I thought after last week we might slow down a little; instead, what we get demonstrates that the show has completely lost its mind, and I kind of totally love it. LaGuerta continues her excellent police work by theorizing that some of their wanted murderers might have been killed by the BHB – and comes up with the idea that the BHB took out all the suspects from the barrel girls murders. Deb tries to dissuade LaGuerta from her entirely correct (even down to the idea that the BHB willingly took on an accomplice) theory, but LaGuerta's got the thread in her hands and is determined to pull it until something unravels. And she's not the only one, as Deb easily figures out that Dexter's accomplice had to be Lumen, and is thoroughly repulsed by the idea that Dexter moved her into his house so they could kill together; for the first time, she seems to have accepted who Dexter is and still be completely grossed out by him.
So it turns out that instead of seeing a kindred spirit, Dexter regards Hannah as potential bait for his table, not least because he suspects her of having pulled a Black Widow job on her husband, who died at 40. To get closer to her, he eliminates anything from his forensics report that would implicate her; it works well enough that he gets more information, the most interesting of which is that she had a female mentor in the nursery business who also just happened to pass away – a woman who had made Hannah her sole beneficiary. Then, some true-crime writer, "Sal Price" (played by the actor who was Isaac on Heroes), comes into the station. Turns out he wrote about Randall's misdeeds back in the day, and he wants to update his book with the recently uncovered info about Hannah and Randall; it also turns out that he's long held the belief that Hannah is a killer too. This complicates Dexter's life in a couple ways; one, it threatens to expose the liberties he took with the blood report, and two, Price is romantically interested in Deb, so he and his nose for crime might not be going anywhere.
However, Price does clue Dexter in to a third possible victim of Hannah's who died of poisoning, which Dexter had already speculated was her lethal weapon of choice. Dexter breaks into Price's place to get a look at more of his dossier on Hannah, but even as he's almost to the point of proving to himself that she's a murderer, Dexter has to deal with the fact that he's attracted to her as well, helped by a seductive evening visit from the woman in question. What follows is a complicated dance in which Hannah basically subtextually confesses that she kills people rather than let herself get too emotionally attached to them, and knowing that he's putting himself in danger but unable to prove her murderous intentions otherwise, Dexter prevails upon her to go out on a date with him. If it sounds effed up, that's because it is – and it's also pretty well acted.
Quinn tells Nadia about the money Jason Gedrick left for him, and she literally asks, "What good is money if you are dead?" Smart girl. Quinn, too, is uneasy about what he might be getting into in the wake of Isaak Pullo's arrest, so he returns the bribe. And speaking of, Isaak Pullo has been denied bail, but Deb, LaGuerta, and the DA are all worried that his lawyers will be able to appeal that decision successfully on a claim of self-defense, which is fairly hilarious, given that Isaak Pullo is able to dominate the Colombians in the clink without breaking a sweat or even using more than one hand. Isaak Pullo, however, is worried that he'll be forced to kill in prison, which would make a release a bit more difficult to obtain, so he summons Jason Gedrick to get him out of there before that happens, serving up that order with a side of dripping menace. Knowing his self-preservation is at stake, Jason Gedrick tells Quinn to lose the blood evidence linking Isaak Pullo to the crime – or he'll have Nadia transferred to a sex club in Dubai. On the other hand, if Quinn cooperates, Jason Gedrick will release Nadia from the Brotherhood's possession altogether. When Quinn can't get hold of Nadia for an entire day, he goes through with stealing the blood out of Evidence, so that's going to go great for everyone.
Batista tells Jamie he's thinking about retiring from the force and buying a restaurant, and given how obviously they've been writing him this season as "too old for this shit," this is probably the happiest eventuality he could have hoped for. When Deb hears about it, she's super-bummed that her lies about Anderson might have contributed to his decision, but when Batista tells her he's trying to make up for the fact that as a cop, he forgot to have a life, Deb understands – and immediately gives Price a call. On their date, Price lets an inquisitive Deb know about his Hannah theory; he also lets her know that he had an independent guy analyze the blood-spatter photos, and they indicate the second victim was killed by a much smaller assailant than Randall, so Deb is going to be all too aware that Dexter broke yet another promise to her, this one practically before the words were even out of his mouth.
