In the wake of last week's ending, Vogel shows Dexter recordings of sessions she had with Harry when Dexter was ten and just waking up to his psychopathic leanings, and we learn that Vogel was the architect of the code Harry imparted to Dexter. Also, Vogel confesses to having a fondness for psychopaths and maternal feelings toward Dexter, and even Dexter is like, "Ummmm." She asks Dexter to track down The Brain Surgeon, who may be a former patient of hers given the way he's been leaving threatening pieces of brain on her doorstep, and although he doesn't trust her Dexter reluctantly agrees. He finds prints on the second victim, whom we see killed by asphyxiation, and he figures the killer's going to be easy to track down – but the case gets more complicated when he finds his murdered corpse.
Elway isn't thrilled that Deb took two weeks in Ft. Lauderdale with nothing to show for it, nor is he a big fan of his deduction that Deb was sleeping with Briggs, but Deb at least figures out where the storage unit that fits the key she took off Briggs is located – only to have El Sapo show up, steal back the jewelry and Deb's gun, and then rough her up when she tries to tackle him. Later, El Sapo turns up dead in his car with three execution-style bullets in him, and Dexter notices some blood that couldn't be the victim's and surreptitiously has it tested, but not before checking in on Deb, who in a haze of booze and pills tells him to get lost. The blood then comes back as belonging to Deb, and when Dexter confronts her, she tells him she lost a lot of time thanks to the beating El Sapo gave her, but she does remember standing over his corpse. Dexter swaps out her gun before it's tested to cover Deb's tracks, but she's in a dark, dark place – although I do wonder what she used to shoot El Sapo given that he was in possession of her gun.
In the end, Vogel calls Dexter and tells him someone's been in her house; when they investigate, they find a DVD that reveals the dude Dexter found murdered was being coerced at gunpoint when he killed the victim, and Dexter berates himself for, essentially, sucking at serial killing now. But Vogel assures him he's perfect the way he is, and suddenly Dexter has a mother figure again. Of course, this one practically worships psychopaths, but maybe it's better than nothing?
We open on a burst of static that gives way to Harry — in uniform — sitting in an office as Dr. Vogel, behind the camera, tells him she’s recording before recalling that two weeks earlier, Harry informed her that Dexter had asked to see the actual scene of a homicide and that Harry had opposed the request. Harry confirms that, adding that Dexter is only ten, but he kept asking and asking about it so he finally conceded, hoping that the sight might shock Dexter out of his grisly fixation. As we pull out to see Current Dexter watching the tape, Vogel behind him, Harry goes on that he sneaked Dexter into the scene of a self-defense homicide at which there were massive amounts of blood, but it didn’t faze Dexter in the slightest. I see Vogel had many thoughts going through her mind when she casually repeated back to Dexter last week that he’s “the blood guy.” Harry adds that Dexter looked at the stuff admiringly, almost like it was a painting, and DVO confirms that he remembers that day, and it’s exactly what he was feeling. “And I wanted to be the artist.” That film would have been a lot better with liberal amounts of blood.
Harry then produces a blood slide-esque piece of glass that he realized Dexter stole from the crime scene, and after Past Vogel notes that it’s a trophy, Harry starts to dissolve into tears as he says there’s something wrong with Dexter. Dexter looks discomfited at his dead father’s anguish, but although Past Vogel agrees with Harry’s assessment, she assures him that there’s a place in the world for Dexter and they’re going to find it. At this point, Vogel turns off the recording and tells Dexter that not only does she know almost everything about him, she helped create him. If that’s the case, she’s got to be swimming in back-end producer participation by now.
Dexter petulantly notes that she sounds like Dr. Frankenstein, but she explains it was obvious from the beginning that Dexter was a classic psychopath and would eventually become a killer, and she came up with the idea to focus Dexter’s urges on criminals, as she knew they were impossible to stop. Dexter, looking all kinds of thrown, asks if she really came up with the code and she confirms it, although she does admit Harry’s law-enforcement background was invaluable when it came to details. “I can’t help but think of myself as your spiritual mother.” Have you actually tried? Dexter doesn’t find that idea that she experimented on him particularly maternal, but she replies that she developed a framework for his survival, although she misses an obvious chance to tack “young man” onto the end of the sentence. She adds that she could have convinced Harry to turn his back on Dexter or even simply handed him over to the authorities, and when Dexter asks with some heat why she didn’t, she gives him a beguiling smile and admits he got under her skin. I would have like to hear her sing it, but music rights are expensive.
She tells him she came to care for him then as she continues to now, but Dexter is still mistrustful as he asks why she’s telling him this, and his wariness proves prescient as she admits that she once saved his life, “and I’m afraid I need to call in the favor.” She opens a wooden sideboard and extracts a jar containing the missing piece of brain from the victim from last episode, explaining that she found it on her doorstep wrapped in butcher paper. Her conclusion is that the killer is one of her former patients, and Dexter at least now sounds a bit intrigued, noting that it’s a threat. Vogel: “A brain on a doorstep. Hardly a love letter.” Not without flowers to go with it, I agree. Her flippant manner fades, though, as she sits down and looks scared while guessing that it’s going to be a piece of her brain in a jar soon enough and then telling Dexter she wants him to find the killer and inflict his brand of justice on him. Dexter, a bit more snarkily than I would guess is called for, replies that he doesn’t take requests before pointing out she’s got contacts at MM and the FBI, but she admits that in treating other psychopaths she’s used some other unorthodox methods, “some of which might be considered illegal.”
Dexter gets it, saying that if the killer is tracked down through legal means, whatever treatment she gave him would be exposed and might ruin her career. Still, though, he tells her it’s her problem, whereupon she produces another DVD from her desk drawer: “This will help put things into perspective.” I have the feeling whatever’s on that disc is not going to qualify her for Mother of the Year. Dexter winces a bit, but takes the DVD as Vogel tells him not to take too long in coming to a decision. “The killer’s out there, Dexter, and I don’t mind admitting I’m afraid of what’s coming .” Me too, but in a good way!
