Dex Takes a Holiday
Updated 2009-10-19 09:01:55
Previously, Dexter was feeling a tad constricted by his "new" family (who he's largely been around for four seasons now). Like a noose around his neck. Also, Lundy's back in town investigating the Trinity killer, Deb's inching closer and closer to throwing her hot boyfriend overboard to get back with Grandpa, and Quinn's banging a reporter and blabbing to her about the Trinity investigation.
Also, last time we saw Dexter, he was angrily smashing the neighbor's security lights and getting caught by Rita. But as we open the episode, we see Rita saw the incident more as the cry for a few days off that it was. Say what you will about the harpy she's been, but that was a pretty shrewd move. "Time off for bad behavior," is what Dexter's voice-over calls it. Kinda smug for a guy whose wife almost caught him with his Dark Passenger hanging out. He packs the kids into the car (Astor continuing to not win points with me by blatantly disregarding Cody's claim of "shotgun") while Rita good-naturedly bitches about having to "stuff Cousin Marlene into some Spanx on her wedding day. Seeing as Dexter would probably cut Cousin Marlene into six pieces before shoving her into those Spanx, I think Rita's better off taking that one. She's hoping Dexter can use the weekend to unwind, not get to that "boiling point" again. "I hate that you saw me that way," he says. Rita assures him that, as his wife, she wants to know what's going on inside him. "I don't think you do," slam-dunks Dex's VO. She tells him to "go wild" (the VO shows a rare moment of restraint there) and tells him the kids left him a surprise inside, before pulling away.
That surprise? A coffee mug, with the kids' names painted on it, saying "I Love Dad." Dexter is, of course, unmoved by it, because his sociopathology is way bigger than yours. But come on, who doesn't at least let out an "aw" at that? But no, Dexter just starts bopping along to the Cuban music playing in his head and planning his upcoming extracurricular activities.
Cut to: Zoe Kruger, lady cop firing at field targets at the police gun range. Dexter will give you the details: "Eight months ago, officer Kruger's husband and daughter were killed during a home invasion. Zoe was shot in the arm and the foot. She survived, obviously. But there was one person who thought it was Zoe herself who killed her family. The one person who always knows the truth of a crime: the blood guy." Brief flashback to Dexter meeting with said blood guy under some pretense or another (he's writing a book?). At the gun range, Dexter thumbs through Kruger's file, given to him by the blood guy. Back in the lab, Blood Guy points out the blood on the doorjamb left by the assailant (one Darius Rey, a drug dealer Zoe had roughed up the day before) after Kruger supposedly winged him. But Blood Guy said that was the only blood of Rey's at the entire crime scene. Dexter fakes incredulity, so Blood Guy explains even further: He thinks Kruger provoked the day-before confrontation, obtained Rey's blood then, and planted it at the crime scene. Not only does it provide concrete blood evidence, but, as Blood Guys says, it crafts a compelling narrative for the crime -- Rey, out for revenge against Kruger, breaks in and kills her family. Rey was later gunned down in a "supposedly gang-related incident."
Blood Guy says he tries not to think about it, because if he's right about this, there's a monster running free. Dexter observes Zoe's pinpoint technique at the range and figures no way this woman merely "winged" anyone. No, Dexter's made his mind up, and he's settled in on his next target.
At work, Dexter finds Deb and Lundy on the floor of his office. Ew, no, not doing that. Um, yet. No, they're working on the Trinity files. And they're doing so in secret because LaGuerta's on the warpath. And LaGuerta's on the warpath because Quinn's "reporter fuckbuddy" (thanks, Deb!), Christine, just took the info he stupidly gave her on Lundy's hunt for Trinity and slapped it on the front page. The slant was that this was the shit the PD is wasting their time on while the Vacation Murderers go free. Lundy figures his neverending guest pass at the station is about to expire as soon as LaGuerta spots him. So they're doing research on the third Trinity killing, the next in his cycle. It'll be a bludgeoning, in case you've forgotten, and since Trinity's hewed so close to his old Miami pattern from 30 years ago (i.e. same locales), they figure if they can find where the murder was , they might be able to plot out where the next murder will be . Or they would, if LaGuerta didn't just bust them and call for a briefing. Deb assures Lundy she's down for continuing the investigation after hours. Lundy tells Dexter he feels like he's "this close" to nailing Trinity.
