Tonight's Showtime Showdowns

Eight days before Christmas, and the body count on Showtime tonight will be anything but joyous. “Sleeper Cell: American Terror� concludes with a wrenching finale that doesn’t quite match Saturday evening’s installment – in which Darwyn helped stop a plot to rain radiation down upon L.A. with twin attacks on a jetliner and at the Hollywood Bowl, and in which Gayle (Melissa Sagemiller), Darwyn’s (Michael Ealy) civilian girlfriend, was murdered by Mina (Thekla Reuten), who then went on to blow up an Independence-Day military reception in Las Vegas.

(Typically, the 500+ Vegas victims had not previously figured into the storyline and therefore were anonymous and, somehow, acceptable in an emotionally muted way in the context of the narrative, as opposed to Gayle’s singular demise.)

In tonight’s finale, Darwyn goes rogue, traveling to Yemen on a suicide mission to 86 Al-Farik (Oded Fehr) himself. Things don’t quite go as he planned, however, but at least the episode offers one final showdown between Darwyn and Al-Farik; their interplay was the most compelling part of the first season and sorely missed here.

Given the viciousness of that confrontation, the designer gore of the typically twisted finale to season one of “Dexter� almost seems mild by comparison. Last week, Miami police forensics expert/ethical serial killer Dexter Morgan Morgan (Golden-Globe nominee Michael C. Hall) discovered his half-sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) had been abducted by Rudy (Christian Camargo), her boyfriend and, not coincidentally, the psycho serial killer who’s been messing with Dexter’s head all season.

Rudy’s true identity is intended as a shocker, as are further pieces in the puzzle added to Dexter’s past (a loopy little nature-vs.-nurture debate is launched), as is Rudy’s wish that Dexter assist him in murdering and dismembering Debra. Dexter deftly defers: “I’m very fond of her,� he explains. Meanwhile, Dexter’s colleague Doakes (Erik King) comes closer to learning his secret.

By the way: I’m certain someone has already noticed it, but I’ve been a bit lazy with “Dexter� and it just occurred to me watching tonight’s episode: The opening title sequence has a major gaffe in it. No, it’s not Rolfe Kent’s slightly-too-droll theme music; it’s that after all those lovingly, slightly menacing close-ups of Dexter shaving, even drawing blood, by the end of the sequence, he leaves his apartment with a growth of trendy stubble on his face.

- “Sleeper Cell: American Terror:� 9 tonight on Showtime
- “Dexter:� 10 tonight on Showtime