Seeing Red
Updated 2008-04-18 19:17:05
Previously: Harry ascertained that Dexter didn't remember anything about what happened to him as a young tot. Dexter's relaxation session with his therapist opened his mind's eye, and gave him some insight into what may have happened. Joe Driscoll, Dexter's biological father, died and left him his house. Deb decided to use the occasion to introduce Dexter to her boyfriend Rudy, who also just happens to be the Ice Truck Killer. No matter, because he was under the impression that she was "falling for him." She probably still is. Rita got the FOP to sign the damn divorce papers, already, and FOP almost punched Dexter. Continuing his violent streak, he tried to rape Rita, who decided to have batting practice on his face, which was awesome.
Dexter's getting the kids ready for school as a locksmith changes the locks on the doors. Rita comes in, flustered, and asks about breakfast. "Made and eaten," replies Dexter, showing her he's got it covered. "The kids' lunches?" "Packed and ready to go." Dexter's also told the locksmith exactly what to do. "Reenforced strike plates, seven-pin key ways..." He hands the kids their backpacks and tells them to go wait in his car because he wants to talk with Rita. Astor asks if they're going to make out, and Dexter and Rita both tell her it's none of her business, so she and Cody go outside. "Rita, you don't have to do this. Getting attacked by your ex-husband merits a day off." She tells Dexter that she's not going to let Paul control her life anymore, and Dexter reassures her that the hunt for Paul is on, and that the cops will find him. "What if they don't?" she asks. Fair enough. Even Dexter knows that they're a pretty dismal force. He hands Rita some pepper spray and tells her to aim for the eyes.
Deb is eating some cake at the station, and she asks Doakes if he wants some. He says no and tells her the cake's ten days old, from some dude's birthday. "You have lunch every day with your boyfriend, you miss a thing or two around here." Whatever Doakes. She's in love! Barf. Some girl is opening a package at another desk and pulls out a glass jar that's filled with some black liquid. "Guys, you should look at this!" she says. Doakes tells the girl to put the jar down. "Jesus, is that blood?" asks Deb. "Morgan, get your ass over here!" Doakes yells at Dex. "Ass en route," says Dexter, trying to seem normal. Doakes asks him what's in there, and he replies that it's "a little watery for jam." "Maybe you should open it," smarms the girl who opened the package. "What if there's an airborne toxin in here, waiting to be released?" says Dex, freaking the girl out. She leaves to wash her hands, which is good because she was already annoying me with her stupid pink sweater and shitty attitude. Dexter inspects the jar more closely, and LaGuerta asks what it is. "It's definitely blood," he says. "Wait, there's something in here..." Apparently, it's a room key for the Marina View Hotel. "Maybe it's some promotional gag, like you stay for a weekend, you get a free jar of blood." Heh. Probably not. LaGuerta says that "show and tell's over," and she wants to start figuring out who sent this thing. Doakes and Deb are on it together after it's revealed unimportantly that Angel is working some exploding meth-lab case. Dexter remains, VOing, "A jar of blood. Dramatic, cryptic...playful. Could it be him?"
Deb and Doakes arrive at the hotel, and Doakes gets an extra key from the manager. "The guy who checked into 103 was white and normal-looking." Kind of like the cable repairman the old lady was talking about last episode? As Deb and Doakes walk towards the room, Deb observes that she hasn't seen a single security camera, and Doakes says the killer probably scouted hotels for lax security. Before he knocks on the door to 103, he tells Deb, "You better get ready to cancel your lunch." Nobody answers when he knocks, so he opens the door with the key he got, revealing a gruesomely bloody scene inside. Deb immediately starts hyperventilating as Doakes calls for backup. "I need uniform backup, forensics...fuck it, just send everybody out!"
A second later, there's a crowd gathered around the police tape as Dexter and Masuka put on hazmat suits. "It's been a while since we went prophylactic," says Dexter. "Not me," says Masuka. "Last night I met this chick --" "I'll stop you there, Vince." Hee! I love Masuka, the little horn-ball. Dexter asks if he knows about what's going on, and Masuka replies, "No one's been inside. Too much blood." "Dexter!" calls Deb as she exits the hotel. "Just a heads up, it's bad in there." "Okay." "I'm serious." "Okay." "She's not kidding," reinforces Doakes. "It's your wet dream in there." "Okay," says Dex, defeated and irritated by Doakes. The way he says "okay" this time is perfect and really funny. Doakes explains to Dexter that he's going in first to get a feel for what they're dealing with. "Don't fuck up." Does he ever, Doakes? God, go easy on the guy. Dexter heads up.
