Miguel Prado Profile

By far the most interesting "guest spot" on Dexter in the past three season has to be Miguel Prado, played by Jimmy Smits for those of you keeping track at home, besides Christian Camargo's turn as Ice Truck Killer in Season One. I felt like Season Two was kind of like treading water -- interesting to see how Dexter evolved (who claims not to be "human" but definitely had some kind of conscience in choosing who deserves to be taken out with the trash and when he was ultimately going to turn himself in before Doakes was killed) and how his code of Harry kind of has tangential meaning now.

But Prado. The District Attorney of Miami. Obviously has some familial issues -- stemming from being the oldest and "dependable" one, to Daddy's disappointment, his fiery middle brother and the protectiveness he had towards his youngest brother that had gone awry. Also we see some strain with his wife -- just wonder how "happy" that marriage is or if it's one of those facade marriages that he keeps for the public. And obviously the admiration that Maria LaGuerta has for Prado, when Angel makes the assessment that "To Maria, Prado is the one that got away." (What is it with LaGuerta and her hooking up with all the lead male characters on the set?!?)

Anyway, back to Prado. It was interesting to see how he's easily latched onto Dexter, when I feel like Dexter has done his best with being polite to a fault, but with Prado's "mi casa, su casa" philosophy extending into Dexter's private world.

But I think they have more similarities than we think. Of course, Prado has the more acceptable role as being an attorney, bringing the bad guys to justice. But a run-of-the-mill comment he made to Dexter about the widower who Pradi suspected killed his wives for insurance money really stood out for me. "The defense attorneys get to wipe their ass with it." That's pretty much why we see Dexter having to dispose of these wastes of human life -- Dexter understands the law and how by the whole innocent-until-proven-guilty philosophy works, it sometimes protects those who should not be.

This week's episode from the teasers of it looks pretty interesting. We all know that Prado has already sort-of figured out (ok, he DID figure out) that Dexter took care of the guy he wanted to nail. Apparently this week, Dexter tries to see just how far Prado will go to get rid of those he has deemed threats to society. Although there seems to be some kind of ambush when Dexter is escorting this guy out with the police and Prado. But I can't seem to understand how that figured into everything.

I can see this plot line going one of two ways. One is that Dexter somehow gets away and leaves this guy behind -- some kind of eluding authority charge. Two is that Prado is trying to set Dexter up.

You see, I wonder if eventually Prado figures out that Dexter is really the so-called "Bay Harbor Butcher" and wants to bring him to justice. But we all know that Season Four is in the works and Dexter isn't going anywhere. I am guessing that somehow Prado has no proof and can't bring Dexter to justice or ends up dying himself. See, anyone who knows Dexter's secrets ends up going bye-bye one time or another.

But I like Miguel, much like I find Dexter to be a likable character. Miguel is a nice balance to Dexter's vigilante justice -- he does things the "legal" way yet can find appreciation in the art of how Dexter takes out the trash.

But I also wonder if he realizes that along with killing Free-Bow, that Dexter is also responsible for Little Brother Prado's death too.

I'll be interested to see how things pan out tonight though...