I totally paused!

I’m going to warn you right now that this post is going to have spoilers, there is simply no way around it.  So if you intend to watch this season and don’t want to know what happens, just stop reading.  And I can promise you that if you’re a fan of the show, you will absolutely want to watch this season all on your own.  I think it’s the best season so far, and I’m sure it won’t disappoint you.

I’m not even sure that I can recap this episode.  Prior to watching it the second time, I really wondered if I was ready to do it.  But I switched cable when I moved, so I had to rely on the On Demand section instead of my own DVR this time around.  And Dexter on demand was going to expire, so I was forced into watching it.

To me, the details of everything that happens are moderately unimportant at this point.  It was a fantastic season finale and well, it still leaves me stunned.  I do not feel exactly as I did the first time I saw it, but I am still shocked and don’t know fully what to say.  Since the ending is just so much to handle, I’ll bullet point the rest of the major events that take place in this episode:

• Dexter hits a parked car and keeps going, which eventually gets him thrown in jail and Rita has to pick him up from there.  Unpleasant for her.
• At one point, Dexter says he *needs* to be the one that kills Arthur because he needs to know it’s taken care of, that Arthur is gone and his family is safe.  Despite my disagreeing with Dexter’s methods last episode, I do agree with what he’s saying, I think I’d feel the same way.
• Deb figures out that Dexter is related to the Ice Truck Killer, and that Harry was sleeping with Laura Moser – you know, the mom of both Dexter and The Ice Truck Killer.  I’m not entirely sure if Harry thought Deb would never figure this stuff out, or if he figured she would and that Dexter would have to work it out with her.
• Rita and Dexter have a big breakthrough as far as their acceptance of each other, and Dexter’s flaws/demons to be specific.  It was so sweet it got me teary.
• The Miami Metro PD links the missing 10 year old boys to the Trinity kills, and I wish Dexter had been at the Four Walls Build where they found the body of the little boy.  It just would have made the scene more interesting.
• Arthur gets pissed that Dexter didn’t leave him alone, so he goes on the search for Dexter.  And ends up at Deb’s place instead.  This show teaches you that locks are easy to pick.
• Dexter does catch Arthur in the end, in his mustang.  I don’t get the appeal of convertibles at all.  As was inevitable, Dexter kills Arthur, but I personally find Arthur to be sympathetic in a way, even knowing how much of a monster he is.  I despise him for sure, and he is disgusting, but still a little sad.

As Dexter is dumping Arthur into the ocean, he talks about how he wants to be rid of his Dark Passenger and thinks that just maybe it could happen.  Except that’s all about to change, because he goes home to get ready to leave for the Florida Keys where he’s going to meet Rita, and discovers that she’s home.  Dead in the bathtub.  Harrison is sitting in a pool of blood.

I have mentioned before that I’m a fan of killing of main characters, and I think I’d like to amend that and say I am a fan of it when they aren’t characters I liked.  I was completely stunned by this and absolutely did not see it coming.  In fact, I thought that Arthur was going to hurt Deb, since he was in her apartment, and you know that would have made me sad.

I have no idea what the future is going to hold for Dexter and the kids without Rita.  She was an essential part of his life, and I worry he’s going to be consumed with killing now that he will be both grief stricken and have that very human element removed.  Yet at the same time, he is going to be the only caregiver for three children, he can’t afford to give in to the monster that will be screaming even louder now.

And the obvious question is what will the reaction be on the part of the police department.  They will know that the killer was Trinity, and that Rita doesn’t fit his pattern for bathtub murders.  They will wonder why this happened since it’s completely out of the ritual.  Will the fifth season be the end for Dexter, with everyone tying the pieces together?

I hope the next season picks up exactly where this one left off, but I don’t think it will because that’s not the pattern of this show.  But hey, Trinity broke his pattern, so maybe the show will too.  And in the meantime, I will be mourning Rita Morgan for awhile myself.

A lot of stuff happens in this episode, and since this was the second viewing of the episode, I had forgotten what all happened in the final episodes of this season.  Like I didn’t realize it had taken Rita so long to tell Dexter about Elliot.  Ah, we were all so innocent when this aired.