In the end, Dexter takes Hannah to a reindeer theme park she always wanted to go to in her Randall days. She's delighted by the fake snow – until Dexter plunges his needle into her neck. Surrounded by a Christmas tableau, Dexter tells her he's going to kill her, but when she looks at him without fear and tells him to do what he needs to, there's a moment of total understanding between them, and instead of plunging his knife into her heart, he slices off her bonds and then gets to plunging something else into her – in front of Santa and the reindeer, no less. I told you Dexter needed an ally, but it looks like what he's got is a full-on partner in crime – one from whom I doubt he'll ever feel completely safe.
We open on a shot of what we'll learn is a true-crime book; it's called Love On The Run, authored by a "Sal Price." The rather thick paperback is in Dexter's hands, the better to make him look less conspicuous as he keeps an eye on Hannah, who's unloading some flowers as part of a delivery. DVO, surprisingly, lets us know that he's been fixated on the thought of putting Hannah on his table to pay her back for her murdering past; less surprising is Harry showing up to suggest that maybe Dexter should cut her some slack, as she was only fifteen when the crime happened. And look, I know "Harry" is supposed to be a representation of Dexter's subconscious or whatever, but all he ever does is play unnecessary audience surrogate or even more unnecessary devil's advocate; not only is it irritating, the latter can't be an accurate representation of Dexter's internal struggles; I've know triple Geminis who questioned their own decisions with less regularity. So from now on, I refuse to recap "Harry" unless he's saying something that might actually be relevant; there's far too much going on this season to spend time on this weak and contractually obligated sauce.
The point is, Dexter has seen a very present lust for the kill in Hannah's eyes and as such is sure that she's committed more murders in the intervening time - in fact, her husband (!) died at age 40 of a heart attack despite having no family history, which I guess means that Hannah is a fan of the film Black Widow. She just went up a notch in my book. Okay, Harry does make one good point when he asks if Dexter maybe has more pressing concerns than killing extremely nubile knife-wielding murderers, but Dexter is like, it's because of all this pressure that I feel the urge to kill more than ever, and by the way, have we met? Dexter wants to ask her about her late spouse, but realizes that he might need a peace offering after the way they left things last time. Might I suggest a Lizzie Borden bobblehead?
At the station, Deb is babbling about what a great thing bagging Isaak Pullo was when Dexter comes in late to her and LaGuerta's briefing. Deb looks at him like he just, well, killed someone, but while Dexter isn't nearly as smart or meticulous as he thinks he is, I don't think he's much of a morning killer. LaGuerta congratulates everyone, as the arraignment resulted in Isaak Pullo being denied bail, but Deb pipes up that he's got an army of lawyers that will be working to get that decision overturned. DVO notes that Isaak Pullo being in jail is probably a necessary condition of a successful Hannah kill, so Dexter pipes up that they have blood evidence placing him at the scene, like thanks, Dexter, I'm sure no one in the room was aware of that, considering it was literally the only evidence you had on which to bring him in. After Deb glares at Dexter some more, LaGuerta finishes out her pep talk...
...and then Dexter is trudging into his office, seemingly bummed about the cold shoulder Deb is yet again giving him. He then decides that the perfect way to get back in Hannah's good graces is to get rid of any forensic evidence of her having been involved in that murder, whereupon Harry (I can't get away from him), in a petulant "Young man!" tone of voice, asks if he didn't promise Deb that he wouldn't take cases away from the Department anymore, but Dexter glibly replies that Hannah has immunity, so there's nothing the police can do. Of course, the immunity only applies to crimes committed with Randall, so if she killed her husband, it would be an entirely different situation, but I'm sure you'll come clean at that point, right Dex? (Great, now I sound like Harry.)
In an orange jumpsuit, surrounded by barbed wire in the sunny prison yard, Isaak Pullo stares pensively into the middle distance with his hands clasped. Kind of a spoiler, but you probably won't be surprised to hear they're not going to stay that way. A beefy Colombian (not profiling; we'll find this out for sure soon enough) sits down opposite him, prompting Isaak Pullo mildly to rebuke him for blocking his view. Checking behind him, the guy points out to Isaak Pullo that the view to which he's so attached is of a wall, but Isaak Pullo tells him that to him, it's a blank canvas. "A projection screen for the mind." Poetic and all, Isaak Pullo, but you haven't exactly made it sound too much less boring.
