SEASON FINALE RECAP & REVIEW: Dexter “Surprise, Mother Fucker” S7 E12

WOW!!!  There were many scenarios I pictured in my head about how this season finale of Dexter would play out.  I can guarantee you with 100% certainty that how it actually played out last night was no where NEAR what I thought.  There were many things building to a head this season.  Some things I thought would build little quicker and some things I thought would build a little slower.  But I never in a million years saw THAT coming.  And it really begs the question, where the hell does the show go from here?

If you’ve ever read any of my Dexter posts in the past, you know there is one character I absolutely love and is my favorite of all time and with every passing episode, his absence pains me more and more.  That would be one Sgt. James Doakes.  I’ve been refusing to believe for the past 4 seasons that Doakes is really dead.  I had it in my twisted little head that he somehow escaped that explosion (General Hospital style) and he is alive and well trying to remember who he is only to resurface when we least (or most) expect.   When I saw the title of the finale (sorry Mom for the language!) I thought to myself….HE’S BACK!!!  HE’S ALIVE!!!  I KNEW IT!!!!   Especially since there has been so much Doakes talk lately, I thought that he was absolutely coming back.  And I was right!!!   Well…..sort of.  He’s back but only in a flashback.  A recreated flashback I should say.  And even though it was not the reunion with Doakes I was hoping for, it was ok.  I was so happy to see my main man Erik King back that even though it was only for a short time, I’ll take it just to get my Doakes fill again!

So with my James Doakes/Erik King love out-of-the-way, let’s get into the meat of the episode.   What does what we witnessed last night mean and where does Season 8 go from here?  First I want to talk about Hannah. I know there were many people not too fond of Hannah McKay.  I didn’t hate her character the way some other people have.  I thought she was important for a few reasons.  First, it showed that Dexter could truly love again.  Second, it gave Dexter the chance to fully and completely be himself with someone.  We’ve never really seen that before.  The closest we got was with Lumen but he was very careful with her because he knew deep down that Lumen wasn’t a killer.  She was a victim seeking revenge for her crimes and that once he mission was complete, her “Dark Passenger” would be gone…and it was.   But Hannah was different.  Hannah’s a killer…just like Dexter.   So he didn’t need to lie or hide.  He could be himself with her in way he never could with anyone else, even Deb.  And finally, she brought some inner feelings inside Dexter out I’m not sure he knew were there.  I’m talking about the “Dark Passenger.”  One of the reasons we’ve always been able to buy into Dexter as a “lovable serial killer” is because he always had his code (always kill guilty people…never anyone innocent) and because we thought there was no other choice for him.  This is who he is.  He had a darkness in him that he can’t run from and therefore he needed to find a way to channel it.  But Hannah made him rethink that position.  Is it possible there is no “DP” at all and that Dexter is just a killer who likes to kill.  It puts Dexter in a completely new light.  It’s one thing when he’s doing it because he has no choice and the people he kills are bad.  It’s a completely different scenario if it’s simply for pleasure and because it’s a lifestyle he has chosen vs. one that was fated.  He becomes a much scarier individual because the code is now off the table, if that’s the case.   And if that’s the case, how does our perspective on Dexter change?  How does Dexter’s perspective about himself change?  We saw it with Hannah’s father.  While he was a complete scumbag, he wasn’t worth killing.  He didn’t fit the code.  But he’s not walking amongst the living anymore is he?   Dexter willingly broke his code to kill her father.  Or you could argue, he adjusted his code to justify killing her father.  That’s not the Dexter we’ve grown to care about.  So without his relationship with Hannah, these feelings inside Dexter and this turmoil about who he really is, wouldn’t have come to light.  It also bring an entirely new layer to Dexter’s character which is quite compelling.    The big question is, will Hannah be back?   She’s out and on the run and Dexter will be very well aware of that fact when he returns home.  How will this make him feel?   Because they were very clear with one another that while they both love each other very much and feel only they can understand one another, they also realize that because of who they are, neither one are ever really safe with the other.  I hope Hannah returns next season because I think those crazy kids can find a way to work their issues out!

I think the bigger analysis, is how did Quinn survive?  I thought for sure he was a goner!    No, I’m just kidding!!!  Obviously the bigger question is, Debra.  She had quite a finale didn’t she?  Her character has had such a transformation over the last seven seasons.  Where she once started as an innocent cop who just wanted to do a good job and make her dad and brother proud (and Jennifer Carpenter was not a very good actress) she is now a seasoned lieutenant who is very well aware of what is happening around her (and Jennifer Carpenter has become a very good actress.)   Poor Deb has had pretty much an insane ride on this show.  From falling in love with a serial killer (who happened to be Dexter’s bio brother) to falling in love with a FBI agent who is murdered right in front of her to falling in love with her adopted brother to finding out said brother is a serial killer to becoming a killer herself.   Just when you want to say you’ve had a rough life, take a look at the life of one Debra Morgan!

It’s still hard to comprehend what went down last night because I still can’t believe it was Deb that pulled the trigger….literally.  I was pretty sure LaGuerta was going to die (check out my Dexter Death poll in my earlier post).  Why I wasn’t 100% sure?   Because she didn’t fit Dexter’s code so I didn’t think he was going to kill her. I was right…on both fronts.  She died and Dexter didn’t kill her…DEB DID!!!   I still can’t believe it.  Deb killed LaGuerta.  But did Dexter have a hand in it?  I think he did.

It’s obvious what was going to go down.  Dexter was going to shoot both Estrada and LaGuerta and make it appear as if they shot each other.  Enter Deb who spent most of the time trying to convince Dex not to kill Maria.  Unfortunately, while Dexter was begging Debra to leave and Debra was begging Dexter not to do this, Maria woke up.  I’m glad this happened because, like Doakes, she had her suspicions about Dexter and before she met her maker, her suspicions were confirmed.  But when Maria woke up she begged Debra to shoot Dexter.  I found this reaction from Maria interesting.  Instead of Maria telling Deb to call for back up or turn him in, she yelled at her to shoot him.  Hmmm.  Meanwhile, Dexter is telling Deb that it’s ok and that she needs to do what she thinks is right.  And with a tearful and pained look on her face, with the gun aimed at Dexter….BANG.    The shot goes off but instead she shoots LaGuerta.  In what I read this morning was an off the script scene, Deb runs screaming to LaGuerta and hugs her and tells her NO while Dexter watches in disbelief at what Debra just did for him.   It was such a powerful moment made even more powerful once learning that was all ad libbed by Jennifer Carpenter.