Dexter is still kind of working out the details of how he’s going to kill Arthur, who kind of goes on the offensive because he sees on the news that Scott was returned to his family, and this has Arthur asking what kind of man witnesses an abduction and doesn’t call the police.  Dexter as Kyle claims he wants money or he’s going to reveal that Arthur is a pedophile.

In the meantime, Dexter knows that Kristine is in custody, and is worried that she’s going to spill the beans about Arthur, so he’s got to find a way to sidetrack the police.  And this is the point where even I start to have problems with Dexter’s methods, because some part of me believes in the justice system.  I’m usually okay with what Dexter does, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that he’s typically attacking someone who got missed by the system.  In this case, Trinity has simply not been caught yet, but they’re on the track to catch him.  So I take issue with the whole evidence planting thing.

Somewhere along the way, Matthews finds out that Batista and La Guerta are still together, and he is not so pleased.  Which prompts them to get married.  I’ve actually liked their relationship, so I wonder how this will play out in the next season and if they will regret getting married.

And possibly my favorite moment in the episode is when Dexter comes home and sees Elliot sitting on his porch.  He goes over to confront him, and ends up punching him in the face!  Loved it!!!  Rita watches the whole thing and gives Dex an ice pack, and isn’t mad at all, is even kind of glad.  I would be too.  I’m not really about violence, but there’s something sexy about your man fighting for you.

Meanwhile, Kristine is not cooperating with the whole discussion on how she is related to Trinity, so they let her go, figuring she’d call Trinity right away.  Which she does, but is smart enough to use someone else’s phone.  And Arthur is a total dick to her and yells at her, saying he wishes she’d never been born.  This understandably upsets Kristine, who decides to confess to Deb, who won’t forgive her for killing Lundy.  Can’t say I blame her, I quite liked him myself.  Aaaaaaaaaaaand Kristine kills herself at this news.

Arthur is not so happy that Kyle/Dexter is blackmailing him, so he goes on a hunt for Kyle Butler.  He kills one Kyle, figures out another one is not the right one, and then finds out that Kyle registered a fake address with Four Walls Builds.  To figure out where Kyle works and lives, he tricks him by calling him from the arcade where he had picked up Scott.  Natch, Dexter goes to try and stop Arthur from taking another kid, but can’t find him…because it’s all a trick!  Arthur follows him to the police station and, well, that’s not so good.

Once he gets in, by stealing a visitors pass, Arthur wanders around the whole building to find what he’s looking for.  And accidentally stumbles upon all the Trinity information.  He seems to take a lot of delight in seeing all his kills up in one place, and in a perverse way, I kind of liked that.  I mean, what he does is totally sick, but it’s fascinating to watch him.

See, maybe I have mentioned this before, but I have quite an interest in serial killers.  It’s what drew me to Dexter to begin with.  I don’t want to be a serial killer, so please don’t get all paranoid or come running to my house with the FBI.  Unless it’s to give me a job with them.  But the psychology of a serial killer, what goes on in their brains, that is very interesting.  So to me, seeing a serial killer take delight in their adventures, even a fake one, is quite a scene to watch.  I imagine that this is what real serial killers would look like if they saw the investigations of their crimes.  Like could you picture Ted Bundy seeing something like this?

Anyway, the episode ends with Arthur walking right up to Dexter and learning his name.  You don’t have to be a genius, or have seen the rest of this season, to know that’s not a good sign.  Dexter has never been in this much danger, and he has been in quite the amount of danger in the last couple of seasons.  But never really with another serial killer.  Can y’all wait to see what happens next?  You’ve probably seen it already, but play along with me!

I’m finally getting caught up on TV!!!!  Aren’t y’all excited!

So, admittedly I already watched the entire rest of the season.  Which makes it somewhat difficult to watch these again, knowing how the season ends.  But we’ll talk about that in a few episodes.

However, I will say that knowing what is to come, I’m just filled with anxiety watching the episodes again.  Knowing it all gives the entire season new meaning, everything looks different.  And for the first time ever, I am uncomfortable watching this show.  I’ll get over it, it’s my favorite show, but I’m still uncomfortable right now.