We start with a long shot of the hallway, looking down towards the elevator that Dexter is exiting. He walks in slow-motion towards us as he VOs, "Now I'm really curious. He's been gone so long, he had to be planning a splashy return. But a crime scene just for me?" Dexter returns to real time speed and reaches the door to 103, which he opens. The entire room is covered in blood, and it looks pretty gross. Dexter instantly starts breathing heavily as the sounds of crying and screaming children fill his head. Briefly, he sees the vision of the little boy sitting in blood that he saw during his deep relaxation with Dr. Meridian. Overwhelmed by the imagery, Dexter collapses into the blood on the floor, and quickly gets up and runs out.
Outside, LaGuerta asks Deb is she found anything out. "I talked to the guests in room 105, but they didn't see anyone go in or out." After she says this, she spies Dexter coming out through the front doors, now covered in blood. He looks half-awake like a zombie. Deb runs over to him and asks if he's alright. "I'm just a little queasy, I should never have skipped breakfast." "Bullshit, you're shaking! What the hell happened up there?" "I'm fine, I just need a little air." "Something finally got to you," says Doakes. "I guess you're human after all." LaGuerta wants to know what he saw. "How many dead?" she asks. "A lot, but no bodies, just blood. Maybe fifty, sixty liters. Maybe half a dozen dead, I don't know." LaGuerta asks, "You're saying there was a mass-murder up there, but they took the bodies?" "How's that possible?" chimes in Doakes. "There's one elevator, emergency stairs with alarms. Someone would have seen corpses coming out!" "I don't fucking know," says Dexter. Dexter tells them he can't go back in there. "Fine, just work from the hallway or something," says Doakes. Dexter goes to get cleaned up.
After checking in some guests, Rita is approached by a guy from the Dade County Sheriff's Department. "Did you find Paul?" she asks. "I'm sorry?" "Paul Bennet. My ex-husband attacked me last night, and my boyfriend filed a police report." Apparently, FOP filed a report as well, saying that Rita attacked him. "Can we talk about this later?" she asks. The guy shakes his head no. "We need a formal statement. I'm afraid you're going to have come with us right now down to the station." Dude, lame. Rita says "fine."
Back at the crime scene, Masuka's taking charge, telling people what to do. He calls out to Dexter, who's sitting in the hall: "You should really get in here, Dex. I've never seen anything like this!" "Wait 'til you've seen a few more Colombian drug busts!" Masuka tell Dexter about the "misting up the walls, on the ceiling...but no tissue. Come see!" "Photos, Vince!" Also, it seems that the blood isn't clotting. Dexter says he'll test it at the lab, and then gets a call from Rita. She's pissed that she's stuck dealing with this FOP fiasco, and Dex tells her to calm down and that he'll find her a lawyer to help clean this mess up. "I am calm. They're the hysterical ones. They're charging me with a Class 2 felony." That's fucked up, because a Class 2 felony in Florida is punishable by up to seven years, with a mandatory sentence of three years. Rita's freaking out: "I could lose my job, I could lose my kids --" "I won't let that happen," Dexter comforts. "Look, I have to go because I'm at a crime scene, but I'll call my lawyer friend right away. You okay?" "Yeah, I'm okay." They hang up. Dexter calls out to Masuka, telling him to look for a wall socket in the room. Masuka looks around, and finds a void on one of the wall sockets by the entrance to the room. "Hey, you're right! He must have had something plugged in here. Probably a power tool to cut them up. Come take a look!" "Photos, Vince." Yeah, Vince. He clearly doesn't feel like being in there.
Now at the evidence room at the station, Masuka is dropping off a cooler of blood, and tells the officer that he should make more room in the fridge, because "there's a lot more coming." Masuka asks Angel, who's just standing there, if he wants to go out tonight. Angel says no, and Masuka tells him he should get out, since he's "on the market." Whatever. Don't care.
Deb catches up with Dexter, who's calling an elevator. "Hi," he says. "Hi." "Masuka was looking for you. Something about drinks after work." "Yeah, I told him I had a yeast infection." "That's a bit of an over-share." Agreed. Hee! The elevator arrives, and they both get it. "You want to talk about what happened today?" presses Deb. "Already did." Deb says the last time she saw Dexter like that was when Harry died. "You can talk to me, you know?" She offers to call Rudy and be late, but Dexter essentially tells her to fuck off. "I puked. I'm fine. I know you want to help, but unless you have breath-mints, there's nothing to do." Deb complains that he always shuts her out. "Like your birth father that lived up the highway your whole life and never even contacted you. I still don't know how that makes you feel." Yeah, as if you care. As if you wouldn't make it all about you. Shut up, Deb. Dexter tells her that he promises to confide in her more. "Yeah, whatever." Whatever yourself, you snatch. Go away.
