Return To Sender
Updated 2008-04-18 19:17:03
Previously: "No Blood." Woo-hoo. Deb found the ice truck. There was a chopped up gift in Dexter fridge. The ITK continued to blow Dex's mind by staging Tony Tucci's body parts and taking photographs that mimicked some of Dexter's memories. One of Rita's ex's minions showed up to collect on a cocaine debt, and took Rita's car. Dexter did away with Jorge Castillo, a real slick sonnuvabitch who was charging Cuban immigrants exorbitant amounts of cash to traffic their families into the country, then springing another "release fee" on them in order to actually release them once they got here. If they couldn't pay...kill, kill, kill. Turned out Castillo's wife was also in on it, so Dexter got a two-bagger, but wasn't able to do the job properly. At least he was able to get some relationship advice out of them before he killed them. Possibly unfortunately for Dexter, it seems that someone may have been spying on him from the trunk of a junked Mercedes in the junkyard. We'll just have to see how that develops...
"Life is so fleeting, so fragile," Dexter VOs as he sits quietly with his eyes closed. "Every breath has the potential to be our last." He opens his eyes, looks to the right and says, "You ready?" The camera pans to the left to reveal Cody, who's holding a dead goldfish over the toilet bowl. He drops it in and flushes. "Can I have my cereal now?" he asks Dexter. "We all grieve in our own way," Dexter VOs. Hee! "I prefer the six-year-old approach. Yet another I've sent to a watery grave." Yeah, yeah, we get it. Your behavior is so regressive. You're so cool and above it all. Anyone? What's it from?
Cody's now tearing into some cereal flakes of some kind, and....mmm, cereal. Hold on a sec?
[crunch, crunch] So, yeah, Cody's eating cereal, and Rita's introducing a couple of cake ideas for Astor's upcoming birthday celebration. Cody announces that he'd prefer Angel Food Cake, but Astor tells him to cram a sock in it, because it's her birthday, and she feels entitled to the cake decision. Dexter enters the kitchen, and Rita asks him how the burial went. "Bob the Goldfish? May he rest in peace." Rita thanks Dex for coming over to take care of that. "Dead stuff..." she says and mock shudders. Dexter mirrors her: "I know." Rita instructs him to sit down. "Your treat for coming over is on its way!" Ew, dude, not in front of the kids! Oh, breakfast, right. Dexter heads over to the table and notices the birthday preparations. "I don't get birthdays." Well, of course you don't. Is there anything you do get? Or rather, don't pretend to not get? "The party, the song. Celebrating another year of being alive just feels...forced." Astor chooses a coconut cake, and Cody protests. "You've never had coconut," says Rita as Dexter's phone rings. Apparently, dispatch is calling. Dexter answers and says, "Sure, what's the location?" There's a low grumble on the soundtrack as the camera zooms into a close-up on Dex. Uh-oh. "I'll be right there." Right where?
Oh, right there . Whoa. It's Castillo's junkyard, and...wow. That must feel surreal. "The crime scene," Dex VOs. " My crime scene." As he approaches the trailer where he did his dirty work, he flashes on brief vignettes of him doing the deed. Here's Masuka, smiling pervily as he crosses the police tape. "I shouldn't have killed them both," Dexter VOs, as if he had an option. "I didn't have enough time. A footprint. A microscopic drop of blood. What did I leave behind?" Finally, he reaches the trailer, where Deb is already inside examining yet another body that's... holy shit ! That's Valerie Castillo. That means the ITK must have dived to get her. Jesus, that guy is devoted! Anyway, the body is lying on a table, and Deb says, "Nice place-setting, huh? We're running her prints to find out who she is." Dexter hardly hears this, because he's freaking out pretty major. "It had to be him," he VOs. "He's watching me." You think, dude? I thought that was fairly obvious a while ago. Anyway, Dex puts his "mask" back on and approaches the body. "Good, I.D. the victim. You find anything else?" Doakes steps up, immediately annoyed as he tends to be. "That ain't enough?" "Any eyewitnesses?" Dexter asks with him own preservation in mind. "Just do your job," Doakes tells him. After exasperatedly ignoring an incoming call, Doakes continues: "This tin can smells like ass, Morgan. The sooner you get busy, the sooner we can finger who did this." Doakes and Deb take off, leaving Dex to ponder this mess. "He dove 100 feet to bring up the body. He's getting back at me for not killing that security guard." Probably.
Outside, LaGuerta is hoping aloud to Doakes that this isn't the work of the ITK. "I've got the press sniffing outside already." "No, it's not his M.O.," says Doakes. Deb chimes in that the I.D. came back, and that her name is Valerie Castillo, and "her husband Jorge owns the salvage yard." "So try and track him down!" says LaGuerta, already annoyed at Deb's presence. Doakes gets a call on his radio: "Sir, we found something."
