DEXTER
Season 2 Episode 12
‘The British Invasion’
Teleplay by Daniel Cerone; story by Melissa Rosenberg & Daniel Cerone
Directed by Steve Shill
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

So Erik King makes it to the season finale, only to get blown into teeny pieces by the arsonist titty vampire.
Lila breaks into the cabin to find Doakes, and when she asks who he is and why he’s locked up, she understands just exactly what that hunger and darkness is that she senses in Dex.
And since she believes she’s his soulmate, she does what she can to protect Dex: set the cabin on fire, flick open the propane tank, and leave.
Doakes manages to smash his way out of the cage, but just as he’s about to try and put out the fire (mouthing “Motherf*ck—“), the tank explodes, taking him and the cabin with it.

Meanwhile, Deb and hordes of Miami’s Finest are closing in on the area where the cabin is located, so Dex hurries to get there first, only to find the flaming wreck already crawling with cops.
In a gruesome bit, they find the partial remains of Doakes, and once positive ID’s been made, the case is officially closed.

There’s a great scene in LaGuerta’s office, as Lundy breaks the news to Maria, and she then goes through the rest of the episode being faithful to the memory of her former partner (and probably, lover).
Lauren Velez also has a fantastic scene with Jennifer Carpenter, when Deb makes the effort to reach out to LaGuerta; after all, they’re now in the same boat, two women who aren’t sure they can ever trust another man—and themselves—again, given that someone they thought they knew turned out to be a killer. (Of course, in LaGuerta’s case, that isn’t the truth at all, but let’s not tell her that…)

And while Angel is cleared by I.A. over the whole rape thing, there’s a nice little play on the show’s opening credits sequence, as it dawns on Dex that with Doakes framed and dead, he’s a free man. That whole time, I fully expected Lila to be lying in wait as Dex opens his door, but the b!tch had other plans.
After an early morning booty call with Rita, Dex’s jubilation comes to a screeching halt when Masuka tells him that the cabin’s explosion wasn’t accidental (Masuka seems to think Doakes committed suicide this way, rather than be caught by the police).
When Dex finds the SUV’s GPS thingie in the debris, he realizes Lila’s behind the miracle save, so he meets her at the aquarium. There, Dex makes her believe he still wants her, and convinces her that he’s leaving Miami and that he wants to take her with him.

But when he shows up at Lila’s place (with his bag of kill tools), Deb’s there too. And when Lila arrives to find the Morgans there, and with Deb being her usual vitriolic self, Lila twigs onto the fact that something’s not kosher. So she makes like Dex’s kill bag is hers and prances on outta there.
Dex calls her on her cell, making all the appropriate “Sorry” noises, but Lila doesn’t reply.
Instead, she goes on over to Rita’s and abducts the kids.
Dex realizes Lila’s game a little too late, and when he finds the kids missing, he tells Rita to call Deb.
Of course, Rita’s call finds Deb just about to hop into a cab to meet Lundy at the airport (Lundy’s off on another serial killer case), Deb intent on leaving everything in Miami behind for love of the Lundy. But the call from Rita puts Deb in a spot, and in the end, she ditches FBI lover boy to help Rita out.

Dex arrives at Lila’s to find the kids watching TV. Lila then says, “You could have had it all,” and sets the place on fire, as she locks Dex and the kids in.
Dex gets the kids out through a window, which he can’t fit through, and it looks like it’s over for Dex, but he smashes through the burning wall, and Deb arrives just in time to help him.
Dex is singed, but okay; the kids are fine; Rita’s understanding.

Then, it what seems to be an epilogue, we see Lila in Paris, and I’m thinking, Oh, no, what evil has Dexter Morgan wrought? Is Lila now some loony copycat killer?
I also thought, This is rather messy of Dex, leaving that loose end.
But my faith in my favourite blood spatter expert/serial killer is renewed as he pays Lila a visit and takes care of her. (It’s curious though and perhaps a tad hypocritical when Dex accuses Lila of murdering an innocent man; I mean, he was selling Doakes up the river, after all. How different would it have been if the cops had wound up capping Doakes’ a$$? Or if he’d wound up with a death sentence?)

The finale winds up with a montage as we see Deb and Angel getting commendations from the force, and Dex running with Rita and the kids in slow mo (we just lacked the friendly family dog, really).
During the voice over, Dex says that his relationships are no longer part of the mask; they’re something he needs now, and if that makes him vulnerable, so be it. Harry would disapprove, but as Dex claims, he’s no longer Harry’s disciple. He’s his own master now.
And as he places a new (and thus far empty) slide box in his secret AC hiding place, Dex says stuff about finding new rituals in his perpetual lot in life.
He ends by asking, “Am I evil? Am I good? I’m done asking those questions. I don’t have the answers.”
Then, as he shuts the AC while looking straight at us, his riveted audience, he asks, “Does anyone?”

