Check out Josh’s recap of Season 8, Episode 4 of Dexter entitled “Scar Tissue,” wherein Debra goes through therapy sessions with Vogel, and Dexter tracks down another of Vogel’s former patients who could possibly be the Brain Surgeon! Following the recap, Josh provides his thoughts on the episode, and then Violet provides her thoughts in pink font.
This episode of Dexter begins with Debra having a flashback of her killing of LaGuerta. In this flashback, she shoots Dexter instead of LaGuerta. She snaps out of the flashback, and is approached by Vogel, who had been waiting outside the shipping container where it happened. Vogel asks what Debra saw, but she refuses to answer and denies that she is repressing these memories. Vogel tries to explain the difference between her and Dexter, and continues to badger Debra, trying to make her “better”. Debra gets really worked up, which Vogel defines as a good thing, and they finish their therapy session for the day.
Dexter is examining a crime scene of a woman that has been murdered with the homicide department. Dexter determines the victim was someone she knew. Quinn gets a lead on the case, “taking some initiative” according to Batista. Batista also tells Quinn that he “nailed” his sergeant exam. Meanwhile, Masuka learns a “little hottie” was looking for him back at the station. Dexter talks with Quinn about Debra’s status, to which Dexter responds, “she is still day to day”.
Dexter meets up with Vogel. Vogel insists that he cannot see Debra, since Dexter is the focal point of her pain. She also indicates that it may not be possible for Debra to reconcile with Dexter. They move on to discussing the Brain Surgeon, moving on to a man named Yates.
Dexter tracks him down, and reads up on him in Vogel’s book. He is a cable repairman, but Dexter discovers he has had some sort of brain surgery, which is not noted in Vogel’s book. This concerns Dexter.
Vogel and Debra talk further, Debra seems to be staying with Vogel, and Vogel is refusing to give Debra any beer. Vogel discusses her father, and shows Debra some of the footage Dexter had been seeing. On the video, Harry talks about Dexter vetting a killer, but Harry tells him he cannot kill. Harry is worried about if Dexter can stay in check once he is allowed to kill. Vogel tries to insist Dexter and Debra were being exactly who they were meant to be when LaGuerta was murdered. Debra asks to keep the tape for some reason, and she re-watches it.
Meanwhile, Dexter has shown up, demanding information on Yates’ surgery. Vogel insists that he not see Debra, but outside her house, she reveals that Yates had a lesion on his brain, but didn’t know the status of the lesion. Vogel seems to think Dexter is there to talk about Debra more than Yates. Dexter insists Vogel must get Debra to forgive him. Vogel begins further analysis of Dexter, trying to figure out what “love” is to Dexter, deducing that Debra is now a “cracked” reflection to Dexter.
Dexter heads back to investigate Yates, and enters his house upon not seeing his van in the driveway. Upon examining his house, Dexter’s internal narrative talks about his need for family. He finds a closet containing many women’s shoes, but only one shoe of each the pair. We find that Yates is actually home however, and listens to Dexter while hiding in a hallway. Dexter calls Vogel, revealing the shoe trophies. Dexter lifts some prints from the shoes, to search for missing victims. Yates has decided to let Dexter go, disappearing from the hallway when Dexter looks around the corner.
Yates seems to have a secret hideout however, and talking to his captive woman, saying, “Vogel’s found herself a hero”. We see that Yates has his place monitored by cameras as he watches Dexter leave his house.
Dexter returns home, meeting Cassie, a neighbor of his. She is borrowing some detergent. Harrison seems smitten with her.
At Batista’s restaurant, Batista, Jamie and Quinn are celebrating Quinn’s passing of the sergeant’s exam. Batista gets up from the booth, and Jamie and Quinn are alone talking, when Quinn overhears some cops bashing Debra. This makes Quinn unhappy, and he promptly punches one of the guys, starting a bar fight. Batista rushes in, breaks up the fight, and bribes the other cops with an open tab. Batista has Jamie take Quinn home.
Back at Jamie’s house, Quinn and Jamie are getting a very close. In their “close” process, Quinn has injured ribs from the bar fight, to which Jamie doesn’t seem too concerned with.
The next morning, Dexter is making breakfast, and Jamie is a little late to work babysitting Harrison. Her car has died, so Dexter offers to let her drive his SUV. In conversation, Jamie reveals that Cassie, his neighbor, seems to have a thing for Dexter. Also, we learn that Harrison has an imaginary friend named Dan, that seems to like pancakes.
Meanwhile, Debra and Vogel have continued therapy in the shipping container where LaGuerta was murdered. Vogel closes the shipping container door, and demands that Debra give a reason why killing Dexter would be the better choice. She asks why Debra felt the need to stop Dexter, and kill LaGuerta herself. Vogel tells Debra that she would always choose Dexter if it comes down to it, and that the only way to make it right is to realize that she is a “good person that was forced to do a terrible thing”.
Back at Miami Metro, Matthews talks with Batista about his sergeant appointment. Matthews prefers Miller, but says that the decision is Batista’s, but warns, “it will reflect on his command”. Dexter meanwhile has searched the finger prints he had taken at Yates’ house. He isn’t convinced he is the Brain Surgeon yet though. The police department has a quick meeting regarding the dead woman from the beginning of the episode, trying to find the killer, and plan to follow up on some leads. Quinn and Batista have a quick exchange, with Batista essentially telling Quinn to shape up. Masuka’s “hottie” turns out to be his daughter. Awkward. Masuka was a sperm donor in college apparently.
Debra has returned to work. Elway comes up to her, and they begin working together on the cases. Debra talks about her “family shit” as driving her nuts. Elway talks about his “mistake” of being a cop, but not admitting it until his father died, and that’s when he turned to P.I.-ing. Debra talks about Harry and his love for him. It seems like Vogel is making an impression on Debra, as she refuses a drink that Elway gives her.