Dexter witnesses Arthur kidnap a little boy, and through some great detective work, he figures out that a little boy is kidnapped five days before the bathtub murders…so the boys start the cycle.  It kind of sucks that Dex uses some illegal methods to figure this kind of stuff out, because he’d be a pretty good detective.

Christine also gets in deeper trouble, with Deb thinking maaaaaaaaybe Christine is the one who killed Lundy.  And this is a bit of a sticky situation, since Quinn is you know, dating Christine.  Anyway, they do some DNA testing on her toothbrush and…discover she’s related to Trinity!  Which we already knew cuz he came over to see her on Thanksgiving, but for the PD this is a huge discovery.

Personally, I hate that we don’t know a whole lot about the relationship between Christine and Arthur.  Obvs he is her father and we know that, but what happened to her mother?  Why does Arthur not want much contact with Christine?  Does the rest of his family know about her?  And most importantly, does Arthur actually intend to kill her?

We spend a lot of the episode down in a bomb shelter, where Arthur has taken the little boy he kidnapped.  He calls the boy Arthur, even though his name is Scott, wants to play with trains, and insists the boy put his pajamas on.  At one point, basically right before Arthur is going to complete his ritual, he gets very upset because Vera’s favorite song comes on.  I had a very difficult time determining if this was him getting legitimately upset, or if it’s just part of the ploy to get the boys on his side before he kills them.  Either way, Scott feels bad for Arthur and goes along with the plan, in the hopes that he’ll get to go home.

That plan doesn’t work as Scott would like, and Arthur fully intends to encase him in cement.  Fortunately, Dexter gets there in time to save the boy, but Arthur gets away.  Actually, Arthur reminds me of a serial killer in a slasher film – always just vanishing!  Or maybe like Batman.

It is really difficult to make a post on these last couple of episodes without talking about the finale.  So this one and the next one are probably going to kind of suck.  But since the finale was a doozy, hopefully we can make up for it with that post.

I forgot to mention last time that La Guerta and Batista decided to get back together.  I only mention this because undoubtedly it’s going to come and bite them in the ass.  Matthews threatened them with career ending consequences if they got back together after signing their affidavits, so I wonder which one won’t be around much longer…

This is the Thanksgiving episode, and Dexter is of course spying on Arthur and his family, watching them fight and Arthur kind of being a huge jerk.  Honestly, Arthur reminds me of my own father.  If you’re watching the show, I’m sure you can attest to that not being a good thing.  Although I have no knowledge or evidence saying my father is a serial killer.

Unrelated, but Jonah reminds me of Hayden Christiansen.  Not really looks wise, but just the way he talks.  Anyway, Jonah is complaining to Dexter about the way Arthur treats the whole family, that he hits him and treats Sally and Becca really horribly.  I’m sure none of us are surprised, since we’ve seen who Arthur really is, but I’m wondering why no one reports him for domestic abuse?  I get that Sally won’t leave Arthur, but can’t DCFS come in and take the kids out of the situation?

Everyone is talking about their Thanksgiving plans, and it turns out both Batista and La Guerta are going to be working.  I for one was glad to hear a mention of Batista’s kid, because they never talk about her!  Deb is going to Dexter’s for the holiday, and ends up inviting Misuka to go with her.  Even though these two are totally uncomfortable around each other when it comes to this, I am thinking…are they going to hook up?

For my Deb love of this episode, she punches Quinn and says he can toooooootally go to TG dinner at Christine’s.  Deb is like me in a much prettier package, it’s great that she punches Quinn!

While going through TG traditions with Arthur, Dexter uncovers the coffin Arthur made a couple of episodes back when he was confused and going to kill himself.  I loved the exchange between Dexter and Harry…

What kind of father keeps a coffin in his garage?

What kind of father keeps blood slides in his shed?

