I was starting to lose some faith here that certain loose threads had been dropped without any believable resolution; this episode makes me think the end of this series may actually not disappoint. Dexter finds blood underneath Cassie's fingernails he assumes belongs to her killer – and it's Zack's. While he buries that evidence, Quinn notices the similarity in MO as well, and that and the fact that Zack has cut off contact with both Dexter and Vogel makes Dexter as close to panicky as he gets. He resolves to kill Zack, and Vogel reluctantly signs off on the idea but cautions Dexter that killing Zack may now produce an emotional consequence for him.
With Quinn busy consoling a distraught Jamie, Dexter tracks Zack to a motel room in the Keys – which he discovers has been staged as a kill room a la Dexter. Dexter resolves to use it to kill Zack, but when Zack returns, he tells Dexter that he was actually after a murderer he knew in high school, whom as it happens he already just killed. He's able to prove his story, and Dexter is reluctantly kind of thrilled that his protégé followed the Code even without real prompting even as he kind of hilariously lectures Zack on all the details he got wrong.
Despite their almost overwhelming mutual attraction, Dexter resolves to get Hannah out of town with a new passport and identity. Deb fights with Dexter about her, of course, and she eventually dangles the large reward money that's out there in front of Elway to get him to go after Hannah – except Dexter has taken her with him in his pursuit of Zack. On the way, Dexter tells Hannah all about Vogel and Zack – unaware that Deb is still on his tail thanks to Elway's GPS tracker. With Dexter off dealing with Zack, Deb accosts Hannah, but she only ends up leaving the scene in disgust after Dexter and Zack show up, and later contemplates a return to the police force.
Dexter, Hannah, and Zack, like a weird adoptive family, head to Vogel's for dinner, but after the getting-to-know-you bit, Dexter is still bothered by the Cassie murder and wonders if someone might have tried to frame Zack for it. Afterwards, faced with Hannah leaving, she and Dexter finally do it, and he convinces her to stay – unaware that Elway is picking up where Deb left off.
Oh, and also? Dexter arrives home and finds Zack dead in his apartment…BY THE HAND OF THE BRAIN SURGEON. It's unseemly, but how many more times am I going to get to say I told you so? Speaking of which, I think I've got TBS figured out, but I'll wait until the full recap to tell you.
As people mill about Cassie's surely-cool-by-now corpse in the usual three-quarter speed that accompanies such scenes on this show, DVO tells us that, essentially, he's too horned up to focus on the crime scene. As if to drive home the point, the shot of Dead Cassie gives way to several sexy, probably-nude looks at Hannah, and even the murderess herself might think that transition was a little fucked up. Masuka snaps Dexter back to reality, and from the murder weapon being a decorative swan of Cassie's, they conclude that the crime wasn't planned and Cassie let the killer into her place voluntarily. This makes Masuka wonder if Oliver was the culprit.
Speaking of which, Batista is asking Oliver about his plans with Cassie that evening IN FULL VIEW OF THE CORPSE. (As my tennis coach says when I flub a particularly easy shot, "That's pro!"). After we learn Oliver is a structural engineer, DVO wonders if paying more attention to Zack might have saved Cassie's life, and then we see Batista consoling Jamie, like, "Can we take this outside already, or should we just have the funeral right now?" It's not like that much embalming is going to be necessary. Dexter notices blood underneath Cassie's fingernails and takes a sample, recalling that Zack and Cassie crossed paths once and then Deb turns up to the Let's Gawk At Dead Cassie party. (She didn't even bring a sixer!).
After Deb asks if Dexter's okay (he actually takes a long moment before telling her yes) she brings up Hannah, but before they can get into it Batista interrupts them and Deb wonders who would want to kill Cassie. When she realizes she's slipping back into her old Lieutenant role, she apologizes, but Batista tells her she's always welcome back, which would seem a bit heavy-handed given what's to come if he weren't such a staunch devotee of hers. She laughs that maybe she'll put an application in the mail before turning to Dexter and saying she'll return to finish their conversation, and Dexter's like great, "I need threats on top of everything else in my life."