The guy doing the threatening tells Isaak Pullo he knows he killed three of his guys, and menaces that he won't sound so smart when he's bleeding all over the place. Although that would liven up the blank canvas. Isaak Pullo, amused, spares a look down to see the guy has a mostly-concealed blade in his hand; with a quick move, he grabs the guy's wrist and flips it over. Dude, you never attack a guy one on one in the clink! Didn't you ever watch Oz? As the Colombian guy waves from his pretzel-like position for his goons to keep their distance, Isaak Pullo, keeping his hold firm, tells the guy he hasn't thought things through, and that a businessman weighs short-term gains against long-term consequences. And I might object that Isaak Pullo's lecture seems hypocritical when he's making his pursuit of Dexter so personal, but what he's doing to the Colombian's wrist looks really painful, so I think I'll pass.
Isaak Pullo tells the guy that he could retaliate, but then a bunch of his guys would pay them back ten times over. "We outnumber you. We outgun you. Quite frankly, we're smarter than you." Well, forgive me for saying so, Isaak Pullo, but if that's the case, you're not exactly explaining how the Colombians managed to yank the Miami heroin business from you. As Isaak Pullo finishes breaking "the guy's" wrist and the Colombian wins no acting awards for his portrayal of someone in that much pain, Isaak Pullo asks if they've come to terms. When he receives a choked affirmative, he smiles, but any mirth is dropped once he steps away and removes a cell phone from the depths of his uniform. He leaves a message for Jason Gedrick informing him that it's "urgent" that he pay him a visit, and I can just picture Jason Gedrick picking up that message while on the toilet and running out with his pants still around his ankles.
In the morning, Dexter tries knocking on Hannah's door and is puzzled by the lack of an answer, given that he's apparently been watching her for days and she hasn't varied her schedule. He heads out back and finds her digging a hole for a dead rabbit in her hand, and is like, "Heyyyyy, interesting!" She explains that since rabbits kill her plants, she sometimes takes it upon herself to poison them, which is the only way to get rid of them permanently. Dexter tells her to remind him not to show up uninvited, then, and boy, he must not have had any coffee for days if he doesn't see this response coming: "Too late." Hannah, fairly mildly, notes that Dexter's accused her of murder and animal cruelty; is there anything else he'd like to add? Dexter, feigning sheepish conciliation, apologizes and says he was wrong, handing over a copy of his report and saying it showed the blood evidence was inconclusive. Obviously, it seems unlikely that that could be the case, given how Dexter nailed her participation down to the scar on her hand, but he could be counting on her to realize this as part of his plan. With an inscrutable smile, she tells him it takes a real gentleman to admit when he's wrong, and some subtextual talk about dirt then forces DVO to tell himself to snap out of staring at her, like, dude, I know you're weird but I thought you were pretty clearly het? This is Yvonne Strahovski we're talking about; I'm a Kinsey 6 and I'm not exactly not interested.
Dexter tells her that while he's there, he could use a plant for his place, and she's amusedly disbelieving but leads the way to the nursery, wherein she asks him about his place so as to get a better idea of what would be appropriate. Dexter manages to steer the topic to her husband, but he doesn't get any more information than his apparent cause of death before Hannah cuts off the topic. In an effort to bring it back around, he tells her that his wife was murdered, and Hannah at least sounds sincere in saying that that's awful. Still, though, she'd rather get off the doom-and-gloom subjects, so Dexter tries another tack, asking how long she's had the place. Hannah tells him it's been about a year, and mentions that she worked for the owner before that, a "Beverly Grey," who passed away about a year ago. Dexter quickly notes that her mentor died as well as her husband; having gotten more to go on, he tells her he has to get to work, but she points out he still hasn't picked a plant, so he picks one out and asks what he owes her. After a pause, she gives credence to the idea that she understands what he did for her when she tells him it's on her, and he thanks her and takes off.