Back with the body, Dexter asks Masuka if he's found anything while he videotapes the body with a DV camera. "No bruising. Nothing under her nails...she didn't put up a fight. If she was killed here, which I doubt, whoever did it was a real pro." Dex VOs, "Under normal circumstances, I'd take that as a compliment." Dexter asks about prints, and Masuka says she's clean. "This trailer? That's another matter." Something catches Masuka's eye. "Yo, Dex, I think I found something. Zoom in on this will you?" Dexter: "I'm kind of low on batteries here." Masuka: "Dude, it'll take, like, two seconds. What's up with you today? You're throwing off my chi." Dex: "You're not Chinese." Masuka: "I'm not?" Heh. I love Masuka. He directs Dexter and his camera to a small puncture wound on Castillo's neck, and we all know what that's from. Masuka: "Is that a needle marking?" "More like a bug bite," replies Dexter. "Blemish, maybe." Be a little more obvious, Dex. Masuka gives in: "Yeah, I guess. Let the coroner bag her. I'm hungry." See ya, Masuka.
Back with Deb, LaGuerta, and Doakes, who have just entered the disgusting immigrant holding bay. LaGuerta immediately covers her nose with her shirt as they enter. "This ain't no auto garage," observes Doakes astutely. Deb groans after looking into one of the shit-buckets. "You never seen a latrine before, Morgan?" "Yeah, just not indoors!" "The army taught me a lot of things." LaGuerta moans that she feels "a Desert Storm story coming on." Well, there's a little character exposition! Doakes goes on to say that digging a hole to shit in was the most important. Whatever. All of this leads to him observing that, from the looks of things, Castillo was "knee-deep." "You like the husband for this?" asks LaGuerta. "It's always the husband." Deb finds a phone number and name scrawled on the floor, and Doakes tells her to phone it in to Angel. Suddenly, a uniformed officer comes in for Doakes, and it sounds pretty urgent.
Outside, Deb and Doakes are following the officer to the Mercedes. "We heard movement in the trunk," the officer semi-whispers, and they all draw their guns. Doakes, after a moment of trepidation, cranks open the trunk to reveal a small Cuban boy, who is praying fervently in Spanish. Doakes says, "Are you all right, kid?" The boy doesn't respond at all. Doakes grabs the kid's arm, trying to drag him out, but the kid recoils. "Subtle," says Deb. "Maybe you should cuff him." Yeah, seriously, Doakes. Chill the fuck out, you dweeb. LaGuerta steps up to the boy and says, "Mi hijito, todo está bien. Te vamos a ayudar," which means, "My little one, everything's fine. We're going to help you." Immediately, the little boy clutches onto LaGuerta, who smiles maternally. Oh, no. Uh-uh. Don't put me in the position of feeling good about her, show. Dexter, who's been watching all of this from the trailer's rear window, VOs, "The noose is tightening."
"This is how it ends, in the hands of a seven-year-old?" he continues, now standing outside as Deb works her way over to him. "Who's the boy?" he asks Deb. "So far, all we know is that he's Cuban and he seems to like LaGuerta. Spend enough time in a hot trunk, I guess she looks good to anybody." Fair enough. Dex continues to probe: "Did he see anything?" Deb isn't sure, as the kid "seemed pretty out of it." Deb notices that Dex has a "brow thing goin' on," but before Dexter can respond, LaGuerta is yelling at Deb to bring some water over. "I love her," she jests. "Maybe I should spend some time in a hot trunk, too!" After she's gone, Dexter's VO keeps worrying: "My neat little world of lies is crumbling all around me, and I can't tell a soul. Especially not Deb." He totally has a brow thing happening.
Hey! It's flashback time! "Deb," says Harry as he cocks a shotgun. "We've been through this." It seems that Deb wants to go hunting with them, because Dexter was her age when he started. "I promise I'll be quiet. You won't even know I'm there." Harry thinks the pheasants will, and goes on to tell her that "the Logans are waiting. Did you pack your swimsuit?" "Yes." "Good girl. I want to see that backflip of yours when we come home." Young Deb, looking dejected goes out to the car. After she's gone, Dexter says, "She does have a point, dad." "What we do on these weekends, your sister can never know about. Keeping the truth from those closest to you is how you'll survive, and how you'll protect them if anything ever goes wrong." Ah, relevance, how I love thee.
Rita is telling the kids to hurry up or they'll be late for school. Astor runs out to put on her backpack, and Rita tells her that her birthday list could be expanded upon. "Balloons don't make much of a list." "It's okay," Astor says. "I don't need that other stuff. It's too expensive." Wow, what a great kid. I never would have said that. Rita tells her that she'll worry about that stuff, and that it's her birthday and she can have whatever she wants. The phone rings, and Rita runs to get it. "Hello?" "Hey, babe." That's not Dexter's voice. "Go wait in the car," says Rita sternly to the kids, who already look concerned. On their way out, Cody asks Astor, "What's wrong with Mom?" "She only gets that way when she's talking to Dad." Yikes. Well, that's just great. As if things weren't complicated enough, now we have to deal with that asshole? Wonderful.