In the wake of last week's ending, Vogel shows Dexter recordings of sessions she had with Harry when Dexter was ten and just waking up to his psychopathic leanings, and we learn that Vogel was the architect of the code Harry imparted to Dexter. Also, Vogel confesses to having a fondness for psychopaths and maternal feelings toward Dexter, and even Dexter is like, "Ummmm." She asks Dexter to track down The Brain Surgeon, who may be a former patient of hers given the way he's been leaving threatening pieces of brain on her doorstep, and although he doesn't trust her Dexter reluctantly agrees. He finds prints on the second victim, whom we see killed by asphyxiation, and he figures the killer's going to be easy to track down – but the case gets more complicated when he finds his murdered corpse.
Elway isn't thrilled that Deb took two weeks in Ft. Lauderdale with nothing to show for it, nor is he a big fan of his deduction that Deb was sleeping with Briggs, but Deb at least figures out where the storage unit that fits the key she took off Briggs is located – only to have El Sapo show up, steal back the jewelry and Deb's gun, and then rough her up when she tries to tackle him. Later, El Sapo turns up dead in his car with three execution-style bullets in him, and Dexter notices some blood that couldn't be the victim's and surreptitiously has it tested, but not before checking in on Deb, who in a haze of booze and pills tells him to get lost. The blood then comes back as belonging to Deb, and when Dexter confronts her, she tells him she lost a lot of time thanks to the beating El Sapo gave her, but she does remember standing over his corpse. Dexter swaps out her gun before it's tested to cover Deb's tracks, but she's in a dark, dark place – although I do wonder what she used to shoot El Sapo given that he was in possession of her gun.
In the end, Vogel calls Dexter and tells him someone's been in her house; when they investigate, they find a DVD that reveals the dude Dexter found murdered was being coerced at gunpoint when he killed the victim, and Dexter berates himself for, essentially, sucking at serial killing now. But Vogel assures him he's perfect the way he is, and suddenly Dexter has a mother figure again. Of course, this one practically worships psychopaths, but maybe it's better than nothing?
And we don’t have to wait long, as we cut to what looks possibly like a shabby dentist’s office; there’s a man lying back in the chair in the middle, his mouth gagged and his arms splayed out to the sides and restrained, the easy-listening tune in the background providing some ironic juxtaposition that I feel like is becoming more and more standard in entertainment. That guy who played like thrash metal in his kill maze was actually a refreshing change. A nondescript middle-aged bearded man enters, his prisoner’s terrified eyes watching him all the way, and after cryptically saying the guy doesn’t deserve this but he doesn’t have a choice, he puts a plastic bag over the victim’s head and pulls a cord tight around his neck. For someone with an elaborate pre-kill ritual, he sure didn’t drag that part out.
Dexter is watching the DVD, on which Harry is telling Vogel that Dexter killed another criminal the night before. What’s more, Dexter told Harry something new about his ritual — he made the guy look at photos of his victims. Vogel asks if Harry inquired why, and Harry replies that Dexter told him he just felt like it was something he needed to do. Vogel thinks there’s an innate sense of justice in Dexter that’s coming to the surface, but adds that the important thing is that Dexter has now killed three people according to the code, which means he’s embracing the process and things are going to work out for him. Dexter turns it off, whereupon someone notes that he appears doubtful, and Dexter tells someone that Vogel wants to make it seem like Dexter owes her something. Someone and I agree that she makes a pretty strong case, but Dexter sniffs that if she created him, she’s responsible for what he’s done to Deb. Dexter, I get that you’re feeling guilt, which is progress in a way, but on Vogel’s behalf I feel obliged to point out that Deb killing LaGuerta came as a direct result of you going off code, as someone even argued at great length at the time. Instead of pointing this out, though, someone tells Dexter that Vogel might be able to help him with Deb, and Dexter realizes Harry must have told Vogel a lot about her, but wonders if given what Deb said about killing the wrong person he might be better off giving her space after all. Someone, however, suggests that there’s wisdom in keeping Vogel close even if Dexter doesn’t trust her. I’ll agree, but only because I want to see as much of Charlotte Rampling as possible.
In his office, Elway is wondering if Deb really was after the jewelry the whole two weeks she was gone, and Deb tells him yes — she had to play Briggs. Elway asks where in her job description it mentions undercover work, and obviously Deb deserves a talking-to for how out of control she’s been, but is she supposed to wear an “I’m a P.I. — Ask Me How!” button on her lapel? I’m sensing, though, that Elway might possibly have a thing for Deb, which makes any complaints about unprofessionalism fairly hilarious, so after Elway gives her a concoction he claims will replenish her electrolytes, let’s move on to Deb turning over the key she swiped from Briggs, which she thinks fits a storage locker somewhere that’s surely holding the missing jewelry. I don’t really understand who’s paying the finder’s fee here — is the same Mafia ownership that sent El Sapo to kill Briggs going to pay Elway a hundred grand for bringing the stuff in? If so, shouldn’t Deb let Elway know about El Sapo’s existence?
Our victim is lying dead in a playground somewhere, and since we know the cause of this death is asphyxiation, I’m surprised there doesn’t seem to be any attendant physical trauma. Speaking of trauma, though, we do see that the guy’s skull has been violated in a similar manner as the last victim, an idea punctuated by some very gooshy sound effects that make me think the Foley guys had a little too enjoyable a time with this one. After dubbing the killer “The Brain Surgeon” thanks to Quinn, Masuka then proves me both wrong and right as he notes hemorrhaging around the eyes and bruising around the throat consistent with asphyxiation. Then Batista — recalling that last time the killer left a murder weapon for them to find — deploys the troops to search for it. Dexter is the one who comes across the plastic bag lashed to a metal bar with the ropes the killer used, but his excitement is tempered when he sees Vogel sitting nearby. He approaches her, and she shakily tells him she got another delivery that morning before wondering if she could have prevented what’s happening. Dexter asks if she never felt guilty about his crimes, but she tells him no — all she ever felt was pride. “You’re not evil, Dexter. You’re actually making the world a better place.”
