Batista puts Quinn up to Matthews for sergeant, and Matthews literally laughs in his face, so Batista takes it upon himself to help Quinn study for the test, but after getting frustrated with Quinn's thickheadedness, he unwittingly blows up his spot about leaving to bail Deb out in the middle of the night. When Jamie hears the truth, she's understandably pissed off and sad, so it's just as well she doesn't see what Quinn gets up to the rest of the episode.
To clarify what's referenced above, Deb gets arrested for drunk – like, wasted -- driving, and still not wanting to have contact with Dexter if she can help it, she calls Quinn to pick her up. Quinn succeeds in making the charges go away, but also tells Deb that when she turned him down, he hit the bottle much like she's doing now, and he's wondering what her reason for doing so is. She seems to want to tell him, but of course can't, so Quinn goes straight to Dexter with the news. When Dexter gives Vogel a quick summary of the fact Deb knows about him, Vogel is struck by Dexter's depth of feeling for his sister, and she later asks why, when she found out what he was, Dexter didn't kill her. Dexter tells her it's because he loves her, but Vogel points out that psychopaths see love differently than others, so he asks him to be specific, and when he obliges, she points out the things he claims to love are more about him than her. She also offers to try to help Deb, but Dexter refuses – initially.
MM finally tracks down Sussman's cabin – but when Dexter arrives, he and he alone knows that the crime scene has been altered, as Sussman is no longer hanging (from a hook stuck straight into his head, not from a noose as I originally thought). From the changes The Brain Surgeon (presumably) made, the evidence points to Sussman having killed himself, and this leads MM to close the case. However, Vogel gets a text from an unknown source telling her to look outside, whereupon she finds two "presents" on her doorstep – one for her and one for Dexter -- and unless the show is playing unforgivable shenanigans we can safely discount her as the killer. This time, The Brain Surgeon left her the occipital lobe, which is responsible for vision, and as such Dexter takes as a message that TBS is watching both of them. On the plus side, Dexter has been hard at work researching Vogel's "client" list, and he goes to check out one of the guys, who's currently selling fitness equipment at a mall. His investigation reveals that the guy isn't The Brain Surgeon – but he is a cannibal.
Elway gets TMI with Deb again about her sleeping-with habits, and on the one hand he seems reasonably nice and possibly normal. On the other, though, after getting a new case involving a cheating husband, Elway, sensing her hangover from across the room, gives Deb another "electrolyte" solution. Dexter then turns up all worried about the almost-DUI, and Deb reluctantly agrees to go to dinner with him, literally only so he'll go away and leave her and her headache in peace. At dinner, Dexter points out a man sitting happily with his family – who just so happens to be someone whose life Deb once saved in the line of duty – and tries to convince her that she's a good person. This only increases Deb's PTSD, though, and she drunkenly staggers into MM and tells Quinn she killed LaGuerta. Thinking she's just wasted, he drags her away from prying eyes, and although he obviously still doesn't believe her, he does suffer her to write down everything she remembers from that night while he goes to call Dexter.
In desperation, Dexter takes Vogel to the station with him, and on the way, she does point out that Deb accepting her punishment might be the best thing for both her and Dexter, but Dexter doesn't want to hear that, surely not least because Deb would have to bring him down with her. Dexter is forced to agree that Deb needs professional help at the very least, so with Quinn guarding the door, Dexter knocks a hysterical Deb out with an injection ("That was interesting!" Vogel HILARIOUSLY comments) as Vogel smoothly scoops Deb's confession while assuring Quinn that she'll treat Deb for her PTSD, and Quinn gets them out of there with no one else the wiser. Vogel assures Dexter that she can help Deb, so Dexter leaves his handcuffed sister in Vogel's care while he goes, I think, to dismember the cannibal? Hopefully that's as far as he takes the poetic justice.