At the station, Deb 'n' Doakes are getting out of the elevator to be greeted by Angel, who has tracked down "Mariel," the name that they found in the holding bay. "She's a Cuban refugee. She's staying with cousins. We brought her in." Doakes wonders why her name and number were scratched on the floor. "Next of kin," says Angel. "In case something happened to her. Guys like Castillo are ruthless." He goes on to explain how "cocksuckers" like him operate, and brings them back to meet with Mariel, who was one of the refugees that Dexter let go. After brief introductions, Angel translates as Doakes interrogates her. It turns out that the last time she saw Castillo was when he was loading them onto his boat. She doesn't know who set them free. Lastly, she mentions that she wants the cops to "make them pay" for treating them all like dogs. "Especially that concha ." " Concha ?" asks Deb. "Fuck me, the wife was in on it," says Doakes, figuring it out. They ask about the little boy, but Mariel says she never saw him, and the plot thickens.
Dexter's eyes, darting back and forth, bring us to yet another VO: "No hair, no fibers, COD exsanguination...so far, so good." Ah, he's reading the report on Valerie Castillo's body, with Masuka right over his shoulder. "You're hovering." "Keep reading." "What am I even looking..." "Wait for it!" "This is a prelim, I don't..." "M-fucking-99!," says Masuka, pointing at the sheet. Apparently, "M99" is another word for Etorphine Hydrochloride, which is, I think, what Dexter uses to drug his victims. Now, a simple Google search has revealed to me that this stuff, also called Immobilon , is an opiate that is mostly used to immobilize large game animals, such as elephants, and that one drop of this stuff on the skin can cause a human to die within a minute. However, it turns out that diprenorphine, or M5050, can be used as an antidote to M99, completely reversing its effects. I've never seen Dexter use an antidote to reawaken his victims, and it certainly seems that it would take more than a minute to get them wrapped up in plastic as he does, which is way more time than a human would have to live with M99 in their bloodstream. I suppose it's possible that Dexter is using a highly diluted version. Anyway, Masuka says that the little puncture on Valerie's neck was bugging him, so he decided to run a tox screen, and that's what came back. "That's it," Dex VOs. "No more doughnuts for Masuka." Masuka continues that the only way to get M99 is with a D.E.A. license. "I put a request in for the list. I should have for Doakes by the morning." "Nice," Dexter says, trying to keep his cool. As Masuka leaves, all proud of himself, the voiceover comes back: "I'm on that list, and eventually the alias I used will lead them back to me. Tick tock." Wow, dude. That's pretty heavy. Dexter's cell rings, and it's Rita. She tells him, "Paul called after you left." "Who's Paul?" "My soon-to-be ex. He's already out of jail. 'Overcrowding,' can you believe it?" It seems that Paul wants to come to Astor's birthday party. "What'd you tell him?" asks Dexter. Rita: "That I'd have to think about it. But even if I said no, he wouldn't listen. He never does." She asks if he can come over tonight, but he mentions that he's "under the gun at work. Big case." She apologizes for dumping all of this crap on him, and he says he'll come over if he can. Boring.
Dex goes out to talk to Angel, and asks him where LaGuerta is. Normally this kind of query from Dexter would strike me as odd, but considering the kid she's with could hold the key to his future, it doesn't. Angel tells him she's trying to bring the kid in for a sketch. "Sketch?" says Dexter, trying to not seem concerned. "The kid says some guy saved them from the bad lady." "Valerie Castillo." "Yeah. Sounds like she exactly what she had coming to her. Personally, I'd shake this guy's hand." "Yeah, you say that now," Dex VOs.
At the Castillo household, Deb has found Jorge's passport. "I feel like I need a shower just looking at this douchebag." "Keep looking," says Doakes. "Phone records, bank accounts, credit cards...Maybe the wife got greedy and that's why he killed her." "Maybe," says Deb. Then she mentions something about how she felt cock-blocked at the scene earlier that morning when Doakes was about to open the trunk. I totally did not notice anything like that, so I'm going to ignore it. Shut up, Deb. Doakes is ready to move on as well: "It's possible our guy left town." "If he even did it," says Deb. "What if we have a copycat killer on our hands?" Doakes thinks that's a bit of a stretch, but Deb pushes it, saying that she thinks the killer tried to bleed out the body like the ITK but didn't know how. "She wasn't a hooker," says Doakes. "But she was killed someplace else, dumped and laid out in a ritualistic manner just like all the others." Hmm, good point, Deb. I retract my previous "shut up." "She wasn't in pieces," Doakes devil's-advocates. "But she had cuts on her neck. I'm just saying with all the media attention on the Ice Truck Killer...it's possible." Doakes wants to know what she's getting at, and she just wants to work out a profile, "in case Jorge doesn't pan out." He tells her fine, and then avoids another phone call, which Deb totally picks up on. "Who are you avoiding?" she asks for all of us. Ignoring her, he says, "We have one more stop to make."