Dexter reflexively replies that that’s not true for everyone, but when she asks him to clarify, he balks at the idea of actually bringing up Deb, instead telling her that he’s going back to the lab to see if the killer left a print, which will give them a head start. Taking this to mean he’s going rogue on her behalf, she notes that he’s going to help her, and when he replies that she doesn’t seem surprised, she tells him that they may have just met, but she still knows him. “Better even than I knew Harry.” Dexter wonders why Harry came to Vogel, so she explains that she was an expert witness on a series of homicides on which he was working, and they became friends; moreover, he knew of her work on young psychopaths and that she didn’t see them in a black-and-white way. Dexter still finds it hard to believe Harry would tell her everything, but she points out that he had no one else to talk to, “and there never was any judgment on my part — unlike you towards me.” Dexter denies any judgmental feelings and when she replies that he doesn’t trust her, a note of wryness enters his voice for the first time in her presence as he says she should have expected that, “since you know me so well.” Heh.
In the wake of last week's ending, Vogel shows Dexter recordings of sessions she had with Harry when Dexter was ten and just waking up to his psychopathic leanings, and we learn that Vogel was the architect of the code Harry imparted to Dexter. Also, Vogel confesses to having a fondness for psychopaths and maternal feelings toward Dexter, and even Dexter is like, "Ummmm." She asks Dexter to track down The Brain Surgeon, who may be a former patient of hers given the way he's been leaving threatening pieces of brain on her doorstep, and although he doesn't trust her Dexter reluctantly agrees. He finds prints on the second victim, whom we see killed by asphyxiation, and he figures the killer's going to be easy to track down – but the case gets more complicated when he finds his murdered corpse.
Elway isn't thrilled that Deb took two weeks in Ft. Lauderdale with nothing to show for it, nor is he a big fan of his deduction that Deb was sleeping with Briggs, but Deb at least figures out where the storage unit that fits the key she took off Briggs is located – only to have El Sapo show up, steal back the jewelry and Deb's gun, and then rough her up when she tries to tackle him. Later, El Sapo turns up dead in his car with three execution-style bullets in him, and Dexter notices some blood that couldn't be the victim's and surreptitiously has it tested, but not before checking in on Deb, who in a haze of booze and pills tells him to get lost. The blood then comes back as belonging to Deb, and when Dexter confronts her, she tells him she lost a lot of time thanks to the beating El Sapo gave her, but she does remember standing over his corpse. Dexter swaps out her gun before it's tested to cover Deb's tracks, but she's in a dark, dark place – although I do wonder what she used to shoot El Sapo given that he was in possession of her gun.
In the end, Vogel calls Dexter and tells him someone's been in her house; when they investigate, they find a DVD that reveals the dude Dexter found murdered was being coerced at gunpoint when he killed the victim, and Dexter berates himself for, essentially, sucking at serial killing now. But Vogel assures him he's perfect the way he is, and suddenly Dexter has a mother figure again. Of course, this one practically worships psychopaths, but maybe it's better than nothing?
Deb and Elway enter what I guess was Briggs’ apartment, the entrance covered in police tape as it is. After Elway gives her some more mild shit for sleeping with Briggs, Deb sighs that if she hadn’t handled things as she did, Briggs would still be alive. She complains about how crappy her life is, prompting Elway to make some inquiries on that topic, but that only results in her biting his head off about LaGuerta, and you’d think she might have trained herself to play references to the woman she murdered slightly cooler than “not at all.” She does, however, locate an unopened bill from a storage facility that only arrived that morning which she says matches the key, and when Elway says he’s got to get to a new client meeting, Deb resolves to check it out alone. I get that she’s rebelling against her days as a cop, but the part where they don’t enter potentially dangerous situations by themselves still seems like it has merit. Outside, Elway doesn’t go as far as I do when he merely tells Deb to be careful, but we’re both correct here as down the street, El Sapo is watching.
Vogel comes in to see Dexter, who tells her he’s running the prints and hopefully there will be a match with one of the names with which she supplied him (presumably of her past patients). She sits, and since the computer works, Dexter wonders why he doesn’t remember her, but Vogel says Harry forbade them to meet back then — he didn’t want Dexter to feel like he was sick, so she respected his wishes even after he was gone. Dexter admits that he could have used someone to confide in after Harry passed on, and Vogel sounds surprised that he wanted to talk about himself, but Dexter simply explains that he was young and all alone. The computer then finds a match for the print, but the name — “Lyle Sussman” — is unfamiliar to Vogel. We get a look at Sussman’s picture, and he’s definitely the guy we saw earlier, but given that Vogel thinks this doesn’t make any sense, it seems likely even now that Sussman merely acted as an agent for the real Brain Surgeon. Maybe he’s doing his residency. Nevertheless, Dexter resolves to pay him a visit, but then Masuka comes in with the unwelcome news that he found a partial bloody fingerprint on the duct tape removed from the victim’s mouth. When he’s gone, Dexter swears and gets up to go, but he turns back to ask why it was strange that he wanted to talk after Harry died, so Vogel tells him people like him don’t usually seek an emotional connection. Dexter’s not sure how to react to that, but he’s got bigger fish to fry at the moment…
…and we cut to him sneaking into Sussman’s house. The place is well enough furnished, but Dexter soon realizes from the wilting plants that Sussman hasn’t been there in a while. Then he sees a photo of Sussman at a hunting cabin and resolves to follow that lead. Before he can, though, he sees Batista pulling up outside…
…while Deb is just getting to the storage facility, one of the overhead lights flickering as so often happens in these under-attended places. She rolls up the door in question, and while it’s not nearly full of stolen goods to capacity, it’s an intimidatingly big unit. Nonetheless, she gets to work and it only ends up taking a minute for her to find the purloined jewelry — at which point El Sapo grabs her gun and the jewelry away and thanks her for that, whereupon she charges him. It’s pretty clear that he’s only not shooting her because he doesn’t want to, but he has no problem getting her to the floor and kicking her a few times, and I think the takeaway is that Deb has a death wish, which we could have inferred last week and now seems beyond any doubt. El Sapo looks ready to oblige as he levels the piece at her, but he then lowers the weapon and tells her she’s lucky he only kills for money. Deb’s not quite at the point where she reaches for her wallet, but she probably wishes she’d thought of it after he closes the door, trapping her panic-attacked ass in the enclosed space. We then weirdly stay with El Sapo as he heads to his car and checks out his facial injuries in the rearview mirror, but I guess the relevant information is that he puts Deb’s gun in his glove compartment.
