He comes to the Miami Metro with his security chief Cole Harmon and claims that the truck was stolen. Dexter manages to take a photo of Cole and when he shows it to Lumen, he finds that he is one of the attackers. Meanwhile, Debra, LaGuerta, Angel, Quinn and Manzon prepare a stakeout in the Mayan Club with the informer Yasmine Aragon expecting to arrest Carlos Fuentes. However, LaGuerta takes the command from Debra and the plan goes deadly wrong. Stan Liddy proceeds his investigation of Dexter and Lumen. Dexter breaks into Cole's house and finds an intriguing picture of five men together.

"Circle Us" is the engaging sequel of this season. The stakeout operation in the nightclub will probably bring consequences to the Miami Metro since there are innocent victims. Debra this time has given a magnificent shot in the head of the scum Carlos Fuentes. It seems that the serendipity will help Dexter and lumen to finds the attackers. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Envolva-nos" ("Involve Us")

Improving...

[lingerer-1 · 8/10 · 8 November 2010]

This episode takes it's time and finally allows the chemistry to unfold between Dex and Lumen. It works much better than I ever expected. And be prepared for "the most boring action figure ever" :).

The plot of this episode introduced a few (for me) unexpected twists. With now only 5 episodes left to the finale of the season, I'm a bit afraid that the bad guys won't get enough time to develop beyond the usual black and white scheme. I did not get the motivation of the baddies, either. Why were they moving the barrels? There was no need for that. The car crash also wasn't believable. Cole was turning left, he stopped at the STOP sign, so how the heck could he not see the car coming from his left? Of course, when you plan moving half a dozen barrels with dead women you hire a bunch of random Latinos to do the job and transport everything in a pick-up truck of your employer who is a well known celebrity through the middle of the city.

Further, Cole doesn't hesitate to show up in the police station, even knowing that Lumen is on the run and being able to identify him! And of course, he isn't even bruised after the hefty car-crash. Awesome seat-belts, really...

Laguerta probably won't survive (job-wise) this season. Sloppy police-work, as always, at the club made the whole department look like a bunch of amateurs once again. Though they have some über-gadgets for communication: A single mic that acts as a loudspeaker as well, no need for headphones! The last and probably most serious issue is that Dex still can pull off the most ridiculous sloppy stunts without any consequences. I don't feel any tension or danger for him being exposed. The promising Quinn/Robocop-initiative is already losing steam. It seems that Quinn is off (Dexters) hook and Robocop is going to take the fall alone. I really like Quinn so there is at least something positive in that.

I'm giving it an 8/10. Much of the story is rather silly, but hey, I watch this show for Dexter, the character. He makes the difference to the zillion of other cop TV-shows airing. The developing chemistry between Dex and Lumen compensates most of the mentioned flaws for me. If the writers now start to create some (believable) pressure on Dex I probably won't have anything to complain about :).

Entertaining Bonnie and Clyde, exciting converging arcs, one dimensional Deb, questionable morality, interesting partnership subject, intriguing new characters

[igoatabase · 8/10 · 8 November 2010]

Round and round, like a barrel. The Beauty and the Beast are not dancing yet but I like the way their relationship is growing. If I believed in reincarnation I would consider Rita's soul is now in Lumen's body. But the doll is not entirely broken yet. Unable to strike back all by herself she needed a partner, and that's when Dexter entered the stage in all his bloodiness. Circle Us focused on them and their team reminded me of Bonnie and Clyde. From the inevitable romance to their investigation it should keep us busy until the sixth season. In the same vein as the past installment they kept playing with the troubling resemblance between Lumen and Rita. After the bathtub sequence and considering she now lives at their former home it's even more controversial.

It leads us to Quinn because with a private detective in his pocket it seems he has the advantage over Dex. That arc developed further and I really appreciate its slow pace because it'll make its unavoidable collision with the others even more thrilling. I'm not really into his crush on Deb because it seems she'll never learn from her mistakes and I wish her character had more layers than meets the eyes. For the moment I think Jennifer Carpenter's tremendous talent is unexploited. Let's hope they'll let it sparkle in the upcoming episodes like it did during the past seasons ! In fact it's not the only element I question because I think the morality is a little light. It's like if the characters lived in a bubble of light, protected by their badges and guns. What about the citizens ? Serve and protect ? Old news ! It also applies to Lumen because even if Dex tries to guide her, like her father did, it seems he's the last person on Earth who can prevent her inner demons to take over. He can't even control his emotions, how could he save her ? Moreover I can't help thinking about real victims. Imagine what the world would be if most of them didn't turn to the police and decided to respond to violence by violence ! Easy to write, harder to think through. So with no doubt the dialogs and usual monologue were enlightening but let's hope they will deepen these elements to make the story more realistic.

Otherwise I'm starting to miss Harry's ethereal appearances and was hoping to see more Rita flashbacks. Thankfully Masuka's freaking barrel of monkeys was featured for a few split seconds but let's hope he'll be able to top his past performance because the strange sex analysis was a red carpet grinner. Last but not least all arcs are exciting, even the one involving "BatisGuerta", so the best is yet to come. When will Dex learn that Quinn is on him ? What about his sister ? Is the babysitter a former Penthouse Pet ? Seriously even partnership was applied to her so it was a brilliant way to cover the subject. In some way it reminded me of Easy as Pie, when Dex learned about mercy. Let's also not to forget that new characters were introduced and for a first I think the performers did a convincing job. Now let's see how good they're against Michael C. Hall monstrous talent !