As soon as Dexter leaves the room, Arthur takes out some frustrations on Jonah and breaks his finger, which I just couldn’t watch.  It looked horrible.  They really have done a good job with this character, he is so creepy.  In the meantime, Rita calls Dexter to say that Cody fell in the shed.  Oh, and right before that, Becca tries to seduce Dexter.  This family is a mess!

Dex is going to leave Arthur’s, but then sees Jonah’s new accident, and opts to stay in the hopes of preventing more violence.  It is totally unsuccessful, and Dexter ends up dragging Arthur off Jonah with a belt.  It was a seriously intense scene, and I have never seen Dexter that out of control.  It was incredible!

Two questions arose for me in the whole exchange: Why is everyone in the Mitchell family so thankful for the house?; and if Jonah knows the truth about Arthur being a serial killer, why hasn’t he told anyone?

Back at the Morgan household, they discover there isn’t enough oven space, so Rita goes next door with Elliot the neighbor to use his two ovens.  With Misuka watching, Elliot kisses Rita…who mostly backs away and says she’s not lonely with Dexter.  This kind of hurts me, because I adore Dexter so much and I will be super sad if Rita leaves him, especially since he keeps saying how much she and the kids mean to him.

The big reveal at the end of the episode is that Arthur is actually Christine’s dad…

I’m pretty sure I continue to exclaim about how great each episode of this show is.  It’s pretty rare that Dexter will disappoint me.  Even last season, which I felt wrapped up way too quickly, was good to the last minute.  I loved Miguel Prado as the villain!  In fact, this show has an uncanny ability to make me really like actors I was previously lukewarm to, specifically Jimmy Smits last season and John Lithgow this one.  Excellent bits of casting!

We learn quite a bit in this episode: Trinity’s origin, some more about Lundy and Deb getting shot, additional info about the Trinity murders.  Despite that they really put a lot of stuff into each of these episodes, it doesn’t feel like too much and I don’t get confused.  I love the pacing on this show!

Dexter manages to go to Tampa with Arthur, his intention of course to kill Arthur while he’s away.  However, Arthur has other plans when it comes down to it, and in a way, Dexter ends up saving him.  As Kyle, Dexter confesses that he killed an innocent man, and it turned Arthur from a grumpy person who was likely going to complete another Trinity cycle, into a confession machine himself.

Through this change in Arthur, we learn that his sister Vera actually died accidentally.  I, and probably most other viewers, assumed that Vera’s death in the bathtub was a suicide.  Apparently in reality, Arthur startles Vera while she’s showering and she cuts her leg on the shower glass, bleeding out before the ambulance could arrive.  Dexter notices the similarity that both he and Trinity were born in blood, the same similarity he noticed between himself and Brian (the Ice Truck Killer) in the first season.

Arthur goes on to explain that his mother killed herself, and then his father was murdered later on.  I’m sure it must be difficult to be the only surviving member of your family at an early age, although I doubt it would have turned me into a serial killer.  I really hope they explore more of Trinity’s past and origins, I am curious to see what about all this prompted him to start killing sprees of his own.  Or if perhaps he murdered his own father, as Dexter suggests, and that’s what started it all.

Deb goes through all of Lundy’s Trinity files, and finds ash smudges in nearly all the crime scene photos.  This prompts her to take the case to La Guerta and have the Miami Metro PD investigate Trinity.  Except she pitches it as investigating just the bludgeonings, accidentally leaves a bathtub slide in there, and ultimately La Guerta buys the entire Trinity case.  And promptly takes Deb off it because she thinks she was shot by Trinity.

While examining her gunshot wounds, Deb realizes that the trajectory of the bullet was straight, and therefore it’s really unlikely that Trinity, a guy who is 6′4″, was the shooter.  She goes to Misuka to verify, who is enthralled by the idea that Deb takes her shirt off for him.  He’s pretty annoying, but also funny most of the time.  Anyway, they determine that it was probably someone about his height who shot her, and bam! Deb is back on the case!