The day, Dexter meets Hannah down by the marina and tells her he needs to get her out of town ASAP, and he has a guy that can get her a new passport. Well, that's a claim the show can back up. She somewhat flirtatiously points out that he could have called with that news before telling him they missed a spot of blood cleaning up – it was on "the edge of the whiskey bottle," and you'd think they would have been a bit more careful given that she's making it sound like THAT WAS THE DEATH WEAPON, but her point is that "I was so glad to see it, because it reminded me of you."
Okay, maybe she wouldn't have been disturbed by that earlier transition. He asks if she cleaned it up with bleach. And she's like, "Yes, I did, and way to spoil the completely twisted romantic mood I'm trying to create here." He tells her Miami isn't the place for her, and she says she agrees, but her face tells a different story. Also, they both look like they're literally going to strain something if they don't make out, so it's probably for the best that we leave the scene.
El Paso Metro. Dexter comes up with a match for the blood taken from Cassie's fingernails – Zack. He's like, great, now I have to add killing my protégé to my list, but he doesn't have long to think about it because Masuka comes in with Nikki in tow, who I guess decided that working dressed was worth a pay cut after all. He tells Dexter to send paperwork Nikki's way, so Dexter hands her a sheet before lying to Masuka that the blood he just linked to Zack was Cassie's own. Nikki then babbles about the place's energy, which is our cue to move on to Quinn grabbing Dexter and pointing out the similarities between the Cassie and Norma Rivera killings. Dexter's like, "Bro, you have been told by more than one superior in this station to let this go. I can also promise you right now that you will never, ever see Zack again, so how about you let me jet and get on with your life?" Quinn doesn't quite hear all of that, not that it matters…
…so let's cut to Dexter telling Vogel that Zack hasn't returned his calls, and Vogel has to admit that while she even checked in with his parents, she hasn't been able to establish contact either. She somewhat sharply asks if Cassie's dead because Dexter was busy with "this Hannah person," but Dexter matches her tone and then some by replying that this wouldn't have happened if Vogel hadn't talked him out of killing Zack in the first place. Well, that's not exactly how it happened, but Vogel almost pleadingly reminds Dexter that Zack had real potential and goes on that Zack talked about his desire to live up to Dexter's rules and standards.
Dexter, however, says that Zack can't control himself and also knows too much about the both of them, not to mention the two innocent women he's killed, and his tone clearly will brook no dissent so it's no surprise Vogel sighs and admits Dexter doesn't have many options. She does speculate, however, that it might be tougher for Dexter to kill Zack now that he'd gotten excited about his possibilities, and although Dexter denies that, she counters that she's not sure she believes him. It almost sounds like she thinks Dexter's capable of human emotions! Hasn't she been listening to herself?
…particularly not when this affords me the opportunity to go shoot passport photos of Hannah with my phone, and I'd think when making a fake passport you would not want to risk drawing attention to it with low-grade images, but given how many people these two have killed who am I to tell them their business? After settling the passport logistics, Dexter invites Hannah to come with him to the Keys for the night, and she's (a) pretty immediately aware that the errand must involve killing someone and (b) just as evidently turned on by the whole thing, and as disturbing as it is, from Dexter's point of view it's pretty easy to see why he can't think straight when he's with her.
Deb marches into Elway's office and tells him the rewards out there for Hannah McKay currently total a quarter of a million dollars, and although she can't tell him why, she thinks Hannah's back in Miami. They had Elway at the whole large sums of cash thing…
…but when we cut to the marina, the Castner yacht has sailed. Elway wonders if Deb could have let her obvious hatred of Hannah cloud her judgment here, but when Deb irritably points out that Hannah might not have been on the boat, Elway reluctantly says he'll see if the dock master might be susceptible to the application of some cash. He tells Deb he'll meet her at the office…
…and then later, Jamie disbelievingly tells Quinn she doesn't want to be there alone, to which Quinn replies that she won't be, as she's got "the kid." From the sofa, said kid pipes up that his name is Harrison, getting this back: "And a fine name that is!" Hee. When tears from Jamie get her nowhere, she plays the "you'd stay for Deb" card, and about the only positive thing you can say about Quinn's "Deb wouldn't ask me to stay" response is that it's completely true. However, when Jamie heads into the kitchen and starts crying again, Quinn relents, putting his arms around her and assuring her he'll stay if that's what she wants…
…but Quinn was never the real threat for Dexter, as Deb arrives home and quickly checks her brother's location on her iPad and sees him heading for the Keys…
…so she gives him a call, putting on a hilariously fake-normal voice in doing so. He lies that he hasn't seen Hannah, who's right to him, and that he's grabbing dinner, and when she invites herself along, he takes so long to reply that I thought he was going to pretend he'd forgotten how to speak English. When he manages to get off, Deb disgustedly grabs her go-bag and heads out the door, while Hannah, just as sourly, notes that Deb is a "ray of sunshine." Dexter, as weak-willed men do everywhere when it comes to women, declines to take that on.
