By Joe R
If you thought Dexter had run out of reasons, ways, and excuses to put off killing Trinity, you found yourself sorely mistaken. With Christine in custody, Miami Metro is closing in on Trinity, and since Dexter doesn't want that, he hurries up and dispatches of Trinity himself, and we're just left with some loose ends to tie up. Oh wait, that doesn't happen. Instead, Dexter decides to throw the cops off the scent by framing someone ELSE for the Trinity killings -- making sure it's a bad, bad man who he can kill justifiably -- leaving him "enough time" to murder Trinity. Considering the rush-rush quality of many of Dexter's kills this season (including this week's aforementioned patsy), I'm not sure why that's a concern, but whatever.
At the same time, Dexter's keeping Trinity at bay by demanding a $50,000 ransom, lest he go public with accusations that Arthur is a pedophile. In retaliation, Arthur begins to track down every Kyle Butler in the phone book, with deadly results. He also discovers that Christine's been caught by the cops. He finally gets his daughter on the phone, cuts her loose completely, and tells her he wishes she were never born.
So by the time Dex is ready to quit fucking around and go after Trinity, he can't because Deb needs him. And that's because Deb just heard Christine's confession and then watched her blow her brains out. Dex gets close enough, though, that Arthur is able to follow him... all the way back to Miami Metro. Art takes a leisurely stroll around the place before coming face to face with "Kyle Butler" and reading the name on his laminate, "Dexter Morgan."
Um, also Rita confesses kissing Elliott, Dexter punches Elliott, Angel and LaGuerta get busted by Matthews, and Angel and LaGuerta get married.
Previously on Dexter, Christine got arrested for being a blood relative of Trinity's (and for probably shooting Deb and killing Lundy), Dexter saved a young boy from being murdered by Trinity, Ghost Harry and Dexter's Voice-Over (DVO) were suuuuper annoying and redundant, and most importantly of all, Angel and LaGuerta told Captain Matthews they were broken up when really they're not!
Angel's interrogating Christine while Deb and Quinn watch (and, at a different monitor, Dexter). Christine tries to sell the story that she doesn't know who her father is. Dexter's shitting a brick because if Christine gives the cops her father's name, they've got Mitchell and Dexter doesn't. Which, again, I still don't see why this matters to Dexter. He is clearly not operating from a primal need to kill Arthur himself, or else he'd have done it weeks ago. Arthur doesn't have anything on him, really, not even the Kyle Butler stuff; certainly not like what Miguel Prado had on him. I'm finding it very hard to find a reason, beyond pure plot contrivance, that Dexter can't let the cops just have Trinity. But anyway, here's the whole premise of the episode that I don't accept: Dexter needs to find someone to take the heat for the Trinity killings, at least until Dexter is able to kill Arthur himself. Which, at the rate he's been going, won't be until well after global climate change alters the face of the globe, at which point Dexter's going to have to find a higher shelf on which to keep his blood slides.
It appears that Arthur is hiding out in a hotel room in the wake of "Kyle" breaking up his attempted child-killing. He tries to call Christine but is only getting her voicemail. He then turns his attention to the TV, where there's a news report about young Scott's safe return. Upon hearing that the police have no leads as to Scott's abductor and the circumstances of his rescue, Arthur gets a half-pissed, half-curious expression on his face. A face that says "I've been sleeping on sheets that would give a black light the cold sweats for nothing?"
Cut to Dexter, in his office and hard at work trying to find a lowlife scumbag worthy of killing among the poor suckers who got DNA-swabbed by Deb's random sweep. He gets a phone call, but not on his regular cell. This must be his super-secret Kyle Butler cell, because it's Arthur calling him to ask what kind of person breaks up a child murder and doesn't call the cops. "Who are you, Kyle?" Trinity asks. "And what is it you want?" Dexter searches for an answer, then comes up with the dumbest one possible: "Money." To the show's credit, I think they know this is supposed to be just a dumb stab in the dark. But Dex is committed now, so he says he wants $50,000 or he tells the whole world that Arthur Mitchell is a pedophile. Arthur REALLY objects to that kind of slander, which is nice and darkly funny. Excuse me, but when Arthur drugged that boy and placed him into a plastic bag and dropped him into a hole in the earth filled with wet cement to await an unimaginably horrifying demise, that boy was UNSPOILED, you hear me? Arthur says he can't come up with that kind of money -- he's not even in Miami (he lies as he pulls out the Miami phone book). Dexter gives him 24 hours. After he hangs up, Arthur doesn't look half as concerned as he was even thirty seconds ago. Instead, he calmly flips through the phone book until he lands on a pair of entries for "Butler, Kyle."