We open with Dexter hearing an echo-y version of Harrison's voice calling "Daddy?" Dexter turns on his bedside lamp and calls his son's name before sleepily wandering out into the kitchen, but he becomes a lot more awake when he sees a trail of red liquid heading toward the bathroom. The echo-y voice calls once more, and Dexter enters the bathroom and flips on the light to see more red stuff and his son's legs sticking out like a house just fell on the rest of him. In this case, though, Harrison isn't wearing ruby slippers, nor is the liquid lying everywhere blood, but melted popsicles. As overdone as this setup is, it'd be fitting if Harrison slid out of there doing a cane dance, vaudeville-style, but his stomach seems too upset for that. Dexter asks if he ate the whole box of popsicles, and Harrison initially denies it, but given that the empty box is silently sitting there all J'accuse, it's not surprising that he quickly recants. Dexter gives his son a shot of Pepto-Bismol, and of all the things on this show that have strained credulity, Harrison taking his medicine without complaint is certainly in the top ten. Kid doesn't even pull a face! Dexter then cleans the red off his son's face as DVO remarks that his son's stomach pain is an easy fix, but it's not going to be that simple to help Deb, and if you look up "tenuous" in an online dictionary, I wouldn't be surprised if you were to hear this voiceover.
This does, however, lead to an effective transition, as Deb's asleep in her car when a police officer taps on her window with his Maglite. She groggily (and obviously still drunkenly) comes to, and the officer recognizes her before pointing out that she's in a car wasted with a recycling bin's worth of open containers, and when she tries to claim a bad couple days in asking for some slack, he tells her that his hands are tied due to the attendant damage to city property. When she staggers out of the car to check out what he means, we see that she hit a parking meter with her right bumper, bending the former about forty-five degrees, whereupon she immediately cracks up. I'm no legal scholar, but I can't imagine that's going to help her case. The officer asks if maybe he can call Dexter for her, but she's obviously like oh hell no, and then she pulls out her phone…
…whereupon -- and it's four in the morning -- Quinn's phone rings. He's in bed with Jamie, so I guess they patched things up for the moment, but he's like, of course, be there right away, and when Jamie asks if everything's okay, he tells her it's "just cop stuff." That'd be almost acceptably true were the intention to deceive not quite so strong.
Quinn turns up to the station and finds Deb sprawled out, mostly unconscious, in the waiting area, although she's not confined in any way. He sits with her and without opening her eyes, she confesses it's like a truck hit her. Imagine how the parking meter feels! After asking him to spare her a lecture, she tells him that they kept her out of the drunk tank but she's still waiting to be booked, so Quinn heads off to see if he can intercede on her behalf. It's a nice thought, Quinn, but you of all people should know this isn't really going to help.
In daylight, Dexter returns to Sussman's cabin, as MM has tracked the location down and discovered his corpse. What they do not realize -- but Dexter does -- is that the crime scene has been restaged. Instead of the back of Sussman's head being jammed up on a hook (due to the dim light, I mistakenly thought he was dangling from a noose), he's lying face down in the garage, a gunshot wound obscuring any other trauma. Rolling the corpse over, Dexter notes that its front teeth are broken, so he tells the group that Sussman must have put a nearby shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, which also explains the brain fragments so appetizingly splattered around a certain area of the room. If only Galuzzo were here. It's not clear whether the available evidence completely supports Dexter's analysis or if he's merely covering for his own purposes, but everyone seems convinced that Sussman was The Brain Surgeon, with Angie speculating that the guy must have found his conscience and killed himself as a result. After DVO notes that the Brain Surgeon clearly wants the cops off the case, Dexter asks if Vogel has arrived yet, and Batista tells him he just called her before asking where the hell Quinn is…