Dexter's on his way back to the junkyard, VOing, "Nothing lasts forever. Just ask a Ford Pinto." Fair enough. And, heh. "Eventually most serial killers get caught. There's really not much of a retirement plan." He's back at the Mercedes now, trying to establish what the kid could or could not see through that tiny hole. In the dark. Come on, Dexter, it's only the sixth episode of the season. Do you really think they'd put you in the shit now ? Be reasonable. "It can't end like this. It's too soon." I'm sayin'! Maybe, maybe the season finale, but not sooner. "I'm not ready." Neither are the producers, trust me. Dexter crawls into the trunk, and realizes that he has a perfect view of all the spots where his shenanigans took place. "He saw me." Pissed off, and now out of the trunk, he kicks a hubcap in frustration.
Now it's nighttime, and Doakes is in the car with Deb. He pulls over and cuts the engine. "What's this?" asks Deb. "You've been askin' who's been callin'. My mom lives here." "You forget your laundry?" says Deb, holding back giggles. Doakes says that she's been on him to stop by for dinner, "so I'm stoppin' by. Now, here's the plan: we go in, we eat, we out before the cheesecake." "I'm what, you're exit strategy?" "You can sit out here, giving me an even better excuse to leave, or you can come get some free food. Now, come on." Doakes gets out as Deb lets out a frustrated sigh, which...really? Just go eat some fucking dinner! Is that really so bad? Jesus H. Carpenter. Doakes jumps back after looking through the house's window. "Shit, my sisters are here too." After sharing a glance, Deb says, "Fuckin' family reunion!" Shut up, Deb.
Obviously a bit later, Deb is recounting a story from her days playing a hooker for vice to Doakes's mom and sisters. At one point, it seems, some "john" had her in a stranglehold, and as she was about to reach for her gun, she noticed he had a nipple ring. "I ripped that fucker out like it was a grenade pin!" As everyone erupts into laughter, Doakes reprimands her for her dinner table banter. Immediately, his sisters all start giving him shit for being hypocritical by denying he has "cop mouth." "Please, the first words out of my brother's mouth were 'Got milk, motherfucker?'" Hee! The matriarch says, "That's enough, all of you." Another of James's sisters wonders aloud if the security guard is going to be alright, and Deb replies affirmatively. "Yeah, Tony's doing okay. The hospital's setting him up with some prosthetics, and...he's just got this spirit about him. The guy's missing body parts because of this Ice Truck Killer asshole, and he's still hitting on me." They all laugh, and Mama Doakes chimes in that "that's because men only think with one body part." Like, ha ha, Mom . Never heard that before. Oh, who am I kidding? It's totally true. Always has been, always will be. James, uncomfortable, motions to leave. "Come on, Morgan, let's go." Mama Doakes mentions the cheesecake she has in the fridge, and Deb, trying to piss James off, says, "You know, I would love some cheesecake. You can wait in the car, that's your call!" Aaaand...Doakes is five years old again. He sits and pouts as Deb helps the other girls clear the table.
Watching Cody and Astor color a purple banner, presumably for Astor's birthday, Dexter wonders to himself and us, "I wonder, in time, if they'll even remember me, other than The Man Who Broke Their Mother's Heart." Cody turns around and smiles widely at him. "I'll be breaking their hearts, too." Rita wonders aloud, "He is their father, they have a right to know he's been released, right?" Snapping out it, Dexter replies, "Yeah. Sure." Rita's really flipping out over this Paul situation. She's been so happy recently, with things going so well at work and with Dexter. "I don't know what to do." "He's really got a hold on you, doesn't he?" "Yeah. Paul always had a temper, but when he was using...he said if I left, he would find us and hurt the kids. Somehow, I thought that by staying, I was protecting them." Sucks, dude. Shitty situation. I would totally move far the fuck away and change my name and everything. Ditch the shit out of him. "Cody doesn't remember the worst of it, but Astor...she was the one who called the police the last time." Man. I knew she was a good kid. "She was protecting me." "You're not that woman anymore," says Dex. "You're stronger now. If they're dad shows up, we'll deal with it together." Rita sighs appreciatively, but apparently Cody heard the tail end of the conversation. "Dad's coming home?" he asks excitedly, and after a pregnant pause, Astor runs to her room, and Rita follows, concerned. Cody follows Rita, wondering if Paul can sleep in his room, and Dexter VOs, "I shouldn't even be here. Rita will be devastated if I'm arrested. Her husband was a crackhead and her boyfriend is a serial killer. It's kind of hard not to take that personally." Yeah, word. Better not get caught, son!
Dream sequence! Yes! Dexter's arriving at his apartment, but it's Harry who opens the door from inside. "Better get inside, son. Storm's on its way." Giant green storm clouds cluster overhead, and darkly dreaming Dexter stares at Harry as rain begins to pour. Dexter reaches out to touch the rain, and when he pulls his hand back, it's bloody. Duh. Inside now, Harry leads Dexter into a room with Valerie Castillo lying dead and naked on the same table as inside the trailer. Harry puts his hand behind her head and lifts her into sitting position, and she stands up and walks out. Deb's painted lips say, "Why didn't you tell me what you are, Dex?" and we're now looking down, bird's eye view, at Dexter lying on the table, covered in plastic wrap, with Deb behind him dressed like a whore. She cuts his face with his scalpel and puts his blood on a slide as a shadowy figure approaches, halts in the doorway, and holds out the same doll's head that the ITK left on Dex's fridge door. "Any last words?" Deb asks. Dexter remains silent, and Deb says "figures," and she swings a cleaver. We hear it hit home just as we see...