Batista and Quinn are certainly taking their sweet time, strolling up toward the house as Batista wonders why Quinn hasn’t taken the sergeant’s exam yet; this gives way to Batista telling him he knows he’s seeing Jamie and wondering why he tried to hide it. Quinn admits he thought Batista’s head would explode, and I’m guessing the unstated part is that he also thought Batista would make sure to take Quinn with him, but Batista merely tells him to man up if he wants his approval where Jamie is concerned. They then head to the door and knock…
In the wake of last week's ending, Vogel shows Dexter recordings of sessions she had with Harry when Dexter was ten and just waking up to his psychopathic leanings, and we learn that Vogel was the architect of the code Harry imparted to Dexter. Also, Vogel confesses to having a fondness for psychopaths and maternal feelings toward Dexter, and even Dexter is like, "Ummmm." She asks Dexter to track down The Brain Surgeon, who may be a former patient of hers given the way he's been leaving threatening pieces of brain on her doorstep, and although he doesn't trust her Dexter reluctantly agrees. He finds prints on the second victim, whom we see killed by asphyxiation, and he figures the killer's going to be easy to track down – but the case gets more complicated when he finds his murdered corpse.
Elway isn't thrilled that Deb took two weeks in Ft. Lauderdale with nothing to show for it, nor is he a big fan of his deduction that Deb was sleeping with Briggs, but Deb at least figures out where the storage unit that fits the key she took off Briggs is located – only to have El Sapo show up, steal back the jewelry and Deb's gun, and then rough her up when she tries to tackle him. Later, El Sapo turns up dead in his car with three execution-style bullets in him, and Dexter notices some blood that couldn't be the victim's and surreptitiously has it tested, but not before checking in on Deb, who in a haze of booze and pills tells him to get lost. The blood then comes back as belonging to Deb, and when Dexter confronts her, she tells him she lost a lot of time thanks to the beating El Sapo gave her, but she does remember standing over his corpse. Dexter swaps out her gun before it's tested to cover Deb's tracks, but she's in a dark, dark place – although I do wonder what she used to shoot El Sapo given that he was in possession of her gun.
In the end, Vogel calls Dexter and tells him someone's been in her house; when they investigate, they find a DVD that reveals the dude Dexter found murdered was being coerced at gunpoint when he killed the victim, and Dexter berates himself for, essentially, sucking at serial killing now. But Vogel assures him he's perfect the way he is, and suddenly Dexter has a mother figure again. Of course, this one practically worships psychopaths, but maybe it's better than nothing?
…and then we cut to them interviewing Sussman’s mother. So I guess they live in subdivisions of the same house? Or, more likely, when there was no answer at Sussman’s they decided to pursue this angle. Anyway, she doesn’t seem to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but neither does she seem duplicitous as she tells them she hasn’t seen her son in days, which isn’t unusual as he often goes hunting. She proudly shows them a disgusting quilt made from a bunch of different animals, but unfortunately she doesn’t know where his cabin is and can’t even supply a town name, which Dexter at least has thanks to the photograph he saw. I’m not sure if Quinn and Batista would have tried asking to see Sussman’s apartment, but they both get a message from Dispatch…
…as, apparently, did Dexter, for when we cut to a crime scene, DVO tells us “Lake Nona” — the hunting cabin’s location — will have to wait. Dexter finds Masuka already inside a car checking it out, unfazed by the corpse in the driver’s seat with three gunshot wounds that penetrated the windshield (which were not the only shots fired). Quinn notes that whoever did it was either jumpy or a terrible shot, and Dexter’s kind of ho-hum about the whole thing — until he learns that the victim, Javier Guzman, went by the street name “El Sapo.” Uh oh. That is very much not good for Deb, as DVO notes with great concern. Angie snaps Dexter out of his reverie, and after she asks him for a blow-by-blow, Dexter’s analysis is very straightforward, but what he doesn’t tell everyone is that there’s blood on the outside of the driver’s window that couldn’t belong to El Sapo but might have come from his killer as he reached into the car. After Masuka finds and bags Deb’s weapon, Quinn calls to “Dex” (didn’t he really, really used to hate him?), and it looks at first like he might have been watching when Dexter surreptitiously bagged that piece of bloody glass, but it turns out he only wants to commiserate with Dexter about the potential danger for Deb. Dexter promises he’s on it…
…and then he’s on the phone with Vogel, who wonders why he’s not going after Sussman. Dexter explains he has something else taking priority — Deb. Vogel realizes that’s what’s been bothering him, and Dexter tells her he’s approaching Deb’s house…
…in which he finds her passed out in front of a modest array of booze and pills. He’s chagrined, of course, but after he closes the door, she comes to and asks what the fuck (her words!) he’s doing there, so he explains about El Sapo. Deb struggles to sit up, and Dexter realizes that that’s only about 50 percent to do with her hangover, so he asks what happened. Surprisingly, Deb tells him about El Sapo — she didn’t react at all when he just brought up the name — but she says him getting the jewelry was the end of the story, and no one’s coming after her. Dexter wonders how she could possibly know that, to which she asks him to please not give a shit, but he evenly replies that while she can hate him if she wants, he still cares about her. For the first time in a while, she lets him in a little as she says she didn’t want to hate him — she wished for the opposite, and I thought we were done with her icky brother-loving feelings, but I have to admit they’ve done a better job making that road emotionally resonant than I expected. I’d still rather not think about it, though. He says he’s not leaving her, but she tells him she can’t help the way she feels and the pain in her voice is so intense it’s no surprise she reverts to insisting that he go. He wordlessly obliges…
…and since Deb doesn’t want his help, he decides to get back on the Vogel case as he arrives at Sussman’s cabin. Inside the garage, he finds an array of evil-looking weapons and a chair with a chain attached to it and he’s thinking things are looking great for Sussman as the killer… except when he goes to investigate a creaking sound, he finds Sussman’s corpse hanging from a noose attached to a rafter or something above, twisting idly and horribly. From the wounds on his person, it seems obvious he was murdered…
In the wake of last week's ending, Vogel shows Dexter recordings of sessions she had with Harry when Dexter was ten and just waking up to his psychopathic leanings, and we learn that Vogel was the architect of the code Harry imparted to Dexter. Also, Vogel confesses to having a fondness for psychopaths and maternal feelings toward Dexter, and even Dexter is like, "Ummmm." She asks Dexter to track down The Brain Surgeon, who may be a former patient of hers given the way he's been leaving threatening pieces of brain on her doorstep, and although he doesn't trust her Dexter reluctantly agrees. He finds prints on the second victim, whom we see killed by asphyxiation, and he figures the killer's going to be easy to track down – but the case gets more complicated when he finds his murdered corpse.
