Watching Showtime

After a giant recap of the first season, I’m reminded just how creepy it was. Poor Dexter had to kill his own brother in order to save his adopted sister, fight through being a serial killer while having a girlfriend whose ex-husband is a crazy abuser. Once the recapping is done, the second season begins similar to the first, with Dexter talking about how he’s got to kill over and over again. But this time, Doakes is following behind him, stalking is every move.

So what does Dex do to try to shake him? He joins a bowling team with Angel and Masuka. It’s been 38 days since he killed last, and that was his brother. Doakes has followed Dex around every night since Rudy was found dead, trying desperately to figure out what’s messed up about him. Not only does he have to deal with Doakes stalking his every move, Dexter also has to deal with Angel’s newfound love of The Secret (or something similar). Best part of the whole bowling thing? The team name is “bowl til you bleed!”

Dex tells the universe what he needs, which loses him the game but gets Doakes off his back somehow. He heads immediately out to hunt down his first victim in over a month, an old blind man dealing in Voodoo curses. He asks for a death curse, sucking the man in with the promise of large sums of money, and they head to the back room so Dex can get the curse he needs. Once back there, however, Dex does what he always used to do: drugs the man and straps him down naked with clear tape. Dex seems back to normal, showing the man the people he’s killed (in this case, just naming them because the blind man can’t see the pictures), then cutting into the man’s face for his slide as per usual. Then the creepy guy starts talking like he’s possessed! Dex slaps him back to “normal”, and Jimmy tells him the spirit that possesses him (Madouly) told him to kill them.

Unfortunately for Dexter, just as he’s about to kill Jimmy something takes over him and he can’t do it. Was it the blind man’s eyes, the sounds of the chickens? Who knows, but Dexter lets the man go and then heads out onto his boat, but only to drink. Poor guy is all mixed up since his brother’s death. Heading home, we discover Deb is still staying with Dexter, and has yet to head back to work. She’s been spending her time running on a treadmill for hours at a time, working out her fear and frustration.

Flashback to Dexter practicing his shooting before he and his dad are supposed to head out boar hunting, only to find out his dad has to work an extra shift and can’t take him. Dad reminds Dex he’s in control of his urges, and not the other way around, although a teenage Dexter doesn’t seem able to deal with it.

Next morning, Dexter brings donuts to Astor and Cody, but brings the kind adults would like (danishes and plain donuts and the like). The kids are off to visit their dad in jail, but before they go Rita’s got a naked surprise for Dexter. Too bad for her Dexter can’t seem to get it up or enjoy the moment, so they stop trying to force it and she heads off with the kids to visit Paul.

Dexter heads off to work, and spends part of his morning reliving his non-kill from the night before. Staring at pictures of Jimmy, he almost gets busted by Doakes, but switches it to a stock porn website just in time. After Doakes gets the blood report he came looking for, he asks Dex what he was really looking at on the computer. Too bad he also makes it known that he’s been checking into everything about Dex, including his video renting habits. He’s so just as creepy as Dexter is, just in his own way!

Deb shows back up at work, and Doakes gives a cutie look when she’s not looking (because he LOVES her) and then she hugs Maria. Because she’s totally not ready yet. Esme tells Maria to bring Morgan out with them on a homicide case, despite how obvious it is she’s not ready to go. As she’s leaving, Maria notices the three dozen roses thrown in the trash.

At the crime scene, they’re looking at a dead Hispanic male, covered in chop wounds from a machete. It seems the man was killed by the very gang he was a member of, left at an easy-access dock point so they could dump the body and bail without being noticed. While Dex is dealing with the body, Deb’s dealing with the gathering crowd calling her “Mrs. Ice Truck Killer” and wanting to take pics of her. Maria’s ready for Deb to snap, but surprisingly, she just turns and smiles for the photos.

With some of the worst acting I’ve ever seen, the screaming and crying mother of the dead man (Rafael) comes running to the crime scene. Seriously? How did they not see her coming? In Spanish she asks Dexter to find Little Chino, Rafael’s killer, and kill him like a dog. Then, to make it worse, Rafael’s little sister shows up, all six years old and sad.

Finally Paul’s back on the scene, playing games with his kids and acting like a good father, despite being in prison for the rest of his life. After saying goodbye to the kids, he begs Rita once again for help in finding the shoe and/or some sort of evidence that he was set up. He’s being beaten up, probably raped, and he’s right when he tells her he doesn’t belong there. However, he doesn’t belong in Rita’s life, either, and she’s not wiling to help.

Angel takes the mother and sister off to give their statements, while Dexter gets info about Little Chino out of Deb, hoping he’s someone he can kill (and of course he is). Every time Chino is about to be tried for something, the witnesses end up strangely dead, and it’s no wonder people are so afraid of him. He’s huge! The hardest part of the whole murder case will be Eva agreeing to testify against Little Chino and she agrees. But it’s not that easy .. Eva’s a junkie, all about the heroin, which means the DA won’t put her on the stand to testify. Bad news for Eva, good news for Dexter, who can now hunt Chino down and make him the first kill in over 40 days.

While all this is going on, a group of treasure hunters is trying to find a sunken ship. Instead, they find Dexter’s dumping grounds for all of his many years of killing!!!!

Dexter’s trying to get Deb and Rita to hang out together so that he can head off to kill Chino. First he has to convince Rita to hang out with Deb, and then he has to convince Deb. Both women convinced, he just has to shake Doakes, which is easy enough to do once he convinces him all he’s going to do is work on his bowling all night. Just before Rita heads out with Deb, Paul calls her and she finally tells him she found the shoe. But then she tells him she’s not going to give it to his lawyer because she’s unwilling to throw away her “health relationship” for her abusive ex-husband. As she hangs up on him, he proves he hasn’t changed by banging the phone on the wall.

Working late, Maria hears Esme fighting with her boyfriend. She’s convinced he’s cheating on her, and it’s pretty clear she’s not only angry but acting irrational. Despite Maria’s attempts to hide, Esme sees her, and they have a girl moment (despite Maria’s obvious uncomfortability with the whole thing).

Dexter’s off hunting Chino, who’s at the tattoo parlor getting another tear drop tattooed on his arm. Is it for Rafael, or has Chino struck again? Hopping into his car afterwards, he discovers chickens in his backseat, which is all Dexter had to do to finally get his man. A double dose of drugs later, Dexter is attempting to kill Chino. Easier said than done, and once again his plans are foiled, although this time due to Chino’s size more than anything else.

Rita and Deb are off on their pseudo-double date, and Deb’s still pretending she’s already over the whole “almost being killed” thing. But as Rita talks about her hurt from her marriage to Paul, she admits she sometimes misses parts of Paul. That’s the trigger Deb needed, and she starts to open up just enough to show that she’s still hurting deep inside. Heading to the bar to get a second round, a guy touches her arm and she breaks his nose. Clearly she still has some issues she needs to work through, and I’m honestly relieved they weren’t going to brush over that.

It’s a night of sadness all around. Dexter heads over to Rita’s house after his inability to kill Chino, and finds her in the backyard crying because she’s just been called by the prison. Paul was killed in a prison fight, and she has to tell her children their father is dead. And despite the fact she should be happy to be rid of him (as sick as that may sound, she is finally free of his abuse and manipulation), she’s more concerned with how Dexter may have had a hand in his death. After trying desperately to comfort her, he heads home to figure out how Deb’s doing. Instead of finding her upset, he finds her giddy at the prospect of a potential new serial killer as Dexter’s gravesite is being unearthed on tv.

To catch up on old episodes:
season one recaps

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