Dexter moves into Deb's place with Astor and Cody. Astor is beyond moody right now and is not giving up on the whole "hating Dexter" thing. Deb gets a little claustrophobic and stays at Quinn's place. She tells him to keep his fat sausage fingers off of her. Astor finally demands that she move back in with her grandparents and takes Cody with her. Dexter, were he to have a heart, is heartbroken.
Dex has his interview with the FBI and they tell him that they know he was at Arthur Mitchell's house when Rita was murdered. They know it wasn't him, but they want to know why Mitchell would target Rita. They're looking for a dude named Kyle Butler.
Dexter gets a moving van and notices that there is blood in the back. So, he obsesses about it. He tracks down the last renter of the truck, played by Shawn Hatosy. He goes to his house and finds a conspicuous lock on a door, but nothing definitive. Then, he finds something definitive. Dude's a killer.
Batista finds a bank statement belonging to Laguerta that lets him know he married a kind of rich lady. At least one with a nice chunk of change in the bank. He asks around about whether it's wrong for her to keep it a secret. Then, he confronts her, and she says that she's worked hard for that money. He goes to a bar where some fellow cop says something ungentlemanly about Laguerta, so he beats him up.
The homicide department finds this head that's been cut up like some cult got ahold of the owner. Are we gonna get a superstar killer this season? Then, they find some guy dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and they believe it's the husband of the head.
p>Previously: Rita continued taking the longest bath in the history of cable. The FBI wants to talk to Dexter and he's avoiding them. Deb slept with Quinn, which was a big EW. Seriously. Not only that, but Quinn keeps buzzing in Laguerta's ear about how they should be looking at Dexter in Rita's death. Astor hates Dexter now and blames him for her mom's death. Dex killed some guy in a bathroom with an anchor.Dexter is swimming in a pool. Wow, this is how cancer looks? We should all look so sick. He VO's about the stages of grief and figures that he crossed off the "anger" portion by killing a guy with his bare hands. Nice try, hot shot. I believe those bare hands were holding a very sharp anchor device, no? Some people just can't tell a story about their accomplishments without exaggerating. He says that he doesn't have time for the other six stages because he's a full-time dad now.
He enters Deb's apartment with Astor and Cody. They're going to stay there until they get a new place, but Astor's not having it. Deb welcomes the kids home and she's all this isn't home. Deb kind of left herself open for that one. I saw it coming the moment the words left her mouth. Astor says that she doesn't see why they need a new place and Dexter explains that he thinks a new start is a good idea. He tells them to get ready for bed because they have school the day and Astor says that she can't go to school because she doesn't have any of her things. Wow, she's so mad. Remember when you were that age and the energy it took to give that MUCH of a pissed off vibe? I found it exhausting and she's been doing it for days. Dexter tells her to make a list of things that she needs and he'll go by the house and pick them up, but she wants to know why she can't come. He lays it out for her and says because of what happened to her mother. She replies that she knows what happened to her. She was murdered. Then, she walks away. Deb gives him a wan look of support and reminds him that his FBI interview is the day. She walks away and Harrison starts to cry.
The day, Dexter is mid-interview with two FBI agents, including the guy who was at the scene the night Rita was murdered. They ask him where he was when Rita was killed and he seems really frustrated. He has already told him he was on his boat. The guy asks stiffly if Dexter does a lot of night boating. He replies that he does sometimes, because it's more peaceful. The guy asks him if he was alone and he replies that he was and that the security cameras at the marina can attest to that. The agent is aware of the cameras, but says that the coroner's report indicates that Rita was killed several hours before he got on the boat. Dex freaks out and slams the table and asks them if they are seriously suggesting that he had anything to do with Rita's death. Really. Of all the murders to be pinned on Dexter, you'd think it would be one of the 76 trombones he was guilty of. The lady agent says that they know he was at Arthur Mitchell's house when Rita was being murdered. He looks really nervous right now. She elaborates -- they know he was part of the team raiding Arthur's house at that time. She says that they know he didn't kill his wife and her co-worker says they just want to know why Arthur targeted her. Dexter looks confused and offers, "Because he's a serial killer?" Nice try, Dex. I bet they'll keep looking.