Trinity's at the public library, scouting buildings and floor plans and whatever else he'll need to pull off his next murder. He also manages to shush every rambunctious teenager in sight, carefully maintaining his cover as a crotchety, though seemingly harmless, old man. On the desk next to him, he spots the newspaper with Lundy's photograph disproportionately large below the fold. "FBI's Top Serial Killer Hunter Back in Miami," the headline blares. Trinity takes it all in.
Back at the station, Quinn's just finished getting his guts clawed out by LaGuerta. Angel passes him going into Maria's office, in a considerably better mood than the circumstances dictate. He bright-sides something about the tip-line for the Vacation Murderers ringing off the hook. But LaGuerta has more than just Quinn's fuckup on her mind. She thinks they should disclose their relationship to the top brass. Particularly given the fact that if and when the Vacation Murderers go to trial, an illicit affair between the two top cops on the investigation could be used to sensationalize and otherwise obscure the case. She makes some strong points, but for whatever reason, this is Angel's week to be sketchy about anyone finding out. He doesn't even know what they'd disclose since the relationship is so new and they're still "figuring it out." Despite the charming grin on his face when he says this, LaGuerta still manages to take that as "I am downplaying the seriousness of our relationship" and ices him right the fuck out. Oh, Maria. And you were doing so well wearing the pants in this relationship!
Dexter's Bachelor Pad and Blood Sample Emporium. He's scanned all the Kruger crime scene photos and is now poring over them. He notes the lack of prints in the blood, meaning Zoe wore gloves. In fact, as he looks at the photos of her own gunshot wounds, he sees the blood stop dead at her wrist, meaning she had the gloves on when she shot herself, but not when EMTs arrived. The next step is obviously to find those gloves.
Harry now takes the opportunity to appear to Dexter and underline what the rest of us have already caught onto: that investigating a woman who offed her own family is an awfully interesting subject for Dexter right about now. Dexter maintains that there's nothing to that. He and Harry go back and forth over Zoe's options besides family-cide (killing herself, divorce, moving away), Harry shooting down every solution besides the one Zoe chose. Harry also plays the Trinity card. God, Harry, you are the old Jewish mother of subconscious apparitions. "Well Trinity doesn't have a family, and look at how well he's doing." He does end his visit to Dexter's head with one lingering question: Does he miss his absent family yet?
Deb's at home, obsessing over Trinity files and chatting animatedly with Lundy. Anton returns home and, after getting shushed by Deb, finally voices his displeasure over Deb spending all her time with her ex. Deb halfway convincingly assures Anton he has nothing to worry about when it comes to Lundy, but she can't keep that convincing mug up for too long.
Sunset in Miami. Dexter stakes out Zoe's house while she hosts poker night with her fellow cops. Between the fuzz in her living room and the alarm system sticker on her window, a break-in tonight is out of the question. But the realty sign advertising an open house tomorrow gives Dexter the opening he's looking for.
That night, Trinity stalks in the shadows of an alley behind a pool hall. He thinks better of advancing on the first guy he sees when his wife exits close behind him. No wife on the next guy, though. He moves out from the shadows behind the fairly beefed-up fortysomething and hisses " Cunt! " Beefy Forty plays the "You say something game?" but even when Trinity repeats, "You're a cunt!" the guy brushes him off as a crazy old man. Which...yeah. "Fucking pussy!" Trinity fires back when the guy turns to leave. This time Beefy shoves him into the dumpster. Now, Trinity looks scared right now. Whimpering and cowering. But again he retaliates: "Faggot!" So Beefy pounds Trinity down, all the while he's whimpering, yet still repeatedly calling Beefy a faggot. It's not like masochism is such a rare trait in serial killers, but watching Lithgow play it is all kinds of unsettling. Finally, as Beefy stomps off, Trinity calls after him, "It's your fault!" Obviously, this is just another part of the ritual, like Happy Hour with Mom's Ashes from last week. I expect some deliciously sordid explanation to tie all these loose ends up together.