Deb and Maria had always had a difficult relationship.  At first, Maria didn’t like Deb because she was threatened by her.  She was the darling up and comer with a huge backing in Captain Matthews.  And as a result, she made Deb’s life very difficult resulting in Deb not trusting and hating her lieutenant.  Eventually, she made Deb detective…which is something she always wanted.  Their working relationship improved slightly but there were still moments of tension and distrust.  Eventually, Maria got promoted to Captain and in turn promoted Deb to lieutenant.   And as of late, they worked well together.  Their relationship came full circle last night.  It started with Maria holding Deb’s future in the palm of her hands and ended with Deb holding Maria’s future in the palm of her hands.  While Deb and Maria had their moments of angst, there is a part of me that always thought they did want the best for the other.  As the only other woman in the department, I think if anyone was going to succeed, Maria wanted it to be Deb and in turn, there were many times Deb viewed Maria as an asset and mentor.  That’s why it hurt Deb so much to do what she did.  Not only because she just killed someone, but because it was Maria.

I read an interview with one of the show runners who alluded to the idea that Dexter was very much in control of the situation with Deb and manipulated her into doing his dirty work.  It’s hard to argue with one of the men behind the show, but I’m going to anyway.  I don’t buy that.  I think Dexter was very distraught over the idea of putting Deb in this position and he was really giving her the ok to shoot him if she felt she had to do it.  He was trying to make it easier for her.  I don’t think he was trying to manipulate her into shooting Maria.  I really don’t. I think he was shocked when she did it because all things Maria said were true…Deb’s a good person, she’s not like Dexter, she’s not a killer.   But I guess that didn’t stop Maria from shouting at Deb to kill her own brother!  I guess she’s a killer if she’s saving Dexter but not Maria.  Anyhoo, Maria was right about Deb.  So I don’t think it ever entered Dexter’s mind that she would shoot Maria.   He was just as stunned as the rest of us!

So now what?   What does this do to Deb?  How does this impact her relationship with Dexter moving forward? How do they get out this?  I certainly think hearing of Maria’s death will bring Angel back from retirement and this will be his last case before he really does step away.   I guess a lot will depend on whether or not Season 8 is really Dexter’s last season.  Right now the show runners are planning as if it is.  But they did say if Showtime wants more, they can spin it and go longer.  As much as I would like to see more Dexter (if the quality holds up) I almost think you’re at a point of no return.  I think next season has to be the last because as many people as Dexter has been involved in killing, he can’t run forever.  At some point, it has to catch up and I think next season it will.   Otherwise, it gets ridiculous and there is no way we can trust any of these cops who would be so blind to what is happening right in front of them.

So what did you think of the season finale and season 7 as a whole?   And do you want next season to be the final season?   I can’t wait to hear what you think!!!

 

RECAP & REVIEW: Dexter “Helter Skelter” S7 E9

Is it wrong that I’m a little sad that Issak is dead?  I really liked his character and I was hoping he’d be sticking around a little bit longer.  He was a great foil for Dexter and their chemistry was fantastic.  But it was inevitable that he had to die so I guess I can’t be too upset.

How do you all feel about Hannah?  I really want to like them together because of what she gives Dexter…someone he can completely be himself around.  She knows all about who he is and she doesn’t judge him because he doesn’t judge her.  In many ways, she’s the perfect person for him.  But I worry that she can’t be trusted.  One false move from Dexter or maybe he doesn’t put the dishes in the dishwasher correctly and poof!  She poisons him and he’s a goner.  I can see why Deb is so concerned about that.  Because she has no code like Dexter.  She’s just a killer.  Whatever her reasons or motives are, she’s more unpredictable and that’s very dangerous.

It appears as though the Deb being in love with Dexter story is finally put to rest.  I guess the writers felt they couldn’t just walk away and ignore it so this was a way to acknowledge the fact that it was there, it was addressed and now is handled.  Basically Dexter gave Deb the “don’t worry you are so screwed up you’re in love with me” speech.  He told her that while he can’t reciprocate, he can understand why her feelings went there.  Deb is still creeped out by the whole thing (as are we all) but is going to move past it and just go back to normal with Dexter.   Thank God.   I give Dexter mad props here because if it were me and my sibling told me they were in love with me, I don’t think I could ever be around them again.   But since Dexter is asking Deb, a police detective, to accept the fact that he’s a serial killer, I guess it’s only fair he learn to accept and move past the idea that his sister’s in love with him.

LaGuerta and Matthews are working together again…well, kind of.  I thought it took a lot of balls for Maria to go see Tom after she destroyed his career.  But to her point, kill or be killed and he was after her just as much as she was after him.  She just ended up winning.  We’ve already talked about how Maria never believed Doakes was the Bay Harbor Butcher.  Now she’s on Dexter’s trail.  The scent is getting stronger and stronger and now she’s strategizing with Matthews over the Butcher case and who the actual perpetrator is.  My question is, why does Matthews care?  I know why Maria is invested in this but why, with Matthews career  destroyed, care?  He cares because he wants Maria to get him reinstated so he can work just long enough to get his pension.  She agrees and so their investigation begins.   This is sooo bad for Dexter.  It’s one thing to have Maria on your trail.  Now he’ll have former Captain Matthews as well?  It’s really getting for ugly.   To the point of, what the hell is he going to do?  He can’t kill them, they don’t fit his code.  So what does he do when they find out?

Other Random Thoughts:

1. At this point, it’s not a matter of if Quinn dies, but when.
2. Looks like we have a new Big Bad in the form of a serial arsonist.  Will this story run into next season or be wrapped up this year?   It’s hard to believe we are throwing another element into this season with already so much going on!
3. Does anyone else care about Batista’s restaurant?   I’m not sure why it’s being mentioned but part of me thinks it must be for a bigger reason.  At first I thought it was just to set up Batista’s retirement when the show ends next season but the fact that it’s mentioned in every episodes means it could be something more.   Then again, maybe I’m just reading too much into it.
4. It’s also official that George is a dead man at this point and possibly Nadia as well.

Only three episodes left.   How will this season end and what will the set up for the final season be?  I can’t wait to find out!!

 

QUICK REVIEW: Dexter “Argentina” S7 E8

I don’t think I’ve ever sat through a more cringe worthy scene than the one I watched on Sunday night between Dexter and Deb.   I literally squealed during that scene.  And I thought Carpenter and Hall played the hell out of it.  There have been many jaw-dropping scenes this season on Dexter.   But NONE as “HOLY SHIT” as that one!!