Back at the station, DVO lets us know that Beverly Grey's will named Hannah as her lone beneficiary, and points out that people have killed for less. His suspicions rise further when he sees that Ms. Grey's cause of death was listed as a heart attack, and although she at least was more age-appropriate, she still was only 62 and presumably was active, given her vocation. Dexter notes that women often kill with poison, as it's safe and detached, and although I'm not sure that completely fits psychologically given that Hannah's first kill involved going hog-wild with a knife, we do know she's no stranger to poison either. Just then, a guy enters the station, and Dexter recognizes him as "Sal Price," the author of the book he was reading in the opening scene. Dexter wonders if Price might be able to tell him something about Hannah he doesn't already know, but when he gets up, he sees the elevator doors close on Price. Dexter turns to Deb and asks what he was doing there, and Deb tells him that Price heard about the new bodies uncovered and wanted to get information with which to update his book, so she agreed to give him a copy of the case file. Dexter lets a "shit" escape his mouth as he realizes this means his fabricated blood report is actually going to be examined by someone who cares, but covers as he says he was just annoyed that he missed Price, as he'd love to get him to autograph his book. Deb, however, tells him that he just went down to get coffee...
...so Dexter catches him there and gushes about how he's such a huge fan. As he takes the book to sign it, Price notes Dexter's surname and wonders if he's related to Deb? Dexter confirms that, whereupon Price asks if she's single, and the momentary WTF expression on Dexter's face is pretty understatedly funny. Dexter then brings up the blood report, saying that he might not have put too much time into it given that it was a solved crime, but Price tells him not to worry - he usually has his own guy take a look just in case. Dexter asks what he might be hoping to find, and Price shoots him an appraising look before confiding that he has this little theory that Hannah "deserves her own sequel." Upon promising to put in a good word for Price with Deb, Dexter worms one more bit of information out of him, to wit: After Hannah got out of juvie, she moved into a halfway house. Everything seemed fine for a while, but at some point she accused a counselor of sexually abusing her. The guy got off with a slap on the wrist, but a couple weeks later he dropped dead, and they found rat poison in his system. "Sound like a coincidence to you?" I think it sounds like an orgasm to Dexter, if the satisfied look on his face is any indication, and Price heads off, but not before Price shakes his hand and says he hopes he'll check out the book. DVO: "I will read your book, Mr. Price. But I won't be waiting for it to come out in hardcopy." Right. Kindle-only.
Upstairs, sometime later, Price comes into Deb's office laden with files and satisfaction and asks if he can buy her a drink in gratitude. Deb's mind almost explodes at the idea of going on a date, so foreign a concept has it become, and she can barely choke out a refusal. Price misinterprets her reticence as fear that he's only interested in her story, specifically her engagement to the Ice Truck Killer, and Deb sputters that she didn't even think about that, and she hopes he's not bringing it up as "some fucked-up tactic." Price asks if she's always this defensive, which I wouldn't guess would calm her down, but he is hot, in case the mention of him being Isaac on Heroes is meaningless to you. She tells him that her life is a little complicated for dating at the moment, and he accepts the defeat with equanimity, but not without leaving his card in case she changes her mind. Which, if you've watched TV before, you know she will, and good for her.
Quinn is in his car waiting when Nadia hops in; she moves to kiss him, but he claims he has garlic breath, so she opens the glove compartment in search of some gum - and finds the stash of bills, like, NICE PLACE TO KEEP THAT, JOEY. But he actually wanted her to see it, as he tells her Jason Gedrick left it for her, and he figured she knew about it. From the look on her face, though, that's clearly not the case, so Quinn explains about the arrangement he and Jason Gedrick used to have, and adds that while he's a good cop, he likes money. Nadia: "What good is money if you are dead?" Like I said in the recaplet, smart girl, and her words are like a bucket of cold water on Quinn. Although it's only fair to point out that not taking the money won't always save you, and a certain bartender with a hole in his head knows what I'm talking about.
But Quinn is apparently willing to find out, as he marches into Jason Gedrick's office, tosses the bag at him, and bounces. Jason Gedrick barely even looks at him, which I can't exactly say makes me like him any less.
Dexter breaks into Price's place and starts rooting around on his computer for Hannah information. It doesn't take him long to find his files and start copying them; while he's waiting for the files to transfer onto his flash drive, he looks at some papers and ends up snapping a photo of Beverly Grey's toxicology report. I'm not saying it would be the best TV, but it would certainly add some vérité if Dexter didn't have the easiest time operating the touch screen on his phone while wearing latex gloves. Regardless, he gets out of there without mishap.