The next day, Dexter shows up to the Kruger open house and finds a realtor whose jacket had just had a Captain Morgan ad explode all over it. Somewhere in Miami, LaGuerta just got a twitch in her neck and is seething with jealousy, but she has no idea why. He manages to give this perky fashion victim the slip so he can case the house in private. He's looking for evidence from the gloves -- obviously they're long gone, but they may have left trace evidence behind wherever she stashed them before the EMTs arrived. He retraces the steps of the crime scene via the photos on his iPhone. Did she burn the gloves in the fireplace? He checks underneath the grating for residue but finds it pristine and brand new. "It's just for show," says Zoe from behind him. She's friendly, attractive, and very young for a woman who killed her husband and daughter. She introduces herself, and Dexter covers nicely. There's an odd sexual tension that develops whenever neither of them are speaking, I should mention that up front.
Zoe gives Dexter a tour of the house, and in the process lies outright that she's separated from her husband, and their daughter lives with him. "You've been married long?" she asks him. "Uh, yes -- six months," is his answer, which he immediately realizes sounds bad. "I understand," says Zoe. "Believe me." Chirpy Color Explosion Realtor Lady calls Zoe downstairs, and Zoe flirtily tells Dexter, "To be continued."
With Zoe in the backyard, Dexter follows the trail of blood on the crime scene photos to the kitchen. He surmises the disposal is the next most logical stop for those bloody gloves. He intentionally jams it with a wooden spoon, then, under the pretense of "fixing it" for Chirpy Realtor, he retrieves a piece of blue rubber -- the kind used in police gloves -- and bags it. Chirpy and Zoe return (Zoe notes the disposal worked fine that morning) and are both impressed. Zoe takes Dex's arm and hoists him up with her beefy lady muscles. "If I was your wife," she breathes, fuck-me eyes turned up to eleven, "I'd hang onto you. You're so...handy." The scene cuts away before she can properly pay off that double entendre.
Lundy and Deb are talking Trinity at a diner. They've got him narrowed down to two 30-year-old bludgeoning, one at a cannery and one behind a bar. The body found at the cannery was dumped there -- not Trinity's style; he picks the murder site and leaves the body there. So they appear to have found their Trinity victim. In her enthusiasm, Deb knocks over Lundy's water, triggering about twelve "fuck"s and leading Lundy to share Deb's side of the booth. Anyway, if Trinity's current pattern holds, that means he'll kill his next victim in the bathroom of Murphy's Tavern. Lundy says he plans to go there today, and Deb says she will too. "Won't that be a problem with Ashton?" Lundy passive-aggressives. Deb says Anton's cool, "sort of." Meaning he gets jealous "for no reason." Lundy's like, "Oh, there's a reason." Deb finally snaps at him to say what he means for once, so Lundy lays it on her: He thought he'd be able to be around her and keep his feelings in check. No such luck. The two lay on the melodrama pretty thick here with the longing and the "But I can't!" and the "But YOU can't!" and the "whatever will we do?" Deb finally says she has to go. Lundy asks if she'll meet him tonight, but she can only stammer and say "fuck!"
Dexter returns to find Angel in his office. A break in the Vacation Murders case? Uh, nope! "I'm having intimate relations with LaGuerta," Angel blurts. Here we go... So Angel proceeds to spill all to Dexter, who in turn pretends to care. His voice-over can blah-blah all he wants about how he's just not wired to be empathetic, but honestly, he might have had to pretend to care anyway. So LaGuerta has awakened Angel's passion. He just doesn't want to disclose it to the brass because he doesn't want them to define his relationship; fence them in. So Dexter of course makes it all about him and how you certainly don't want to be inhibited or defined by a relationship and blah blah the restlessness of the murdering man. Angel doesn't catch on, but he nonetheless thanks Dexter for lending an ear and promises to keep him posted on the details. Dexter, meanwhile, just wants to peruse the details of that glove fragment.
Out in the bullpen, Deb is yapping at Quinn but harsh, righteously pissed that his loose lips in the bedroom put Lundy's case on blast. Quinn feels guilty about it, so he's cowering rather than yelling back. He tells Deb Christine is not his girlfriend, but speak of the devil, here she is getting off the elevator. Quinn sprints to head her off, backing her almost immediately into the elevator again. He tells her she has no idea the shitstorm she's created for him. She apologizes, hollowly, then tells him they can work this out. He tries to blow her off, saying it's not like they were a big deal. She makes him admit that's a lie. She's right, he says, they're actually way too complicated. Christina looks honestly broken up by the grand dumparino she's receiving. "I don't want to lose you," she squeaks. "Christine," Quinn harshes. "You never had me. Find yourself another source." Cold-blooded, Quinn, but way too late for it to matter.