First, we have Deb asking Dexter to kill Hannah because she’s going to get away with another murder.  Other people have mentioned how the season has been a good, slow build to that point.  I disagree.  While this may be 6-7 weeks in our time, it’s probably only 2 weeks, maybe, in Dexter time.  So I don’t think Deb would jump on the “hey can you pick up some beer and kill the suspect I can’t nail?  Thanks Bro!” bandwagon just yet.  I think Carpenter has done a fantastic job showing all the ranges of emotion Deb is going through this season.  But I still don’t think her character would succumb to Dexter’s dark passenger that fast.  I just don’t.  I think it’s too soon.   And while I do think Dexter denied killing Hannah because of his feelings for her, I also think he did it to protect Deb.  He knows she’s not that kind of person and she would regret it.  She can’t be responsible for the death of someone else..intentionally.  And that’s what this would have been.

It all comes to a head when Dexter goes over to Deb’s place and he throws down keys on the desk and Deb recognizes them as Hannah’s keys.  Dexter borrowed her van to spy incognito on Issak.  Oops.  So then the tiny detail of Dexter and Hannah doing the horizontal mambo together is revealed and Deb is beside herself.  She asks if they’re in love and Dex says he isn’t sure.  At this point, it seriously would not have shocked me if Deb’s head exploded right off of her body.   How much more can this girl take?

So while all this is happening, Deb decides now would be the absolute perfect time to reveal to Dexter that when she went to see him last year, when she caught him killing Travis Marshall, she was going there to tell him that she is in love with him.   WHHHHHHHOOOOOOOAAAAA!!!!  And..EEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!!!!   I was really hoping the writers forgot that horrible storyline existed and were dropping the whole thing.   Nope.  No apparantly Deb really needed to share that information with Dexter and the look on Dexter’s face was priceless.   He looked as creeped out as the rest of us feel with this God awful storyline.  Even Deb said to him, you’re a serial killer in love with a serial killer and I’m more fucked up than you because I’m in love with a serial killer who happens to be my brother.  Well, geez when you put it that way, she’s right.   I can’t even begin to tell you how much this grosses me out.  I’m not sure why the writers felt the need to go down this path.  It is beyond disgusting.  But they are so, ok.

On the flip side, I LOVE the character of Issak.  Ray Stevenson is brilliant in this role.  And I’m sort of disappointed because Issak is right.  In any other circumstance, he and Dexter would be great friends because they understand one another.  Why is that?  Because we learned tonight that Viktor was not Issak’s son but his lover.  Our boy Issak is gay.  So Issak and Dexter bond over losing the person they love and the revenge they wish to seek on the person that took their loved ones away.  Unfortunately for Dexter, he killed Viktor.  So while Issak can respect Dexter, he’s going to kill him.  And while Dexter respects Issak, he’s going to kill him.  That’s quite the conundrum for this budding bromance.   But I don’t want Issak to die.  You can kill Jason Gedrick’s character but let’s keep Issak around?  He’s quite entertaining!!

I think we need to start a “death pool” for the final 5 episodes this season and the 12 for next.   Who is going to die?   Let’s look at the main cast and place some % chances:

Dexter  50%
Debra  0%
Angel  0%
Quinn  100%
LaGuerta  50%
Masuka  0%

As for the secondary cast:

Issak  75%
Hannah   100%
Jamie  25%
George  100%
Astor  5%
Cody  5%
Harrison  0%

It’s hard to list a second tier cast for next season since we don’t know who’s in play so we have to go with this for now.   But these are my best guess for who’s dying at some point before the end of the series.   I’m pretty sure George, Hannah, and Quinn are goners at some point and I have a sinking feeling Issak is going to have to go.  I think Dexter and LaGuerta could go either way.  LaGuerta doesn’t fit Dexter’s code but we all know Dexter has killed people who don’t fit the code.  But I can’t see him killing her.  But what does he do when she puts all the pieces together?  As for Dexter himself, it could go either way.  I can see the show having him escape or I could see the show putting him behind bars or I could see the show killing him.  So it’s a toss-up.   Jamie and the kids, I don’t really care but since they’re around I put some % and that would really be storyline dictated but I don’t think anything will happen to any of them.   But you never know!!!!   Maybe I’m just hoping someone takes out Rita’s annoying kids.

What did you think of Dexter?   This season is the best in a long time but the creep factor is at an all time high on this show and I really wish the writers would abort the mission.

 

“Dexter” Divorce: Stars Real Life Break Up

TV Guide is reporting that Dexter stars Michael C Hall and Jennifer Carpenter are filing for divorce.   They were married New Year’s Eve in 2008 (so that didn’t even last 2 years.)  It doesn’t seem like there is any other information at this time but check out the link below for more details.

I wonder how something like that affects them on set?  I would say not much because they are professionals and if they have been separated for some time, you would have noticed it this season, if it would have effected them.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Dexter-Hall-Carpenter-Divorce-1026698.aspx

 

SEASON FINALE RECAP: Dexter “The Big One” S5 E12

It may not be fair to write this, but I was disappointed in the season finale.  Other than the scene when Deb shows up at Camp Jordan and catches Dexter and Lumen cleaning up after their latest kill, there was no suspense and nothing happened that was surprising at all…in fact it was quite predictable.  Going into tonight’s episode, my husband and I talked about what we thought would happen.  With Lumen I thought she would either take the blame 100% and go to jail or they would somehow get away with it and she would leave.  (My husband, for the record, thought she would die.)  With Quinn, we both thought he would get out of it somehow because the writers can’t keep doing this to Deb or he would get caught and go to jail (as this year’s “cliffhanger.”)   And as the episode played out, we knew what was coming next…we knew when Lumen woke up, she was going to leave Dexter; we knew when Deb “caught” Lumen and Dexter, she would let them go; and we knew when Quinn got arrested and his shoe would have to go in for testing for the blood on it, that Dexter would fix it to not be Liddy’s and clear Quinn.  Very predictable.  And I why I say it isn’t fair to complain about the finale, is because it is next to impossible to compete with last year’s finale.  It really isn’t fair to compare the two.  But it’s also hard not too.  And if I am really being fair, I didn’t expect this to be a BIG finale.  I expected it to be more like the Season 3 finale “Do You Take Dexter Morgan” where Dexter needed to deal with the Skinner case wrap up, Ramon Prado and his wedding to Rita.  In many ways, this is season finale was just like that.  The main case is neatly wrapped up, the periphery issue is handled (Ramon and Quinn), and the happy personal celebration takes place to wrap the season up (the wedding and the birthday party.)  And that’s fine.  You can’t have EVERY season be a huge cliffhanger.  Maybe part of my disappointment as well is that I was hoping Lumen would be hanging around.