Batista and Jamie are at some outdoor café, and long story short: Batista wants to buy the place and retire from the force after twenty years, and I think even a Lethal Weapon parody sketch on Saturday Night Live would be foreshadowing Batista's death with more subtlety. Jamie at least thinks Batista is impulsive; he gets ideas in his head, "and then you end up divorced, with a broken-down Trans Am and barely enough money to pay the rent!" The scene tries to end before Batista is entirely stripped of its dignity, but I'm not sure it's successful.
In jail, after Jason Gedrick complains that "Lurch" (hee, I thought of that name for him too) won't even let him alone to take a shit, Isaak Pullo tells Jason Gedrick in no uncertain terms that he has to get him out of there, as every moment in which he's incarcerated is a moment in which he might snap a Colombian's neck like a twig, which might throw a tiny wrench into his plans to get out of there. When Jason Gedrick confesses that Quinn returned the payoff, Isaak Pullo seethes for a moment, and then merely replies, "[Jason Gedrick], do not disappoint me." Well, there's another shit of Jason Gedrick's to which Lurch has bore witness.
Quinn arrives at a busy restaurant expecting to meet Nadia - but when he's shown to his table, he finds Jason Gedrick. Doing some quick math, he tells Jason Gedrick that if he hurts Nadia, he'll kill him, but Jason Gedrick blithely tells him that Nadia's too valuable a commodity to do so capriciously. Quinn sits down and asks what he wants, and Jason Gedrick confesses that he doesn't actually want anything, but Isaak Pullo would like it ever so much if he'd get rid of the blood evidence linking him to the Colombian murders, and if he does, he'll head back to Ukraine just as soon as he's released. Oh, and if he doesn't, they'll send Nadia over to one of their sex clubs in Dubai. "She's a strong girl - she'll last a couple weeks before she slits her wrists." I'm not crunching the numbers for that business model. Quinn looks like he's going to chew his own face off as he tells Jason Gedrick that if he complies, he has to let Nadia go for good, and Jason Gedrick agrees, even tossing the bag of money back at him to boot. Well, at least he can afford the dinner now. He immediately tries to call Nadia, but gets her voicemail and leaves a message he probably knows will not be picked up.
Deb reports in to LaGuerta, who waves her in and has her close the door. LaGuerta tells her that she had her last two interviews with the families of possible victims of the BHB, and they didn't turn up anything. Before Deb can even finish her sigh of relief, though, LaGuerta excitedly goes on that she started thinking about open cases and how a lot of their homicide suspects have vanished. "What if the Butcher took some of them out?" Now obviously, it's easy for the writers to have LaGuerta come up with this theory, given the advantage they have of knowing it's true. However, I still buy it; it's not like Dexter hasn't had cops close to figuring out his patterns before, and with Keith Carradine's writings to guide her, I can believe that LaGuerta could credibly identify this possibility. It's not like she has anything else to do, anyway.
Deb is stunned not only that LaGuerta isn't letting this drop but that there may be yet another bunch of Dexter kills about which she's going to learn, but covers admirably as she compliments LaGuerta's police work and asks if she's found anything. LaGuerta points to the "Barrel Girls" - of whom you'll remember Lumen was the only survivor - and tells Deb that all five suspects, including Jordan Chase (Jonny Lee Miller) vanished before they could build a case against them. Deb points out that there were two vigilante killers, and that would seem to be an issue, as I don't think serial killers are generally known to vary their MOs, but LaGuerta is unfazed, speculating that possibly the BHB took on an accomplice. "One of the victims who was looking for justice?" Okay, this part I admit might be a little tough to believe, but LaGuerta is highly motivated at this point. Plus, they already thought the BHB was in law enforcement; makes it all the more likely that he would go after these horrible criminals. In any case, she admits it's a reach, but still thinks it's possible. Deb tries one more time to dissuade LaGuerta, offering the opinion that Chase was too high profile to risk killing, but LaGuerta still thinks the idea is worth looking into. Deb looks a lot like Quinn did at points in that last scene, and at least no one can accuse of her having exaggerated when she told Price that her life is a little complicated at the moment for dating.