Back in the lab, Dexter examines the glove fragment, while his voice-over draws such tenuous connections between it and the concept of a vacation that it would be an insult to you to try to explain it. Point is: he finds gun powder residue and blood (Darius Rey's, most likely). And he plans on following her home tonight.
Elsewhere, Lundy is investigating the former site of Fisty McBludgeon's Pub, where the Trinity killing took place 30 years ago. Only now it's a 20-story building full of mostly empty offices. Still sounds like a pretty ideal place to kill someone, though. Lundy's making notes into his little tape recorder when we spot Trinity exiting the building, obviously doing a little location scouting himself. I'll chalk it up to his finely-honed crazy that Trinity is able to spot Lundy across the plaza at 100 paces (at least), but he does. Trinity ducks behind the nearest stone column and panics. "I'm found," he sighs. But then it looks like he resolves himself, and next thing you know he's striding across the courtyard right at Lundy. Feigning distraction, Trinity bumps into Lundy, dropping his keys. Apologies, Lundy's all good, et cetera. As Trinity goes to leave, Lundy picks up the keys and returns them. As he does so, he takes his sunglasses off and gets a good look at the old man. Not sure what exactly he sees here, but it's enough that Lundy follows Trinity to the bus and makes note of the direction it's going. Obviously, this is the outcome Trinity was looking for. Why is another question.
In the car, Dexter's conscience (or...whatever he has in place of one) starts gnawing at him. Maybe he does miss Rita and the kids. Um...not after he calls Rita and hears the hellstorm she's in the middle of. Crowded hotel room, baby crying, Cody and Astor being loud and jumping on the beds and such. Rita can barely hear Dexter, and he certainly can't make her voice out of the din. He finally gives up and is like, "Um...kbyetalklater." And honestly, Rita's kind of relieved to have one less thing to listen to as well. I guess that counts as another drop in the bucket labeled "Dexter Should Kill His Family"?
Dexter's barely off the Bluetooth when he hears the police siren behind him. He wasn't speeding, and he was hands-free on the phone, so what gives? Well, Officer Zoe Kruger is what gives. She leans into the driver's side window with none of the sexy breeziness of the other day. She orders him out of the car, hands on the hood. Turns out, the file clerk at her station is a friend, and he told her that her file was pulled by Blood Guy. When Blood Guy told her who he lent the file to, she looked Dexter up, and lo and behold, it was her open house friend. At this point, she thinks he's messing with her. "You the kind of sicko who likes watching a woman in pain?" she asks. "Not that kind of sicko," he replies. She actually does a decent job of selling the idea that she witnessed her family being brutally murdered in front of her; does Dexter understand the kind of agony she experienced? "Agony would be the normal reaction," says Dexter, which is actually clever two ways, so bravo on that line. Zoe sends Dexter on his way, but in the process, she conspicuously drops his home address, letting him know she knows where he (and his family) lives. Intimidating, yes, but she doesn't know quite how stupid that was, yet.
Back home, Dexter is being tormented by Harry, who keeps reminding him that Zoe knows where he lives now. Dexter at first wants to back off, give her what she wants. But Harry says that's out of the question, if he wants to keep his family safe. Sure, it'll be impossible to sneak up on her now, but Dexter said he wanted a challenge. "You banged the beehive." Dexter interrupts this conversation with himself to play his voice messages. It's from Lundy, looking for Deb. He starts to talk about how he ran into this guy today, but Dex cuts the message short. Harry resumes, impressed as ever by Zoe's work. "Makes you wonder why someone like her ever got married and had kids in the first place." Subtle, Harry. Dexter begins to protest but his mind wanders, because "someone like her" also needs to be in control. And now that she knows she is, Dexter can use that. "She won't see me coming."
The next day, at the office, Dexter calls up the records clerk (Zoe's pal, it seems, and I'm getting a very Terri Scheuster/Howard Bamboo vibe off of those two now that I see him) and very unsubtly requests to be sent the Darius Rey file. For...you know...the Vacation Murders case. He clunkily asks him to send said file simply to "Forensics." After he hangs up on poor suspicious Howard, Dex voices over that the beehive has once again been banged. Not. Like. That. Ow.