…but the answer, of course, is "driving his downward-spiral ex-fiancée to work." Hey, we've all been there. He suggests that maybe stopping by her place so she can shower instead of going straight to work might be an act of humanitarian mercy (I'm paraphrasing), but she tells him she keeps deodorant in her desk. Admirable! Now what's your plan for the hair? They arrive, and Deb thanks him for the ride, but when Quinn asks if he should be worried, Deb literally is like, "About what?" I mean, denial is one thing, but you were a cop for a long time, Deb. Surely your training should at least be prompting you to pay a bit of lip service to the fact that you were driving blackout drunk. When Quinn haltingly continues his inquiry, Deb scrolls down the Addict Pull-Down Menu to "You of all people," but Quinn is like, the very fact that I had a period of hopeless boozebaggery -- which was, by the way, thanks to you -- is precisely why I know that there must be a reason for you spinning out like this. Deb's façade momentarily crumbles, and it looks like she wants to unburden herself, but she's not ready for that so she mumbles something about not knowing her own limits. Elway then pulls up near them, so she peaces out -- to Quinn's chagrin. Holding the building door for her, Elway suggests she "straighten up," as they have a new client coming in at nine. He's got a point, because if it's only been a few hours since the cop found her there is no way she's even half-sober. Elway shoots a look Quinn's way before following Deb inside…
…while Vogel is packing up, presumably getting ready to go to Sussman's, when she gets a text from an unknown source telling her to look outside. As I mentioned in the recaplet, there's no one there to be taken in by the message and her scared reaction except the audience, so either this eliminates Vogel for The Brain Surgeon or the producers are going to end up losing parts of their brains. Of course, that doesn't mean she's not a killer herself or that she doesn't have some nefarious private agenda, and it's not even like some of the ones we're aware of are all that upstanding. She arms herself with a letter opener and heads to the front window; seeing nothing, she steels herself and opens the double-locked door. From the front, it looks like she sees nothing, but the upward camera angle suggests there's something at her feet and sure enough, when she casts her eyes down, there are two tidy boxes gaily wrapped with red ribbon and bearing cards with "His" and "Hers" in flowing script. Selecting the gender-appropriate one, she haltingly removes the top and gasps in horror…
…and later, we see that each box held a container with a piece of brain in it as Vogel tells Dexter TBS is escalating. Dexter guesses that the pieces belong to Sussman and that TBS blew his head off to cover the damage to the brain, and when Vogel tells Dexter the samples came from the occipital lobe, which controls vision, Dexter realizes that it's a message from TBS that he's watching them, adding that the "His" box means that TBS is now aware of Dexter's association with Vogel. Vogel apologizes for dragging Dexter into this, but Dexter notes that TBS sending both packages to Vogel suggests that he might not know how to find him or even his name. Vogel: "Yet." She has a way with words. Dexter urgently agrees and says he's got to catch him soon; to that end, he's been going through Vogel's book and vetting suspects and so far he's eliminated two names, leaving him up to a "Ron Galuzzo," who apparently strangled his best friend as a teenager. Honestly, I'm not sure how that doesn't happen more often just based on TV depictions of high schools alone. Dexter goes on that Galuzzo convinced Vogel that his victim was a bully, and she recalls that he had her fooled for a bit so she recommended leniency at his hearing, a decision she reversed after she got him to admit he'd been lying. They think this could be sufficient motivation for Galuzzo to be after her now, but they're interrupted by Quinn calling Dexter over to tell him about Deb's latest, adding that he got her out of it but he's obviously worried. All Dexter can do is somewhat helplessly offer that Deb's been having a hard time, but when Quinn asks what they're doing to do, Dexter tells him he'll figure something out before thanking him and heading off -- whereupon Batista appears and lights into Quinn for shirking his duties after Batista put him up for sergeant.
Of course, that's boring. So luckily we immediately cut to Vogel returning to Dexter's side and asking what's wrong. Dexter tells her about the DUI and how Deb is acting this way because of him. Vogel thinks it's a mistake for him to take on Deb's problems, but Dexter admits that Deb knows everything about him being a serial killer. Vogel is impressed at Dexter's depth of feeling here, but Dexter doesn't have time for analysis, so he drives off as Vogel stares thoughtfully after him. Does she even know Dexter has a kid? If not, I can't wait for that reaction shot.