Rita's talking to Theo Huxtable, who is apparently Dexter's lawyer friend. "Did Paul force his way into the house?" he asks. "No." "Did you ask him to leave?" "Yes, and he refused." "But, in your statement it says you invited your ex-husband into your bedroom." Rita explains that FOP was drunk, and she knew where the interaction was headed: "Cracked ribs and a broken jaw." Theo mentions that they can't prove intent, and that FOP is the one with the injuries, not Rita. Rita mentions FOP's history of spousal abuse, which Theo is quick to point can be mutual. "It was never mutual!" she says desperately. "Okay, but Paul is a model parolee." "I don't care! He's not going near my children, do you understand?" Theo explains that if she denies FOP visitation, she could lose the kids completely. "Do not give him any more ammunition than he already has." "Okay." Man, what a shitty situation. Poor woman. I mean, Paul is certainly a prick, and it must be really hard for her to not want to crush him.
"Just blood? What happened to the bodies?" Rudy's asking Deb about the case, as if he has no idea what's going on. "I don't know. I don't want to know." "You're brother must have loved it." "No way, he freaked." "Really? I thought blood was his thing." Deb has busted out a rubber, and is obviously in the mood to bone. Rudy keeps pressing Deb for more details about Dexter's reaction, but she shushes him as she straddles his lap. "Let's not talk about Dex right now." They start kissing, and Rudy breaks away to ask, "Was it like a panic attack?" Annoyed, she responds, "I don't know. He's not real big into sharing his feelings with me." Deb returns to make-out mode, and looks surprised when she reaches her hand down Rudy's shorts. "What's the matter? You don't even have wood." Trying to turn it around, he says, "Well, you were the one who said you wanted to talk." "Yeah, but not right now. I'm horny!" Rudy says that maybe he should call Dexter, and Deb can't believe her ears. "Isn't that what boyfriends are supposed to do? Show some interest in the family?" "Yeah, but not when his girlfriend's trying to get in his pants." "Deb, that's not fair. You take me on a couples weekend to get to know your brother, and then you punish me for giving a damn?" Yeah, nice cover, dude. How has Deb not figured this out yet? Jesus. She says to just forget it, and shuts the light to go to bed. Rudy says he's going to watch some tube, leaving Deb to look sad. Good.
At the nightclub, Masuka brings his girl another drink as Angel talks some poor girl's ear off about his separation. The girl doesn't say a word, she just leaves him. "That's, like, the fourth chick you've driven off," says Masuka. "I need a drink," says Angel. "Waitress!" "Bro, you're a train wreck," says Masuka. "Look, you've got to stop talking about the divorce." "I ain't ashamed!" "Yeah, I think that's clear, but it's pathetic." Masuka goes on to tell him to not talk about the divorce unless they ask, and to "eighty-six the ring!" His girl has to piss, so she goes to the bathroom after Masuka smacks her gothic behind. "She's gonna fuck me silly!" he brags. Sigh . That's nice, Masuka.
"My sister's right: I don't share my problems with her," Dexter VOs as the camera is trained on his face. He's lying in bed with Rita. "Or with anybody. Harry taught me that. Secrecy, self-reliance, and a well-stocked cupboard of Hefty bags. Fortunately, I've never met a problem I can't manage." He looks at the clock, and it's 2 AM. "Until that boy in the blood." He flashes quickly on the toddler sitting in a sea of red, crying and screaming. "He scares me. I want him to go away." "You awake?" asks Rita. Dexter pretends as though this question awoke him. "Are you sure you locked the door?" Rita asks. "Yeah, positive. Bolt and chain." Rita wonders aloud what she's going to do, and Dex tells her not to worry, he'll figure it out. "And I will. I can always see other people's problems more clearly than my own. Fortunately, Rita's has a name. "
Dexter is demonstrating the footprint patterns from the bloody room in a mockup on his computer. He slowly eliminates all the prints of people that were accounted for, leaving only the killer's. LaGuerta notices that there's only one set: "What about the victim's footprints?" "Give the lady a lollipop!" says Dexter giddily, as Doakes does a double-take. "Why would a guy stage a massacre and not have any bodies?" asks Deb. "Where'd he get the blood?" asks Doakes. "I just got a preliminary blood report," says Masuka. "The blood in that room came from at least five different bodies." Deb and LaGuerta both comment that the ITK had five victims, and Doakes can't believe that he'd hoard all that blood, "just to have a party at the motherfuckin' Marina View Hotel. Why would he do that?" "To chase me down the rabbit hole," Dex VOs. "What was that, Morgan?" Doakes asks Dexter intensely, as though he heard his VO. "I didn't say anything," says Dexter, looking worried, as though his face had broadcast too much. Doakes reminds everyone that they've caught the Ice Truck Killer, and that he's awaiting trial. "Bullshit," says LaGuerta. "Neil Perry recanted his confession. He's a fraud." "Try telling that to the captain." "I did." Deb asks if there's any more evidence. Dexter says that he ran some tests to find out why the blood wasn't clotting, and he found that it was loaded with coumadin and heparin. "One's an anticoagulant, and the other's a preservative," says Masuka. Actually, they're both anticoagulants. "It means the blood's old." Dexter also mentions that none of the blood spatter points to there being any actual victims. LaGuerta tells Masuka to try to match the blood DNA with the ITK's victims, and tells Doakes and Deb to get back to the hotel to retrace their steps. "Not a word to anyone about the Ice Truck Killer," she says to them all.