Next? The Further Misadventures of the Couple I'd Like to Christen "Anguerta" (Or Possibly "LagAngel"). LaGuerta lassos Dexter into her office and pretty much gives the mirror image version of his scene with Angel. She really needs someone to talk to. Dexter is incredibly uncomfortable. She doesn't notice and proceeds to air her brain out and babble about how Angel doesn't understand department politics and how it could all blow up in their faces if they take their chances and keep secret. Dexter then delivers one complete sentence that's more about him than anything else ("I never leave anything to chance"). LaGuerta gleans from that what she wants to glean. Dexter leaves, bewildered. LaGuerta thinks they just had a real good talk. (She also notes that, given the "good" "advice" he just gave her, marriage is agreeing with him. Har.)
Dexter comes upon Deb's desk and relays Lundy's call from last night. "Fucking great," Deb sighs, freaking out like the old Deb we knew and were frustrated by. It's really sad to see her regress here, guys. Dexter, of course, has no idea what she's on about and doesn't want to know. He backs away slowly while Deb chews her fingernails and looks at a framed photo of her and Anton.
Dexter drives down the highway and notices Zoe's cop car following him. All according to his beehivey plan. He pulls into a gas station as his VO smugly notes that Kruger's out of her jurisdiction. He heads to the restroom, counting on her following him; she obliges. She tells him she knows he requested the Rey file and to leave her alone. Dex feigns innocence for about thirty seconds before adopting his "I'ma kill you now" voice. Is she going to kill him like she killed her family? Zoe's taken aback by how certain Dexter seems to be, so he tells her why: the glove fragment in the disposal. He's got a meeting tomorrow morning with his superiors to blow her in. Zoe's next rejoinder -- "There's no chain of custody" -- kinds of gives her guilt away, in case we had doubts. Dexter says even if the glove doesn't get her it'll raise questions, and she's bound to have left other evidence. Backed into a metaphorical corner, Zoe decides to go aggressive and back Dexter against a literal sink. And put an even more literal gun against his head. Then her voice goes all breathy/pouty/creepy as she says, "You tried to rape me." By the by, it's gonna waste time if I have to stop every time I want to note that Dexter and Zoe's dialogue feels creepily sex-charged, on both sides, so just assume that from here on out. Anyway, so Zoe's plan is to shoot Dexter now and claim he was stalking her and tried to rape her. But Dexter, smart little lab geek that he is, keeps on telling her how each way she positions the gun will belie her story upon blood analysis. Zoe finally just whispers in Dex's ear that no one will believe his story over hers anyway -- "so please, tell them everything" -- and leaves. Dexter's voice-over oh-so-helpfully tells us, "You won't give me the chance. I'm counting on it."I guess just in case the Californication audience dropped by and needed some hand-holding.
Lundy's apartment (hotel room? apartment). Debra knocks on his door, and before Lundy can assure her that he was only calling about Trinity and nothing more, she jumps up on his face. He pulls her inside and shuts the door. So...Anton's available, then?
Dexter's Conspicuously Un-Security-Lit Home. The lights are off inside as Dexter lies in wait, syringe in hand, knowing Zoe's going to come by and try to murder the shit out of him. While we wait, Dexter's VO just goes on and on and on, it's like being stuck in the elevator with a chatty stoner who won't shut up about what a nonconformist he is. Finally (FINALLY!) Zoe breaks into the back door. "She's gonna make it look like I walked in on a robbery," VO continues. "She's good at creating a narrative of a crime." And indeed, Zoe starts to rustle around the kids' things, drawing the unexpected ire of Dexter for doing so. He advances on her from behind, but she sees his reflection in a picture frame, so there's a struggle. She chucks his "We *Heart* Dad" mug at him, breaking it against the wall, but he ultimately gets that needle in her neck.