Some blonde woman is in with Elway because she thinks her husband is having an affair, and Elway wraps things up by leading her to the door and telling her the most important thing is to find out the truth. They both then look at Deb, I guess expecting her to give that her seal of approval, but she only laughs and says she thinks the truth is overrated. Of course, I'm not sure why Elway thought Deb's presence here would be either necessary or helpful, but I still have to channel Pete Campbell on that one: NOT GREAT, Deb! When the woman's gone, Elway mildly notes "they" have to work on client-relations skills before giving her more of that "supplement formula," and once again, you'd think Deb's cop training would make her wary of drinking concoctions like this without being sure of the source, but I suppose her desperate desire to at least knock the edge off her hangover means a suspicious thought probably doesn't even enter her mind. Elway then sees that Dexter has arrived, and Deb's like, greeeeeat, but rises to lead him to her office. When they're safely inside, Dexter tells her he heard what happened, and Deb smiles a humorless smile: "Fucking Quinn." Well, Deb, maybe he'd have been a little less worried if you'd taken even like five percent responsibility for your actions? In that vein, she says the DUI was "not a big deal" before babbling about the adultery case in aid of showing how busy he is and how she needs him to leave. Dexter's basically like, have dinner with me or I'll keep showing up to your place of employment, so Deb sighs her agreement and Dexter tells her he'll pick her up at eight. She doesn't argue the driving arrangements, which I guess is a small amount of progress.
At Davis Metro, Dexter walks into a briefing that's already in progress to hear that they've officially ruled Sussman's death a suicide and that the Brain Surgeon case is closed. Matthews is like, great, I'll call "Evelyn" and thank her in a way yet to be determined, and then asks about the El Sapo shooting. As DVO notes, though, they have nothing at the moment, so right now he can focus on protecting Vogel…"and myself." And what about your son, Dexter? Is he going to shield himself by vomiting digested popsicles onto TBS? Dexter pulls up a profile on Galuzzo, who lives in Miami and apparently sells fitness equipment at a mall, so as Batista calls the meeting to an end, Dexter heads out in that direction. Unfortunately, we have to stay behind to hear Batista recommend Quinn to Matthews, and Matthews is like, not in a million years -- he's irresponsible and unpredictable, "not to mention unintelligible." Hee. Batista assures him Quinn will pass, but Matthews ends the discussion with an "If you say so" pat on Batista's shoulder, and Batista looks out at the oblivious Quinn with a worried expression. If you two would just get married, Batista, Quinn could be on your pension.
Elway and Deb have caught the husband, who is not only cheating but is really keeping it classy by doing so in the cab of a cheap commercial van. As Elway enthusiastically snaps photo after photo, he casually inquires about Quinn, giving Deb some light shit as seems to be his wont, and she's like, fine -- we're not sleeping together, but we used to date until he proposed and I dumped his ass. Elway remarks that he couldn't stay friends with a woman who turned down his proposal, and Deb's like, that's because you're a giant pussy. They chuckle, and that's… cute, I think is what they're going for?
Dexter saunters up to the "Workout City" display at the mall and regards Galuzzo, who's young and in good shape, as DVO notes that the mall is a pretty good place to grab potential victims. Galuzzo is chatting up two girls who seem interested in him, but as soon as he sees Dexter, it's like everything else is forgotten, which makes Dexter wonder if Galuzzo recognizes him. I read his look more as he's liking what you're selling, and soon he's taking a body-fat measurement, although he does at least use calipers. He notes that Dexter's in pretty good shape (although to be honest, I'm not sure when Dexter has time to work out these days), and when he gets the reading back, he announces that Dexter has a very low fat-to-muscle ratio. Dexter tells him he's looking for something to change up his workout routine, so Galuzzo gets a big smile on his face and points out a machine he claims "cuts you up faster than a chef at Benihana." Without the later revelation, that'd seem labored, but it's actually pretty clever on the show's part. Dexter hops on the machine, oh-so-casually placing a copy of one of Vogel's books and chatting about her, but Galuzzo says he's never heard of her, and his convincing delivery is nice to see in a professional psychopath. Galuzzo watches with an appraising smile as Dexter plugs away on the elliptical machine…
