Arguably one of the most nail-biting scenes of the entire Dexter series came down to one within this episode. If you weren’t sitting white-knuckled, as Dexter chased down the plastic-wrapped man in the latter half of the episode, then there’s something seriously wrong with you. Even though we know there’s just no way Dexter would get caught or put into serious suspicion by others at this point in the season, it was one of the closest moments he’s come to being caught red-handed. I seriously had no idea how he was going to put everything together in order to come away clean. The staged crime scene was something that didn’t occur to me at all, and it wound up working out brilliantly.
One thing that sort of bothers me with these close calls by Dexter is how, eventually, someone has to really put two and two together and figure something really must be going on for Dexter to be appearing at these crime scenes before everyone else. Sure, Quinn has his suspicions, but it’s nothing to do with where Dexter’s shown up during crime scene investigations. I can almost see an episode in the future where Deb or Vince learns of Dexter’s secret, then we get flashbacks to those close calls — Dexter hiding in the coffin at the Mitchells; Dexter showing up here at the scene of the dead bodies — and thinking, “Of course! How could I be so stupid?”
Unless the Quinn storyline carries over into next season, it’s not going to end well at all. And with that, Deb will become a complete wreck, as everyone she seems to get close to winds up dead. If Dexter learns what Quinn’s been up to and decides to take him out, my money is on Dexter making it appear that Quinn simply left. Deb won’t learn that Quinn was killed. Quinn leaving her would ruin her, but not as much as her discovering Quinn dead at the hands of some killer.
This is where Dexter could really screw up. So far Deb only let Dexter know that she and Quinn are “fuck buddies,” so if Dexter were to kill Quinn to save himself from being caught, it’s unlikely he’d do something to make it easier on Deb. What I mean is, whatever way Dexter positioned things for Quinn’s disappearance, it would look odd to Deb. He wouldn’t just up and leave her after that talk they had. He wouldn’t commit suicide. So, next season would be about what Dexter would do about her own sister being hot on his trail, when he just had no problem taking care of Quinn for the same reason.
What if Dexter sets things up so it appears Peter Weller‘s character has a spat with Quinn? Deb’s seen the two together, so it would seem plausible. Dexter takes them both out, it looks like they killed each other in a disagreement. Anyway, I’m getting way ahead of myself here.
Speaking of Deb, though, I wonder why the Chief came down on her so hard. It was an oddly placed scene, and I wasn’t quite sure what was up the Chief’s ass. Was that there to set something else up for later?
There was a nice call-back to when Dexter went to Paris to kill Lila, and I don’t really remember what excuse he made for why he’d travel out there. Did he say he just went to see the sights? For a blood spatter conference? I’d think that one trip alone would have looked quite odd to Quinn when his new buddy dug up that info.
So, now we know that Dexter’s got an unknown number of people lined up for his next kills, and having inexperienced Lumen by his side is just going to lead to a boatload of trouble. I can’t help but think that, in the end, that swamp full of barrels will serve to take a lot of pressure off of Dexter if the heat starts coming down on him. I feel pretty confident that Jordan Chase, the “Take It Now” guy, will be behind the whole thing. Sorry, but you don’t cast Jonny Lee Miller in a part like that if he’s not going to actually appear outside of a CD cover image.
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Nov 01, 2010 @ 12:41 EST5EDT
Not only did I think it was the best episode of the season, I can’t remember when I laughed so much while watching an episode of Dexter (if I ever have). It was mostly because of the guy wrapped in plastic running away and then the crime scene with Vince acting the whole thing out. Really excellent writing this week.
As for the Paris trip, I don’t see why anybody would find that odd. That was before Quinn was working at the station and my guess is that nobody else knows about it since it as he only went there and back again. Though perhaps Quinn will bring it up to Deb and she’ll wonder why he never told her. I doubt it but why else did they bring it up?
Perhaps they just wanted to tie this episode to the old ones to keep people’s interest up. There was also the detail with Arthur’s hammer and how Dexter turned it around before he put it in the box. Time will tell.
*POST AUTHOR*
I felt the mention of Dexter’s Paris trip was just there to show Quinn’s guy is being thorough is all. Not sure it will amount to anything, though if Dexter never mentioned it to Deb, I could see Quinn noting it and then she could wonder WTF was with that.
Very good episode indeed, its the season of a confused Dexter and all the mistake he is doing because of it. I cant wait to see Jonny Lee Miller in his bad guy role (I guess he is one of THE bad guy) I so love that actor… and by the way he will in the next episode.
I’ve found the “only one person per season can suspect Dexter” conceit is something I simply must accept to enjoy the show, much as procedural and technological limitations are ignored in crime investigation shows. Also, Dexter mentioned in the first season that one of the reasons he operates in Miami is that the solved homicide rate is only around 20%. Although we don’t see it for dramatic purposes, LaGuerta’s department must be swamped with non-storyline cases, and I don’t see her detectives being anything but relieved when Dexter pops up out of nowhere to point out crucial evidence or provide a compelling theory of the crime. Remember, he’s still the lovable blood dork with the donuts.
If Dexter couldn’t bring himself to kill Doakes, who murdered at least one person (the Haitian death squad leader) in the course of his duties, I don’t see him ever being able to execute Quinn, especially with Dexter’s long-suppressed emotions breaking through to the surface more than ever this season. And there wouldn’t be any credibility for the audience about killing Deb, not when he chose her over Brian.
Liddy, however, I don’t see as being long for this world.
In the surveillance van, Angel offers to take the call about Lumen’s gunshots at the warehouse, saying that the club is Deb’s operation. Deb demurs, saying that they’ve been at this for weeks with nothing to show for it. I took that to mean that the Captain had complained about Deb wasting man-hours and funds on the club for weeks without catching so much as a lead, and that Harry would have gotten the job done faster than that. That means that there was a time jump of at least two weeks since the last episode, which also supports Lumen going to the club night after night for an extended period before catching Dan the Dentist (by the way, was that Patrick Gilmore, aka Volker from SGU? I missed the closing credits).
Dexter never mentioned the trip to Paris to anyone. He could always claim that he needed to spend some time alone to recover right after he and the kids nearly burned to death in Lila’s loft, and had always wanted to see X museum or Y landmark in Paris.
As Bynie mentioned, loved the detail of Arthur’s hammer. Also, Lumen picking up Dexter’s signature cheek cut (albeit on the opposite side), and Dexter wiping it off instead of inflicting it.
A very solid season thus far. Just bored by Deb’s least interesting love interest (would have been far better if he fell for her, but she continued to keep it casual), and wishing there were more telephone conversations with Astor and Cody.
I’m glad you brought up this point: I don’t see Dexter killing Quinn as being in character at all, and it’s strange to me that people are throwing it around as a natural solution for his problem. I don’t know what the writers have planned for Quinn, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see this storyline carry over into next season, or for Quinn to simply accept that in order for him to be happy with Deb, he’ll have to back off of Dexter.