Cut to...actually, I'm not entirely sure where Dexter's performing this killing. It's someone's bedroom, and from the pretty pink bedding visible underneath the plastic wrap, I'm guessing it's Zoe's daughter's room? As she starts to yell for help, Dexter returns, having just purchased for her a one-way boat ticket to the Philippines (not a euphemism; wouldn't be a good one if it was). "I know how to create a narrative too," he says, as he places his two fingers in the same spots she held her gun on him earlier: temple and chest. He's gonna drop her car off at the port, and put that glove fragment back in the disposal to expose her guilt and give a reason for her fleeing to a country with no extradition contract. Everyone will think she got away with it. "You're that good," he says. "Or that dead." Zoe looks him defiantly in the eye: "You gonna rape and kill me?" Dexter breaks off into a giggle. "What is with you and rape? No one's raping anyone!" Heeee. Yes, that rape joke was my favorite moment of the whole episode. Deal.
Zoe asks why he's doing this to her and continues to protest that Darius Rey killed her family. Dexter is officially taking her family-killing personally, for reasons Harry laid out earlier. He talks of the suffocating nature of family and finally gets her to admit it. "I couldn't breathe," she says...well, breathily. "You did it to survive," Dexter says, and whether that's faux-empathy or not depends on whether you actually buy that Dexter's gonna off Rita, Cody, and Astor this season. Which you don't. And neither do I. Which is part of the problem of this season-long arc so far, but I digress.
"What kind of father does this?" accuses Zoe, as she changes tactics. "What kind of husband?" "Not the kind who kills his family," says Dexter, as he slices into her cheek for his blood sample. I do like how this scene is playing out, Dexter getting more and more certain as he goes on that killing his family is not something he wants to do. He just wants to kill this woman for those sins. She tells him he's not going to be able to keep his double life forever. He's gonna have to choose, and he'll choose his life over theirs. "I won't," Dexter shoot back, his mouth going faster than his mind. "I'd rather risk them knowing the truth." There's a line in The Royal Tenenbaums where Royal tells his family the last six days he spent with them (during which time he conned them into thinking he was dying) have been the best six days of his whole life. And then the narrator (Alec Baldwin, of all wonderful things) adds: "Immediately after Royal said this, he realized it was true." That line was the first thing I thought of after Dexter said that. Accidental truth from a skilled liar. The admission kind of knocks the wind out of Dexter. He's almost in tears. "I don't want to lose them," he says, relieved that it's true. And with the strength of this newfound certainty, he stabs Zoe right in her heart.
Later, back at the bachelor pad, Dexter adds the newest slide to the box. Harry pesters Dexter with more doubts: Is he sure he doesn't really want to stay here, in solitude? Dexter seems sure. Harry then notes a dripping faucet and advises Dexter see to that. "You don't want this place going to hell. You need it too much." Dexter calls it his little vacation spot. Then he takes a call from Rita, who's on her way home early. "The house!" Harry panics. Dexter hustles off the phone, then races home to clean up all signs of a struggle. At home, he races through the cleanup process and is sweeping up the remnants of the mug as Rita and the kids walk in. He easily excuses the broken mug (he, um, dropped it), and Rita says the kids will be happy to make him a new one. Rita and Dexter collapse onto the couch, too tired to do anything but sit there. "I missed you," Rita tells him. "I missed you too," Dexter says. Glad he didn't let too much of that accidental truth-telling take hold.
Meanwhile, Lundy and Deb are draped over each other as he walks her to her car. They're guiltily blissful. They hug for a long moment, as Deb chastises herself for being a "fuckwad." Lundy tries to tell her otherwise, but she persists. She knew from the moment he returned that she wanted back with him, she just wouldn't admit it. And she cheated on a good guy. She should have broken up with him first. All attributable to her being a fuckwad. I love ya, Deb, but: kinda, yeah. Lundy tells her she was confused, and now she's not. "We'll set this right, together," he assures her, as the camera pulls in close enough that it's just their faces on either side of the screen. Whatever the reason, you just KNOW something bad's about to happen. And indeed, as they part and Deb smiles (another bad omen), Lundy spots something over her shoulder. Before he can react, gun shots ring out. Deb looks down at the blood coming from her abdomen, then collapses. From her vantage point on the ground, she hears another two shots, then sees Lundy drop. A gloved hand reaches down and steals his wallet and watch. "Stay with me," Deb is all Deb can whisper. But Lundy's unblinking face isn't showing much in the way of a life force. And I'll say again: If this is indeed Trinity, he's certainly stepped outside his pattern. Which seems significant. And scary.
Joe R really hopes Deb and Lundy pull through, seeing as they're his two favorite characters. He can be reached for comment at joseph.reid21@gmail.com .