"Astor, just stand up straight," says Rita. She's uptight about something. "Do you have your emergency phone number list?" "It's in my backpack. Do I have to show it to you again?" "Just promise me you won't let your brother out of your sight." What is going on here? Dexter calls Rita over. "You're scaring them," he says. "Yeah, well, they should be. I didn't tell them what Paul did the other night." "What'd you say when you dragged them to the neighbor's?" "That I smelled gas." There's a knock on the door, and Dexter tells her to relax because "a court supervisor will be there the whole time." Cody answers the door, and FOP walks in with a big bandage wrapped around his head. "Daddy, what happened?" asks Cody. FOP says it's just a little bump on the head, and he takes Cody and Astor outside, getting them psyched for the circus without once looking in Rita's direction.
"I prefer the enchanting Rita over the worried one," VOs Dexter as he walks outside what looks like a cheap motel. "If I can find a way to make her ex-husband my problem, I can help her sleep much easier tonight." Now, he's breaking into what I can only imagine is FOP's hotel room, looking for any clue that he's not exactly on the straight and narrow. "All I need is a little proof of his inner monster. Harry would have insisted on that." Dex starts to snoop around in drawers. "Harry didn't believe in preemptive killing, but maybe I can bend the rules just this once. After all, Harry wasn't perfect. He lied about my birth father." He finds some reefer, hardly enough to condemn the guy. Underneath the socks, however, is a handgun. "The trifecta: weapon, ammo, and impaired judgment. Throw in a little domestic violence, and you have the perfect recipe for a family slaughter." Dex stands up as the sounds of the screaming little boy creep up in the soundtrack along with a woman's voice saying, "Dexter." Finally, a flashback comes up, and we see a dead man lying face down in blood from what I'm guessing is toddler Dexter's perspective. A couple more disjointed shots of the same scene, and Dexter is running from FOP's place, hyperventilating once again. He crouches against a wall outside, shaken. He's not dealing with something. Wow, that was so obvious, sorry.
Back in Room 103, Deb 'n' Doakes are going over it for the third time, and they're not noticing any clues. Doakes wants to call Dexter, which annoys Deb because she feels like everyone always takes Dex's opinion over hers. "You don't even like him," she says. "What'd he do now, boil your goldfish?" Deb explains that she's just annoyed with Rudy because they had their first fight, but she doesn't mention that it was about Dexter. Deb turns on the clock radio, which is set to 103 FM, "Hits from the 80s." "Turn that off," says Doakes. "No, I want to hear it." "It's Devo, turn that shit off." Dude, fuck you! Devo's awesome! "He said 103 FM. This is Room 103," says Deb as Doakes opens the Gideon's Bible on the dresser...to Leviticus 10:3. "Son of a bitch!" he says. "Do you think he's trying to tell us something?" asks Deb. Doakes reads from the Good Book: "'I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me. And before all people, I will be glorified.'" The two share a look.
Knock knock. It's Rudy, and he's at Dexter's place. "Hey." "Hey." "Deb's pissed at me. I need advice." "So, you came here?" "You know her better than anyone...come on, I got two porterhouses and a sixer of microbrew." Dude, I don't care how many people you've killed; you're welcome at my house any day. Dexter lets him in. "One minute, we're talking about her day...you know, the whole blood-bath thing." "Right." "And the next, she wants to jump my bones. I mean, Deb's hot and all, but sprinkle in a little conversation once in a while, you know?" "She's my sister, I don't know," says Dex, a little grossed out. Rudy's looking around for a meat knife, which Dexter helps him find, and Rudy tells him the "other half of the argument" was about him. "Me?" "Yeah, it was already tense enough, but when I brought up your name, she lost it." Dexter advises that Rudy just take all the blame right now, because Deb will wear him down, eventually, anyway. Rudy gets a call, and steps outside. It's Deb, who's still working on the case. She apologizes for taking out her frustration with Dexter on him, and asks him if wants to come over and talk after her shift. "I'd love to, babe, but I'm about to eat dinner with Dexter." "Well, after," she says, instantly frosty. "Yeah, but here's the thing: I think I'm going to sleep at my place tonight. I mean, it's closer, and I'm drinking...you know. You understand, right?" "Yeah," Deb says, fuming, and hangs up.
