If there’s one thing Dexter fans have been waiting for, it’s Deb learning Dexter’s biggest secret. We all know that sooner or later, it has to happen. As Deb is the closest person to Dexter, seeing her reaction to understanding the truth about her brother is sure to be a huge moment for the series, if/when it happens. Deb and Dexter’s relationship has always been a lot more one sided than Deb realizes, but based on tonight’s episode, it looks like that could be changing.
Deb and Dexter
Deb wasn’t happy at all that Dexter took five days off. Disappearing for almost a week might have once rubbed her the wrong way, but as his boss, it now makes her look like she’s playing favorites. While everyone else has been ordered to continue the hunt for the Doomsday Killer (aka “DDK,” the acronym which inspires me to think of Nintendo’s Diddy Kong Racing), Dexter gets five days off to mourn the loss of a friend? Yeah, I can see how that would make Deb look bad. Of course, she let Dexter know that when he returned to her with an offering of a donut and an apology.
Dexter taking the pen from the motel he stayed at in Nebraska was completely careless and out of character for him. Why not pick up a t-shirt that says, “I went to Karney Nebraska to kill the son of a serial killer I once killed and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.”? Deb was upset with him because he didn’t tell her. Trinity is a sore spot for her too, considering his connection to her mentor/boyfriend’s death. Technically, Trinity didn’t kill Lundy. It was his daughter (and Deb’s ex-boyfriend’s once girlfriend) who was responsible for that, but the whole thing hits close enough for home.
When it comes to Deb, I think the only thing shielding her for seeing who brother really is, is love. Take that away and everything that’s wrong about Dexter has been staring her in the face for years. Sometimes, when weird stuff like this happens, I wonder if there’s some part of Deb’s brain - the part that makes her such a good detective - that is screaming at her to see what she won’t see. All of her instincts seem to be blinded from Dexter. But once in a while, she reacts with the right emotion and tonight was one example of that. Maybe I’m giving Deb more credit than she deserves, but I felt like at least some part of her was upset about the Nebraska thing because it’s weird. It’s off. It’s not right. But in the end, she’ll accept Dexter’s excuses because she loves him and because she wants to believe him. The scary thing is, Travis’ sister was the same way and look where it got her.
Whore of Babylon
Travis spent the beginning part of the episode trying to avoid Gellar, but Gellar won in the end, using Travis’ sister as the replacement whore for his next display. Before this, Dexter confronted Travis to see if he could team up with him and target Gellar. Knowing Travis let the first “whore” go, Dexter had reason to believe he was going back on his plans. He used the Bible as a way to get to Travis, referencing sins of omission as a reason Travis would still be guilty if he just walked away now.
While Dexter was scrambling to earn Travis’ trust, Deb and some of the other Miami Metro detectives were questioning students who might be working with Gellar. This led Deb to Travis’ sister. The way Travis’ sister spoke about her brother, defending his behavior, referencing the death of their parents and essentially covering for him, was probably exactly how Deb would speak of Dexter, except Deb would use more swear-words.
What’s even funnier (in a not-funny-at-all-way) was that talking about Travis and his sister to her therapist prompted Deb to talk about Dexter. Of course, she laughed off the idea that Dexter would kill her. In all fairness, there’s probably no circumstance that would have Deb as one of Dexter’s targets, but who knows? We know he’s capable of murder.
Deb tried to reach out to Dexter to see if they could talk more about him, since her therapist pointed out that Deb probably spends most of her time with her brother talking about herself. That’s a pretty accurate summation, but Dexter probably has no problem with it, considering it keeps her from nosing into his business most of the time.
The timing didn’t work out for their dinner as Dexter had plans to visit an abandoned church that he was sure Gellar was using as his headquarters. The trail started at the scene of Travis’ sister’s body, to robes with a priest’s name on them, to the priest himself (more on that in a minute), to the church. And when Dexter arrived at the church, he found Travis, where he had been chained up for a while.
There’s a theory going around that Gellar is all in Travis’ head, much in the way Harry is in Dexter’s head. Tonight’s episode did nothing to debunk that as Dexter never actually saw Gellar up on the choir loft and somehow Gellar disappeared from the church’s second story through a window. Did he jump to the ground? I think that’s what we’re supposed to assume. The point is, when Dexter went up to the choir loft, there was no one there. And he put his foot through the floor walking around up there, which could also be a hint that if Gellar really was up there, there would’ve been more holes in the floor. Thoughts?
Bloody Bible
Leave it to Dexter to have a bible caked in some guy’s blood. One of Brother Sam’s friends gave him Sam’s old bible, which he must have had on him when he was shot, judging by all of the blood on it. The bible came in handy when Dexter wanted to get close with Travis, and something tells me he’ll be using it again in the future.
Dexter’s exploration of faith continued tonight when he visited the priest whose name was on one of the robes. Not sure how no one else noticed the name, unless Dexter snagged the robe. Seems like a pretty obvious oversight though, considering how much attention is supposed to be paid to this case. Anyway, Dexter spoke with the priest, who was clearly suffering from dementia, and insisted that Dexter confess his sins. Seeing that the man wasn’t all-there, Dexter admitted to murdering a lot of people. The priest responded by saying it’s a Mortal Sin, which I’m pretty sure means, at the very least, it doesn’t qualify for simple absolution. Three Hail Mary’s and an Act of Contrition wouldn’t wash away all of the murders Dexter has committed. The priest lost his train of thought though, forgot what Dexter said and absolved him anyway.
It’ll be interesting to see how the confession factors into Dexter’s mentality going forward. It seems doubtful that he’ll decide that, with a clean slate from God, he’s going to go cold-turkey and give up killing. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the incident with the priest sticks with him.
LaGuerta
Aside from the DDK investigation, some of the detectives, as well as Deb, were looking into a case involving a prostitute who may have overdosed. Dexter noticed some inconsistencies with the woman’s death and a standard heroine overdose. Deb wanted to pursue it but LaGuerta, who decided to show up at the crime scene, insisted it be closed. It seemed obvious from the first conversation between LaGuerta and Deb about the case that a cover-up was in the works. LaGuerta tried to pretend like it was all about the numbers and getting cases closed, but that didn’t explain why she was at the crime scene. Sure enough, we saw her calling someone after ordering Deb to close the case, and telling them it was taken care of.
Who is LaGuerta covering for? Is it someone she knows and is looking out for? Or is this a you-scratch-my-back/I-scratch-yours situation? Given what we know about LaGuerta and how she handles her career choices, I’m inclined to believe the latter. My guess is this prostitute is connected to something high-profile and LaGuerta is using it to her advantage (either paying someone back, or earning herself a favor).
What’s the deal with Louis?
Batista is being protective of Jamie and has bullied Louis away from seeing her. I’m not sure what to make of Louis yet. On one hand, he seems like a good-natured geek just looking to make a video game and date Dexter’s hot nanny. On the other hand, maybe he’s up to no good..
We’ll end this on a random note. Did anyone else think Travis looked like George McFly when he was sitting at the counter at the diner eating his breakfast?