In the waiting room, Deb and Harrison are waiting to greet him. Masuka is standing there too. He tells Dexter that they miss him and Dex replies that he'll be back soon. Laguerta hears and says that he will be taking some time off because he should be with his family. Then, she leaves to talk to the FBI agents. Dexter, appearing annoyed in that way that apparently seems shy and retiring to those around him instead of menacing, walks out with the kid. Deb looks anxious. Batista asks her about the living situation and she says that space is tight. The FBI guys tell Laguerta that Dexter's alibi is airtight. They've got no leads, except for one KYLE BUTLER. Really?
Then, Laguerta, finished with her conversation, walks away. Batista tries to get her attention in order to give her her mail. She doesn't hear him and he accidentally drops it on the floor where upon its retrieval, Batista discovers a bank statement. It belongs to Laguerta and he happens to see that she has over a quarter of a million dollars in the bank. He looks disturbed. Was he expecting more?
Dexter and Harrison are with some cheesy guy who is showing Dex a moving truck. The guy is all gootchy-goo in Harrison's face and Dexter tells the guy that Harrison isn't talking yet. He shows Dex the different sizes of trucks and asks if Harrison is a family name. Dex answers "Kind of" at the time that he spots a little bit of blood in the back of one of the trucks. Well done. He reminds himself that the blood could have come from anywhere. Yeah... nah. Even though the truck is probably bigger than his needs, that's the one he rents.
Later, with Harrison still in his car seat on the kitchen table, Dexter is packing. He tells the baby that they are going to be moving to a much better place. He starts to pack a drawer of kitchen untensils when Elliott the neighbor enters. Dex tells the baby that they'll move to a place without annoying neighbors. Elliott has some of Dexter's mail (perhaps the catalog from Life's End?) and takes the opportunity to tell Dex how sorry he is about everything that has happened. Dexter doesn't want to hear it. Elliott also says that he's a single father like Dex is now and is willing to give him advice. He tells Dexter that you have to give up all of your free time for your kids and asks Dex if he's willing to do that. What an insulting question. Dex agrees and says that, yes, he is willing to make that sacrifice. At the same time, he accidentally drops the box of utensils. Elliott starts to help pick it up, but Dexter stops him. He kneels down and picks up a knife and looks at Elliott's groin and I think we all know what he's thinking... he hates Elliott's shorts. We all do, Dex. Certainly he has no right to live.
Dexter takes a box out to the blood truck and VO's that he will make sacrifices and be a good father. He's obsessing over the blood but stops and reminds himself that he should be focusing on the kids. , Dexter brings an ice chest into Deb's apartment. She seems like she's feeling really crowded. Rita's parents are there too. They're apparently scoring a lot of that funeral food right now. Someone gave Dexter "another" cake. Deb replies that she had to eat an entire tuna casserole in order to make room in the apartment. She asks Cody to help her unload the ice chest and he mentions that she has a lot of beer in her fridge. She says that "people just keep bringing it." Screw tuna casseroles, show your sympathy with Corona!
Astor is pissed that Dexter didn't bring different stuff, naturally. He reminds her that space is a little limited, but she says that he brought all of her "reject" clothes and she won't be able to wear any of that to school. He tells her not to worry, that "no one will notice" her. This, of course, offends her. You know, that's actually kind of a stupid line. In no universe, other, I guess, than one where you kill people all of the time, is it a good thing to not be noticed. I would think Dexter would know that by now. Astor thinks he should know that too and stomps off. Ellen from All My Children in the 80's, aka Rita's mom, notices the tension and has Cody join her as she brings in the last load from the moving van. Cody says that he likes living there, because it's like camp. Sweet Cody, he is going to really have the disease to please when he grows up.