Back at the club, there's a woman with a prosthetic arm dancing. Angel takes off his wedding ring, and approaches a woman wearing a sexy dress. "Care to dance?" he asks her. "You dance to this?" she asks, referring to the flamenco number the DJ is playing. "A bit," he answers. "What about your wife?" He looks surprised. "Tan line on your ring finger." "Um...I'm not going to talk about that tonight." Atta boy, Angel! The woman reveals that her divorce was just finalized. "Let's go," she says, grabs his hand, and leads him out to the dance floor. Naturally, as soon as they get out there, the slow song ends and the dance music comes back up. Angel looks a little disappointed, but he's game for some real dancing and he starts shaking his ass. He and the woman, who's quite lovely, are having a great time, until Angel notices the amputee across the floor, whose fingernails are painted a different color. He excuses himself and walks over to her, his badge already out. "Police, I need to talk to you." "I'm not a hooker anymore," she says, and the guy she's dancing with takes off. Angel explains that he's not there to bust anyone, "I just need to know why you paint your nails the way you do." "About a year ago, there was this guy --" "A 'guy' or a 'client'?" Angel interrupts. "A john, okay?" Apparently, the guy started getting rough until he saw her fake hand, at which point he changed his tune entirely, getting turned on and "doing some kinky, weird stuff, like he was worshipping it. To cap it off, he takes all my nail polish, and paints each nail a different color. I liked it, so I kept doing it!" Angel asks her if she saw Neil Perry on the news, and if it was him. She says no. Angel looks over to see if his woman is still around, but she's gone. He turns back to the amputee, and says, "From the beginning, and with more detail."
"Well, thanks for the hospitality," says Rudy as he leaves Dexter's. "Thanks for the steaks," Dex replies. Rudy mentions that Deb told him about what happened at the crime scene, and says, "I'm a good listener if you ever want to talk." "Thanks, but unless you know an expert in repressed memories..." "For real?" "You know something about it?" "More than I ever wanted to." Rudy explains that when he was in high school, he started having dreams about a woman getting hit by a truck, and one day, out of nowhere, all of his repressed memories came crashing back. "Who was she?" asks Dex. "My mom. I watched her die." "How old were you?" "Four," Rudy says. "What kind of memories are you having?" "They're still a little vague." "Well, you'll have to face them eventually." Dexter tells Rudy to bring Deb white roses, which she loves. "Good tip. It's funny how life brings people together, huh?" Dexter remains quiet.
"Rudy misunderstands my problem," Dex VOs as he reenters his apartment. "I want the boy in blood to go away, not come crashing back. Fortunately, I have other people's problems to focus on right now. Like forgotten cellphones." He's just noticed Rudy's cell on the table. He steps outside, but Rudy's long gone.
"What have you got?" asks Captain Mathstor. "Well, so far, we're chasing a ghost," says LaGuerta. "A couple of employees helped with a sketch, but it's pretty generic." She holds up a sketch that looks nothing like Rudy. Mathstor seems agitated, and he wants to know where the bodies are. "There are some pretty wild theories out there." LaGuerta says she's waiting on full blood results, and the Cap'n accuses her of stalling. "I'm just trying to avoid speculation," she says. Mathstor wants something, and soon: "This department can't afford another public relations disaster." LaGuerta suggests that he tell the DA to let Neil Perry go. "He's not the Ice Truck Killer," she says. Mathstor just laughs at her and tells her that's not going to happen. "First break in this case, you come straight to me," he says and leaves. He's a jerkoff.