So I want to talk about the one part of the episode that had me on the edge of my seat…Deb finding the camp site and walking in on Jordan’s body and “Dexter and Lumen.”  I really thought that would be the BIG moment.  During that scene as Deb was descending those stairs, I thought “Oh My God!!  There is going to be a big reveal…Deb is going to finally find out!!!”  I couldn’t imagine how they would get Dexter out of this.  And then when Deb showed up in the room where Jordan’s body was and Dex and Lumen were cleaning the knives, I saw the plastic curtain.   Now that was genius!!  At first I thought, Lumen was going to come out from behind the curtain and take the blame for everything.  But then when Deb started talking to them, I knew she was going to let them go.  It goes back to the conversation she had earlier with Dexter when she explains how she understands what “#13″ is going through having been in that situation herself where she was kidnapped and left to think she was about to die.  I like the fact that they don’t forget what Deb went through with Rudy, the Ice Truck Killer, Dexter’s brother, in Season 1.  Actually, all season long the writers did a great job building up to that scene that went down.  Deb had to watch those rape videos several times, she has the conversation with Dexter where she talks about the vigilante theory and how in some sick, twisted way, it was pretty romantic that someone would help her get her revenge on these bastards, and you had the conversation tonight reminding you of what Deb went through herself being kidnapped and left for dead.  Deb is a great cop.  She would NEVER let a killer get away no matter how sympathetic.  However, by the smart, slow build up the writers created with Deb’s connection to this case, it made perfect sense that she would empathize with #13 and let her go.  I thought it was the best tension building scene of the night.  You knew they were there and weren’t going anywhere any time soon because they still needed to take care of the body.  You knew Deb was in the right location because you could see the rooms she was in, was the same as Dexter, Lumen, and Jordan.  It was just a matter of, what was going to happen when Deb was in the room.  It was handled really well and unfortunately (if you want to look at it that way) it was the best scene of the night.

As for the Quinn/Liddy storyline, it kind of went out with a thud.  That SL (storyline) was really building to a big confrontation with Liddy vs. Dexter or Quinn vs. Dexter or Liddy and Quinn vs. Dexter and none of it really happened.  Liddy kidnapped Dexter, he pulled a James Bond and threatened all the ways he will destroy Dexter to get his career on track and it ended up with Dexter getting the upper hand and killing him. When Quinn showed up and the blood dripped on his shoe, I got really excited thinking this was going to be a big blowup.  Once the MMPD (Miami Metro PD)learned of Liddy’s murder and everyone went to the scene, I thought this was where the payoff was going to happen.  Quinn’s deleting numbers from his phone, Deb is questioning Quinn, Quinn is questioning Dexter, and finally Maria questions Quinn about his relationship with Liddy and all the phone calls he made to him.  Quinn asks for a lawyer and things start to look really bad for Quinn.  Then his shoe gets sent to Dexter, Dexter tests the shoe, and the obvious part happens next…Dexter clears him and says the blood wasn’t Liddy’s.  Next thing you know, Quinn is out of jail and all charges are dropped.  What?  That’s it?  So the blood on the shoe wasn’t Liddy’s, but what about the phone calls?   What about the surveillance video equipment being checked out in his name?  It’s like the writers realized they went way too slow with this story and had to wrap it up too quickly.   There could have been some really great stuff between Dexter and Quinn and the investigation into Quinn and whether or not Deb would stand by him, but the writers just simply didn’t have enough time to do the SL justice.  For what was such a big SL this season, it really wrapped up poorly.  Another disappointment in the episode.

You know the biggest thing I learned from this season?   Harry was wrong with the way he raised Dexter and I think Dexter is starting to believe that as well. Dexter’s whole life, he believed he was a monster with a dark passenger inside him.  The reason he believed that was because Harry told him so.  I started to re-watch Season 1 a few days ago, mainly because I needed a Doakes fix, but it was fascinating to see the early explanation of how Dexter became who he is today and how Harry drove that.   Granted, Dexter was killing animals and he was telling Harry how he didn’t know why he has the urges and didn’t know to how to control them.   But it also looked like it bothered him.  So Harry decides that, instead of taking this kid into counseling, let’s teach him to be a killer, that kills bad people and he develops a plan…the code.  As Harry’s methods of channeling Dexter’s “urges” escalates from smaller animals to larger ones, it eventually grows to killing humans.  And if you notice how that comes about, it is incredibly selfish.  Harry lost a partner and the person who killed him, got away.  This is when Harry comes up with the idea of using Dexter’s urges to eliminate “bad people.”   And the first person Dexter goes after, a nurse at a hospital Harry is at who is giving him too much morphine and essential prematurely killing him.  Harry tells Dexter that it’s time and tells him to go after her.  Granted, the woman was awful, but the only reason she died is because Harry wanted her to, not Dexter.  Once the first kill happens, we start to learn more about the code and what Harry wants Dexter to do.  He also teaches Dexter that since he has no feelings, no emotions, it will be easy for him to have this lifestyle because he will never need to connect to anyone like “normal” people do.  However, he still needs to maintain the appearance that he does lead a normal life, which is why he aligns himself with Rita because she was damaged like him and he wouldn’t have to do all the regular relationship “stuff” because of her troubled past.

In my opinion, Harry never gave Dexter enough credit for being human.  He treated Dexter like a monster and therefore Dexter molded into the exact replica of what Harry was creating.  But as Dexter started going through life on his own, without Harry, and as his relationships evolved, Dexter started to learn, as did the audience, that he isn’t the emotionless, robotic, “dark passenger” Harry wanted us to believe he was.  If he was, he wouldn’t have fallen in love with and married Rita.  And as much as I wasn’t a big fan of Rita’s in the end, I do believe Dexter loved her.  He wouldn’t have had a son and fallen in love with him.  He wouldn’t have befriended Angel and Masuka.  He wouldn’t care so deeply for his sister.  He wouldn’t have cared for and loved Cody and Astor.  He wouldn’t have been so excited over finally having a “friend” who knew who he was that he could confide in like Miguel Prado.  And he wouldn’t have fallen in love with Lumen and been so devastated when he found out she was leaving him because her dark passenger is gone.   There were many times this season where Dexter put the needs of someone he cared about above his own wishes and needs and, in some cases, above the need to protect himself and who he is.  And Harry tells Dexter “I had no idea you had this capacity to love.”  Of course not.   You never gave him a chance.  This is why Dexter is one of the best shows on TV.  It isn’t just a serialized cop show that happens to have the police station’s blood spatter expert be a serial killer.  It is the psychology of Dexter and what made him what he is and why and how he deals with that, that makes this show so fascinating.  And Dexter’s inner monologue has certainly changed from the pilot to “The Big One.”   Dexter now knows that he can love, he can hurt, he can have his heart-broken, he can have compassion, and he can put other’s happiness ahead of his own.   None of these things Harry taught him.  Harry taught him to be cold, calculating, and distant.  He told him he wasn’t capable of love and wasn’t built like other people.  I guess Harry was wrong and with no disrespect to James Remar, whom I love as an actor, I am ready for Harry to be out of Dexter’s psyche, permanently.  The revelation to Dexter that he isn’t necessarily the monster Harry made him believe he was, was in this season’s episode “In the Beginning” when he consumates his relationship with Lumen.