Elway isn't thrilled that Deb took two weeks in Ft. Lauderdale with nothing to show for it, nor is he a big fan of his deduction that Deb was sleeping with Briggs, but Deb at least figures out where the storage unit that fits the key she took off Briggs is located – only to have El Sapo show up, steal back the jewelry and Deb's gun, and then rough her up when she tries to tackle him. Later, El Sapo turns up dead in his car with three execution-style bullets in him, and Dexter notices some blood that couldn't be the victim's and surreptitiously has it tested, but not before checking in on Deb, who in a haze of booze and pills tells him to get lost. The blood then comes back as belonging to Deb, and when Dexter confronts her, she tells him she lost a lot of time thanks to the beating El Sapo gave her, but she does remember standing over his corpse. Dexter swaps out her gun before it's tested to cover Deb's tracks, but she's in a dark, dark place – although I do wonder what she used to shoot El Sapo given that he was in possession of her gun.
In the end, Vogel calls Dexter and tells him someone's been in her house; when they investigate, they find a DVD that reveals the dude Dexter found murdered was being coerced at gunpoint when he killed the victim, and Dexter berates himself for, essentially, sucking at serial killing now. But Vogel assures him he's perfect the way he is, and suddenly Dexter has a mother figure again. Of course, this one practically worships psychopaths, but maybe it's better than nothing?
…so later, Dexter is wondering if Sussman might have had an accomplice who turned on him. Vogel thinks that clashes with the psychological profile of the classic psychopath, but Dexter suggests this might have been the exception and I wonder if she might take him at his word without us having to hear about Lumen. No, she tells him that it’s hard for him to admit he’s wrong, but it’s all right — people like him have a need to feel superior to others. He takes umbrage at the way — as he puts it — she keeps talking about him like he’s less than human, but she tells him that she’s written in her books that psychopaths aren’t a mistake of nature — they’re a gift. “They’re alpha wolves, who help the human race survive long enough to become civilized. An indispensable demographic.” I’m starting to think even her definition of “unorthodox” is a little unorthodox. Dexter sits with her and — in a voice that sounds rather dangerous to me — asks if she really believes that, so she goes on that some of the most successful CEOs and politicians have psychopathic traits and without them, mankind wouldn’t exist today. Dexter counters that a lot of mankind doesn’t exist because of them, to which Vogel wryly replies with the episode title. Dexter sighs that one of her indispensable demographic is still out there killing people, but Vogel tells him he’ll find the culprit. “I have faith in you.” She then inquires about Deb, but Dexter vehemently refuses to discuss her…
…unlike Quinn, who mentions her as soon as Jamie gets into his car. She rolls her eyes and points out that he’s always checking in on his ex-fiancée, and when he denies it, she challenges him to go a whole day without saying her name. She says this in decent enough humor, but that doesn’t stop Quinn from getting all het up with wondering if this “is a fucking Cuban thing” (lovely), as Batista is riding him about the exam and now she’s giving him Deb-related shit. Jamie wonders what Batista has to do with the price of tea in China, so Quinn tells her he knows about them before continuing to be a dick out of all proportion (and not in a good way!), so Jamie’s like eff this and peaces out…
…which maybe isn’t the greatest expression, as she storms back inside and does a drive-by berating of Batista for meddling in her affairs and not minding his own fucking business. For someone who didn’t want to hear about Deb, she’s doing a pretty good impression of her.
At Jackson Hole Metro, Dexter comes up with a match for the blood on the window — Deb. He jumps to the conclusion that she killed El Sapo, which seems impossible from our point of view as A) El Sapo had her gun and B) there’s no way in hell she could have tracked him down, but I guess some of her blood could have been on El Sapo from the fight? Anyway, Masuka gets Dexter’s attention to point out that Deb has just entered the station and the first person she runs into is Matthews, who gives her a healthy amount of attitude for quitting the force… not that anyone asked. Batista and Masuka then both greet her much more warmly, and she explains that Quinn had some questions for her about a case, so she goes to find him, giving Dexter a look as she passes. As they approach Quinn, Batista gives her a heartfelt speech about the place not being the same without her, and after he invites her to drinks that night and she unconvincingly replies that she’ll try to make it, Quinn leads her into an interrogation room as Dexter surreptitiously follows. Dexter turns on the speaker and watches through the one-way glass as Quinn tells Deb they’ve hit a wall with El Sapo and Briggs, so they were hoping she could open up some leads for them. She tells him her version of events, leaving out any mention of Dexter, sleeping with Briggs, or her confrontation with El Sapo, but when Quinn asks her to go over what they have with them and she sees photos of the dead El Sapo, she starts having the initial stages of a panic attack… as she sees visions of El Sapo’s death. Wow, we’ve really reached Dark Deb status here, but I’m not sure if she’s remembering actual events or just imagining them. Her head is completely fucked right now, as even she would admit. Sensing how close she is to blowing, Dexter pops in and claims a family emergency, and the fact that Deb leaves the room instead of telling him to go to hell suggests Dexter was reading her mental state accurately.