Dexter is home reviewing Price's notes and reads that Price bribed the funeral director to get access to Ms. Grey's body before she was cremated, and I hope the director didn't think it was a Kill Bill-esque situation when he agreed to it. Price lifted a blood sample (not so easy to get blood from a corpse, is it?) and had it tested for aconite - a deadly poison that causes heart attacks - that comes from a plant that just so happens to have been growing on the greenhouse property for years. He adds that it wouldn't show up on a blood screen unless the tester knew what he was looking for, and resolves to talk to Hannah's handyman, who worked there when Ms. Grey was still alive. But that conversation will have to wait, because guess who's knocking on the door! It's Hannah, with a new plant in her hands, which is presume isn't aconite, but maybe the latex gloves would be a good precaution. Dexter slams his laptop closed and then looks warily at the photo of Harrison on his desk, and I'd really like to know if Dexter still thinks he's this awesome parental influence by the end of this episode, but I can't say I blame him for putting the photo face down, since it's not generally smart policy to let possible murderers know your loved-ones status.
Dexter also takes care to fix his hair before opening up for Hannah and asking with some suspicion what she's doing there; she replies that he picked the wrong plant, and she's got a better one for him - one whose flowers have a distinctively blood-spatter (or splatter, if you're Jason Gedrick)-looking pattern. The fact that she selected such a design again makes me think she's live to what he did for her, but whether that's true or not, we know Dexter doesn't like to entertain his potential victims at home, so he warily asks how she found him. Hannah: "Google." Thank you, previews! But honestly, it's nice how people keep reminding Dexter that he's not the only person in the world who can track someone down. It's not like he learns anything from it, but I at least enjoy it.
After DVO notes that he should ask her to leave, he invites her in, and if Dexter had more experience with women, he might not be so freaked out by the concept of thinking with his dick. She tells him sure - in fact, she'll help him find the perfect spot for the plant, which needs to be near a window but not directly in front of it. She marches into the dimly-lit bedroom, whereupon he follows her and tells her there's not enough light, and when she points out he could open the shades, he tells her he likes the dark. Hannah: "Me too." This dance is interesting; they both clearly have an attraction to the other, and they both (as we'll learn more about in Hannah's case) have many reasons to fight it. Many solid actors have not brought their A game to this show; Yvonne Strahovski is not one of them. (Nor Ray Stevenson, if I haven't made that clear.)
DVO wonders what she wants, and Hannah stands, bathed in shadow, for a moment before flirtatiously sidling past Dexter and putting the plant on his dresser. "Now you can look at it when you wake up... and when you go to bed." Even Dexter knows this may be going somewhere, but at this moment his cell phone rings, and it's Deb, who summons him to her house so she can tell him about LaGuerta's new "theory that could royally fuck us." Dexter tries to claims he's in the middle of something, but she tells him it can't wait, so he agrees to meet her in twenty. When they disconnect, she looks at her phone like she's wondering what she might have interrupted. Deb, you said you didn't want to know at the end of last ep; having seen how this episode ends, let me just say I applaud your wisdom.
Chez Deb, she's already broken the news, but Dexter assures her that Jordan Chase and the others are long gone, and there's nothing to trace them to him. Deb, however, asks if the person with whom he was working is a loose end. Doing some quick math, Dexter denies knowledge of what she's talking about, but Deb brushes that off - she knows there were two vigilante killers, so who was helping him? Dexter assures her that he was helping the girl, not the other way around, and whatever happens, she knows she won't incriminate him. Deb, looking at him long and hard, divines that he and the girl were together, which unless my memory is failing wasn't strictly true, but they certainly had an emotional bond that transcended a simple mutually beneficial arrangement. Perhaps it's for that reason that Dexter chooses not to deny Deb's assertion that they were a couple, and she goes on that she remembers thinking at the time that whoever was behind the vigilante killings was doing it for love.
Thinking back to when the killings happened, Deb realizes that Lumen was staying with him, and I think there's a small part of Dexter that looks frightened at how quickly Deb figured this out, even as he tells her it doesn't matter who it was. Honestly, Dexter has gotten away with as much as he has by virtue of people not looking directly at him; when they have (Doakes, even Quinn for a time, and now Deb), his measure has actually been fairly easy to take. It's true Rita never quite saw it, but she was an idiot. Deb looks both ill and accusatory: "You moved your girlfriend into the house where Trinity murdered your wife so you could kill together?" Okay, in that tone of voice it sounds bad. Dexter finally pipes up in his own defense, saying that he felt guilty about Rita's death and thought that helping Lumen would be a way to atone for that, but Deb is not following along with the math that adds up to Dexter being the good guy here. He asks why they can't leave this stuff in the past, but Deb rightly points out that they certainly can't afford to if LaGuerta won't. He half-yells at her to let him worry about LaGuerta while she takes care of herself - maybe she could even go out with Price. Well, at least Dexter kept his word to Price there. Deb, however, hasn't quite recovered from the revelations of this conversation and orders Dexter out of her house. He's actually genuinely baffled, and the fact that he can't understand why she'd be grossed out by this little chat is a signal that maybe this relationship really is going to break.