Hannah confesses she has a million names for Dexter, but before she can recite any of the choicer ones, a cop car that's pulled up by the beach diverts their attention. Is this a reminder of what their life together would be like? Well, only if they choose to live in the States, which seems like it would be pretty silly. They can do what they do anywhere!
Perhaps spurred on by the cop sighting to take care of business and get out of there, Dexter and Hannah arrive at the motel in question. Dexter tells Hannah to wait in the car before using his tools to break into the room, whereupon he discovers it's been staged quite like one of his own kill rooms, right down to the set of knives just like Dexter's. Well, at least he knows he got the number right. Someone turns up so Dexter can sniff that the place is far from perfect, but someone counters that it's better than Dexter's first try, although it doesn't seem fair to judge that until you see what it looks like afterward. Which, if Dexter has his way, will happen soon enough, he's going to use the room to end his mentee's life. Well, that'd be poetic, if not, as we'll learn, justice.
Quinn's at an outdoor café when Oliver turns up. She thanks him for coming and asks how he's doing, and Oliver admits that he hasn't slept much. "We talked about a life together." That could be true, but given the doubts Cassie expressed to Deb, it seems like a bit of a red flag to me. Also possibly suspicious is what happens when Quinn produces a photo of Zack; Oliver's first reaction is to ask if that's who Quinn thinks killed her. I can't put my finger on it, but whether it's the phrasing or the emotions behind it, the question seems off. He also says that Zack "seems familiar" but he doesn't know him. So if he's genuine, there's potential for him in the future to recall seeing Zack with Dexter. If he's holding something back, he's surely the killer. Quinn looks exceptionally bummed that Zack has eluded him yet again, although you'd think he'd be getting used to disappointment by this point in the season.
Bangor Metro. Quinn and Masuka are staring at Nikki, who's performing some kind of incense-waving ritual to chase away, as Masuka explains to a newly-appearing Matthews, the "bad murder juju." Matthews: "Does she realize this is a department founded in bad murder juju?" Hee. Masuka goes off to wrangle his daughter, leaving Matthews to ask Quinn for an update on the Cassie murder. You'd think he'd go to Batista for that, but honestly I don't get the feeling Matthews thinks much more of Batista than he does of Quinn. In any case, Quinn has nothing to tell him… and I'm sorry I forgot to suggest you sit down before reading that.
In the hotel room, now made up to Dexter's specs, Hannah is inquiring how Zack learned the kill room concept, and Dexter admits that he had Zack on his table and let him go. Hannah points out that he did the same with her, but he's like, it wasn't quite the same. Since I've made that joke already, there's no need to dwell on it. Especially not since Zack enters at that moment and gets shoved up against the wall by his teacher for his trouble. With a knife to his neck, Zack denies even knowing who Cassie is while placing Hannah as "that old guy's wife."
When Dexter allows him to explain further, he says that he came to the Keys because he was after a "Sean Decker," a guy he knew in high school who killed a girl on spring break a couple years back and then bragged about it. Dexter asks about his movements for the last two days, so Zack admits he stopped by Dexter's place after he blew him off and saw his neighbor – "the hot one" – in the process. Dexter breathes that that was Cassie, but Zack earnestly tells him he left immediately after to track Sean – the time stamps on his camera will prove it. As he gets it out, he asks Dexter what he thought of the room before looking around: "Wait, did you do something to it?" Hee.