Speaking of his relationship with Lumen, I am so sad and confused.  I really didn’t want to Lumen to leave and I was just as devastated as Dexter was when she broke up with him.  I felt like she broke up with me!!!  The writers did a good job of creating a believable and unparalleled relationship with Lumen and Dexter.  In a strange and creepy way, it was incredibly romantic and completely genuine from both sides.   Which is why her abruptly ending the relationship felt a little flat to me.  It felt like, “ok, I got what I needed from you and now I’m out of here, see ya!”  And to me, it cheapened what they went through and what they developed together.  I think if they had captured and killed Chase last week and we had an episode to see Lumen struggling with staying in Dexter’s life while he still has his dark passenger while her’s is now gone, it would have felt a little more believable.  I think the connection they developed was so strong and so deep that I don’t buy, after smiling and laughing on the “Slice of Life” that 10 hours later, she would just leave him.  If anything, I would think that maybe she would want to stay and either try to live a life with him, knowing what he is or possibly trying to rid him of his dark passenger.  Now if she does the latter, we have no Dexter and we can’t have that!   But I think if anyone could relieve Dexter of his darkness, it would be Lumen.  She opened up a part of Dexter he didn’t even know was in him and I think he liked the portion that was opened up.  I really think, he would let her see if she could remove his darkness with her light.  (For God sakes her name is Lumen, there is no better job for her!!!)   What an incredible inner turmoil that would be to watch..Dexter fighting the lifetime urges of his dark passenger while wanting to change and suppress those urges so he can be a better man for the love of his life.  So he can be a better man for himself and give himself the chance to be a normal, regular guy that Harry never did.  Here is what I suggest….Dexter doesn’t have anyone else special in his life, romantically.  But when everyone is ready for the final season, you bring Lumen back.  Bring her back and have her whisk him off to Bali where they raise Harrison and she lets her light take over his darkness so he never needs to kill again.  You like that idea?  I know I do!

So that wraps up Season 5 of Dexter.  I have no idea where they go in Season 6.  They pretty much left the door wide open.  I had the same feeling after Season 3 and they came out with The Trinity Killer in Season 4…the second best season after Season 1.  Maybe we will get the same kind of intense season next year. See you in September 2011 for Dexter: Season 6.  Until then, don’t do anything bad, you never know what handsome serial killer may be watching and ready to put you on his table!!!!

 

Dexter Finale: Live Tweet

It’s Eagles Cowboys tonight.  But I have faith that my Eagles will be winning 21-0 by the time the Dexter finale starts.  Therefore, I will be tweeting live during the finale tonight.

Follow at @ftlotv on Twitter.  Are you getting anxious?  I know I am!!!

 

RECAP: Dexter “Hop a Freighter” S5 E11

Before we get into this whole thing I just have to mention how Sunday Night Football has been killing me the last few weeks and will again next week.  You see I am an Eagles fan and my husband is a Steelers fan.  The last few weeks, including tonight, has either been an Eagles game or a Steelers game.  And next week during the finale, it’s Eagles vs. Cowboys.  Seriously, the football gods are not smiling on me (just look at my fantasy team the last 2 weeks!)  Doesn’t the NFL realize that this is the Dexter season finale and putting the Eagles against the hated Cowboys during the Dexter finale is really quite insensitive!!!   Needless to say, I will be taping the Eagles game, watching Dexter and then watching the Eagles as soon as it is over!   But seriously….killing me!!!

Was that a shorter episode tonight or did it just seem that way because there was so much going?  This was an edge of your seat type of episode that will have me going CRAZY until next Sunday night!!!  There was suspense, there were deaths (2 to be exact), there were some obvious situations that developed, there were some surprises and there were close calls.   But the big thing is that Lumen has been captured by Jordan and Dexter is on a warpath to find her.  I’m just warning you now, this recap is going to be a long one!

We start with Deb and Quinn in Chase’s office telling him how all these men who have disappeared have a connection to Jordan and he and Deb have this great back and forth.  You can tell he is getting completely annoyed with how Deb is going after him and Deb refuses to let his “psycho-babble” throw her off her line of questioning.  Jordan is doing a good job of covering up the fact that he is probably freaking out inside since the cops are getting close.  But once the cops leave, he decides to take immediate action (more on that later.)

Lumen and Dexter are planning how to go after Jordan.    During the snuggle session, I mean plotting to kill Jordan session, Dexter notices the baby monitor go on and he realizes that someone is watching them.  He leaves the condo and goes outside to see if he notices anything off.  He notices 4 whites vans and decides to surveil them for the next 24 hrs.  Dexter is able to cover up the camera with enough time to try to see who may be bugging him.  And he does.  And it’s a Miami Metro police bug.   Uh oh.  Now Dexter is really freaked out.  He takes Lumen outside and tells her what is going on.   Dexter figures whoever is watching them haven’t turned them in because they haven’t been arrested yet.  He tells her when he goes in to work the next day, he will see who checked out the surveillance equipment and deal with it from there.   As we all know, this will not go down well for Quinn since it is his name on the forms!

Next day at the cop shop, Dexter goes to check out the forms but Deb pulls him into a barrel girl meeting.  They get LaGuerta up to speed and since the only person they haven’t been able to tie to Chase is Dan the Dentist, LaGuerta instructs them to find the connection.  Before they head out, Masuka comes in with a cast of the female print they found outside Tilden’s house.  He said they also found the same footprint outside the house next door.  You know, the house Dexter and Lumen killed Tilden in?    That one!  He also tells them that they went inside and found that the dining room was very clean…too clean.  And it smelled of bleach.  ”Great, 2 more days and that smell would have dissipated.”  I love Dexter’s inner monologues!!!   Masuka also accidentally spills the beans that Deb is working on a vigilante theory.  When LaGuerta wants to know what he is talking about, Deb tells her that she thinks one of the victims, a woman, escaped and is now exacting her revenge against the a-hole crew.  The question is, how could a woman of her size (the determine based off the other victims and the size of her footprint) get Alex Tilden’s body out of the house by herself.  Deb deduces that she must have help…a man.  ”Like who” LaGuerta wants to know.   Deb says it must be someone she trusts.  A brother, husband, or boyfriend.  Some she trusts 100% and someone who obviously loves her.   I always love this part of the season.   You know, the part where Deb is doing a play-by-play of all of Dexter’s crimes but she has no idea she is talking about him.  It really is amazing.  Deb is the best cop they have in their division.   They wouldn’t solve anything without her.  But yet as good as she is, she never puts the final equation together that it’s Dexter.  Deb and Quinn leave and Dexter is able to go to the surveillance room and find out that is Quinn who signed out the equipment.  Oh this sucks for Quinn!!!!

