Season 8 of Dexter is well underway. Check out our episode guide and review of Dexter, season 8 episode 3, “What’s eating Dexter Morgan?” written by Violet, and commented on by Josh! There are lots of spoilers below, but after you watch the episode, or if you need a refresher before this Sunday, come and check out what we have to say about this great episode, and see what has happened with our awkward trio of Dexter, Vogel and Debra. We learn more of Vogel’s feelings towards Dexter, and more about Harry’s Code. Oh, and what is going on with the “Brain Surgeon”? Spoilers after the jump!
Dexter awakens in the middle of the night to Harrison calling for him. Dexter follows the voice and sees blood on the floor, which he follows to Harrison — but it turns out it’s not blood. Harrison has eaten an entire box of red popsicles because he “loves them.” Dexter gives Harrison some Pepto-Bismol and wishes it were that easy to help Deb — who we then see is passed out drunk in her car. She awakens to a police officer tapping on the window. Unfortunately, he can’t let her go because there’s been damage to city property — she ran into a parking meter. He takes her to the station, and she calls Quinn (who is in bed with Jamie) to bail her out.
While extremely sad, the way the parking meter was revealed was pretty funny. It seemed like Deb was laughing because whatever damage she had done was so minor it wasn’t worth the citation. Then we see what happened…and realize she’s in deep. While very sad, I could not help but chuckle a little at it.
Dexter arrives at Sussman’s cabin to find his body on the floor, rather than hanging from a meat hook out back. It looks like Sussman (or someone else) stuck a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. Batista wonders where Quinn is.
So as Dexter narrates, someone rearranged the body since he was last there. This means that someone is following Dexter, it would seem. That or realized they needed to “fix” the scene before the cops got there to stage the suicide.
Quinn’s able to get Deb out of it, and she has him drive her to work. He tells her he’s worried about her, and her rejection of his proposal comes up as his reason for spiraling out of control, and he asks what hers is. She says maybe she doesn’t know her own limits. Then heads into work.
I had thought last episode, Quinn was unofficially interrogating Deb. This episode we learn that he genuinely does care about Deb, and wasn’t trying to railroad her into confessing something.
Vogel gets an anonymous text to “Look outside.” She picks up a letter opener and opens her front door to find two small boxes with bows on them, marked “His” and “Hers.” It turns out there are brain pieces inside, and she brings them straight to Dexter, who is still at Sussman’s cabin. The part of the brain they are from is responsible for vision, so Dexter surmises that the killer is sending them a message that he’s watching them. But since both boxes were sent to Vogel, he probably doesn’t know who Dexter is — yet. So Dexter wants to find the killer before he finds Dexter. He’s been cross-referencing her book with source files and a list of suspects, and has narrowed it down to one of her patients named Ron Galuzzo.
Another miscalculation on my part. I thought Vogel was secretly working with this mystery person. Based on the scene with only Vogel looking “outside”, she seemed genuinely scared, and therefore is actually worried about her own safety. Now, why is still the question, and I still feel she has a hidden agenda.
Quinn calls Dexter over and tells him about Deb. As he’s about to go see her, he tells Vogel what happened, and admits that Deb knows “everything” (i.e. that he is a serial killer), and that she’s not handling it well. Vogel is surprised that Dexter actually feels so badly about, and thinks that it’s unusual that he feels that way. Again, we see more evidence that Dexter is actually not a psychopath, like we have been seeing each episode this season.
Vogel certainly gives off a bit of a psychopathic vibe herself. She consistently seems to hint this episode that Dexter is better off with Deb dead. She has already affirmed herself as his “spiritual” mother. Creepy.
At work, Deb and Elway are meeting with a new client, who thinks her husband might be having an affair. After she leaves, Elway gives Deb a special drink to help make the hangover go away. The Dexter shows up there, and tells her he knows what happened. He gets her to agree to go to dinner with him that night by threatening to go there every day to talk to her until she agrees to go.
Elway’s character is growing on me. He almost seems to be Deb’s psychiatrist in a way, and doesn’t have a hidden agenda with her it would seem (so far). As for Dexter, he is definitely exhibiting emotions here, for Deb. We see that Vogel might not be so convinced of these “emotions” however.
Dexter goes to a Miami Metro meeting, where Batista announces that Sussman’s death has been ruled a suicide, and that the case of the Brain Surgeon is now closed. He also talks about El Sapo, who they found out was wanted by Fort Lauderdale police in connection with Briggs’s stabbing. Confident that the police will never connect Deb to El Sapo’s murder, Dexter begins his own investigation of Ron Galuzzo, who he discovers is working selling fitness equipment at the mall.
For some reason, I have a feeling this “Brain Surgeon” will still be at large. Will he change his MO now? Or continue with the same? Is he simply leaving a trail for Vogel and Dexter, or is he truly compelled to kill these people for just the satisfaction of killing? I am looking forward to meeting this individual, preferably on Dexter’s table.