After leaving that last scene with DVO letting us know how much he would really please like to kill someone, we cut to the morning, with Dexter watching the aforementioned handyman on a ladder doing something to the eaves of the house as DVO tells us that Hannah's become "a thorn in [his] side," and I'm not allowed to complain about bad puns without getting immediately struck by lightning, so let's watch Dexter get out of the car and ask the dude if Hannah's around. He says no, but invites Dexter to wait, and Dexter strikes up a conversation about the owner; the guy tells Dexter that when Ms. Grey got sick, Hannah was her sole caretaker and wouldn't let anyone else near her. After DVO notes that that means Hannah was the only one who had access to administer poison to the woman, Dexter inquires about "a purple wildflower" he claims Hannah mentioned to him, and the guy tells him where on the property the wildflowers grow. Dexter heads off to find it, and the result is chilling; not only does she have aconite growing, it's clear from a hole in the ground that she's recently harvested some of it, and as such might be pursuing a new target. I'll give Harry a nod here: "You're after her. What's to say she isn't after you?" Dexter doesn't have time to argue with himself long, though, as Hannah calls from behind him; when he turns, she smilingly asks what he's doing there. He says, not incredibly smoothly, that he was in the neighborhood, so she invites him in and says she'll make some coffee. When he walks past her, though, her eyes go to the missing plant...
...so I'm glad that when we cut to Hannah handing him the coffee with a warning that it's hot, DVO is ready: "And potentially deadly." With that in mind, he puts it down and says he really needs to get to work, whereupon Hannah steps in front of him and says she can't figure out what he wants, but he obviously keeps making excuses to see her. It's kind of funny that this parallels his confusion about what she wants; most non-serial-killers would probably assume that he likes her, but these two are wired differently. She challenges him to just spit out the reason he's there, and without pause, he tells her he wants to take her out. Hannah: "On a date?" Dexter, after a moment of confusion: "That'll work." HA! I love it when this show gets its own humor right.
Hannah looks genuinely touched, but tells Dexter she doesn't date, as she gets too easily attached. Dexter notes that she doesn't seem the type, but she admits she's not who people think she is - on the inside, she's still that fifteen-year-old girl who ran away with Randall. It is not like this season is perfect, but this is the most effort they've put into actually developing a character since Trinity; since I was so hard on last season it only seems fair to appreciate the good work here. She says the difference is that now she knows better - Randall promised her was going to take her to Disney World and "Santa's Holiday Adventure" - "some Christmas-themed shithole just outside of Miami." As we all know, Disney's very litigious, so it's probably best for the show that Hannah doesn't give a pithy description of it. She asks if Dexter knows it, and when he says no, she fondly and shyly tells him it's the only place in Florida where you can see snow, and she was obsessed with the idea at that age.
She also was obsessed with the perfect life she thought they'd have in Argentina, and was convinced that Randall was the only one who could give her these things she desperately desired, "that he was gonna fill the emptiness I felt inside." It's not often you hear two serial killers discuss their existential crises. She admits that at that age, she didn't care if Randall was the bad guy, or even if he killed people. "I didn't even care if I ended up in juvie. Not until later, anyway." She adds that it was worth it to hold onto the fantasy, but when Dexter asks if she still feels that way, her face falls and she comes out of the reverie, saying now she does whatever's necessary to make sure she doesn't lose herself like that again. "But I do still wish I had gotten to see the snow." Dexter points out that he's not Randall, and isn't going to land her in jail (excuse me for a moment; HA HA HA), but though Hannah still thinks it's a bad idea, she finally acquiesces. And my take-away from this scene, as I mentioned in the recaplet, is that Hannah killed her husband and her mentor because she felt too emotionally attached to them, so Dexter really is flirting with danger here...