Deb and Quinn show up at Mrs. Dan the Dentist’s practice and she is packing everything up.  This woman, understandably so, is in a really snippy mood and wants no more to do with the cops.  She talks about how disappointed she is in herself by not being able to figure out that her husband was gay and she is second guessing herself because she couldn’t see it.  Deb and Quinn tell her that her husband wasn’t gay and that what happened in warehouse was a set up to look like it was.  Relief and confusion come over her face.  However, great news, your husband, instead of being gay, was involved in the raping, torturing and murder of several young women!  Well Mrs. Dan the Dentist second guessed herself before, can you imagine hearing that news?  Your husband wasn’t gay, just a psychotic killer and rapist!  I don’t think I would ever date again!  Before they leave, she is able to connect Dan and Chase by telling them they were friends from childhood and tells him that his name was Eugene Greer before he was Jordan Chase.

Since Deb and Quinn have gone to seek out Dan the Dentist, Dexter takes this opportunity to hook up with Lumen and break into Quinn’s to look for the equipment or any evidence he has compiled against them.  They start with his computer and find nothing.  They search his whole place and finally in his bedroom by his bed, they find the pictures Liddy took of them on the “Slice of Life” when they were disposing of Cole.  Lumen wants to take the pictures but Dexter tells her they need to leave them so he doesn’t know they are on to him.

Back at the condo, Dexter is staking out the last remaining white van, waiting for Quinn to show up.  When he sees a body, he leaves his car in his “work clothes” and has his fun drug syringe with him and he goes after “Quinn.”  I can’t believe he is doing this in broad daylight.   It seems very un-Dexter like to me.  When he opens the door, no one is there but he is surprised by Liddy when he stabs him with a stun gun.  Dexter is now trapped in the van with Liddy and Liddy is taking him to a remote area.  Liddy tells Dexter that Quinn hired him to investigate him.   Liddy then calls Quinn and tells him he has Dexter and wants him to meet him so he can make the bust.  Quinn wants no part of this and tells Liddy he told him to call this off and that he won’t meet him.  Liddy and he get into and Quinn agrees to meet him.  Dexter can tell from the tone of the conversation that Quinn was not on board with this.  Liddy ignores him and shows him the information he has on him and Lumen on his computer.  At this point Dexter head butts him and turns over the table on him.  Liddy pulls a knife and the scuffle breaks out.  Dexter is able to take the upper hand and turns the knife on Liddy and slowly pushes the knife into his heart.   Good riddens Liddy you jerk!  But just as this happens, Quinn shows up.  Oh shit!!!  Quinn is trying to get into the van and Dexter is hiding with Liddy inside and Dexter is begging for him to leave so the situation doesn’t need to be any worse than it already is.  As Quinn is trying to call Liddy’s cell, blood is starting to run out of the van and it eventually runs right onto his shoe but he doesn’t notice!!!!  Quinn, fed up, leaves.  Dexter takes the computer and hard drive and leaves Liddy in his van promising to take care of him later.  He keeps the hard drive and chucks the computer in the water.  Lumen has been frantically calling Dexter and he finally is able to pick up her call and call her back to tell her he is on his way.  Where is she?

While ALL this is going with Dexter and Liddy, Lumen receives a phone call from Emily asking for her help.  She sounds completely terrified and tells Lumen that Jordan knows about their conversation and that she is going to go to the police if she and Dexter don’t go over to her house to help her and keep her safe.  As soon as she says that, I know it’s a trap set up by Jordan.  When she hangs up, you see Jordan in her house telling her what a good job she did.  You know what’s going to happen here.  Lumen won’t get a hold of Dexter and she will go over on her own.   That’s exactly what happened and Jordan’s trap has worked.  At first she only sees Emily and Emily is really upset that Dexter is not with her.  She tells Lumen it has to be both of them.  Lumen thinks this is odd and she tells Emily that maybe she will go get him.  ”Maybe not” Jordan says from behind her.  Oh that made my skin crawl!!!  While she is trapped, Jordan is threatening her and Emily keeps interrupting him and he is getting very annoyed with her.  ”You promised you wouldn’t kill her” Emily cries out and Jordan responded that he won’t.   Just then he grabs the poker and kills Emily.

Back at the cop shop, Batista, Deb and Quinn are putting the pieces together and they realize they have to stop Jordan before he leaves the country.  Batista found out that he is leaving for Europe for several months so they need to nail him before the next day.  Batista suggests she go to Maria for the court order and Deb refuses saying she can’t trust her.  She’ll get it on her own.  It’s funny, when Quinn and Deb were walking back in, Quinn asked Deb how it was possible that Mrs. Dan the dentist didn’t know about what her husband was doing.  ”He’s a really good liar.  Men have that ability.  It’s his fault, not hers” Deb tells him.  It’s a very interesting parallel to Deb and Dexter’s relationship.   And I have a feeling if/when Deb ever finds out about Dexter, she will totally blame herself.  On a side note, why the hell is Quinn apologizing to Deb?  Let’s forget the fact that Quinn was actually correct on his analysis of Dexter.  Quinn was doing his job.  There was a lead on Dexter being Kyle Butler and Quinn followed it.  And he never lied to Deb and he didn’t do anything wrong.  He didn’t tell her because the lead went nowhere.  So what exactly did he do that was wrong and needs apologizing?  Just because it’s her brother?   In Deb’s words, she needs to get the fuck over it!

When Dexter shows up at Emily’s house no one is there and there is blood all over the floor.  Dexter is frantic trying to find Lumen.  In his search, he finds Emily body but no Lumen.  He finds another trail of blood that can’t be Emily’s because it is too much, but does notice multiple footprints.  He follows them outside and sees more trails of blood and can tell she is putting up a fight.  He also finds the pocket knife he bought for her.  At this point, a Dexter we have never seen before emerges.  Rage like I have never seen.  Between what happened to Rita and now Lumen, Dexter looks like he is about to go off the deep end. And now Lumen has been taken, and Dexter is on a mission to find her before Deb and Quinn find Chase.

This is all lining up to be a pretty intense season finale!!!  The big question for me is what is going to happen to Lumen.  Does she get killed, either by Jordan or by Miami Metro?  Or does she live and take the fall for everything and go to jail?  I hope the writers find a way that neither of those scenarios happen and Lumen can stay with Dexter.  I have no idea how, at this point, that is possible, but that’s why I talk about shows and not write them!  I still wonder if Owen, Lumen’s ex-fiance, factors back in somehow.   Don’t you find it odd that they would randomly introduce him mid-season?  I mean they could have explained her back story without introducing a new character.   Maybe I’m reading too much into to it but I don’t think the “Dexter” staff would introduce a character randomly like that.