Dexter waking up, of course! Completely freaked out and panting, he sits up in bed. "I don't have bad dreams. When I sleep, all of me sleeps. Nothing ever goes bump in Dexter's night." Dexter walks to the window and looks out. "I've never felt a moment of remorse, doubt, regret. What's happening to me?"
Now at BloodLab 2021, the VOing goes on: "If my back wasn't against the wall I'd almost feel guilty for hacking into Masuka's email. Once I got past all the porn, it was pretty easy." Dexter opens the list of all the people with access to M99 and erases his moniker, Dr. Patrick Bateman. Nice nod to all the American Psycho fans out there. "Harry would frown upon me destroying evidence, but he didn't want me to get caught, either." "What are you doing in here," asks Deb. Dex wheels around, looking guilty for a second, and comes up with an excuse about how his computer crashed. Deb wants Dexter to take a look at her copycat killer profile, which he looks at skeptically. She mentions that she worked all night on it. "I want to give it to LaGuerta but I want to make sure it's good enough." "I'm honored," says Dexter. He reads some of it aloud, and it's pretty right on the money, talking about how the killer feels a connection to the ITK and how the cut on the cheek, "while not fatal, appears to be a signature of sorts. Because of the lack of evidence found at the crime scene, the suspect may be familiar with law enforcement or forensics procedure." Damn, Dex. Sounds like Deb's got your number, son! In order to throw her off his scent, Dexter plays on Deb's insecurities to get her to drop it. "Let me guess: Single white male, mid-30s, lives alone, disconnected from his emotions? It's a little textbook, don't you think?" "But it totally fits this case." "Or, you're trying to make it fit." Deb's face collapses a little bit. "My advice," Dexter continues, "is keep this to yourself. You're new to homicide. This blows up in your face, it gives LaGuerta the excuse she's been looking for to send you back to vice." Well played, Dexter. Or was it? Deb stands up, and says, "No. I'm on to something here, I can feel it. Like one of your hunches." Then, choking back tears: "Way to have my back." Ew, dude. Okay, granted, Dexter was trying to get her to drop it because, obviously, he killed Valeria Castillo. But why, when Dexter has been the source of all of her leads up to now, would she turn around and give him shit? Mmm, mmm, mmm, what a little asshole.
Flashback. "Where's your sister?" Harry asks Teen Dex. Turns out she's outside shooting cans with one of Harry's handguns. "Debra! What the hell do you think you're doing?" He asks her. As he unloads the gun after snatching it from her, he asks, "How did you get into my cabinet?" "You had the key in the pantry." Harry gives her shit, and she retorts, "I was being really careful. I was only shooting at bottles and cans [just clap your hands], and I'm really good like Dexter. Now we can all go hunting together!" Harry isn't having any of that shit, and tells her how disappointed he is in her. "Grab your things," he says and leads her back home. "Thanks a lot ," she says to Dex as she passes him. Sound familiar, dude? Yeah, she can be such a baby sometimes.
At a briefing, Doakes is telling the team that cadets are "going over every inch of the salvage yard." Angel comments that he doesn't miss those days. Doakes goes on to reveal that LaGuerta is bringing in the kid to attempt a sketch.
Outside, the social worker is trying to get the kid out of the back of her car, to little avail. LaGuerta comes out, and as soon as the kid sees her, he jumps out. "Normally I wouldn't approve of something like this," says the social worker. "But you've make quite an impression." The boy grips LaGuerta's hand tightly. "You have kids?" asks the woman, and LaGuerta replies that she does not, and goes on to explain that she was once like him, "a stranger in a strange land. All for a better life." Oh, no. Come on, show. Not like that. Don't make me sympathize with her! Damn it. "Well, Lieutenant, I'd say you've done okay." Yeah, I guess. Can we end this, please? No such luck. "Any luck with the family?" asks LaGuerta. "No. He talks about an Uncle Roberto. He just uses a first name." "Maybe we'll have some luck on our end." Yeah, maybe. That's great. Now, can we please get to this kid doing a sketch or whatever? I'm trying to find out what's going to happen with Dexter, okay? Do you mind? "I hope so," says the social worker lady. Ugh! "I'd hate to send another one of these kids into foster care." Yeah, I'll bet, now get out of here! Oh, I'm sorry. Not before LaGuerta gives you a really understanding look, clearly to demonstrate that there's more to her than meets the eye. C'mooooon! Hurry up!
After three weeks of LaGuerta's stupid face, we're back inside with Doakes, who's still talking as Dexter blankly stares ahead. "We're going to follow up on the list of M99 buyers," says Doakes. Phew! Good thing you erased your a.k.a. from that list, there, Dex. I'm still unclear how they would have traced it back to him, but why risk it, am I right, or am I right? Right? Right? "Masuka, what do we have on the home and the boat?" "Uh, still processing, sir." "If it turns out the husband's a dead end, then we're looking at a new suspect, folks. Morgan, any ideas?" he asks Deb. Deb looks at Dexter reproachfully, and Dexter VOs, "Don't do it, Deb. The last thing I need right now is to be profiled for all of Miami Metro." Deb, unable to hear Dexter's inner monologue and now equally motivated by spite as she is ambition, decides to air her copycat theory. As soon as she begins, however, Dex sees LaGuerta bringing the child in and decides to bolt before the kid sees his face and fingers him (ew) on the spot.