They also decide to do random DNA checks using cheek swabs at road stops, trying to catch Trinity…cept he’s driving back from Tampa with Dexter, who kind of warns him and Arthur gets around the inevitable he’s gonna get caught moment.  I have mixed feelings about all this, because I do love Dexter and what he’s out doing, but I also think it’s dangerous territory for him to be messing with an ongoing investigation again.  I mean, he was able to stage the Ice Truck Killer as a suicide, but I don’t think he could pull that off with Trinity since he actually saved him from jumping to his death in Tampa.  He has to know that they will continue looking for Trinity unless they find him in some capacity.  So I want to know how he’ll stage that!

As usual, this season has managed to get away from me.  There are only a few episodes left to air, and of course I am just dying for more.  Even though there are about five episodes left, I’m missing the season already.

Ah, we open on the ocean.  I love that Dexter takes the whole family out in his boat, especially since we have seen little of the boat this season.

A body is found, ish.  Some dude cuts open an alligator and finds an arm in it.  Cept the alligator didn’t eat the girl alive, she was dead already, so we have a homicide!  Which leads to Dexter killing his first innocent person.  But we’ll get to that.

Deb is moving into Dexter’s old apartment, which seems hard on Dexter.  Quinn is helping her move in, I guess he’s a nice guy all of a sudden?  He and Dexter exchange words outside the door, and I hate to criticize Dex, but he should really avoid confrontation with Quinn.  Didn’t he learn anything from the issues with Sgt. Doakes!

The dead girl was a sometimes model, and the photographer likes to take pretty weird pictures, like gets the girls naked and all beat up.  Dexter says “Even I’m disturbed by this“, and I would have to agree.  It’s difficult as a woman to see these pictures, the vulnerability of women glamorized.  I always worry that images like this will reinforce the idea in some people’s heads that abuse is okay, simply because it’s shown in the form of beauty.

Dexter goes on a tree cutting trip with Arthur, who seems really grumpy for no reason, and accidentally hits a deer.  He freaks out at the idea of killing it.  Weird.

Another great Dexter line from this episode is “I’m not a young sailor, Cody is.  I’m a 30 something sailor.“  See, he gets the idea from Arthur that you should encourage your kids to go do stuff, explore themselves, so he introduces Cody to the young sailors program.  And then gets roped into taking some of the kids out camping/sailing.

One of their activities is telling scary stories, which Dexter is hilariously not good at.  He starts telling the story of Trinity…and gets interrupted by the other dad there cuz it’s toooooooo much!

Back to the innocent person death…Dexter, and the Miami PD, think the photographer guy killed the alligator lady.  They can’t get a warrant to search his place, though, so they’re kind of at a dead end.  This doesn’t stop Dexter, natch, so he nabs the guy and kills him.  While he’s talking with the guy, he protests that he didn’t kill anyone, and I thought “Maybe he really didn’t.”  But Dexter is so spot on that I didn’t think much more of it.  Turns out it was the assistant!  Ruh roh!

I’m interested to see how this affects Dexter in the future, and since I’m behind a week anyway, I’m sure the answer is partially on my DVR already.  But I am patiently waiting until I catch up on my other shows.

Also, Arthur was building a coffin.  For who?

*****

If this seems totally disjointed, I apologize.  I am sleep deprived.  Jobs will do that.

Dexter continues to investigate Trinity’s private life, to try and learn how Trinity, aka Arthur Mitchell, is able to exist in society despite his own dark passenger. We also learn, just as I had suspected, that Arthur has a personal tie to these particular kinds of murders – his sister was found dead in the bathtub when he was young, his mother killed herself by jumping off a building, and his father was murdered in an alley with a wound to the head.

Deb also wants to be an eye witness to get Nicky convicted for murdering Lundy and shooting her.  Normally I find Quinn to be kind of icky, but I actually liked him caring for Deb in this episode, trying to talk her out of  making a mistake.  Deb eventually decides she won’t be a witness, because she confronts Nicky herself and believes her.  And I am wondering why there are no security guards in the holding section to prevent the prisoners from getting roughed up?

The biggest factor in Deb believing Nicky is that she finds out that all of Lundy’s Trinity research is gone, none of it was logged into evidence, and she assumes it’s that Trinity stole it.  We, of course, know that it was Dexter, but now Deb is back on the Trinity hunt.