Later, everyone is asleep except for Dexter. He's thinking about the blood. Harrison wakes up. Dexter puts him in his carrier and leaves. He investigates the truck and notices traces of blood all over the inside of the door. He thinks, because of some small hand prints, that it was a woman who died. He seems satisfied, having done a little of what he does best. Suddenly Harry is there telling him that he should be concentrating on the kids like he said he would. I watched this with Joe Reid and he made a severe yet salient point -- maybe Harry has come to the end of his usefulness as a narrative device. Does Dexter still need this relationship with him? Hasn't so much of his evolution been about moving away from the code? Dexter tells Harry that he has to take care of his own needs too, but Harry says that the kids are not just his responsibility but also his salvation.
Back inside, Dexter taps into the moving van web site and finds information for the last renter of the truck, Boyd Fowler. Dexter finds out that Boyd works for the Department of Sanitation and picks up dead animals. That must be where the blood came from. Dexter does a test- it was human blood.
The day, Dexter is waiting by a dead raccoon on the road. Boyd arrives in an official truck. Dexter had called in the dead raccoon because he was driving by and it creeped him out. He says that Boyd must be used to seeing dead things, but Boyd says you never get used to it. Dexter mentions that he's moving and doesn't moving suck, but Boyd offers that he has lived in the same house for 20 years. "Why the moving van?" Dexter wonders, though that's not nearly as much wondering as he would have to do if this guy Boyd weren't answering every single one of Dexter's odd questions. Makes finding the person you're going to kill a lot easier, I'd imagine. Boyd says hi to the bandit then points out that the raccoon was clearly killed, then dropped on the road. Dexter VO's that Boyd is CSI-ing him. You could consider it Dextering too, though Boyd hasn't bludgeoned or stabbed anyone. Yet. Boyd throws the raccoon in the back and takes off. Dexter notes that he's odd, but reckons the "best and brightest" don't get into the business of dead animal pick-up. Well, that's judgmental.
Batista joins Quinn who is already at a crime scene. Quinn explains that they've found a head. Just a head. It's a lady head. Quinn thinks it's a drug killing. Then, Batista asks a "hypothetical" question about newlyweds -- is one spouse obligated to tell the other spouse about a secret bank account? Quinn says that fuck no and Laguerta should keep her hands off of his money. Excellent. Batista just asks to be taken to the head. Masuka and Deb are there. The head is there and is gross. Masuka says that the victim was alive when she was decapitated. Deb says that's unless she was buried standing up. Heh.
Batista walks away and Quinn reaches over and tucks the back of Deb's shirt in. She slaps his hand away and asks him what he's doing. He says that he's just trying to help -- she's looking a little ragged. She reminds him that she's living in a cramped apartment. She slept in a bed with Astor last night and she kicked her all night (probably on purpose). Quinn tells her that she's welcomed to sleep at his place anytime. He doesn't actually sound like he's being gross, but she's like, "No thanks, detective."
Quinn leaves and there's a cop looking at the head with Deb. She says that it looks like Santa Muerte, a cult whose name means "St. Death." Deb is aware of that, but she wonders why she thinks that. She says that the eyes and tongue were cut out to send a message. If you don't see anything, you can't say anything. Deb does not like this lady. The cop says that this is her neighborhood and she thinks the bad guys used a machete. She says that they'll get back to her if they need her help. Quinn arrives and says that they found the rest of the body. Now, they're going to canvas the neighborhood asking people if they saw anything. The officer says that they won't say anything because they are afraid, but Deb says super condescendingly that they still have to ask. Territorial much?
Dexter is looking online for stuff about helping children deal with grief. He doesn't find anything that speaks to the particular circumstances of his kids. Thank God. I'd hate to run across that website. Curiosity gets the best of him and he starts researching Boyd again. He has a police record. Assault with a deadly weapon. He has no mortgage, so Dexter digs and finds that Boyd inherited his house from his parents.
Here's Deb. He tells her that Astor is still angry. They're going to a grief counselor the day. Deb says it's going to be hard to replace a mother as good as Rita was. Cody is asleep in the bed with Astor, which means that Deb
gets the cot. Instead, she goes to Quinn's place. He tries to kiss her and she says that she came there to sleep, not have his fat sausage fingers all over her. Excellent. She says there's no room for her at her own place, unless she wants to curl up in a toaster oven. Being a good sister to Dexter is exhausting for her. Quinn asks how Dexter is. She says that he's good and that the FBI is now looking for Kyle Butler. Quinn gets a big hmmm look on his face.The morning, Dexter is making pancakes and Cody wants them in triangle shapes. Astor reluctantly joins in the fun and it looks like things are starting to warm up. Then, she accidentally sets four places and it makes her angry. Dexter says that he's doing the best he can. Cody gets upset and says that he hates it when they fight.