Outside, they enter their once-familiar hangout, that alley on the side of the building, and Dexter confronts her with the blood evidence and asks her to tell him what happened. She claims she’s fuzzy on the details thanks to El Sapo’s attack — she was angry and wanted the jewelry back, and while she remembers standing over the dead body, she doesn’t recall actually killing him. Of course, this makes me think that electrolytes were not the only thing in that little potion Elway gave her, so I have the feeling he might be the one who took matters into his own hands, although I’m not sure how he pulled finding El Sapo off. On that note, I should point out that Vogel herself could be The Brain Surgeon. She’s certainly twisted enough, and did I mention that she was smoking in the video with Harry — using a white-gloved hand? I don’t know why she’d be getting Dexter to try to find the killer if it’s she, but I can believe she could have a reason. On the other hand, if she got the piece of brain immediately after the first kill, it would explain her heading for MM and getting in touch with Dexter so quickly.
In the wake of last week's ending, Vogel shows Dexter recordings of sessions she had with Harry when Dexter was ten and just waking up to his psychopathic leanings, and we learn that Vogel was the architect of the code Harry imparted to Dexter. Also, Vogel confesses to having a fondness for psychopaths and maternal feelings toward Dexter, and even Dexter is like, "Ummmm." She asks Dexter to track down The Brain Surgeon, who may be a former patient of hers given the way he's been leaving threatening pieces of brain on her doorstep, and although he doesn't trust her Dexter reluctantly agrees. He finds prints on the second victim, whom we see killed by asphyxiation, and he figures the killer's going to be easy to track down – but the case gets more complicated when he finds his murdered corpse.
Elway isn't thrilled that Deb took two weeks in Ft. Lauderdale with nothing to show for it, nor is he a big fan of his deduction that Deb was sleeping with Briggs, but Deb at least figures out where the storage unit that fits the key she took off Briggs is located – only to have El Sapo show up, steal back the jewelry and Deb's gun, and then rough her up when she tries to tackle him. Later, El Sapo turns up dead in his car with three execution-style bullets in him, and Dexter notices some blood that couldn't be the victim's and surreptitiously has it tested, but not before checking in on Deb, who in a haze of booze and pills tells him to get lost. The blood then comes back as belonging to Deb, and when Dexter confronts her, she tells him she lost a lot of time thanks to the beating El Sapo gave her, but she does remember standing over his corpse. Dexter swaps out her gun before it's tested to cover Deb's tracks, but she's in a dark, dark place – although I do wonder what she used to shoot El Sapo given that he was in possession of her gun.
In the end, Vogel calls Dexter and tells him someone's been in her house; when they investigate, they find a DVD that reveals the dude Dexter found murdered was being coerced at gunpoint when he killed the victim, and Dexter berates himself for, essentially, sucking at serial killing now. But Vogel assures him he's perfect the way he is, and suddenly Dexter has a mother figure again. Of course, this one practically worships psychopaths, but maybe it's better than nothing?
Anyway, Dexter asks why she didn’t call the police and she admits she wasn’t sure what she could have told them, whereupon he points out she could have called him. She’s like, thanks but no thanks, but when he brings up the gun she asks if he’ll switch it out of Evidence for her. He asks what would happen if he weren’t there to cover her ass, but the hypothetical gets thrown back in his face at a hundred miles an hour when she snits that maybe El Sapo won’t be the last person she shoots. Dexter worriedly asks what that’s supposed to mean, so as she walks off, she grits, “Anything can happen in this hellhole that is now my life. Your gift to me, Dexter!” Don’t think I’m not all for seeing where Dark Deb takes us, but again, if her weapon was in El Sapo’s glove compartment the whole time, what did she shoot him with? Was there a gun in her hand when she recovered her senses? DVO admits that Deb is right — killing LaGuerta also killed the person Deb used to be. “I just wish I knew what’s taken her place.” Ooh, maybe Deb will go on a Xena-like quest for redemption! She’ll have to tone down the cursing for a syndicated series, though.
Dexter successfully swaps out Deb’s gun without anyone seeing, but DVO admits that while he’s done stuff like this for himself countless times, he’ll never get used to doing it for Deb. Well, given the normal resting state of your apartments, I think cleanup duty suits you a lot better than it does your sister. Also, did Harrison go to boarding school this episode?
Deb pulls up near Batista’s restaurant (no idea who’s running it normally now) and wistfully watches from a distance as Quinn sits with Batista and says he’s going to start studying. I mean, interactions between these two are pretty low-stakes as a general rule, but Quinn’s “Do I dare to take the sergeant’s test” fifteen-minute drama is really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. Quinn then catches sight of Deb and takes a few steps in her direction, but after a moment of conflict she drives off. Well, it’s not because she’s not drinking; we know that much.
Over a panoramic shot of Miami, DVO wonders what kind of gift psychopaths are that they destroy everything they care about. In his car, Dexter’s phone rings, and Vogel tells him she just arrived home to find the front door open. Dexter instructs her to get in her car and wait, and I’d think DRIVING AWAY might be a better idea…
…but when Dexter arrives, Vogel tells him that she hasn’t seen anyone leave. He goes to investigate…
...and then he's on the phone with Vogel, who wonders why he's not going after Sussman. Dexter explains he has something else taking priority -- Deb. Vogel realizes that's what's been bothering him, and Dexter tells her he's approaching Deb's house...