I think it’s safe to say that Jordan is going to die.   But what will happen to Quinn?  Does he make it out of this with all he knows about Dexter?  Or does he meet the same fate as Jordan Chase (if Jordan ends up on Dexter’s table?)  But things are definitely spinning out of control.  What are your thoughts going into the season finale and what ending are you hoping to see?

 

Tweeting Live During Tonight’s Dexter

For the 3 people reading this, I will be doing live tweeting during tonight’s Dexter and next week’s season finale.   Follow along at @ftlotv.

See you after the show!

 

Renewed Shows: Dexter!!!!

Get out your tools and your sea hats boys and girls because the “Slice of Life” is not being docked anytime soon!!

Dexter has just been renewed for a 6th season (yeah!!!!) and it looks like that if they can work out the contract negotiations with the key participants, Dexter will be also good to go for a 7th season as well!   The main contracts will be up for renegotiation during seasons 6 and 7.  I take that to mean that they need to work out Michael C. Hall’s contract.  No offense to anyone else on that show, but there is no Dexter without Dexter.   But if they were to lose anyone else, the show would be just fine.

Now, since this season has already been taped, there is no way for them to alter the ending since there has been a pickup (unless they taped multiple endings!)   So if Lumen somehow dies in 2 weeks, oh well.  I still don’t think she will.   But for those of you Lumen/Dexter fans, if she survives the finale, this could give some life to her coming back next season.  I hope so.  I really like her character.

So what are your thoughts Dexter fans?   Are you happy our favorite serial killer will be back to kill off Miami’s worst criminals?   I know I am!!!

 

RECAP: Dexter “In the Beginning” S5 E10

My heart is still pounding from the scene at Alex’s house.  I know they weren’t going to find them in there, but that is why the writers are so awesome…even though I know deep down Deb and Quinn weren’t going to catch them, I still thought there was chance it could happen.  Also throw in the element of Liddy.   I thought for sure he was going to be there following them!!  It was 10 minutes of pure insanity.  Alright let’s blow through the recap so we start to analyze what the hell just happened tonight.

Dexter/Lumen

Dexter tells Lumen about Emily Birch and they decide they are going to visit her to see if they can get some information.  They visit Emily and when they show her the picture and press her on information about the crew of assholes, she asks them to leave and shuts her door in their face.   That can’t be a surprise.  If I were her and a victim of the asshole crew, I wouldn’t want strangers coming to my door and drawing attention to a very painful time in my life.   However, Lumen goes to see her by herself later on and Emily does let her in and open up to her.   Emily tells her that she knew they guys from camp where she was a counselor and that Jordan Chase was not Jordan Chase back then.  His name was Eugene Greer.  Emily tells Lumen that she felt sorry for Eugene and she befriended him as a result.  One night on a walk, she felt strange, like she was drugged, and she woke up in a cabin tied to a bed with all the asshole crew in the room with her.   She tells Lumen that Eugene never touched her.  He just egged the other guys on like Scorpion from The Accused.   And then after they had their way with her, they made her take the picture that Lumen and Dexter have.  So these assholes have been scum bags for years it seems.  Shocker.   At the end of their conversation, Emily gives her the name of the 5th guy in the picture…Alex Tilden (played by Scott Grimes.)

Lumen brings this information to Dexter and you can tell he wasn’t too happy she went out by herself.  You can see in his face and hear in his tone that he is genuinely concerned about her safety.  He doesn’t want anything to happen to her.  But she tells him the story of Emily’s history with the asshole crew and who Alex is and Lumen wants him for herself.  Dexter is unsure about that…”It will change you” he tells her.  ”I’m already changed” she reminds him.  So the plan is set and Alex is next.

Later that night, they are back at Dexter’s condo and they are preparing to go to Alex’s for some recon.   He gives Lumen a “present”….her own pair of gloves, just like his.   He has this happy grin on his face, like he just gave her the necklace she wanted for her birthday and she is smiling right back, like she is looking at the same birthday necklace.  It is…sweet….in a really creepy, morbid sort of way.  They get to Alex’s house and Dexter is showing Lumen how to get set up for the kill.  Lumen is really getting into this even asking Dexter “you really need to show me how to do that” when he is breaking into a locked drawer.  She also picks a room in his house as “the kill room.”   The next night Dexter is getting his “tools” out while Lumen comes out to see him in her “outfit” and asks him how she looks.  In any other situation, with the look on Dexter’s face, I would say that is the look of a man who just realized he was in love with someone.  And maybe that did happen to him in that moment.   It just feels very strange saying that he is falling in love with her during a very bizarre moment like prepping to kill another human being…even if that human being does deserve it. She is makes the comment on how nice the knives look and she grabs THE knife.  She also starts to practice the signature Dexter kill move..the single thrust to the heart.

Dexter and Lumen head out to Alex’s house and Jordan is outside his house watching them break in.  I’ll elaborate more on why in Jordan’s section.  It pissed me off though because there is NO WAY, as careful as Dexter is, that he would go into Alex’s house, through the front door while there is a light illuminated over said door.   How dumb is that?  Alex comes home and the video of the asshole crew attacking Lumen is playing on his TV.  He goes to the TV and Lumen steps in front of it.  As he runs away, Dexter grabs him from behind and injects him with his special drug.  The room is set and Dexter is taking a back seat to Lumen.  When Dexter did this Miguel Prado, I didn’t like it at all.  Probably because I knew it wouldn’t end well and probably because I knew Miguel was a jerk, I felt like he was intruding on Dexter’s space.   And Dexter really didn’t seem very comfortable with it either.   But with Lumen, he is completely different.  It’s almost like the more she gets involved in this, the more turned on Dexter is getting.   He is teaching and training her the way Harry did with him.  Their connection is getting stronger whereas with Miguel, it drove their friendship apart.   But Lumen is so damaged, like Dexter.  They share a darkness so deep inside themselves, no one else could ever possibly understand…except each other.   So Lumen takes the lead and starts to explain to Alex about what he did.  She is very Dexter like.   She even does the “putting the finger on the forehead to emphasize her point” signature and Dexter notices this. When it’s time, Dexter hands her the knife and she takes a brief moment to collect herself.  I can imagine that if I went through what she went through, I would want to kill them as well.   But when I was faced with actually doing the deed, it would still make me pause also.  She mounts the table and stabs him in the heart!  I wasn’t sure she would but she did it!