Batista talks to Matthews about his recommendation of Quinn for Sergeant. Matthews is skeptical, but Batista stands his ground and insists that Quinn will pass the test.
Elway and Deb are staking out and taking pictures of the husband of the woman who came in earlier, as he’s having sex with a woman in the front seat of a van. (Which is pretty stupid of him to do that in the only area of the van that doesn’t have tinted windows!) Elway asks Deb about Quinn, and Deb admits that they used to date, but she turned down his proposal.
Who “gets it on” during the middle of the day, in the front seat of a van?! Weird. Anyway, this sets up some more counseling for Deb, with Elway asking some prying questions. She is definitely uncomfortable, but seems to want to talk to someone.
Dexter shows up at the mall and pretends to be interested in the equipment that Galuzzo is selling, as he tries to figure out if he recognizes him, which it doesn’t seem like he does. He brings out Vogel’s book and Galuzzo claims he’s never heard of her — which he definitely has since she treated him. Dexter wonders why Galuzzo would lie unless he had something to hide.
Galuzzo has a terrible tan, just had to say that. What is really funny about this scene isn’t revealed until later in the episode–when Galuzzo measures Dexter’s body fat.
Dexter goes to Vogel’s house and tells her he went to see Galuzzo, and that he’s definitely hiding something. He tells her about his plan to break into his house the next day. She has a gun to protect herself in the meantime. Before he leaves to meet Deb for dinner, Vogel brings up Harry’s Code, of which the first rule is “Don’t get caught,” and she wonders why Dexter didn’t kill Deb when she found out about him. Dexter is appalled by this question, saying he would never kill Deb, she’s his sister, and he loves her. Vogel then asks what exactly he loves about her, explaining that when a psychopath speaks about love, it doesn’t really mean the same thing as typical people. Dexter struggles to find an answer, saying that he loves having steaks and beer with her, and until recently how she was always there for him, and the way she looked up to them. Vogel points out that none of that is really about Deb, it’s about what she does for him. She goes on to tell him that for psychopaths, selfless love is impossible. However, she doesn’t want him to feel bad about himself, she wants him to revel in what he is, that he is perfect — as a psychopath. But he thinks he’s the only one who can help Deb, while Vogel reminds him that he admitted to being the cause of Deb’s pain, so how can he be the solution? At that, Dexter says he can handle Deb, that he’s been handling her his entire life, and leaves.
Vogel brings up an excellent point, as for Deb to really be “okay” again, she will likely have to “repent”, maybe not biblically, but confessing her crimes would probably make her feel the most better. It will be difficult for Dexter to help Deb. That is, unless he is able to justify the crimes enough to Deb that she doesn’t feel wrong about them anymore. This could lead Deb down a darker path though… As for the code, it is interesting to learn that Harry was against the first rule “don’t get caught” in favor of “don’t kill an innocent”. This “wiggle room” Vogel provides would seem to be a slippery slope. I also feel it makes Dexter just a little more “evil” than if the codes were reversed.
Over at Batista’s house, he is quizzing Quinn for the sergeant’s exam, as Jamie is about to serve dinner. Batista is starting to think that Matthews was right Quinn is a lost cause after all, and resents that he stuck his neck on the line for Quinn. Jamie tells her brother to take it easy on Quinn, that he’s tired from being called out on that case last night, to which Batista says there was no case — then realizes his mistake and leaves the room to let them talk. Quinn confesses that he helped Deb, and Jamie gets pissed off that his ex is calling him all the time, though Quinn insists there’s nothing going on between him and Deb.
Dexter and Deb are at dinner, and it turns out he has brought her there to show her a man that she had saved in the shootout at a nightclub in Season 5. He wants to prove to her that she is a good person, and show her how the man’s family gets to have him in their lives, and remind her of all the good she has brought into the world. She takes a good look, but then just says she’s f–king starving.
I really liked this scene, of Dexter trying to figure out a way to make Deb see that she is not evil. And from what it looks like it is working. However, it worked too well….
Elway and Deb give their client the pictures they took of her husband the day before. The woman looks at the pictures and says she’s not sure that the man in the pictures is her husband, that she made a mistake, and leaves. Elway and Deb know that it was obviously her husband, and that she’s in denial. Elway comments that it’s just easier for some people to live in denial.
Man, this lady is crazy. Although you can see the correlation of this feeling to how Deb is feeling.
Dexter breaks into Galuzzo’s house, and he finds several different human body parts in Galuzzo’s refrigerator. He realizes that Galuzzo eats the body parts, finds a fully intact brain in the fridge, and surmises that Galuzzo wouldn’t have wasted brain by sending it to Vogel, so he can’t be the killer.
Is Dexter just going to let this guy live? Impossible right?