...in which he finds her passed out in front of a modest array of booze and pills. He's chagrined, of course, but after he closes the door, she comes to and asks what the fuck (her words!) he's doing there, so he explains about El Sapo. Deb struggles to sit up, and Dexter realizes that that's only about 50 percent to do with her hangover, so he asks what happened. Surprisingly, Deb tells him about El Sapo -- she didn't react at all when he just brought up the name -- but she says him getting the jewelry was the end of the story, and no one's coming after her. Dexter wonders how she could possibly know that, to which she asks him to please not give a shit, but he evenly replies that while she can hate him if she wants, he still cares about her. For the first time in a while, she lets him in a little as she says she didn't want to hate him -- she wished for the opposite, and I thought we were done with her icky brother-loving feelings, but I have to admit they've done a better job making that road emotionally resonant than I expected. I'd still rather not think about it, though. He says he's not leaving her, but she tells him she can't help the way she feels and the pain in her voice is so intense it's no surprise she reverts to insisting that he go. He wordlessly obliges...
...and since Deb doesn't want his help, he decides to get back on the Vogel case as he arrives at Sussman's cabin. Inside the garage, he finds an array of evil-looking weapons and a chair with a chain attached to it and he's thinking things are looking great for Sussman as the killer... except when he goes to investigate a creaking sound, he finds Sussman's corpse hanging from a noose attached to a rafter or something above, twisting idly and horribly. From the wounds on his person, it seems obvious he was murdered...
...so later, Dexter is wondering if Sussman might have had an accomplice who turned on him. Vogel thinks that clashes with the psychological profile of the classic psychopath, but Dexter suggests this might have been the exception and I wonder if she might take him at his word without us having to hear about Lumen. No, she tells him that it's hard for him to admit he's wrong, but it's all right -- people like him have a need to feel superior to others. He takes umbrage at the way -- as he puts it -- she keeps talking about him like he's less than human, but she tells him that she's written in her books that psychopaths aren't a mistake of nature -- they're a gift. "They're alpha wolves, who help the human race survive long enough to become civilized. An indispensable demographic." I'm starting to think even her definition of "unorthodox" is a little unorthodox. Dexter sits with her and -- in a voice that sounds rather dangerous to me -- asks if she really believes that, so she goes on that some of the most successful CEOs and politicians have psychopathic traits and without them, mankind wouldn't exist today. Dexter counters that a lot of mankind doesn't exist because of them, to which Vogel wryly replies with the episode title. Dexter sighs that one of her indispensable demographic is still out there killing people, but Vogel tells him he'll find the culprit. "I have faith in you." She then inquires about Deb, but Dexter vehemently refuses to discuss her...
...unlike Quinn, who mentions her as soon as Jamie gets into his car. She rolls her eyes and points out that he's always checking in on his ex-fiancée, and when he denies it, she challenges him to go a whole day without saying her name. She says this in decent enough humor, but that doesn't stop Quinn from getting all het up with wondering if this "is a fucking Cuban thing" (lovely), as Batista is riding him about the exam and now she's giving him Deb-related shit. Jamie wonders what Batista has to do with the price of tea in China, so Quinn tells her he knows about them before continuing to be a dick out of all proportion (and not in a good way!), so Jamie's like eff this and peaces out...
...which maybe isn't the greatest expression, as she storms back inside and does a drive-by berating of Batista for meddling in her affairs and not minding his own fucking business. For someone who didn't want to hear about Deb, she's doing a pretty good impression of her.
At Jackson Hole Metro, Dexter comes up with a match for the blood on the window -- Deb. He jumps to the conclusion that she killed El Sapo, which seems impossible from our point of view as A) El Sapo had her gun and B) there's no way in hell she could have tracked him down, but I guess some of her blood could have been on El Sapo from the fight? Anyway, Masuka gets Dexter's attention to point out that Deb has just entered the station and the first person she runs into is Matthews, who gives her a healthy amount of attitude for quitting the force... not that anyone asked. Batista and Masuka then both greet her much more warmly, and she explains that Quinn had some questions for her about a case, so she goes to find him, giving Dexter a look as she passes. As they approach Quinn, Batista gives her a heartfelt speech about the place not being the same without her, and after he invites her to drinks that night and she unconvincingly replies that she'll try to make it, Quinn leads her into an interrogation room as Dexter surreptitiously follows. Dexter turns on the speaker and watches through the one-way glass as Quinn tells Deb they've hit a wall with El Sapo and Briggs, so they were hoping she could open up some leads for them. She tells him her version of events, leaving out any mention of Dexter, sleeping with Briggs, or her confrontation with El Sapo, but when Quinn asks her to go over what they have with them and she sees photos of the dead El Sapo, she starts having the initial stages of a panic attack... as she sees visions of El Sapo's death. Wow, we've really reached Dark Deb status here, but I'm not sure if she's remembering actual events or just imagining them. Her head is completely fucked right now, as even she would admit. Sensing how close she is to blowing, Dexter pops in and claims a family emergency, and the fact that Deb leaves the room instead of telling him to go to hell suggests Dexter was reading her mental state accurately.
Outside, they enter their once-familiar hangout, that alley on the side of the building, and Dexter confronts her with the blood evidence and asks her to tell him what happened. She claims she's fuzzy on the details thanks to El Sapo's attack -- she was angry and wanted the jewelry back, and while she remembers standing over the dead body, she doesn't recall actually killing him. Of course, this makes me think that electrolytes were not the only thing in that little potion Elway gave her, so I have the feeling he might be the one who took matters into his own hands, although I'm not sure how he pulled finding El Sapo off. On that note, I should point out that Vogel herself could be The Brain Surgeon. She's certainly twisted enough, and did I mention that she was smoking in the video with Harry -- using a white-gloved hand? I don't know why she'd be getting Dexter to try to find the killer if it's she, but I can believe she could have a reason. On the other hand, if she got the piece of brain immediately after the first kill, it would explain her heading for MM and getting in touch with Dexter so quickly.