Dexter demands the time stamps, so Zack shows him all the photos he took in the process of hunting Sean. Looking pleased with himself, he goes on that he decided to go after a killer – "someone who deserves it." DVO is cautiously impressed, but Dexter asks if he has proof that Sean killed someone, so Zack tells him he pulled him aside at a party and showed him a video of a girl in Daytona whom he "accidentally" strangled while they were having sex. Dexter questions, "Where is Sean now?" Funny you should ask…
…because, as it happens, he's lying very dead in the trunk of Zack's car, as Hannah and Dexter are all too grossed out to learn. Well, Hannah's grossed out – Dexter's just more concerned with the fact that Zack's car is now a hotbed of forensic evidence. Zack admits that things didn't quite go as planned. He didn't have any drugs with which to sedate Sean, so he thought he'd hit him over the head, but that didn't knock him out, so he kept hitting him until...well, you know. Dexter then proceeds to lecture Zack on all the facets of his plan that needed work. For example, even if he'd gotten him back to the kill room, there's a second floor from which his movements could easily have been spotted.
Zack's asleep in the passenger's seat as someone remarks to Dexter about the passing of the torch and Harrison and Hannah and whatever, and the point, as typically convoluted and tortured as it is when it's coming from someone, is that perhaps there's a need in Dexter now that's stronger than the desire to kill. I'm sure he's trying to advance the idea that there's life after this series for Dexter, but I still hope that's not the case, or these last few episodes are going to be pretty boring.
Back at the motel, Hannah is telling Deb that she doesn't enjoy killing, but sometimes it's the only way she knows how to solve the problem of someone threatening her and her way of life. Deb's like, "Oh, you mean me", and Hannah replies, since she brings it up, that she could have killed Deb the other day and made her life quite a bit easier, but she didn't, because she loves Dexter and didn't want to hurt him.
Deb doesn't have a quick answer to that, so Hannah presses on and points out that Dexter loves her too. "Do you really want to hurt him?" Deb looks skyward before bitterly remarking that Dexter screws everything up, and then said screw-upper enters and looks aghast at what must appear to him, given the gun in his sister's hand, to be a very near miss. After a beat, he's able to joke that at least they're both still alive before asking Deb what's she's doing there, so Deb's like, "Duh, I came for Hannah and, bee tee double you, I put a tracker on your car".
Dexter's typically shocked that someone outwitted him even though it happens an average of one thousand times a season these days, and then Zack comes barreling in, at which point Deb is like, "Eff all you all" and peaces out. Zack is hilariously impressed that Dexter has "girls fighting over you," but Dexter merely looks at Hannah and suggests they get out of there…
…and then we cut to the car ride home, with Zack riding bitch in the back like a good little boy. After a few moments, he episode-titles "Are we there yet?" Hannah and Dexter share an amused smile at how they suddenly have a little killer family. And they never had to deal with the terrible twos!
Vogel opens her door and is surprised and pleased to see Zack and Dexter, and Dexter claps an approving hand on Zack's shoulder and reports that he's a fast learner. Vogel's like, that's awesome, why don't you come in and tell me all about it over dinner, but Dexter says he can't. Sensing what's going on, Vogel looks over and asks who's in the car, and Zack grins ear to ear as he tells her it's Hannah. Vogel's like, "At my age there aren't many things left on the bucket list, but meeting Hannah McKay is definitely one of them, so you can join us or not but she's definitely coming in."
Not being great at arguing with mothers or reasonable facsimiles thereof, Dexter obediently goes to the car and retrieves Hannah (spending about twenty filler-y seconds doing so, in case you wondered if I'd stopped noticing how much padding is in these episodes even as they approach the end), but eventually, they get back up to the house and make their introductions…
…and then they're seated at the dinner table. Vogel serves everyone as she muses about hobbies and whatever, but when Hannah asks her how she got interested in her field, Vogel freezes for a moment before recovering and saying it was thanks to an incident long ago with which she won't bore them. We'll come back to this later. She casually tells Zack to get his elbows off the table (heh) before going on, still on the subject of why she does what she does, that the greatest enemy isn't danger, but boredom, and she's convinced that the struggle against the latter is what drives the world forward, for good or ill: "My patients never fail to surprise – they make life interesting."