"This may be a shot in the dark," Angel tells Masuka, "but I met this hooker last night --" "Going with a pro, now that's how you get over the ex." "No, that's not what I mean --" "Okay, so you didn't fuck her, but she blew you, though, right?" Angel laughs, but tells Masuka to shut up. "It was a lead." "On what?" asks Masuka. "What do you know about amputee fetishes?" Now he's got Masuka's attention. "Oh, yeah," he says. "It's called acrotomophilia , but don't let 'em hear you call it that. It sounds like a disease. They prefer to be known as 'devotees.'" "I knew you were the man to ask," says Angel with a chuckle. "Not really. I prefer a girl with a kung-fu grip." Right. Thanks, Masuka. You're always good for some middle school style randiness. Masuka tells Angel that he should talk to Deb's boyfriend: "Prosthetics guys deal with devotees all the time." Huh. What a fountain of knowledge you are, Vince! Angel thanks him and takes off.
Dexter's testing different blood cast-off patterns with power tools in a big white room. "No memory flashes here. No little lost boy in blood. Maybe he went back to hiding in the dormant reaches of my cerebral cortex. Here's to hoping." Man, that looks like fun. Rudy walks in from behind one of the white sheets of paper covered in blood. "Yo, Dex!" "Hey!" "So, this is what you do for a living." Dexter explains that he's trying to match castoff patterns, blah blah. "Here's your phone." Rudy mentions that in his line of work, he hears a lot of horror stories. "This seems like something you'd see with a chainsaw." "I hear that, but this power tool was plugged into a socket." "Guess you haven't heard of an electric chainsaw," says Rudy like a know-it-all, which he is, because...he did it. What's his deal? How is he connected to Dexter? He must have something to do with these flashbacks Dexter's having about the boy in the blood.
"Come on, people, we're coming up empty," says a displeased Doakes. "Those numbers mean something: one, zero, three." Deb looks over and sees Dexter and Rudy shooting the shit by the elevators as Doakes continues to explain the importance of the numbers like a madman. She gets an annoyed look on her face.
Now Deb's in Dex's blood spatter room, and Dexter asks what she's doing there when he enters. "How do you always do it?" "Do what?" "Make me feel like I'm six years old all the time?" Whoa, Deb. That's your bullshit, not his. "If this is about Rudy, he was just picking up his cell phone." Deb gives him the third degree about why he had Rudy's phone in the first place and is a general buttwipe about the whole thing. Dexter tells her they were just having steaks and beers. "And...?" "Talking." "Talking. You talked." Yeah, they fucking talked, Deb. "On the same night that I wanted to talk to you, but you shut me out." Oh. "Oh." "Yeah, 'Oh.' You don't talk to me, Dex," she says, starting to whimper a little. She goes on to say that she's his sister, but she barely knows him at all, and that if anyone gets the privilege of his company, it should be her. Dexter cuts the conversation short by pointing out that he's late for Rita's deposition, and Deb shakes her head like the selfish little asshole she is. "Deb, it's hard for me. You know that." She just walks out without a word, making me hate her even more.
Speaking of Rudy, Angel's over at his prosthetic shop to ask him some questions. Rudy shuts the door after checking to see if anyone saw Angel come in. "So, does this have to do with a case?" "You could say that," Angel replies. "Well, fire away," says Rudy as creepy music comes on the soundtrack to tell us we should maybe start getting a little scared for Angel's life. As Angel tells him about the amputee woman he spoke to, and her "amputee devotee," Rudy grabs a big, wood-handled filing blade. "Do you have a lead on this client?" Rudy asks, and when Angel says he doesn't have a clue, the music goes away and Rudy puts the file back down. "I was hoping you could steer me towards some of those weirdos," says Angel, referring to the devotees. "I'm afraid I got into this business to help people get better, not help people get off," says Rudy. He tells Angel he could talk to some of his colleagues and put together a list. "Hey, how often does someone get a chance to help catch the bad guy, huh?" he says with a smile. Angel points at him in agreement. Rudy asks if he's in a rush for this info, and Angel says he's not. "Just chasing a long shot, really. But give me a call at the station when you've got something." They shake hands as a thunderous noise acts as an unsettling score. Rudy opens a drawer with many different colors of nail polish in it and tosses in Angel's card.
"Last question: According to your ex-husband, you left town with your boyfriend last weekend." That's not really a question, judge (or whatever you are), but I'll allow it. "That's right," says Rita, Dexter sitting next to her. "His father died." The woman asks Rita if FOP got his scheduled visitation with the kids, and Rita replies that she said she'd make it up to him. "So, then, he gave you permission?" "No...I'm the one that gave him visitation in the first place. I'm the custodial parent, I didn't have to do that." Theo Huxtable asks for a moment with his client, which he's granted. He asks Rita why she didn't tell him she broke the visitation agreement, and she says she didn't know it was relevant. Theo calls an end to the interrogation, and the judge (?) says anything she missed should be covered in the psych evaluation next week. Rita looks dismayed, because she hadn't heard about that. Theo explains that it's mandatory, as it determines whether or not a competency hearing is necessary. "But Paul's the ex-con!" "It's standard, Rita, you should be fine." "Should be?" asks Dex. "You mean she could actually lose this?" "Guys," says Theo, "I'm handcuffed here. You violated a custody agreement, you struck your ex-husband in your bedroom...He has a case."