Dexter discovers some smudge on the wall, which turns out to be more ashes from Trinity’s collection.  He intends to hide it, but Masuka catches him and finds that Trinity is actually related to the ashes – and also manages to get Arthur’s DNA from where he licked his thumb to put the ashes on the wall.

Meanwhile, Batista and La Guerta seem to decide that they like their jobs more than they like each other.  I guess I’ve never been in this kind of situation, so I can’t say what I would ultimately do, but I think if I really cared for someone, and definitely had a job in another department, I would probably continue to go out with them and accept a transfer.  Maybe I’m crazy.

Dexter and Rita also have a breakthrough in their couples therapy – it’s revealed to the therapist that Dexter’s bio mom was murdered in front of him, and that leads to a confession that he feels Rita would abandon him if she knew the real him.  Which she really would, but she takes it more as a metaphorical kind of thing and it works out.  In fact, Dexter says he really needs a place of his own to keep his stuff, so they build a shed in the backyard.

The previews for the next episode look pretty interesting, with shades of Sergeant Doakes!

This episode picks up immediately after the end of the last one, with Deb being rushed off in an ambulance and Lundy laying dead in a parking lot.  I am Jack’s television induced sadness.

At the hospital, Deb tells Anton that she slept with Lundy.  As much as I do adore Lundy, I feel bad for Anton.  I thought he was really good for Deb, plus I like their relationship and the way it evolved from him being a CI to Deb’s boyfriend.

Also, La Guerta makes the decision to tell Matthews about her relationship with Batista, because they’re supposed to make official disclosure when you’re dating in department.  Cept Matthews thinks their relationship is going to be a problem and decides to transfer Batista out of homicide.  It’s interesting to me, since he and La Guerta had problems before, that he decides to transfer Batista and not her.

Deb calls Dexter to the parking lot where she and Lundy were shot, and possibly calls him “Frank” for the first time ever.  This was a really difficult and touching scene for me to watch.  Knowing Deb’s history: how she ended up dating a serial killer in the first season; then not trusting anyone for awhile until she dates Lundy; he leaves and she doesn’t hear from him for over two years; then she finally gets a good guy in Anton and Lundy shows back up.  Her past is so tragic because we’ve seen it and I think it’s probably a good metaphor for a lot of the relationship mistakes most of us make.  Minus the dating a serial killer.  I will admit that while I was sad about Lundy being shot, I didn’t cry then.  I did cry, both times I watched this episode, when Deb melts down in the parking lot.

Rita also discovers in this episode that Dexter has kept his apartment, even though he told her he got rid of it.  She thinks he’s hiding things from her, which he is and we all know it, but it’s not what she thinks.  Even though I really do love Dexter, he can be frustrating at times because I don’t know why he doesn’t just tell her something along the lines of he is having a hard time adjusting to their new life since he lived alone for so long.  Or that he needs a place to go and concentrate to get work done.  There are plenty of things he could tell her!

Trinity also completes his kill cycle in this one, bludgeoning a man in the office building Lundy met him in front of.  Dexter sees the whole thing, and follows Trinity home.  To everyone’s surprise, Trinity actually has a family and an entire life, which is the complete opposite of Dexter and Lundy’s theories of him being a lone wolf.

I’ve been a big fan of this series since it started, and even though I believe I mentioned last season that I felt it didn’t give itself enough time to wrap up, I have thoroughly enjoyed each season.  So I don’t want to speak tooooo quickly, but I am going so far as to say this might be my favorite season yet.  I love the villain, love the new aspects of Dexter’s life, and I can’t wait to watch each new episode.

We open with Trinity harassing some guy at a bar, and once again I wonder what the personal connection is between Trinity and these particular killings.  He’s got his ritual, obviously, what with the same killings over and over again, and they have to mean something.  I especially noticed the connection between the jumping woman and the bludgeoned man having two children.  What does this mean?

In the meantime, Deb and Lundy are working on trying to find the next Trinity location, to hopefully prevent the next person from being killed.  And also fighting their lingering feelings for each other.  Deb says to Lundy “Don’t make me come up with thought bubbles to put over those silent looks of yours…” I am in a real tough spot with this one, as Deb must be, cuz I do like her boyfriend Anton but I also totally love Lundy.