She points out that the affection Dexter and Hannah share is something she never would have predicted, even going on to note their "healthy blush response" now that their attraction has been mentioned. Zack's like, "Hey, surrogate Grandma, you're making me uncomfortable, too." But Vogel sagely goes on that Dexter and Hannah make a good couple – "and probably a bad one too." No offense, Vogel, but that's not the most profound revelation I've ever heard. Maybe it's just as well when you're only delaying everyone from eating, though. Dexter seems moodier than usual, and when Vogel asks what's up, he brings up Cassie's murder, saying something about it doesn't feel right. Vogel's like, well, as impromptu four-person murder discussion groups go, the one we've got assembled is above average, so Dexter elaborates that the scene he witnessed didn't make sense. Zack: "Did you take any pictures?"
Cut to Zack reviewing said photos and breathing that it's just like the Norma Rivera scene. Dexter tells Zack the same thing he told Quinn – that many bludgeonings look alike – but goes on to reveal that he found Zack's blood under Cassie's fingernails. He wonders if the killer set up the sharp edge on Zack's car in order to obtain his blood, and Vogel points out that if it's true, whoever it was went to a lot of trouble to frame him. I'd point out, then, that if Zack was indeed so intricately framed, that means Cassie's murder was actually premeditated, which changes the likelihood of who's responsible. Zack wonders why someone would do that, but the only answer is for Vogel again to point out how it's never a dull moment around there. Vogel, if you're going to participate in a panel, how about some input instead of just patting everyone including yourself on the back?
Batista comes home to find Jamie and Harrison, and Jamie explains that she and Quinn are fine, but she just didn't want to be alone and would love to stay there tonight. Batista's like, "Stay as long as you like, especially if you're going to cook." I'll take that as brotherly appreciation for her culinary skills rather than anything more misogynist, but I hope he proves me right by doing the dishes, at least.
Deb wearily returns to the office, and Elway's like, "Did ya catch her? Did ya?" Deb's like, "I sure didn't", and also, "I'm over this whole Hannah McKay bullshit, so how's about we let the whole thing go?" Elway reminds her there's a lot of money at stake, and when Deb tells him she doesn't care about that, he wonders what the eff she's doing there. We don't get any revelatory musical cue (thank God) but Deb does admit she's been asking herself that very question lately, and she's not sure she's cut out to be a P.I.
Elway starts to counter that she's the best he's ever worked with, but Deb cuts him off to add "given the kind of work that we do, I'm not sure I want it on my tombstone." Elway naturally takes offense even though he tries to deny it, and I wonder how he'd feel if he knew that it's actually a murderer looking down on him from her high horse. He asks -- in a "why don't you MARRY an ice cream sandwich" tone of voice -- if she's going to go back to her precious police force, and Deb's like, "Maybe I will"! Elway, in that same hilariously petulant tone, suggests she think long and hard before throwing away this opportunity. Poor Elway: Deb doesn't want him, and now she doesn't even want to work for him. If she says something mean about the car he drives, it might literally kill him.
The dinner party is breaking up, so Vogel wishes Hannah good luck storming the castle or poisoning her husband or whatever craziness life is going to throw her way , and Hannah thanks Vogel for the good wishes and the dinner. "It's refreshing to see a girl who can really eat!" Vogel says. As we saw from Dexter's little fantasy interlude earlier, Hannah's not carrying any extra weight, but she still looks a little "…" at that comment. Dexter says they have to go and asks Vogel if she'll drop Zack off, and she says of course but denies Zack the chance to drive, adding, "My car's older than you!" Psychopath Whisperer or not, book advances aren't what they used to be.
Dexter and Hannah arrive at her hotel room, and he tells her he'll be there at six to pick her up, but she says she'll take a cab – she doesn't want to say goodbye again. He gives her a few passport-related instructions for when she arrives in Nassau, but then adds, "From there, where you go is up to you." He wonders if she'll pick Argentina, and she smiles at the memory and says it's a possibility.