Anyway, Dexter asks why she didn't call the police and she admits she wasn't sure what she could have told them, whereupon he points out she could have called him. She's like, thanks but no thanks, but when he brings up the gun she asks if he'll switch it out of Evidence for her. He asks what would happen if he weren't there to cover her ass, but the hypothetical gets thrown back in his face at a hundred miles an hour when she snits that maybe El Sapo won't be the last person she shoots. Dexter worriedly asks what that's supposed to mean, so as she walks off, she grits, "Anything can happen in this hellhole that is now my life. Your gift to me, Dexter!" Don't think I'm not all for seeing where Dark Deb takes us, but again, if her weapon was in El Sapo's glove compartment the whole time, what did she shoot him with? Was there a gun in her hand when she recovered her senses? DVO admits that Deb is right -- killing LaGuerta also killed the person Deb used to be. "I just wish I knew what's taken her place." Ooh, maybe Deb will go on a Xena-like quest for redemption! She'll have to tone down the cursing for a syndicated series, though.
Dexter successfully swaps out Deb's gun without anyone seeing, but DVO admits that while he's done stuff like this for himself countless times, he'll never get used to doing it for Deb. Well, given the normal resting state of your apartments, I think cleanup duty suits you a lot better than it does your sister. Also, did Harrison go to boarding school this episode?
In the wake of last week's ending, Vogel shows Dexter recordings of sessions she had with Harry when Dexter was ten and just waking up to his psychopathic leanings, and we learn that Vogel was the architect of the code Harry imparted to Dexter. Also, Vogel confesses to having a fondness for psychopaths and maternal feelings toward Dexter, and even Dexter is like, "Ummmm." She asks Dexter to track down The Brain Surgeon, who may be a former patient of hers given the way he's been leaving threatening pieces of brain on her doorstep, and although he doesn't trust her Dexter reluctantly agrees. He finds prints on the second victim, whom we see killed by asphyxiation, and he figures the killer's going to be easy to track down – but the case gets more complicated when he finds his murdered corpse.
Elway isn't thrilled that Deb took two weeks in Ft. Lauderdale with nothing to show for it, nor is he a big fan of his deduction that Deb was sleeping with Briggs, but Deb at least figures out where the storage unit that fits the key she took off Briggs is located – only to have El Sapo show up, steal back the jewelry and Deb's gun, and then rough her up when she tries to tackle him. Later, El Sapo turns up dead in his car with three execution-style bullets in him, and Dexter notices some blood that couldn't be the victim's and surreptitiously has it tested, but not before checking in on Deb, who in a haze of booze and pills tells him to get lost. The blood then comes back as belonging to Deb, and when Dexter confronts her, she tells him she lost a lot of time thanks to the beating El Sapo gave her, but she does remember standing over his corpse. Dexter swaps out her gun before it's tested to cover Deb's tracks, but she's in a dark, dark place – although I do wonder what she used to shoot El Sapo given that he was in possession of her gun.
In the end, Vogel calls Dexter and tells him someone's been in her house; when they investigate, they find a DVD that reveals the dude Dexter found murdered was being coerced at gunpoint when he killed the victim, and Dexter berates himself for, essentially, sucking at serial killing now. But Vogel assures him he's perfect the way he is, and suddenly Dexter has a mother figure again. Of course, this one practically worships psychopaths, but maybe it's better than nothing?
…but then we cut to the two of them entering, with Dexter assuring her he searched the entire house and there’s no one inside. What is there, though, atop Vogel’s laptop, is a DVD she claims isn’t hers, and after Dexter instructs her to play it, we see a recording of Sussman killing the guy again — only from this angle, someone else, wearing medical gloves is present and clearly coercing Sussman with a gun before killing him. And while wearing gloves is generally a good idea for criminals, it might not have been necessary in this case since the gun was never meant to be found — but it does disguise whether the killer’s hands belonged to a man or a woman. After Vogel gasps at the moment of death, Dexter admits she was right — Sussman was just another victim, and he should have listened to her. She starts to say that they had no idea it was like this, but Dexter snaps that she shouldn’t have any idea, as she’s never done this before (OR HAS SHE?), but for him, vetting, stalking and killing is what he does and always has been good at, but now he can’t even do that right. This is surely all about Deb, and Vogel without knowing the facts intuits that what he’s feeling has nothing to do with the killer, so he haltingly tells her he’s destroyed Deb. “She’s gone. You were wrong about me. I’m a mistake.” I don’t think we’ve ever seen him quite this lost or questioning, but Vogel sees it another way, saying he’s exactly who he needs to be. She puts maternal arms around him from behind and whispers that he’s perfect and he breathes raggedly as he allows himself to accept her embrace. It’s deeply weird and creepy, but what can I say — I’m in.
John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. His new film, a documentary on online privacy and the sale of personal data called Terms And Conditions May Apply, will be in theaters in July. (Hi, PRISM.) You can get news on it from the film’s Twitter account. Also, you can email John at couchbaron@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/couchbaron, or check out his blog, “Pull Up A Chair,” which he’d just love for you to stop by.
Think you’ve got game? Prove it! Check out Games Without Pity, our new area featuring trivia, puzzle, card, strategy, action and word games — all free to play and guaranteed to help pass the time until your show starts.
John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. His new film, a documentary on online privacy and the sale of personal data called Terms And Conditions May Apply, will be in theaters in July. (Hi, PRISM.) You can get news on it from the film's Twitter account. Also, you can email John at couchbaron@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/couchbaron, or check out his blog, "Pull Up A Chair," which he'd just love for you to stop by.
Think you've got game? Prove it! Check out Games Without Pity, our new area featuring trivia, puzzle, card, strategy, action and word games -- all free to play and guaranteed to help pass the time until your show starts.