Parting shot: My thoughts on the finale and Season 2 in a future installment of In-Between Seasons.

(Image courtesy of sho.com.)

DEXTER
Season 2 Episode 9
‘Resistance Is Futile’
Written by Melissa Rosenberg
Directed by Marcos Siega
(WARNING: SPOILERS)

Let’s run through the subplots first.
Deb and Lundy are indeed getting it on now, as we actually see them in a post-coital snuggle. And in some post-coital pillow talk, Lundy is all for full disclosure at the station, which Deb isn’t so crazy about.
Deb however, blurts it all out to LaGuerta (with Angel in earshot), when LaGuerta starts to pressure Deb to convince Doakes to hold off on announcing the identity of the Bay Harbor Butcher case’s primary suspect (see below).

Rita meanwhile, gives Dex a call, admitting that she still has feelings for Dex, and oh, by the way, the kids miss him too.
After Dex has assured her that the Lila experiment is so over, Rita suggests a sit-down talk, and Dex agrees, so a date is set.

And having mentioned the gross, English titty vampire, she shows up at the station, having called Angel up about the “decorating” job. Dex has a word with Lila, but she still wants to help Dex carry the weight of his mask.
At the station, Dex tries to warn Angel that Lila is just using him, but Angel’s only too willing to be used at the moment, still reeling as he is from the divorce.

Now to the meat…

So Doakes’ abrupt departure from Lundy’s office puts him on the FBI superstar’s radar, and all the background poop on Doakes points glaringly in his direction as being the Bay Harbor Butcher: military background, abusive father was a butcher, the two recent on-the-job shootings.
Circumstantial, yes, but when a search warrant is taken out on his a$$, Lundy’s boys find the box of blood slides he nicked from Dex’s place in the trunk of Doakes’ car.
As if doing Dex a favour, Doakes left the damning evidence in his car, which he left at the airport, since he took a quick flight to Haiti, to help arrange some discreet analysis of the slides.

With a primary suspect in Doakes, and aware of the friction that has always been present between Doakes and Dex, Lundy arranges to have Dex put under protective custody (and ironically, have him be lead investigator on the analysis on the slides).
While the forensics work on the slides allows Dex to further cover his tracks and eliminate anything that may point back to him, the hovering FBI goons make it difficult for Dex to get back to the cabin to clean Jimenez up.
But Dex is resourceful, and manages to ditch them and get to the cabin, but even as he’s taking out the body parts, Doakes shows up, having tracked Dex there via his boat’s GPS. Doakes keeps a gun trained on Dex and gets him in handcuffs, but Dex goes for it, managing to lay Doakes out by cutting off his oxygen with the cuffs’ chain (though not before Dex catches a bullet in his leg).
This episode’s great cliffhanger has Doakes locked inside the cabin, while screaming at Dex, “You’re gonna have to kill me, Morgan!”

So the plot rushes along rather nicely towards season’s end, and there are some great scenes in this one, from seeing the tender emotions that lie between Deb and Lundy, to LaGuerta’s phone call with Doakes, and the very apparent desperation that grips her as she continues to protect Doakes even after all the fit has hit the shan.
There’s also the great face-off between Doakes and Dex, and that nail-biting cliffhanger.

What’s Dex to do? He’s in a prime position now to pin everything on Doakes, but he has to ensure everything will fall perfectly into place when Lundy comes in to eyeball the mess.
And of course, if Dex does frame Doakes, he will have to off the angry black man…
Let’s face it, Dex framed Paul, but he didn’t kill him. What’s killing Doakes gonna do to Harry’s Code? Doakes isn’t a murderous piece of scum like Dex’s usual victims, but then again, Harry’s # 1 rule was “Don’t get caught.”
So, what’s Dex to do?

(Image courtesy of sho.com.)

DEXTER
Season 2 Episode 3
‘An Inconvenient Lie’
Written by Melissa Rosenberg
Directed by Tony Goldwyn

Dexter’s at his first NA meeting and while others are sharing about their need for another pill and another hit, he’s going down his own shopping list of needs: duct tape, rope, etc. Anything to damp out the same repetitive, whiny story from junkie loser after junkie loser. All the while, he’s being eyed with interest by one particular female junkie (Jaime Murray, from TV’s Hustle and the upcoming The Deaths of Ian Stone), until he sneaks out a mere ten minutes after the meeting’s started.
But Rita rips him a new one when he gets to her place without his Newcomer Chip. So he promises to get one the following night.

