Watching Showtime

While re-listening to some of the tape of his mother and Harry, he discovers a little bit of the tape that was mumbled, and keeps playing it back to try to hear it. Poor Dexter has to deal with the new knowledge that his biological mother and his adopted father were having an affair; just one more lie added to the pantheon of lies Harry told Dexter. Where does he go to talk through his issues? Not Rita’s like he should. Instead he goes to Lila’s house, and she tells him that no matter why Harry did what he did, Dexter has an addiction to deal with. At least Dexter is finally admitting he built everything, from his job to his girlfriend, around Harry’s rules. Lila tells him he’s lucky to be questioning this now, because he gets to have a fresh start.

The next day at work, Dexter’s not answering questions, and Doakes turns to Deb for answers. When he questions Dexter’s sobriety Deb responds the only way she knows how - complete innocence. She tells him he’s never so much as smoked a cigarette, and Doakes freaks out, starting to re-question his initial thoughts about Dexter. Meanwhile, Agent Lundy is potentially monitoring all of the departments’ internet use. Lundy ignores him, instead telling the team that a man’s saying he narrowly escaped the Bay Harbor Butcher just hours earlier, and they’re going to investigate it. Too bad Dexter was asleep a few hours earlier! Lundy asks Dexter to go along, seeking a fresh perspective on the case.

They hop in a car and head to the rail yard where there’s a man sitting in an ambulance saying he got knocked out and woke up tied up in a rail car. With rope. None of this matches Dexter’s MO, and Dexter’s never seen the man before so the whole thing isn’t adding up. They send Dexter into the train car hoping his “spidey-sense” starts tingling and points them in the right direction. While he’s slowly becoming disgusted with this copycat’s work, Deb and Agent Lundy are interviewing the victim, whose story and crimes don’t match the BHB’s MO either. The man just got out of jail, but isn’t a murderer and seems more likely to faint at the sight of blood than actually enjoy it, like many of Dexter’s victims.

Lundy leaves Deb with the victim, and heads off to talk with Dexer about what they’re finding in the rail car. While they’re talking about the Butcher’s rituals versus this killer’s, Dexter finds himself acting along the patterns Lundy’s talking about: compulsive, neat and orderly. At least the pair agree that they’re not looking at the Butcher’s work, but a vigilante acting according to the Butcher’s “rules”. And then Dexter learns that they’ve put in cameras at the marina, and suddenly wonders if that’s the whole reason Lundy brought him out to the crime scene. To observe him, look for any clues. Back at the station, Dexter apologizes to Deb for being all bitchy earlier, and finds out that while the cameras are recording, they haven’t been able to watch any of it because the station’s equipment can’t sinc up with any of Lundy’s high tech equipment. That’s good news for Dexter, who now has a few hours before they see him giving his boat a midnight detailing and start to ask some serious questions.

Rita’s mom isn’t scoring any points in questioning Dexter’s choice of sponsor, and Rita does her best to defend him. She suggests he bring Lila down to the house to have dinner with them sot hey can meet her and get to know her a little bit. There’s no turning down the mother figure, so Lila heads over to the house for dinner. After they say prayers, they grill Lila over steak about her addiction and how long she’s been sober and all that. After telling them how lucky he is to have them in his life, they ask Lila more about herself. She turns the conversation back to Dexter, telling them about her blood-spatter work. Then she slips and mentions Dexter’s mother being dead, and it’s obvious Rita has no idea how she really died and Lila does, which gets awkward!!

Deb’s out on another date with Gabriel, and they’re talking about children’s books. He’s actually a really good listener, what with Deb bitching about how her dad used to put Dexter above her and now she thinks Lundy’s doing the same thing. Little does she know he’s already pegged Dexter as an outsider and potential suspect. Gabriel teases her, telling her she’s got a crush on Lundy, and she’s able to joke about it, admitting instead that she looked at him more like a father.

After not being able to break into Lundy’s office, Dexter meets Rita back at his apartment, and just as they’re about to get busy Lila calls. Dexter lets it go to voice mail and Rita gets to hear all of Lila’s choice words about her mother. Along with the best part: she doesn’t know the truth about Dexter’s mom and he and Lila took that road trip together, spending the night in the same hotel! Rita freaks out, thinking the two slept together, and leaves in a huff; but not before breaking up with him. Back home, Rita cries into her mother’s shoulder, although mama doesn’t look to upset to see Dexter gone. While Deb’s trying to convince Dexter to go after Rita the next morning, Lundy calls and asks Deb to meet him at the station. He also asks her to tell Dexter that he should be there, and is so obviously upset about it it’s ridiculous.

At the station, Dexter is lucky enough to not have been found out yet, but he’s got a bigger problem on his hands. The copycat killer has built a following in his short time on the scene, with ads popping up in newspapers and CraigsList asking for the BHB’s help. The FBI considers this type of vigilante justice “domestic terrorism” and if one more person dies at the hands of either the BHB or one of his copycats, they’ll pull the case completely from Miami PD and give it over to the FBI. Dexter’s got no time to waste in accessing those video files if he wants to keep himself under the radar a little longer. Just as Lundy’s about to freak out, Angel bursts in claiming he’s found a suspect. Seems the last would-be victim had some beef with a man who they now think went after him. If they can find this guy and link him to the copycat attack, that’s a step in the right direction for Dexter.