In what I can only guess is the sketch room, Angel and LaGuerta are trying to get Oscar, the kid, to describe who he saw, but the kid keeps his mouth shut. LaGuerta tries to get up, saying, "I'll be right back," but Oscar grabs her arm and says, "No!" Touched, she leans forward and whispers something to Angel, who nods, smiling. A second later, Oscar's cramming what's left of a pastelito into his word-hole, and Angel says, "I forgot how much I loved pastelitos growing up." "He just needed a little reminder of home," says LaGuerta. Oscar seems to be in higher spirits, and LaGuerta thinks he's ready for some drawing. As she and Oscar joke around about how many of the little pies they can each eat, we see Dexter standing at the door's window looking in, pondering his fate.
At the Bennett household, Rita is hanging up the birthday banner that Cody and Astor drew when the kids come through the front door. "Did you thank Mrs. Carroll for picking you up from school for me?" Astor says "yes" rather glumly, and Rita wants to know what doing. Astor says a bunch of her friends are bowing out of the party because Cody couldn't keep his yapper shut about their dad getting out of jail. "Did not!" yells Cody, and Astor screams, "You told everyone!" and runs to her room. Rita follows, concerned.
Back at the station, Dexter is still lurking around the interrogation room. "I have to know." He can see the sketchpad through the window, laying face down. He walks in, and is about to grab the pad, when he hears a whisper. "Dexter." It's LaGuerta, and she's sitting on the couch with the niño passed out with his head on her lap. "Thank God. My arm's asleep." "How long have you two been like this?" "Half an hour. I was afraid I'd wake him if I moved." "At that age, when they're out, they're out." Dexter comes up with a very Indiana Jones-y plan to replace LaGuerta's lap with a crumpled up coat, and as they attempt the maneuver, Oscar opens his eyes, making Dexter jump back. Luckily, neither Oscar nor LaGuerta notice anything out of place, and Oscar goes back to sleep as she asks Dex what he's doing there. "I'm waiting on some lab work; I had some time to kill." He motions towards the sketchpad, but LaGuerta whispers that since Oscar was tired, they didn't really get very far. "It's only a matter of time before we know what this little guy saw." Dexter picks up the pad, and looks down at two very familiar eyes looking back at him.
In the ladies', LaGuerta is trying to shift a contact lens back into place, when Deb steps out of a stall, evidently having just dropped a fat, stinky dook. LaGuerta keeps making annoyed groaning noises, and in a rare moment of civility, Deb moves to help her. "If you..." Deb begins, but Maria shrugs her off. "You want help or not?" queries Deb. "I have a hair or something stuck on my lens." "Luckily, you're in good hands. I traded my glasses in for contacts in high school," says Deb. "Boys?" Deb rambles on about "tits" and having Winnie the Pooh on her bras, which...random. Thankfully, Maria shuts her up and makes her focus on the task at hand. When it takes too long, LaGuerta goes back to the mirror. "You're brother was adopted, right?" "Yeah, my dad found him at a crime scene." Maria probes a bit about how the department took it that Harry got so involved in a case, and Deb reveals that it never seemed like that big a deal, and that Dexter always got in far less trouble than she did. Finally, LaGuerta spots the offending eyelash, and Deb helps her snag it. Maria thanks Deb begrudgingly, and Deb says, "Let me ask you a question. Why do you have it in for me?" "You're loud, you're impulsive, and you constantly question authority." Fair enough. "Fair enough." Jinx! You can't talk until you buy me a Coke! LaGuerta begins, "I hear you have an interesting theory on who..." but she's cut short by the sound of the door shutting behind Deb. Oh, no! Now Deb will never know that LaGuerta was going to reach out to her, inasmuch as she's capable of doing something like that.
Rita's watching the news when Astor comes out of her bedroom silently. "Honey, what is it?" Rita asks, but Astor quietly turns around and walks back. Oh, sad! She wet the bed. Rita tells her it's okay, "these things happen. Now go get changed and I'll fix the bed." As Rita begins doing so, Astor asks, "Mommy? Is it okay if I didn't have my party?" Oh, dude, no way! Rita looks crestfallen at this.