…and then later, Vogel is alarmed at Dexter's rash exposure of himself to Galuzzo. Dexter tells her, however, that Galuzzo is hiding something, so he's going to break into his place the day and look for hard evidence. Actually, the evidence is going to be fairly mushy, but still useful. Vogel inquires what happens if he comes for her in the meantime, so Dexter asks if she has a way to protect herself and she admits she has a gun, although she hasn't used it for years. So what was that business with the letter opener, girlie? Dexter tells her to keep her weapon loaded before starting to head out to get Deb, but Vogel stops him to tell him something -- when she and Harry devised the code, his biggest concern was that Dexter only kill bad people, while Vogel wanted Dexter to err on the side of not getting caught. In light of that, she'd like to know why, after Deb found out about Dexter's extracurricular activities, he didn't kill her? Ooh.. Vogel had me at hellew, but this is new ground and I like it. Dexter, a bit stunned, says he loves Deb, but Vogel asks what exactly Dexter loves about her, adding that psychopaths mean something different when they talk about love from the rest of you… I mean, "us." Dexter says he loves having steaks and beer with her -- which is not something they've done in a while, since he mentions it -- and the way she used to look up to and be there for him, but Vogel gently points out that those things aren't about Deb, but his needs. Dexter asks if she's labeling him selfish, but she assures him she's not criticizing. "Selfless love is hard enough for typical people, and for psychopaths, it's… impossible." Hmm, I wonder if that's going to be indicative of Dexter's final conflict -- I could see him being faced with the possibility of sacrificing himself for Deb. Vogel gets to her ultimate point -- as she said, he's perfect as a psychopath, so all this talk about helping Deb makes him "like Michelangelo trying to play the banjo." Evocative while rhyming. This woman is the best. She suggests that she be the one to help Deb, but Dexter thinks Deb wouldn't listen to her. Vogel: "You admitted to being the cause of her pain. How can you expect to be the solution?" It's a solid question, but Dexter defensively says he can handle Deb -- he's been doing it his entire life. If he ever tried to handle cleaning up her mouth, that's not a great sign.
Jamie is cooking as her brother does test prep with her boyfriend, and when Quinn predictably biffs a question, Batista exasperatedly breathes that he's "a fucking lost cause." Jamie mildly defends Quinn, but when she says he's tired from being called out in the middle of the night on that case, Batista impatiently asks, "What case?" In Quinn's very small defense, he never actually said "case," but his spot is still very much blown up --- solid work, Batista, especially since you knew Quinn had something he didn't want to discuss -- so Batista wastes no time taking his plate and heading for minimum safe distance. Jamie's actually more sad than angry, but her question of what she's supposed to think when he's seeing Deb and lying about it is obviously valid, and Quinn's reply that he didn't tell her because he didn't think she'd understand makes me think he and Deb are actually a pretty good match. Jamie confirms that she does not, in fact, get it, and she dumps Quinn's plate in front of him before heading to her room. If I were Quinn, given that it's not even my house I probably would not be comfortable going ahead and eating, but I have the feeling that's not going to stop him.
In a large restaurant, Deb wonders what they're doing there before asking for a straight bourbon, but Dexter belays that order before pointing out a middle-aged man at a nearby table with his kids and asking if he looks familiar. Deb tells him no, so Dexter pulls up a video on his phone, which shows Deb apprehending an armed perp -- saving the guy in the restaurant's life in the process. Deb tells him that was a long time ago, but Dexter points out the guy again and tells Deb that his little girl would be fatherless if it weren't for her. He takes her hand as he tells her he knows she thinks she's a bad person, but that's not true, and it is affecting to see him try to reach her even if Vogel is probably right about the reasons he values Deb. Deb looks conflicted but moved, and eventually lets him in a little by admitting she's starving. They both laugh comfortably enough, but when Dexter's eyes are on his menu, Deb's smile fades.
Dexter observes Galuzzo departing for work, and I'm liking a lot of things about this season, but there has been a return, at times, to Season Six levels of filler -- there's not really much need for us to observe Dexter watching Galuzzo leave for work at all, but while using it as a quick interstitial is probably okay, spending nearly forty seconds on it is inexcusable no matter how much creepy music you play over it.