After the meeting he walks back to his office, only to find Doakes listening to the tape of his mother and Harry. Doakes is back on his tail now that he’s got the knowledge that Dexter’s not really a drug addict, and threatens to take a hair sample to prove his theories. These two are so close to getting into a fight it’s ridiculous! Dexter does the right thing by going to Maria asking to file a formal complaint against Doakes, letting Maria in on all the things he’s been doing. She asks Dexter to wait until she talks to Doakes to file the report, because somehow she thinks she can talk some sense into him. She then tells Dexter he’s got to leave the station until after lunch to clear his head and let the problem diffuse a bit.

So where does he go??? That’s right. Lila’s place. He freaks out on her, screaming and threatening her, and then before you know it he’s thrown her on the bed and the pair are entangled in a serious make-out session. And/or they’re about to do it. Nice Dexter, really nice. Way to prove Rita right. At least he finally gave into an urge that wasn’t murderous. As he’s leaving to go back to work Rita calls (of course), and tells him she wants him to come over after he’s done at work so she can hear his side of things. Now look at the mess he’s in!

Maria finds Doakes and explains to him that if Dexter files a complaint he’ll be kicked off the force. Doakes tells Maria he knows Dexter is hiding something, that he’s dangerous. She reminds him that his instinct hasn’t been super on-par lately, but despite that he’s still unwilling to let go of what he’s thinking. Maria reminds him that the last time he acted like this it cost them their relationship, and this time it will get him kicked off the force or worse, and then tells him he has to leave Dexter alone. Do we think it’ll work?

Lundy comes barreling in asking for Dexter, wanting him to help take samples from under the nails of the man they think is the copycat killer. Since Dexter isn’t available they send in Masuka along with Angel and Lundy to ask him questions. Mr. Olsen (the man they brought in) fits the profile of a vigilante killer, so they’re going to hold him until they can get some more proof. While this is oging on, Dexter pulls the fire alarm so he can get into the lab with the videos and try to erase the footage with him on it. He manages to get the footage deleted while Deb’s trying to arrange for protective custody for their potential BHB copycat victim. She’s freaking out because they don’t have anything that can pin the crime on Olsen, and if they don’t find something soon Lundy will pull the case from them all together.

What’s a big brother to do to help out his sister? Deliver Olsen to Lundy by finding evidence that they can find “fair and square”, keeping the case under his nose and putting Deb back in Lundy’s good graces. While searching Olsen’s home he finds a huge mural on the wall dedicated to the Butcher, and just then Olsen comes home. After Dexter accosts him, he finds out Olsen thinks he’s just like him, taking out the “bad guys”, when really he’s just killing people that get in his way. Dexter does what he does best, bringing the guy back to the train car to kill him. My favorite part of every episode? When Dexter has his “therapy sessions” with his victims. This time he discovers he doesn’t NEED to kill Olsen, but he still knows he has to.

Someone called the cops (Dexter, maybe?) on where the body was, and they find Olsen cut up and wrapped up for them like a present. Sending a message that if you try to imitate him you’ll be the next victim, or getting the police off his trail for just a little longer? Either way Dexter’s killed several birds with one stone. At least Deb finds out Lundy doesn’t like Dexter more than her. He’s keeping him around so much because he can’t stand Masuka! Deb’s so excited she gives Lundy a huge hug, and methinks I see some sexual attraction between the two! Maybe Gabriel was more right than he thought he was when he said they had feelings for one another!

Dexter heads to Rita’s house after he’s done tying up loose ends, and he tells her the truth about how he watched his mother die and that she was murdered in front of him. It’s good that he’s letting Rita in like this, it will help her understand him that much more. And while she sees the need for a sponsor in Dexter’s life, Rita is still upset that he chose Lila over her to bring along at this big moment in his life. And then he drops the bomb when Rita asks if they had sex that night. He says, “No not that night.” Dexter, Dexter. It’s good that you’re honest. It’s good that you’re learning to tell the truth at all costs. Part of me really feels bad for Rita however. Not missing a beat, Dexter heads to Lila’s house. So in the end, he’s thrown off every shackle of Harry’s wisdom and is forging his own path.

To catch up on old episodes:
season one recaps
It’s Alive!
Waiting To Exhale
An Inconvenient Lie
See-Through
The Dark Defender

Dexter, Showtime, Dexter Morgan, Michael C. Hall, Rita Bennett, Julie Benz, Debra Morgan, Jennifer Carpenter, James Doakes, Erik King, Maria LaGuerta, Lauren Velez, Angel Batista, David Zayas, Harry Morgan, James Remar, Vincent Masuka, C.S. Lee