At his place, Quinn asks Deb what's going on. She says that nothing ever happened between them. Seriously. Then, she leaves. Real mature. At the station, Masuka is doing some lab recreations of the head lady murder. He's having a hard time. He keeps slipping and falling in the fake blood. Deb tells him try the machete. It's a match!
Batista asks Deb the spouses and bank accounts question. Deb says that he doesn't own Laguerta and it's her money, end of story. Interesting. At another crime scene, there's a guy who shot his head. It's gross. Deb sees the lady cop and tells her that she was right about the machete. They find a photo and the lady in the photograph is the head lady from earlier. Quinn reckons it's a murder/suicide, but Deb brings up that there was Santa Muerte stuff from earlier, but not now. Brain matter from the ceiling falls on Masuka and it's disgusting.
Dexter scopes out Boyd's place. He finds a steel bin filled with dead animals. He breaks in to check things out, but then Boyd comes home. As Boyd listens to a self-help tape, Dex notices that the attic door is locked. Strange? Boyd has weird OCD stuff about his soup cans. Dex finds a lock of hair that is numbered. That's not normal.
Deb is accompanied by Quinn to look at a place for Dexter. Quinn says that he can relate to a man wanting to cut his wife's head off. The real estate agent mistakes them for a couple. Quinn gets all flirty on the bed, but Deb is seriously not having it.
Dexter follows Boyd to a river in the middle of nowhere. He kicks a steel bin off of his truck then leaves. Dex is investigating when he gets a call from Deb. She's hysterical. They weren't at school when she went to pick them up. Dexter knows where they will be. He goes to his house and finds Astor and Cody in the bathroom. They wanted to see where their mom died. Dexter apologizes for not bringing Astor back earlier. She's tired of him apologizing. She blames him for making them think everything was going to be perfect. She thought coming there would make her feel better, but you can't even tell what happened. She says that she doesn't want to live with Dexter. She's going to live with her grandparents.
Arthur Mitchell's family were consulted for sketches of Kyle Butler, but all three of them are different. Quinn asks Laguerta if he can hold onto them. She goes into her office and finds Batista who confronts her about her bank account. She says that it was a retirement fund, not a secret. She says that she loves him, but she's practical and wants to hold onto her separate bank account. He hears her calling him irresponsible, so he goes into the open area and invites everyone out that night for drinks on him.
Deb comes home and finds Dex outside. He tells her that the kids are going home with their grandparents. Cody wants to stay, but Dexter told him that he needed to stay with his sister. Deb says that she would never have made it through the trials in her life without Dexter.
Deb calls Quinn and admits to having had sex with him. He asks her if they're going to have more sex, but she hangs up. Meanwhile, Quinn is putting the Kyle composites together seemingly almost pointedly trying to make it look like Dexter.
Batista and Masuka are out drinking when they are joined by another cop. He says that Laguerta is his sugar mama and a hot piece of ass. Naturally, fisticuffs occur.
Astor and Cody are packed and Rita's parents are there. Cody is crying and begs to stay. Dexter VO's that he likes children because they connect him to the innocence he can't have. Dexter tells Astor that her mother loved her more than she can imagine and... he does too. Astor gives him the most brilliantly perfunctory hug, then silently gets in the car and they drive away. Poor Cody looks back crying as the car drives away.
Dexter drives to the place where Boyd dumped that bin. We see images of Boyd clipping hair and putting a lady in a bin of water and electrifying it. Dexter sees a bunch of other steel bins in the water. The thought of killing Boyd doesn't even make him feel better though. Harry is there and asks him if they shouldn't just go home. He asks for a minute.
Jeff Long is a performer/writer living in Brooklyn.
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