Practically choking on the emotions he's feeling, he asks if she'll let him know, and she says she will, so he actually makes to leave. However, she points out he's holding her passport, so he hands the new "Claire Thompson" ID over. And while Hannah McKay remarkably was able to resist hopping on the Dexter Express for almost this entire episode, Claire Thompson apparently never had a shot as she steps forward and passionately kisses her man. From here, it's far more shots of Michael C. Hall's bare ass than I remember at any one sitting. I'm not necessarily complaining, but was the show under network quota for the eight seasons?
And here it is. Dexter arrives home to find "Make Your Own Kind Of Music" playing on his iPod – to which, in the chair, is poor dead Zack. When Dexter examines him, he sees his the back of his head carved open in The Brain Surgeon's trademark way. He seems to shiver a bit before he picks up the phone to call Vogel…
…who, as DVO talks about contact always leaving a trace, is standing wide-eyed with horror, holding a jar with Zack's presumed bit of brain in it. The montage continues as Deb gets out her old police uniform and regards it equivocally, and then Dexter is out on his boat, getting rid of his unfortunate protégé's body in the customary way. Via the telephone, Elway tells someone he believes Hannah was just in Miami under the alias Maggie Castner. Elway, that was a whole name ago!
The morning, Dexter catches Hannah just as she's about to board her seaplane for freedom and asks her to stay with him. Her only response is a wordless embrace, and while it's romantic and I'm also glad that the character is staying, you'd think it might be only fair to TELL HER ABOUT THE BRAIN SURGEON BEFORE SHE MAKES UP HER MIND. But I suppose she'll know about it soon enough.
Okay, so I promised you speculation on two different fronts, the first being the possibilities for who killed Cassie. I'm starting a new paragraph so I can insert this disclaimer: DON'T READ ON IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, even though I have no definite knowledge of whether I'm right or not. You'd think this would be such a matter of common sense not to need said warning, but I'm telling you that's not been my experience. So:
One is Oliver, but I went over that already so I won't repeat myself. He does bother me, but it seems more likely they'll use him to turn Quinn onto the connection between Zack and Dexter. The second is Quinn, only because framing Zack seemed to be the endgame, but it's quite a stretch for Quinn, a low-level thug at worst up until this point, to turn to premeditated murder, not to mention the fact that we can rule out the development for his character just on the basis that it would be interesting. I think easily the strongest possibility is that it's The Brain Surgeon. He's been out there this whole time, presumably amassing information, and his MO has clearly been centered on causing emotional harm to Vogel. What better way than to set up one of her beloved surrogate children to kill the other, with the added bonus of disrupting Dexter's life both by staging a murder so close to home and forcing him to kill his mentee? And speaking of The Brain Surgeon…
…I think there's only one possibility that doesn't completely defy logic, so because I really think I'm right I'm going to warn you one more time not to read on if you care.
Still here? Okay. So one thing I failed to note when it first happened is that "Make Your Own Kind Of Music" was playing way back in the second episode of the season. I realize that some people out there probably still think Vogel is TBS, and after the logic-free developments in Season 6 it's hard to blame them, but I have to give the show a little more credit than that, as it would be such a cavalier mislead of the audience given Vogel's horror at TBS's antics when no one but the audience was there to witness it.
No, now that we know for sure that TBS is still alive, it seems obvious that it has to be someone with a long (given the age of the song) history with Vogel. Add to that the show's casual references to his existence and her refusal to talk about what got her into psychopaths, and I make her husband as TBS. I'd imagine he was a psychopath with whom she got fascinated and involved until something went horribly wrong. Should I be correct, it'll be interesting to see how much emotional heft this reveal will have given that (I assume) it's someone we haven't met before, but Vogel has so quickly become part of Dexter's (and Deb's) family that, at least for me, anything that affects her so deeply is going to be worth caring about. Also, now that he's back, I'd imagine the show isn't going to hold back his identity much longer, so we shouldn't have long to wait. Four episodes to go! 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. 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.