Back at Rita's house, FOP is just arriving home with the kids and the court supervisor. Astor shows Rita her henna tattoo. "How much candy have you had?" asks Rita. "Lots," responds Astor. "Thanks," Rita says to FOP. "Now she'll never get to sleep." "She'll come down, soon. This one's already crashed," he says, referring to Cody, who's passed out in his arms. Cody, who's woken up from all the talking, asks Rita if FOP can read him a story. Rita reluctantly agrees. The court officer, Betty, offers to help get the kids ready for bed. "You have twenty minutes left," she says, and follows the kids to the bedroom. "Hey, Rita," says FOP, as he taps her shoulder. "It doesn't have to be this way. I mean, we can make this easier on each other, right? I can drop the charges if you agree to unsupervised visitation." "Fuck you," says Rita, and she means it. She goes into the kids' bedroom. FOP, looking irritated and silly in his head bandage, walks into the kitchen where Dexter is washing dishes. "Hey, Dexy," he says, clearly trying to antagonize Dexter. "You know, I don't think your girlfriend appreciates the gravity of the situation. If she loses that case, she could lose the kids." "That won't happen," says Dexter quietly, trying to keep his temper in check. "Never say won't," the FOP goes on. "We live in a world of wills. Wills and wonders, that's what I'm trying to teach my children. And they are my children, too, something she seems to forget." He's getting more belligerent, now. He talks about how he's made his mistakes, but that he's sober now. "Look, no needle marks! I've got the fucking Alaskan pipeline running through these veins, all because of those two little glowsticks of love in the next room." The soundtrack is getting ominous, and FOP approaches Dexter, who's still doing dishes. He whispers, "My heart beats for those two kids, so if you, or that skinny bitch, try to screw with what's mine, I swear to God, I don't care who I have to hurt --" Dexter reaches for a big frying pan on the stove, and swings it around. As we shift to Paul's perspective, the frying pan hits home, and with a large, clangy thud, we go to black after briefly watching Dexter's rage boil on his face. After a split second, we're back to Dexter's POV, watching FOP fall to the ground, already unconscious. Okay, that? Was awesome. God, I've been waiting for that to happen for what, five episodes now? Dexter just stands there with an Oh, Shit face on, as some more cheery music starts up on the soundtrack, and he VOs, "Harry's first rule was 'Don't get emotionally involved.' I think this is why." Yeah, you're in a dilly of a pickle. He hears Rita tell Astor to go brush her teeth, and he snaps out of it, and jumps to action. He goes over to Paul, and carries him out to his car, where he shoves him into the trunk. He VOs, "Someone once said, 'It's easier dealing with other people's problems than your own.' They were wrong." Dexter puts the car in neutral (it's an old Chrysler that doesn't need to be turned on to shift), and shoves it up the block a ways, so that Rita and Betty won't see it, and he runs back to the house.
Rita comes out asking after FOP and Dexter just as Dexter returns. "Where were you?" Rita asks. "Taking out the trash," Dexter double-entendres. Rita asks if he saw FOP, and Dexter says he heard the front door open when he was at the side of the house. He spots a little blood on the kitchen floor, and scuttles over when Rita's not looking to mop it up with the bottom of his sock. Cody goes to the window and comments that FOP's car is gone, and Dexter looks shifty-eyed.
Dexter flops FOP on his hotel bed, still unconscious, and Dexter puts on some rubber gloves. "Let's face it, Paul: You've been a problem," he says, looking down at him. Dex grabs a syringe and, breathing heavily, says, "It's time for you to go away." Holy shit, you guys. Is this actually happening? I can't believe it. I can't believe he's going to kill the guy. This is so sweet. I'm so psyched! Dexter bends over and gets to work...
LaGuerta's on the TV, holding a press conference, something she hasn't done in a while. "The Ice Truck Killer case has been reopened, officially. We have new forensic evidence that shows that the DNA from the blood at the Marina View Hotel matches the DNA from his victims." A reporter asks about Neil Perry, and LaGuerta says all those questions should be directed to Cap'n Mathstor. Dude, she's cruising for a demotion, methinks. At least she got enough balls to actually believe in her crew's police work instead of selling them out for political gain. Go, LaGuerta! "Shit, I hope she told the Captain," says Angel. "Who knew?" bellows a voice from the back of the room. It's Mathstor, and he walks into the room heavily. "Who knew about this?" he repeats. Doakes says, "This is the first we're hearing about it, Captain."