Abruptly, we're with Dexter, who is packing up all of his murdering devices and wrapping them in plastic and duct tape. "It's only a matter of time before that boy finishes telling the police who he saw that night at the salvage yard. Me." Dexter, now on the Slice of Life, starts chucking bag after bag of instruments into the ocean. "Once the sketch is finished there'll be no place left to hide. If I want any chance of survival, I have to get rid of it all. I have to let go." He reluctantly throws the power drill over the edge, leaving only his Box O' Kills, the collection of blood slides from all of his years of work, which he holds and ponders for a while. He opens it up, and runs his fingers over the glass, cherishing it. He picks one at random. "Alex Timmons -- sniper." He flashes back to Mr. Timmons, wrapped up in plastic. "Yes, I did it," he says. "Is that what you wanna hear?" Back to the present, and another slide. "Gene Marshall -- arsonist." Flash to Gene, also wrapped up. "Have you ever watched someone burn alive?" Another slide. "Cindy Landon -- Black Widow." "I'll fuck you if you let me go." "Such fond memories of them all," Dex VOs. "They all accepted their fate in their own way. Now it's time for me to do the same." He holds up one more slide, saying "Valerie Castillo, my last victim." He notices something wrong and pulls out his flashlight to see that the blood circles has a smiley face carved into it, just like the palm tree in the landfill picture and the one on the back of the photo of Dex and Harry at Angel of Mercy. This Ice Truck Killer fellow is a slick fish, I'll tell you that much right now. "He's not angry. That's not what this is about. He's testing me."
Back at home, Dexter is scraping half of the blood from the slide, continuing, "I was wrong the whole time. My playmate saw an opportunity to paint me into a corner to see if I'd find my way out, if I'd fight to survive." Having scraped sufficiently, Dexter reaches for the scotch tape, grabs a piece, and puts it on the slide. "If you have a well-preserved sample, transferring a dried drop of blood is relatively easy." He takes the bloody tape and applies it to a knife that's sitting next to his paperwork. "Almost as easy as it was lifting Jorge Castillo's fingerprints from his boat and putting them on this knife."
Now at the lab, Dexter's continuing to produce fraudulent evidence. He scrapes more dried blood off of Valerie's slide onto a sock he just pulled from an evidence bag, being very careful to not get seen. He sees Deb walk into the office, announcing she just off the phone with the FBI. "Now for the hard part," he VOs. Deb brags to Doakes about how she cross-referenced her profile with the Ice Truck list and got "eleven new hits." Doakes wants to hold off until they get a sketch, and then take it from there. Deb wants to just get a head start. Doakes ignores yet another phone call, prompting Deb to say, "Thank your mom for dinner the other night. I can't remember the last time I met a guy's family and they actually liked me." Oh, please do shut your face-hole, Deb. Dex comes up in a manufactured hurry, and says, "I found something."
Dexter explains to Dungeons 'n' Dragons that he only just found this blood evidence on the sock because of the sheer volume of clothes they had to work on. "That doesn't prove anything," Deb says defensively. "Not by itself, but I've been re-examining the video footage I took from that morning." He presses play. "Notice the cuts along the Carotid arteries are long and deep. Valerie Castillo bled to death in minutes." "No shit," says Doakes, interested. Dex goes on: "The person who did this wasn't trying to emulate the Ice Truck Killer. He was...in a hurry. He was probably afraid of getting caught." Again on the defensive, Deb says, "Most killers are." "Except, if this was a copycat, he wouldn't be in a rush. He would savor his first kill. He would control the precise moment Valerie Castillo died, instead of just letting her bleed out. This is all too...passive." He rests his case. "Have you completely ruled out the husband?" Deb, unable to take it anymore, says, "Why are you doing this? The boy said he didn't recognize Jorge Castillo in any of the photos." "Well, he was a dehydrated and traumatized seven-year-old left to fend for himself for days in a salvage yard." Doakes asks if he really thinks it's the husband. "Deep sea fisherman, knows how to use a knife. Plus, he's still missing. Have you finished your search of the salvage yard?" Doakes says he'll send the cadets again, and leaves Deb standing there looking like she just got slapped or smelled an egg fart. "I'm sorry," Dex tells her. "I know how hard you worked on that profile." "No, Dex, I really don't think you." Deb, you know, I like you. But when you act like this...I mean, look. I know you worked hard on that profile, but you only spent one night on it. It's not like you've been preparing it for years. Plus, and I don't expect you to know this, if you followed through on it, you'd just be opening yourself up to a world of emotional anguish, so just let sleeping dogs lie, would you?
Flashback time. Teen Deb is throwing a ball against a wall outside, and Dex asks her, "How long are you grounded for?" I suppose this is right after the gun incident. "Two months." Whoa! Remar totally did not act two months angry. I would have guess two weeks. Damn. "Deb, I had to tell him." "No, Dex, you didn't. You could have kept your fucking mouth shut." "Dad was really worried about you, and so was I." Deb goes off on a Daddy's Little Girl tangent, ending with "I wish he'd never brought you home." Ouch, dude. Not cool. She immediately apologizes, and Dexter doesn't say anything at first. "Here," he says finally, tossing her one the cans she shot, full of holes. "You're a better shot than me anyway." You see, you little brat? He's lookin' out for you, you just have to trust him. Trust and believe.