They believe they find the sight, and since Lundy is always on the case, he is outside of the very building where Trinity does indeed intend to take his next victim.  And just as I worried, Trinity recognizes Lundy because Quinn’s reporter girlfriend puts his picture in the paper.  They have an encounter in which Trinity drops a ton of keys, what looks like a janitors set.  Lundy returns them to him, and I wonder, are these the keys Trinity is going to need to get into the building?  Lundy thinks the guy is suspicious, and makes a note of it.

Dexter has a couple of days alone, as Rita and the kids have gone to a wedding for one of her cousins.  He uses the time to hunt down a police officer who killed her entire family to escape the life she no longer wanted.  This struck me as weird, because I understand the desire to start a new life, but I never thought to kill anyone to do it.  Anyway, they get into a fight at Dexter’s house and it made me wonder – how does Dexter stay in such good shape to be able to defeat a cop in a physical altercation?  We never see him going to the gym.  Does dismembering bodies really keep his arms looking like that?

The police lady is apparently obsessed with rape, she mentions it a couple of times, including when she is all saranwrapped down for Dexter to kill her.  He says “What is it with you and rape?  No one’s raping anyone!” I found it to be hilarious, especially his facial expression and hand gestures.  You should watch and see what you think yourself.

I don’t think I’m going to be spoiling anything for anyone, but if you aren’t caught up on the season, I do not recommend you continue reading…

The episode ends with Deb going to Lundy’s hotel room and they sleep with each other.  I can’t blame her, he is hot.  As he’s walking her out to her car, they’re both shot by someone we never see.  And as someone who is a big fan of Lundy, I was pretty devastated to see this happen.  I adore him, and I’m going to miss him.

I also have some mixed feelings about this, because as a viewer we know that Lundy’s death was a direct result of the article the reporter lady wrote.  While I stand for truth in journalism, seeing something like this also makes me think there is a line that shouldn’t be crossed.  Yes, it’s news that a former FBI agent is in town, but it’s also jeopardizing an investigation to say he’s there at all.  I’m sure things like this happen in real life sometimes, so I just wonder what the real life scenario is, and are there consequences for over zealous reporters?

While Trinity is taking his second victim in Miami, Dexter is dealing with a vandal and overly attentive neighborhood watch.  Not the most ideal conditions for a serial killer!  He also gets in trouble with Rita for not telling the full truth about his accident – that he got a concussion and isn’t allowed to drive for ten days.  Ruh roh!

I generally watch each Dexter episode twice, so this was my second watching of this episode.  One of the numerous things I love about this show is that it manages to build such anxiety for me.  I mean, we all knew what would happen with Tarla Grant anyway, yet even on the second watching, my heart was racing in the lead up to her jumping off the building.  I am also really liking John Lithgow as Trinity, he’s so creepy and good for the role!

I am wondering if there is any personal connection for Trinity with the warehouse he uses for Tarla – like did his own mother kill herself there?  It’s hard to know where Trinity grew up, since he’s such a wanderer, but it would be interesting if he has true connections to these specific locations.  And I’m curious if they would be able to catch him if they were to find the spot of ashes he left.  In this kind of situation, would they even have the ability to find his real identity?  He’s probably taken a lot of pains to hide himself and not make public records.

Naturally, I had some favorite parts of this episode, the best one being when a neighbor says he’s busting Dexter’s chops, and Dexter says, “My chops are busted!”  Maybe it’s better when you actually see it in the show.

It’s great that Lundy is picking up a bit on Deb’s vocab, using the word “douche”.  Love it!

Quinn also makes the obvious mistake of telling his reporter not girlfriend more specific details about the cases they’re working on.  I can see some bad stuff happening as a result of this, which will undoubtedly spill over into the rest of the season.  I mean, what is she thinking?  You know she’s going to print it, but with the suspicion that a serial killer is loose in the city, you would think she wouldn’t print everything.  Maybe this is why I’m not a reporter.