The Mayan club

[jotix100 · 9/10 · 17 July 2011]

Dexter has installed Lumen Pierce in his old house. Unknown to him, Quinn gets to know about it from the bad cop, Stan Liddy, who has been keeping an eye on Dexter.

Dexter decides to follow a lead, but he is called to a road accident in which the five women that were kept on steel drum barrels are sprawled on a Miami street as the van in which they were being transported, had a traffic accident. The driver of the vehicle fled the scene of the crash, leaving Dexter puzzled as to what really happened. One thing is known, the van belongs to media personality, Jordan Chase.

The next day, Jordan Chase goes to the police headquarters to make sure he was not involved in the accident. He comes accompanied by his head of security, Cole Harmon, a man that suddenly arises Dexter suspicion. Cole has no clear explanation of how the van was involved. His lame excuse was that someone stole it. Masuka, who attended a seminar Jordan Chase gave in Miami, recently, comes out of his area with a camera. He wants Dexter to take a picture next to his idol, but Dexter is more interested in getting a picture of Cole Harmon.

Deb is almost ready for a stakeout at the Mayan club. Cira, being part of the team inside the club, attracts the attention of one of the Fuentes' brothers. He summons her to join he and his party in the upper area. As he tried to fondle Cira, he realizes she is packing a gun, and he pulls out his own weapon and begins firing. Deb has no choice to shoot him, sparing the young woman he was using as shield. Yazmin is killed in the scuffle.

When Dexter breaks into Cole Harmon's Boca Raton place, he stumbles on a picture where five men are seen together. The group include the dentist that was killed on the previous episode who was among the men that tortured Lumen, and to his surprise, Jordan and Cole are also in the photograph. Taking back home, he shows it to Lumen, who identifies Cole as one of the men that held her.

John Dahl directed the episode and Scott Buck wrote the screenplay. Mr. Dahl, an excellent director, gives this chapter his touch, making it one of the best of the season. He got all around good acting from all the principals and the guest stars. The action keeps going throughout.

Finally Teaming Up

[ZegMaarJus · 8/10 · 13 April 2021]

This episode begins with Dexter, he is talking to Lumen about what their plan is gonna be. Lumen tells all the things that she have been trough to Dexter. The Miami Police found the girls in the barrels in the middle of the city. Lumen recognized Cole as one of the suspects. Marco shot down Yasmin. Debra shot a bullet trough Carlos Fuentes his head, he died instantly. Dexter got strangled by Cole, Lumen smashed Cole. Yasmin has died. Nice episode of Dexter Season 5, Dexter and Lumen are teaming up to get the people who raped and attacked Lumen.

Quote

[haomaa · 8/10 · 26 February 2020]

Dexter: "Partners come to us in a various ways, bound together for many different reason. But for any partnership to work, you must not only accept this into your life, but accept her who she is."

S5.E7 - Lumen Meet Harrison [9.2/10]

[panagiotis1993 · 9/10 · 19 September 2023]

(S5. E7) My Reaction / Review for Dexter Season 5 Episode 7 ''Circle Us'': Episode 6 was great and I gave it a rating of 9.5/10. Let's see if this one is better or worse. Why does this guy need Fowler's barrels? Is he trying to destroy evidence or something? This guy that Quinn hired has information about Dex and Lumen, that's not good. The last thing that Dex needs right now is a stalker. So this motivational speaker guy and his security guy are both responsible about the deaths of these young women and also responsible for what happened to Lumen? Disgusting. Could Lumen and Dex be a couple in the future? The babysitter seems to be good for Harrison, I hope she stays. Overall an amazing episode, my rating is 9.2/10.

Father Dexter

[dannylee-78082 · 7/10 · 10 January 2022]

1. Dexter sets up Boyd 2. Deb is a great shot 3. Lumen saves Dex

So far, we have two separate plot monies going on. The Fuentes brothers and the chase case. The Fuentes plot line is.. subpar at best. No sense of direction at all. However, the Chase case is getting more interesting now that Lumen is acting a bit like a partner and potentially a rebound for Dexter in place of Rita. Meanwhile, the police department is in major trouble after Fuentes and there might be signs of trouble between the Angel-Maria relationship. Better than previous episodes but still need a lot more.

Wet footprints

[rwk2 · 5/10 · 11 November 2010]

I have an addition to the other reviews that just screams to be acknowledged.

So Cole is the head of security for this minor celebrity right? Implying he is used to dealing with tough and physical confrontations and probably has some sort of military training or background to boot. Probably knows how to use a gun too. Yet, for some unknown reason Dex just waltzes into his house after hours without preparing in the least for someone like this guy obviously should be. AND be brings along Lumen for kicks! Really? He put more effort into scaring his neighbors than he does to capture and kill this guy. Totally unbelievable for someone who hangs out with the cops all day and keeps his knife-wielding hobby a society secret. Do a little better recon next time.

As for the crash, don't the cops usually run the plates FIRST since it takes all of 5 seconds to get the registration? Everyone is on scene and has been for some time before they check the glove box for a registration card? What? And, for what's worth, I agree that LaGuerta's decision making is totally off the wall. Two known serial killers are inside a crowded club and you tell an officer to just go over and chat them up? How could that have ended WELL? If anything you try and separate them. Have the cop flirt and get one brother to come over to her, not go back to the lion's den. Shouldn't the main concern be ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE ROOM?