Dexter has returned to Yates house, which has been cleared of the women’s shoes. Dexter finds Yates secret lair, and the women locked in a cabinet he had been holding. She has been stabbed, but is still alive–barely. He realizes that Yates had seen him. Dexter has found skull diagrams, and seems to have found his Brain Surgeon. Dexter brings Vogel to Yates’ lair, after dropping the wounded girl off at the ER. Dexter has opened some patient files that Yates had on his computer. It turns out these are Vogel’s notes, and she has been keeping notes on Dexter, with one line reading, “somehow he has deluded himself into believing his feelings for his sister are genuine.” This angers Dexter, and he yells at Vogel, insisting that she must still be experimenting on him. He ominously tells Vogel that they are done once Yates is dead.
Debra, back at Vogel’s has been reading, but decides to investigate more of these videos of Harry. She picks the lock on Vogel’s desk, and watches the most recent one. This video reveals that Dexter has had his first kill, and Harry has freaked out. Dexter seemed satisfied, and Harry has now regretted ever putting his “code” in motion.
Yates has been sleeping in his van, when he reveals a cell phone call about his father’s heart failing. This turns out to be a call from Dexter, who is waiting at his father’s nursing home. Yates rushes to the nursing home, and Dexter appears from behind the door. To escape, Yates pulls off the breathing tube for his father, alerting the nurses. Dexter has an inner monologue regarding his feelings for Debra being genuine, not faked like Vogel says.
Back at Miami metro, Dexter is given some clothes to run by the lab. The victim they are from is the one he saved from Yates. Debra has come to the station, to see Dexter, but she is intercepted by Quinn. Debra tells Quinn to be happy with Jamie, almost seeming to say goodbye. Debra finds Dexter, and she seems all smiles. Dexter is hopeful that she may be getting better. Debra asks to go on a drive.
The conversation in the car seems good, but slightly off. Debra talks about the DVDs of her dad. She brings up the latest one, which is the one right before he died. Debra learns from Dexter that Harry had killed himself. Debra asks if it was because of him, to which Dexter confirms. Suddenly Debra yanks the steering wheel saying, “I think I know how he felt, why he killed himself, but he only got it half right!”
The car crashes off of a highway, into a body of water. Dexter and Debra are knocked unconscious. A bystander rescues Debra, but seems too tired to save Dexter. Debra awakens, watching Dexter sink. She decides to hop in and rescue Dexter despite her recent attempted murder.
Josh’s Thoughts
The scenes from next week involve Vogel counseling them together regarding the attempted murder, and Dexter is not happy. Meanwhile, the search for the killer of the girl from the beginning of the episode continues, and Yates seems to get the drop on Vogel.
These episodes of Dexter have a lot going on. What is Vogel’s motive? My working theory with her, is that she actually killed Harry with the overdosing of the heart medication. The most recent video would seem to indicate that Harry would stop the code, which may have angered Vogel to the point of murder. Once and if this is the case, Dexter will be adding another victim to his table. As for Yates, is he the Brain Surgeon? I am still confused on that whole storyline. Is that really it?
I have a feeling that with Dexter letting Jamie use his car, that this may be an issue next episode. I am not sure if Yates has identified his car, but it could be a way to put Jamie and Harrison in peril.
Now Debra. She seemed to be getting better, but then pulled that stunt at the end of the episode. What is “better” for Debra though? Her character has been great this season. How can Debra be fixed when she is pulled in two conflicting ways? Now that she has attempted to kill Dexter, and rescued him, will she be able to forgive him? As for Dexter, I am not so sure he can be mad at Debra. He is the serial killer after all.
And Dexter. Does he have emotions? I would tend to think he does, based not only off of this season and Debra, but over many of the seasons we see feelings emanate from him. Did Harry and Vogel MAKE a serial killer psychopath? If Vogel had tried to “fix” Dexter properly, would he be ok? Questions that are hard to answer, and are much too late to really matter unfortunately. As for the small side stories, I am curious to know why the show has decided to bring in a kid for Masuka. I also have a feeling that Jamie and Quinn are not going to be lasting too much longer, with Debra coming into the picture more and more. I also have a feeling that Batista may pass Quinn over for the promotion, thus pissing off Quinn.
Violet’s Thoughts
I’m actually surprised that Debra seems so willing to work with Vogel. I’m curious to know how she and Vogel got to the point where we see them at the beginning of the episode, as I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see what happened when Deb woke up handcuffed to her own couch. I’m sure she had a few choice words for Vogel!
As for the Brain Surgeon, it seemed like Dexter did find his man, but let him slip away. For some reason, he wasn’t his usual sneaky self with his syringe when he met Yates at the hospital. However, I guess am I not too sure whether this is the Brain Surgeon after all, considering that Yates made the comment “Vogel’s found herself a hero.” Wouldn’t he already know that Vogel was working with someone, since the Brain Surgeon had left “His” and “Hers” brain parts at Vogel’s house?
Regarding the end of the episode, wow that was intense! You knew something was wrong when they kept doing those extreme closeups of Dexter’s face. It was just weird. However, I’m glad that it seems like Debra has found her will to live again, and that she wants her brother alive. What impact will this “accident” have on the rest of the season? Definitely looking forward to seeing how all of this unfolds!
The Scenes from Next Week
And from the scenes from next week, we seem to have a rich father being the prime suspect in the murder of the house keeper from earlier this episode. However, the exchange his son has with the cops, makes the son seem like a creep himself. We are getting down to the wire here in episodes, and still no Hannah McKay. Is she working with Vogel? That is my working theory, and that she has some sort of surprise for Dexter when she makes her entrance. That’s it until next week!