Meanwhile, the Bay Harbor Butcher investigation goes into full swing, as Masuka is named LFI (Lead Forensics Investigator), and Deb and Angel are pulled into Lundy’s Task Force.
The department is then subsequently flooded by relatives and loved ones of missing persons, anxious to know if their husband/wife/son/daughter/lover/father/mother is one of the still unidentified victims.
Deb is assigned to interview the concerned relatives and staring this sort of desperate loss straight in the face initially proves too much for her, and she talks to Lundy to get her off the Task Force, claiming a backlog on her other cases. Lundy agrees to find her a replacement.
But when a day has passed and Lundy still hasn’t taken her off the Task Force (and she’s faced with a grieving mother looking for her little girl), Deb again confronts Lundy, saying she’s the last person who should be on the Task Force, as she was engaged to a serial killer and didn’t even know it.
Lundy says that’s exactly why he chose her for the Task Force, because she’s “seen into the heart and mind of a killer.” And because she got through it, and continues to get through it.
As a compromise, Lundy tells Deb to finish the interviews for the day, and if she still wants out, then he’ll find her a replacement.
Before the day is out though, Deb stumbles on what could be a pattern: two of the missing have criminal records. And when Deb puts the idea in front of Lundy, that maybe the Bay Harbor Butcher’s victims were “bad guys,” he tells her to check the remains against the criminal database.

When Dex returns to NA, he gets a Newcomer Chip, and shares, introducing himself as “Bob” and claims to be a heroin addict. The “one particular female junkie” who was eyeing him the previous night approaches him at the end of the meeting and takes him out for coffee.
Her name’s Lila and she calls him out on the bullsh!t he spewed at the meeting. As their conversation goes on, Dex realizes that when Lila talks about what it feels like to be an addict, she’s talking about things he can identify with. Things he knows.
Unnerved, Dex hurriedly leaves the diner. And when he tells Rita that NA won’t help and he’d rather face this alone, she takes him at his word and kicks him out, later on making it clear that she won’t take him back unless he does NA.

Confused, Dex starts scoping out his new victim, Roger Hicks, a used car salesman who’s murdered two women thus far. What starts out as a recon mission to get some of Hicks‘ DNA though, ends with Dex buying a mini-van (apparently due to Hicks‘ spiel about the roomy back, which can actually accommodate a deer carcass).
On a second recon trip, Dex sees Hicks‘ next potential victim, and feels he must act before this woman becomes Hicks‘ third, but can’t because of the on-going Bay Harbor Butcher investigation and Doakes’ continued interest in his affairs.

Back at work, Masuka gets Dex onto his team, and shows Dex the Field Morgue, where the recovered bodies are being stored. It’s an eerie sight, seeing Dex enter this huge, refrigerated space, where the body parts of his victims are laid out, incomplete and in disarray.
Later on, dropping off some dental records for Masuka, Dex runs into Lundy, who is sitting amongst the dead, waiting for them to answer the question: Why were they chosen?
During their conversation, Dex says that, of course, killing someone can never be justified. Lundy says, actually, there is one justification: if it would mean saving the life of an innocent.
Dex realizes that Lundy and his father would have agreed on that.
So he finally goes after Hicks, and it’s during their conversation that Hicks makes Dex realize that he does, after all, truly care for Rita, the subconscious reason for his purchase of the mini-van (what LaGuerta called a “Mommy Mobile”). Of course, Hicks pisses Dex off when he says, rather unwisely, “You’re better off without that c*nt.” Dex ices him for that.

Upon that realization—that Rita and the kids really do mean a lot to him—Dex returns to NA, and shares, revealing his real name, and talking about the “Dark Passenger” that rides with him.
Doakes arrives at the meeting, and it suddenly all makes sense to him, that wrongness he felt about Dex. And in a great reversal, Doakes sympathizes with Dex’s apparent plight, and says, Ok, just don’t get in my way at work, and we’re cool.
Triumphant—now that Doakes is off his back—and on a catharsis high, Dex visits Rita and shares his elation. Rita’s happy (and she loves the mini-van), but that all comes to a screeching halt when she sees who Dex’s sponsor is: Lila.

So the season is unfolding quite nicely, with the Bay Harbor Butcher investigation and Dex is an addict subplots developing in interesting ways. And though I did suspect they were going to make Lila Dex’s sponsor, and that this would set Rita off, that final shot of her at the wheel of the mini-van, as she sees Lila, and Dex totally oblivious to Rita’s reaction, was priceless.
There’s also something about Lila I can’t quite pin down at the moment, though I wouldn’t at all be surprised if she’s got some deep, dark secret aside from being an addict.

(Image courtesy of sho.com.)