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Dexter About Last Night Showtime TV series, Episode Recap & Blog

The early morning is a happy one for Dexter. Someone has shared his truth. You know, the one where he stalks, kills, and dismembers people. The pleasant glow he feels becomes muddied when Miguel’s wife comes over and asks if he knows where her hubby was all night. She’s sure he was sleeping with another woman. Which is sorta true. But he was doing less sleeping and more beating, strangling, and stabbing.

Dexter finds Miguel, who’s whistling Camptown Races (the perfect I’ve-just-committed-double-homicide-and-I’m-feeling-fine tune), and asks him where he was last night. Unfortunately, his new pal is lying to him. This doesn’t bode well for Club Serial Killer.

Realizing he may not be able to fully trust his amigo, Dexter goes to Ellen Wolf’s apartment after hearing she’s missing. He continues having Harry hallucinations, warning him about Miguel. Traces of blood show up under a UV light so Dex goes to the cemetery where he claimed to have dumped Freebo’s body. A little dirt shoveling (in gravedigger garb, of course) leads him to confirm his suspicions.

Club SK meets for lunch and Dexter scolds Miguel for straying from the code to kill Ellen. But Miguel takes issue with her being called innocent. Lesson time! Dex unearths Ellen’s body enough to be seen (by 2 young boys frolicking among the tombstones). He made sure the dump site was clean but wanted to do enough to scare the newbie murderer. Miguel says he gets it, calls Dex wise, says he’s going to end up saving his life. Which would be sweet if he hadn’t said the exact same thing to Rita. Not a very careful sociopath, is he?

In Debra’s-a-high-strung-mess news: Anton is missing. She was right about the tree trimmer, though. It seems that the smiley, courteous, and slight George King is the Skinner after all. He’s brought in for questioning but remains only as calm as the most gifted psycho can. Dexter sees right through his unruffled facade. I suppose the old adage “It takes one to know one” holds true. After getting her bro’s “creepy insight,” Deb ignores the part where he says to be respectful and ferociously tackles the little Nicaraguan.

Miguel insinuates that he’s going to help find Anton by offering George King a deal, turns the camera off, and the Skinner walks free. What the other cops don’t know is that Mr. Prado wants to skin the Skinner himself. Deb comes up with a plan to scare King’s minion Mario by trimming the trees at his home (making him think the Skinner has been there) then offering him protection if he squeals. This leads them to the building where Anton, looking like a peeled rutabaga but alive, is being held. Quinn uses some cop techniques gleaned from Die Hard movies and drives the car through the front door.

In a scene of pure emotional revulsion, Miguel comforts LaGuerta, who’s upset about the death of her friend, who he murdered. He tells her he’s “right here” for her. So. Messed. Up.

Dexter, feeling like he just can’t trust his buddy anymore, tests the blood on the shirt Miguel gave him. It’s supposed to be Freebo’s, which might be true if Freebo were a cow. Inner Dex becomes enraged, having a massive temper tantrum, throwing shit everywhere and dramatically yelling, “MIGUEL!!!” Exterior Dexter keeps his cool and plots his first revenge based on a real live emotion.

“Anton’s a big guy, a lot of skin. That’s meant to be comforting.” -Dexter

Dexter, Showtime television series, Sundays

The episode opens with a dream sequence of Dexter’s imagining: Busily dissecting his latest conquest, he hears someone coming. He assumes it’s his father, holds up a paper bag, and asks, “Dad, do you need to throw up again?” Instead, the visitor is Miguel, golf clubs in hand, who tells him he “feels great, amigo.” Is this Dexter’s subconscious exposing that he longs for acceptance from someone who knows the real him? Harry, although he did the best he could to prepare his son, was sickened by the realities of what Dexter is driven to do. Even homicidal sociopaths secretly want outside approval, right?

Ramon Prado tortures a guy, then gets early retirement? Must be sweet to have connections like that. Not that I torture people…I’m just sayin’.

Rita has given her hubby-to-be the task of compiling a wedding guest list. Seems simple. But Dex is confused about what constitutes a friend. At first he goes too conservatively, listing only Deb; then he goes a little too broad (Donut guy?).

The devastated mother of Windell (the kid who was questioned & then skinned) blames Debra for her son’s death after finding her business card in his things. Rightly so, in my opinion. Deb has good intentions, but that girl makes some dumbass rookie mistakes. A plus: she continually spouts the most creatively foul language I’ve ever heard.

Debra has (finally) realized that her newest inappropriate love interest, Anton, may be the next Skinner victim and tells him to get out of Dodge. They kiss, eliciting a disapproving groan from watchers everywhere. She appears to be innately attracted to criminals. The only decent guy she’s dated was the children’s book author and she was highly suspicious of him. Ironic, ain’t it?

The fact that Deb believes Quinn is innocent makes me automatically assume he’s not.

Following the murder of a local college girl by a guy who wanders around in socks, Miguel makes Dexter a little proposition. He wants the next kill to be Ellen Wolf, the defense attorney who represents the shoeless slayer. While the idea is a violation of Dexter’s code, he grants Miguel the opportunity to make his case. If he’d agreed to kill her it would have been a departure in character for him. Dex’s moral compass allows us to like him, to root for him. We forgive his serial murdering because he’s a well-meaning vigilante. If he went off the grid too far it would destroy the show, don’t you think?

Upon Camilla’s request, Rita comes to the pepto-pink hospice room to meet her. Rita lovingly wipes off the blood Camilla has coughed up, a small action that confirms the sweetness of her character. Dexter visits often, not out of duty but out of affection. After asking him to help her die, she apologizes for making such a weighty request. She knows about his brother being the Ice Truck Killer and tries to reassure him that he is different. In a gut-wrenching conclusion, Dex finally serves her the perfect key lime pie, laced with sodium pentathol and pancuronium. His very first mercy killing. As she slips away, he’s compelled to confess to murdering his brother and she gives him a final whisper of approval. Just what he’s been wanting.

“I’ve never been good at conflict resolution. Not without a blade and several rolls of plastic wrap.” -Dexter