Deb’s drunk and sitting out in front of the police station, watching the video of the nightclub shootout over and over, until she decides to stumble into the station and confesses to Quinn that she killed LaGuerta. Quinn brings her into an interrogation room and turns off the mic before anyone else sees her there. She starts to tell her story, and Quinn thinks she just feels guilty that she didn’t back LaGuerta up. Quinn tells her the supposed sequence of events that happened between LaGuerta and Estrada according to Dexter, but Deb freaks out and says that’s not what happened, so he gives her a pen and paper and tells her to write her statement. Meanwhile, he leaves the room to call Dexter, who is busy with Vogel, going over potential suspects. Dexter asks Vogel to go to the station with him.
While the previews for season 8 have shown the confession scene a lot with brief snippets, it was still a bit shocking when it actually begins to happen. It is really sad for Deb, as she is trying to confess but Quinn basically won’t let her. This is exacerbated when Dexter shows up. But you can clearly see the dilemma Dexter is put in here. In order for Deb to clear herself as a “good person”, she can’t live in denial regarding the death of LaGuerta.
While driving to the station, Dexter asks Vogel to give an expert opinion, saying that Deb had a breakdown. Vogel asks if he’s sure, because this might be the best thing for her. She seems to think that Dexter’s only trying to save Deb for selfish reasons, and that Deb loves him in a selfless way, evidenced by how when she killed LaGuerta she sacrificed everything that she believed in for him. Vogel says Deb needs professional help, and there’s nothing more he can do. But Dexter says he can’t just give up on her.
Vogel continues to press her “you can’t love the way people normally do” agenda on to Dexter, almost seeming to want to convince Dexter to kill Deb. I am going to put it out there right now. If Dexter chooses to kill Deb over his own freedom, I will be very upset.
Quinn brings Dexter and Vogel to Deb, as Vogel explains Deb’s confession as survivor’s guilt, the belief that she could have prevented what happened. Quinn guards the door while Dexter and Vogel go into the room, and as soon as Deb sees Dexter, she starts to freak out, but Dexter takes care of that by injecting her with his sleep serum. He tells Quinn she passed out, then carries her away, as Vogel sneakily grabs the confession Deb had been writing.
The quick injection of Deb was shocking, as that was a big gamble to take. I would worry about Quinn wondering about why Vogel took the paper, but then again Quinn may understand that Deb isn’t in her right mind, and may write something damning down (assuming she hadn’t killed LaGuerta).
Dexter brings Deb to her house and sets her on the couch. Vogel affirms that she thinks she can help Deb, so Dexter leaves the two of them at Deb’s house, as he handcuffs Deb’s wrist to the couch and gives Vogel the key.
Dexter realizes Vogel was right. He is perfect – but only at one thing. He returns to Galuzzo’s house and kills him there, as he realizes that he’s just like Galuzzo, who is a consumer of flesh, in that Dexter consumes everyone he loves.
As usual, Dexter’s kills are his epiphany moments. Unfortunately his epiphany has shoved him into the darker side of himself for now.
Thoughts
Dexter has been really good so far this season! I have no idea who the Brain Surgeon is, or what he (or she) wants. And I still don’t understand Vogel, or what her angle is. I still don’t trust her though. There’s definitely something off about her. I just don’t know what yet. The scene with Deb confessing was awesome, because I didn’t know what was going to happen next! Plus when Dexter came and rescued her was great too, especially Vogel’s reaction to Dexter injecting Deb. It seems like a big theme in this episode was the concept of love: selfish love versus selfless love, or psychopath love versus typical love. I don’t think Vogel is correct in saying that Dexter’s love for Deb is selfish psychopath love, as I feel like Vogel is continuously trying to pigeonhole Dexter into being a psychopath, even though we keep seeing evidence that he is not. Also the beginning of the episode sets up the whole “selfish love” aspect, as Harrison talks about how he ate all the popsicles because he “loves” them. Obviously, this love is a selfish love. Is the show trying to hint that Harrison has psychopathic tendencies? Of course, he’s just a child, so it’s not the same, but why bring it up in this episode where selfish love is clearly a theme? I don’t know, but I’m definitely curious to see how Vogel’s “session” with Deb goes next week!
As Violet has said, Dexter has been amazing this season. While extremely sad for Deb, the conflict between her and Dexter has been great. I am really hoping that Dexter stays on his “lighter” side, does not kill Deb, as I feel that will hurt my liking of Dexter quite a bit. Deb is the one person that Dexter has been able to relate to in at least some sense, and to take that away would basically make him a monster. I have a feeling that Vogel may push the killing of Deb however, as it is obvious that Deb is not going to simply forget about LaGuerta’s death. As for Vogel, I am curious to see what her “treatment” for Deb is. Can she really help her? I guess we will see. Dexter’s panel at Comic-Com is tomorrow, so hopefully we get some juicy news regarding the last episodes!