Rita's baking, and she looks ultra-mega-stressed. She stops stirring and turns to the phone to make a call. She dials, and it rings a couple of times. A man picks up on the other end, and Rita says, "Paul, hi, it's me. Listen, we need to talk. I know you want to see Astor, but...the kids are doing so well, now, and...maybe it would be a good idea if you don't come to the party. I, just....I..." Paul: "She is my daughter, too, Rita. I have every right to be there." Guy sounds like a real prickly cock. His tone is enough to send Rita into Hear Me Roar mode, and she's all, "You know what? I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I have full custody now, and you can't just drop in on us like this anymore. I checked, and the restraining order is still in effect, so if you step one foot on this property, the first call I'm gonna make is to the police, the second call is to your parole officer." Damn, gurl! Yeah, that's right. That's "girl," but I took out the "i" and put in a "u," because it makes it look and sound more street. Rita's verbal bitch-slapping of Paul has got me all psyched.
Over at Castillo's junkyard, a cadet finds the knife that Dexter has no doubt planted there and phones it in.
Dexter puts his Box O' Kills back in its air conditioned home and looks relieved. He gets a call on the old cellphone, and looks pleased when he answers. "I'll be right there."
Oscar is playing with a pair of handcuffs like they're glasses, and LaGuerta laughs and takes a picture. All of a sudden, we hear, "Oscarcito?" It's Oscar's Uncle Roberto, who the social worker was able to track down. "That's great!" fakes LaGuerta, whose uterus is throbbing like a kick drum. Hardly able to conceal her attachment to the child, she says, "He should be with family." Roberto wants to know if he can take him home, and LaGuerta looks to the sketch artist for final approval. "We're good," he says, and LaGuerta nods yes. Oscar runs up and gives her a kiss, which, even I have to admit is pretty cute, and then he and Tío Roberto take their leave. As Maria watches them leave, Angel looks at the sketch and, in a very concerned voice, says, "LT, you gotta see this." Holy shit. You guys, is it possible this kid was able to describe Dexter well enough to have the sketch look like him? LaGuerta, comes back into the room, crying a little. "You okay?" Angel asks. "Damn contacts," she fronts and looks at the sketch. "Ay Dios, Mío."
At the junkyard, Dexter's testing the knife for blood as Doakes explains how a lot of murderers stash their weapons in junk cars to dispose of the weapon faster. Dexter, of course, finds blood. "Wanna bet it's the wife's?" asks Doakes. "It's always the husband. You were right all along," says Deb skeptically, and walks away. "Deb will forgive me," VOs Dex. "Eventually. That's who she is; big-hearted, kind. Nothing like me." Angel's just arrived on the scene with the sketch. "That kid Oscar swears this is who he saw." "Son of a bitch," says Doakes, looking at Dexter. "Dex!" says Deb. As he walks towards them, he VOs, "Okay, I gave them Jorge's sock, a knife with his prints, and a drop of his wife's blood. Forensics trifecta like that should trump a child's drawing...I hope." Deb shows him the sketch, and it's totally Jesus Christ. "Weird," says Deb. "Jesus Christ saved this kid?" says Doakes. "On his own, for as long as Oscar was? Who's to say he didn't?" replies Angel, confirming why I love him. Deb steals a glance at Dexter, noticing how relieved he looks. Hmm.
Astor's party has just begun, and Rita lights the candles on the cake, wondering aloud to Dexter, "When did lighting the candle become more fun than blowing them out?" "Nice turnout," Dex observes. Apparently, Rita called all the moms to assure them that Paul wouldn't be there. Dex asks her if the kids know that she told Paul not to come. "After presents," she says. Fair enough.
As Astor prepares to blow out the candles, Rita reminds her not to tell anyone her wish, or it won't come true. "It already came true; Dad's not here." Well, then maybe you should wish for something else, right? Anyway, as Dexter watches from afar, he VOs, "I was wrong about birthdays." Hell yeah, you were. Birthdays are awesome! "Maybe the reason to celebrate them is what they offer: the hope of living to see another one." Looking over at Deb, who is glowering at him: "The thing about Deb forgiving me? I'd better give her a few more days. I barely escaped getting caught this time. I realize now my days are numbered, so I'd better make the most of them." And by "make the most of them," he means "have a non-stop tickle fight with Cody," because that's what he does.
Later, as he leaves his apartment, Dexter goes on: "All along, I thought this was a game my alter ego and I were playing. But relationships change, evolve. And this one's getting deep." He looks out at the sky as storm clouds like the ones from his nightmare gather. Lightning strikes a couple of times in the distance. "Like Harry said in the dream, 'A storm's on its way.'" Yeah, I guess he did say that.
Okay, definitely not my favorite episode. I could have done without LaGuerta and the kid, but at least it was relevant to the plot. I could have done with more killing on Dexter's part, but I guess we did get a two-bagger last week. At the same time, I thought that was to make up for the lack of carnage in the previous episode, so hopefully Dexter will find an entire village of murderers and rapists next time. I think this one set up the rest of the season nicely. We're definitely going to see Dexter get a lot more paranoid, and I'm curious about the possibilities with Paul, Rita's ex, if they plan to explore them. Dexter's whole "my days are numbered" thing at the end of this episode have me a little worried, but not too much. If his days are numbered, then so are the show's, and that's no fun for anyone.