After tonight's episode of Dexter, there are only three episodes left for Season 7. "Helter Skelter" offered a notable body count and what seems to be the conclusion of one of the major arcs for the season. (Spoilers ahead!) "Seems" is key here as there are still a couple of key characters in play related to the Brotherhood, George being one of them. Nadia another. But something tells me Quinn will the one to clean up that mess, or else continue to splash around in it.
Deb loves Dexter the way Dexter loves M&Ms
After last week's emotional confession from Deb to Dexter about her feelings for him, Dexter decided he'd make light of the situation than face it head on. He didn't brush it off as a joke, but he did try to downplay the enormity of the situation and act as though this kind of "love" Deb speaks of is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about, even comparing it to his fondness for M&Ms. Obviously we all know that's not the case, and Dexter probably does too. He may have a Dark Passenger to deal with, but he knows what love is and I have to believe that somewhere deep down he recognizes the hugeness of the situation. So, either he's just not ready to deal with it or the writers aren't. Jury's out there. But for now, the major awkwardness appears to be abated enough that these two can get back to working together. And speaking of working together…
"Even a man dangling from a cliff will stretch out his hand to his worst enemy."
Isaak and Dexter had their little heart-to-heart last week, which had Isaak confessing to the romantic nature of his relationship with Viktor. So now he and Dexter are friends. Kind of. Not really, but kind of. Isaak's being pursued by two guys from the Brotherhood and he thinks he needs Dexter to help him track and kill them. Personally, I think given Isaak's knowledge and resources, he could have found someone other than his enemy to murder these two guys, especially considering the reason he's on the Brotherhood's list is because he was trying to kill this enemy he's now enlisted to help him. But he went with Dexter and it almost worked out. He kidnapped Hannah as a way to get Dexter on board with this plan and that served the double-purpose of getting these two killers and teaching Dexter a life lesson about love.
Dexter killed the first guy at the shooting range in a pretty great and totally creepy scene as the camera had us so distracted by the shooter's target practice that we didn't notice Dexter snuck up behind him and stuck a knife in the man's back until it zoomed out. Clever! The next guy was killed on a ship that Dexter lured him to. Killer thought he was tracking Dexter until Isaak popped up and shoot him in the head.
At this point, Isaak could have taken Dexter out, but he held up his end of the deal, though who knows if that would have stuck. George showed up and shot Isaak, leaving him mostly dead and ran off to be dealt with at another time. So in the end, the two hired killers (now dead) were unnecessary as George got the job done himself. Dexter did Isaak the honors of boating him out to where he dumped Viktor so the two could be "buried" together per Isaak's final wishes. And on their trip, they talked about love because Isaak witnessed Dexter not being able to tell Hannah how he felt. It was an odd moment but one that set up Dexter's sit down with Hannah to confess his feelings for her.
So, Isaak is dead, which presumably wraps up Dexter's involvement with the Brotherhood, assuming George doesn't come after him. I don't think he would though. He has no reason to. And while it's possible Dexter would pursue George, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't and it was Quinn who ended up killing him. Quinn's interaction with George tonight involved pummeling his face after finding out George made Nadia sleep with him. So I'm thinking Quinn will be the one to deal with George. Deb and Hannah
With the post-I'm-in-love-with-you awkwardness set aside, Dexter could go back to begging Deb for favors and tonight, that came in the form of his plea for her to help him rescue Hannah. And it's a good thing he did petition her involvement as Isaak's man Yurg was holding Hannah in some apartment and Hannah nearly died trying to escape. She served Yurg some fried green tomatoes, which I would've sworn were poison. I guess in absence of poisonous plants, she decided to put a healthy dose of pepper in the tomatoes, which caused Yurg to choke and allowed her to attack him, getting stabbed in the process.
Deb showed up to find Yurg dead and Hannah unconscious. For a moment, it looked like she might be dead, but then Deb called for an ambulance. I suppose all of this is a demonstration of what Deb is all about. I might be easy to wonder why Deb wouldn't just walk away from the scene and come back an hour later after Hannah and completely bled out. Would it have been all that shocking, considering how often we watch a lead character kill people in this show? Probably not. The fact that Deb was willing to help Dexter rescue Hannah to begin with showed that she's bound to her brother. And maybe it's also a mark of her moral fiber, as she's not the kind of person who can just let someone die, even if that person is a killer and slowly stealing the heart of the man she loves. But she's letting Dexter continue killing, so I'm thinking it's love that fueled her choices tonight and not morals, especially when you consider that Hannah has repeatedly gotten away with murder.
Thanks to Isaak's comments about loving and living, and Deb's efforts to save Hannah from certain death, Dexter and Hannah are as close as ever. Where does that leave Deb? And really, where does that leave Dexter? He says he feels safe with her, but has he not noticed that all of the men in her life (most recently, Yurg) end up dead?
I'm not team Deb/Dexter (Debster?) by any means, but when it comes to Hannah, I'm on Deb's side. She's unstable and bad news.
Phantom
In unrelated news, someone's going around killing people with fire and leaving their crispy remains around for the police to investigate. The obvious suspect is the weird firefighter investigator, but this case is new so there's probably more information needed to make an educated guess. On that subject, introducing a possible serial killer with just three episodes left in the season is cause for worry. It's a newly introduced outside threat very close to the end of the season. These kinds of things could snowball (or fireball) into a major problem if one of Miami Metro's people (Deb?) ends up on the victims list.
LaGuerta's Investigation
LaGuerta is still on the Bay Harbor Butcher case and it's led her to Tom Matthews who, like Dexter, also apparently has a boat in the harbor where the bodies were dumped. Of course, Tom was having a hernia operation which should clear him of suspicion of the murders. But I don't think LaGuerta really suspected him to begin with. She's looking to him for help and in exchange, he wants her to help him get his 40-year penchant bump. Considering her involvement in his early retirement, he thinks that's fair and it justifies his participation in this investigation. Tom may be just the thing LaGuerta needs to get evidence that Dexter's the Bay Harbor Butcher.
Three episodes left! Season issues currently left to be resolved or to burst open in this season's inevitable finale cliffhanger:
Deb's love for Dexter.
Dexter's love for Hannah.
LaGuerta's investigation of the Bay Harbor Butcher.
Phantom fire guy.
Quinn's involvement with the Brotherhood and Nadia.
Batista's restaurant. (kind of a random one but it seems like it should be relevant somehow).
Did I miss anything?