Back at the condo, he is putting everything away and she walks into his bedroom.  Yep, you know what’s coming next.   She takes her shirt off and then takes his off.   They are looking at one another with gratitude, apprehension, desire, sadness, and admiration.  And they finally give into one another.   Dexter’s voice over in this scene is very enlightening:

“Harry tried to mold me into the image of the monster that I was.  He told me to flee human connection so that became a way of life for me.  But with Lumen, I’m someone different.  In her eyes, I’m not a monster at all.”

To me, it sounds like Dexter is a little resentful of the way Harry raised him.  As discussed in the last post, this episode brings the big question to light even more: was Dexter born a monster and Harry found a way to have him “properly” control those urges or was Dexter a troubled kid that could have been fine with a little therapy but instead, Harry molded him into this monster.  Could this darkness in Dexter have been completely avoided?   We will never know.   But with Lumen, you are starting to see Dexter re-evaluate his priorities and everything he has ever known and believed in.

Liddy

Liddy has bugged Dexter’s condo and is able to see and hear EVERYTHING that is going on.  He hears Dexter talking to Lumen about scoping out Alex’s house and sees him giving her the gloves.  He also sees the part where Lumen is playing and practicing with his knives and talking about what is going to happen to Alex.   Well that’s not good at all!!!   Liddy is definitely dying this season.  He is following them everywhere and so I was expecting him to show up, along with everyone else, at Alex Tilden’s house.    But he wasn’t.  In the previews for next week, Liddy is telling Quinn he needs his help to make a bust.   Meanwhile, Dexter realizes someone is watching them and that his condo is bugged.  However he thinks it’s Quinn.   Oops.  So what is going to happen here?  Does Liddy get what’s coming to him or will Quinn be the unfortunate recipient of Dexter’s rage?

Quinn/Deb/Jordan

Lt Bitch Face has decided to re-open the Barrel Girl case and asked Deb (who is off file duty) and Quinn to get Cole in for questioning.   When they go to see Jordan, he tells them how Cole is off taking personal time and he isn’t sure where he is.  Deb isn’t buying it and is really pushing Jordan hard for more answers.  He wants them out of his office and kicks them out.  Then they head to Cole’s house.  They find some blood and Deb finds it strange that his car and all his personal belongings are still around.   Like he just disappeared.  Then Quinn asks to see Deb in Cole’s bedroom.  He found recorded DVDs of the attacks on all the women.  The sounds of screaming were truly horrendous and Quinn, Deb, and Dexter are all visibly disturbed by this.  Not to mention Dexter wants to be sure he gets Lumen’s disk out of the evidence room before Deb recognizes her from Dexter’s house.  Which he does.

Deb is starting to put it together.  Isn’t funny how Deb is always the one who figures everything out (as well as always coming close to figuring out Dexter’s involvement.)  But Deb tells Dexter that she thinks she knows what is going on.  She tells him that the guys involved in the case (Boyd, the dentist, and Cole) are all dead or missing.  What kind of person would want to hurt these bastards?  ”Me” Deb replies, showing a little inner darkness herself!  But her point is that someone wants these jerks off the streets and instead of waiting for the cops, they are taking matters into their own hands…a vigilante.

Jordan is asked to come to the cop shop so he can submit his DNA for testing.  His lawyer wants no part of this but Jordan politely agrees.   There is a great scene in Dexter’s office where he takes Jordan’s sample.   Basically both men let the other know that they are coming after each other.  Let the best man win!  Jordan tells the detectives that he really does want to help capture whoever did these heinous acts.   It leads Jordan to setting up Deb and Quinn to go to Alex’s house but there is one major event that happens before we get to that point.   We talked about Lumen going to see Emily and Emily tells her the story of what happened to her and who the 5th guy in the picture was.   What we didn’t realize at the time is that this was all set up by Jordan.  It seems Ms. Birch has a bit of a Stockholm Syndrome thing going on in regards to Mr. Chase  because Jordan comes to see her and she tells him that she told Lumen everything he asked her to.  When she comments about how pretty she is, Jordan reminds her that no one could ever replace her and that she is very special to him.  It’s quite creepy.  Then she goes and grabs his hand and he gently pulls it away.  And while staring into the distance, tells her how much she means to him.   It’s the first time we really see the psycho side of Jordan vs. the in control side of him.   It was very bizarre.   But he purposely wanted Lumen to know about Alex so he could set him up, as well as get Lumen and Dexter captured.  He knew Lumen and Dexter would go after him which led him to make the phone call he makes to Debra.

Jordan, once he sees Lumen and Dexter entering Alex’s house, calls Deb (who alerts Quinn) and tells her that he just received a phone call from Alex Tilden. He was looking for Cole and asking for Cole’s help on transportation somewhere but he wasn’t sure where.  Deb thanks him for the call and she and Quinn head to Alex’s.  Jordan then leaves thinking he took care of the Lumen/Dexter issue.  What he doesn’t realize (and neither do the viewers at first) is that Lumen and Dexter aren’t at Alex’s house anymore.   They actually take him to the house next door.  This leads me back to my issue with them going through the lit front door.   If you are smart enough to move his body to another location, just in case…aren’t you smart enough to NOT walk in the lit front door where people can see you?   Ok, I’m moving on from that, but it really bugs me.   So when Deb and Quinn enter Alex’s house and find the room we think is the kill room, since that is the room Lumen originally picked when they were doing their recon mission, we think Lumen and Dexter are toast.   But think again.   They aren’t there.   Whew!!!!  When Deb and Quinn leave, they notice footprints outside.   But to Quinn they look tiny…like a female’s.   That is when it hits Deb over the head like bag a bricks…the vigilante is a female and one of the victims that got away.   She remembers Boyd’s locks of hair and that there were only 12 locks.   But they know there were 13 victims.  One of the victims survived and Deb believes that is who is getting rid of the asshole crew.

Final Thoughts

When the light is going off in Deb’s head, it starts to go off in mine.   This is how Lumen will “leave” the show, in my opinion.  My guess is that somehow, Miami Metro will figure out who she is.    They may even close in on Dexter and Lumen killing Jordan Chase.  Lumen will tell Dexter to get away and that her thank you to him, for all he did for her, will be to take the blame for everything.  She’ll figure she will be able to get off using some sort of PTSD defense (which she should) and she’ll end up being ok.  I would like for Lumen to stay but I’m not sure how she could without it being too weird.   Unless they become lovers/partners in crime, I don’t see how she stays on board.  Then it becomes about them and this is a show about Dexter.  I also think Dexter should have someone in his life and quite frankly, there is no better person than Lumen.   So I guess I’m torn.  Gun to my head (or should I say a knife to my check while cling wrapped to a table) I would vote for Lumen staying on the show.   But I don’t think she will.