Of course, it does keep us from the stupid Elway client who denies that the man in the photos is her husband despite the image being clear enough for facial-recognition software and then some, but this is all so Elway -- once the woman is gone -- can make a grand point about how it's easier for some people to live in denial. Can we go back to Harrison and the popsicles now?
Dexter enters Galuzzo's home and immediately observes how neat the kitchen is compared to everywhere else; the first thing of interest he notes is a pot containing some bubbling stew, so he takes off the cover to inspect it -- and finds a human finger in it. Dexter's grossed-out reaction is pretty great, and he realizes the kitchen is a kill room even before he opens the freezer and finds several plastic containers with appetizing labels such as "ground thigh," "kidneys," and "intestines." Of course, I'm not sure a practiced cannibal would need to mark these things, given that I don't think he's going to outsource the preparation of his meals, but the neat computer-printed labels do weirdly amuse me, as do the couple microwave pizzas sitting innocently atop the grislier fare. After realizing that Galuzzo meant to eat him, Dexter then finds a completely intact brain, which pretty much puts paid to any notion of Galuzzo as The Brain Surgeon, or, as Dexter less fortunately puts it, The Brain Surgeon is out there "and he still has the upper hand." There's no accompanying slide whistle, but I still choose to believe that pun was intentional. Also, Dexter doesn't take the time to think of it, but what other psycho MOs is he going to come across before he finds his true foe? It might be just as well from a gross-out point of view that the series has a limited number of episodes left.
Deb, looking so drunk that she can barely manipulate her phone -- and let's not even go into her recent return to Split Endsville -- watches the video Dexter showed her over and over. Again, this goes on faaaaar too long -- almost an entire minute -- but it is at least building to something as she looks out the window and we see she's at MM…
…and then she staggers off the elevator -- Jennifer Carpenter is really getting to flex her playing-drunk muscles this season -- when Quinn rushes over to intercept. Deb mumbles that she wants to "make an 'fishal shtatement" before leaning forward -- I actually thought she was going to hurl right on Quinn's shirt for a moment -- and telling him she killed LaGuerta. Ooh. As dumb as Quinn is, this could still advance the plot far beyond what we see this episode. For now, though, he drags her into an interrogation room and disconnects the microphone as his first order of business before asking her to explain herself. Deb spills some details about the night in question, and the one that could really come back to haunt her (or Dexter, depending how you look at it) is the fact that she called Dispatch to get LaGuerta's location -- as all PD calls, that must have been recorded. For now, Quinn still thinks Deb's just got survivor's guilt over LaGuerta's death (although he doesn't use that term), and he walks her through the official analysis that concluded Estrada and LaGuerta killed each other -- an analysis given by Dexter. When Deb hears her brother's name, she completely breaks down, and honestly people PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER HERE. Doakes would have had them both in jail before the seventh season even ended. Quinn at least suffers Deb to write down everything she remembers from that night using pen and paper, but that's only to give him a minute to call Dexter…
…who's busy with Vogel trying to narrow down their remaining suspect list. Vogel suggests an "Arnold Gordon," who as a trauma surgeon "definitely has the right skill set" and also threatened to hurt her if she ever told anyone he's a psychopath. If Vogel is just casually mentioning him now, her enemies list must be longer than that of most politicians. Dexter's phone rings, and Quinn rapidly explains what's happened; thinking fast, once he's off the line, Dexter tells Vogel he needs her to accompany him to the station, as something has happened…