...and speaking of people in danger, Quinn leaves what sounds like about the fiftieth message of the past day for Nadia, saying that he stopped by the club and she wasn't there and urgently asking her to call him back. Batista then wanders up asking if Quinn thinks he's impulsive, and Quinn can barely choke out a reply, not that Batista notices, as he babbles about retiring and whatever, and then Masuka spills the beans to Deb about that after Quinn has hightailed it away from these idiots. Deb asks Masuka to give them a minute, and beyond Deb's betrayal of Batista last week, it's well established that she's always looked up to him, so it's no surprise that the news he might be leaving hits her hard. Deb's voice breaks as she explicitly asks if this is about Anderson, but Batista tells her, essentially, that he has no life, and even though it may sound crazy, the idea of buying this restaurant makes him happy. No stranger to not having a life, Deb is mollified by this explanation, and takes his hand and tells him it doesn't sound crazy at all. She probably hasn't seen many statistics on the failure rate of restaurants under new management, but I suppose he'll still have a job here when it happens...
...but it's not like this is important on its own merits. What is important, however, is that this little exchange prompts Deb to take a step forward in life-getting and give Price a call to take him up on that date. She even smiles!
There's no need to beat around the bush: Under some pretext, Quinn steals Isaak Pullo's blood out of the Evidence freezer. As I said before, that's going to go great for everyone. (Also, doesn't the Evidence room have cameras in it? If it didn't before, I bet it will now.)
On Date Number One, Price and Deb exchange some light banter about their obsessive personalities before she gets him to tell her, off the record, about his Hannah theories. When he adds that he has evidence to back it up, she replies that she'll make out with him if he'll show it to her, and I don't think the way this guy looks he's too hard up, but guys do love these little games girls will play. Price pulls out his iPad and shows her the blood-spatter photos, which Deb says she's seen. What's new, though, is that Price's blood guy disagreed with Dexter that the evidence was inconclusive. Deb tells him Dexter is never wrong, but Price won't be deterred. Deb's face falls, partially because she knows Hannah has immunity, but probably also because Dexter apparently making this error suggests yet another betrayal on his part.
Date Number Two, and oh, Dexter has taken Hannah to Santa's Holiday Adventure! Of course, it not being the holiday season in the show's time, the place is deserted, but Hannah is giddily delighted, especially when Dexter suggests a little breaking and entering be on their agenda. Inside, they walk side by side, Dexter holding a picnic basket in one hand (LOVE the twisted detail that he's got his kill stuff in there) and Hannah sliding her hand into his other. Dexter leads her into a tent - apparently he checked the place out earlier and got it ready - and the lights come on to reveal a Christmas tableau, complete with the falling fake snow Hannah so desperately wanted to see. She's overcome with childlike wonder - again, Strahovski really is good here - and Dexter tells her he thought that if she saw it, she could finally get some peace. Of course, she may also get some peace from the drug that Dexter then injects into her neck, and it's kind of amazing that he would end her life while giving her this long-held wish. I did think it was a bit hard to believe that they'd get rid of Strahovski mid-season, but the irony made me a believer...
...and when Hannah awakens, she's taped up in the usual manner, but instead of in a nondescript kill room, Dexter has chosen to keep the snow falling, and has lain her out in this Christmas-y gazebo-like thing. Knife in hand, he tells her that killing is what keeps him up at night, what he longs for. With a sudden movement, he bends down to her and holds the knife to her throat: "This is what I need to fill my emptiness." She makes a sound, so he rips the duct tape off her mouth, whereupon she leans forward, with not fear but understanding in her eyes: "Do what you gotta do." He's momentarily stunned by this reaction to the point he actually flinches, but he then stands, holds the knife on high - but then, almost like the knife is controlling him rather than the other way around, he slices the tape binding her rather than sticking the knife into her heart. After taking a moment to recover from the shock, she sits up, the tape falling away from her naked body, breathes his name, and kisses him - and soon, his clothes are coming off and he's performing some unscheduled penetration. Tell me that's not going to leave some DNA evidence.
So in the end, Dexter did find a kindred spirit in Hannah. But given her own speech to him about what she does to people to whom she gets attached, can he ever feel safe from her? Whatever may be coming, I just love how the season continues to get more complicated for Dexter. And the scenes to come look like that pattern will continue.