…and in the car, whether just now or earlier, it becomes apparent that Dexter has told Vogel about Deb killing LaGuerta, which beyond anything else shows the level of trust she's inspired in him in a short time. Honestly, that alone probably is another telling illustration of how Dexter isn't your average killer from a psychological point of view, now that I think of it. As he drives like a, well, psychopath, Dexter tells Vogel he can't believe Deb confessed, but Vogel makes the obvious assertion that the pressure of Deb's guilt caused her to do it. Dexter asks Vogel to help get Deb out of the situation by telling anyone who matters that Deb is having a breakdown, but Vogel wonders if he's sure: "This could be the best thing for her." She goes on to point out that his motives are primarily selfish once again, given that his fate is pretty inextricably tied to Deb's in this affair, and once again I must point out how strong this relationship is; Vogel is giving him sugar-free analysis without judgment, and as we'll see, it's effective. Of course, I'd probably wait on the uncomfortable revelations until my subject wasn't behind the wheel, but Florida driving laws seem pretty lax. Dexter protests that he loves Deb, but Vogel is unrelenting as she counters it's not the same as the way Deb loves him -- when she killed LaGuerta, it was an act of selflessness. "She sacrificed everything she believed in for you." Dexter doesn't have an answer to that, so Vogel goes on that Deb needs professional help, and there's nothing more he can do, but Dexter tells her he can't give up on Deb…
…who's still hard at work on her confession. With one eye on her, Quinn sees Dexter and Vogel arrive and rushes over to greet them. Dexter gives a cursory explanation about Vogel being a friend of the family, and Vogel smoothly launches into a most professorial opinion that Deb is suffering from PTSD and survivor's guilt, which has the virtue of being true, if obviously not the whole story. Dexter has Quinn watch the hallway as he and Vogel enter, and Deb flips her shit, not paying Vogel any mind as she holds up her legal pad and shrieks that she's confessing anything. She charges Dexter and gets all up in his face -- whereupon he pulls out his trusty needle and jams it in her neck. As much as he claims to care about Deb, I have to think that was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. And as I said in the recaplet, Vogel pipes up, "That was interesting!" I CANNOT do justice to her delivery, but it features a combination of mild amusement and scientific curiosity that's so tickling I kind of want it as a ringtone. Dexter hands the needle off to Vogel, who adds to her worth by scooping Deb's confession off the floor before giving a reappearing Quinn a sunny "Nothing to see here!' smile, and given that we're almost at the end of the road with this show, I don't see why I can't start lobbying for a spin-off now. After explaining that Deb passed out, Dexter slings Deb over his shoulder as Vogel announces that they have to take her home to rest, so Quinn escorts them to the back stairs as Vogel assures him Deb will get through this. Dexter thanks Quinn again…
…and then he and Vogel arrive at Deb's. Dexter dumps her onto the couch as Vogel wonders if she's going to be all right with all the junk in her system, but while Dexter assures her that he gave her a very low dose, he knows now that he should have listened to Vogel earlier -- he can't fix Deb and he doesn't want to keep making her worse. Vogel looks moved and reaches out a hand to touch Deb, but when Dexter asks if she really thinks she can help her, her face breaks into a smile as she tells him she does. As much as I love the character, I don't know how comfortable I'd be leaving anyone I love in the care of someone who's inspired such terrible things from her patients, but Dexter seems reassured. After Vogel examines some of the pills Deb's been taking, though, Dexter does handcuff Deb to the couch over Vogel's protests that she can handle Deb: "You don't know my sister." I don't disagree, but I always wonder about the bathroom logistics in this kind of situation, especially given how much Deb's recently had to drink. Dexter hands Vogel the key and thanks her, and I don't mean to cross plotlines here but is no one worried that The Brain Surgeon might show up to disrupt their little captive-psychotherapy session? Dexter, however, has a different killer to worry about…
…and we cut to a kill room dressed in the usual plastic, with Dexter in his typical outfit and smock. Hilariously, he smacks a meat tenderizer against his hand before telling a terrified Galuzzo that he's disgusting, "a consumer of human flesh," but he also realizes that he's like him. "I consume everyone I love." Seeing where this is going, Galuzzo starts with the muffled yells and struggling, but Dexter picks up one of many large butcher knives from a covered table and ends the discussion. And once again, I hope he doesn't take the poetic justice all the way to its conclusion, or he and Harrison are going to be fighting over the Pepto-Bismol. See you week.
John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. His new film, a documentary on online privacy and the exploitation of personal data called Terms And Conditions May Apply, a New York Times Critics' Pick, is currently in theaters as of July. (Hi, PRISM.) You can get news on it from the film's Twitter accountor website, or check out trackoff.us to learn how to protect your privacy. 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.
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