A bit later, LaGuerta finishes up a call when Mathstor lets himself into her office. "You overplayed your hand, Maria." "I gave you a chance to make it right. I told you --" "You don't tell me shit! This is my department. I made you Lieutenant. Me! You were just another spic detective." Whoa, dude, not cool. "Nice, Tom," says LaGuerta. "Real nice. Your true colors finally come out." "Oh, no," he grumbles. "No, you haven't seen my true colors, Maria. But you're about to." Yeah, demotion, like I said. She's boned. "Enjoy this office while it's still yours," he tells her and leaves. She sits down, looking as though she's had the wind knocked out of her.
Dexter sets the table as Rita finishes up what looks like a very happy conversation with Theo. "Thank you," we can hear her whispering, and Theo looks over and smiles. "Dexter," he nods on his way out. Rita closes the door behind him, a smile of pure relief painted on her face. "What happened, what's wrong?" asks Dexter, knowing full well that nothing is wrong. "It's Paul, um, I don't know all the details, but he violated Florida's three strikes law. He's back in jail!" She starts giggling the giggle of unadulterated joy as the kids come out to see what's so funny. "It is truly amazing, the things you can do when you put your mind to it," Dex VOs. Well, I guess he didn't kill him, which really is a shame, because he can still stir shit up behind bars. "No problem is insurmountable. Not when you have the most accessible evidence locker in Miami."
We flash to Paul, I'm assuming the night before, lying in bed with a tourniquet on and a needle sticking out of his arm, the police knocking on his door. "Paul did need to go away, but death wasn't the answer," Dexter continues as we see shots of a heroin-coated spoon and Paul's six-shooter laying like a little card that says, "Please arrest me! I hate freedom oh so much!" "Life in prison will do just fine," Dexter continues as two officers bust open the door and arrest the FOP. I guess from now on, he'll actually be the Father In Prison, or FIP. "For now, at least, the code of Harry remains unbroken." This is true. Fair enough. Back in Rita's house, she tells Dexter to come over to her and the kids. "You're part of this family, too!" Aw, that's fucking special. Dexter picks up Cody and touches Astor on the face, and they look like an actual happy family.
Angel parks his car in a garage, and gets out. He gathers a couple grocery bags from the back seat, and is instantly being held up at knife-point. Being a cop, he wants to fight, so he throws his head back and slams his assailant in the mouth while at the same time getting stabbed in the side. A car alarm starts going off. Angel fumbles for his gun, but it slips out of his hands because his wound is already restricting his range of motion. The assailant, dressed all in black with a ski mask on, gets back up, presumably to finish the job, but two guys enter the garage, see what's going on, and chase him off. Angel's bleeding pretty profusely, and the guys stay with him as one of them calls 911. Things get pretty blurry as the camera switches to Angel's perspective. I hope he's going to be okay. You think Rudy freaked out after his questioning earlier, and decided to do away with him? Pretty sloppy, if that's the case. Not what I'd expect from the Ice Truck Killer. He must be approaching some sort of endgame to act so anxiously.
"I heard they're dropping Ice Truck murder charges on Neil Perry," Deb says to Doakes at the station. "Yeah, I'm sure he'll be filing a lawsuit any minute now," Doakes replies. "More shit for us to deal with." Doakes asks if things are still rocky with Rudy, and Deb tells him that she's not calling him until he apologizes, which...Deb, shut up. Let it go! Doakes says, "Good for you, Morgan." He tells her that if she doesn't have plans tonight, Masuka's invited everyone to go to the dance club they were at the other night, the Belle Canto . As he's sort of asking Deb out, the elevator opens behind him and Rudy emerges carrying a huge thing of white roses. Gag. Doakes turns around without another word, obviously a little humiliated and follows Rudy with his big-ass eyes. "For you," says Rudy. "Too late, you blew it." "I didn't blow it, it's the first chance I've had to talk." "I'm too tired to talk." Jesus, she's so difficult. They go back and forth about Dexter and whatnot, which is boring. Rudy just wants to go back and fall into bed, but Deb isn't biting. "You didn't want to fall into bed the other night!" "I was confused." "Well, I'm not confused, that's the problem. I know what I want --" "I was confused because I love you." "...is very simple and uncomplicated. What did you say?" "I love you." He kisses her, and she says, "Fuck. I love you, too," and it would all be super-squishy mega-happy kittens and free stickers if it were real, but it's not, and I'm not saying Deb deserves to have a serial killer boyfriend, because that shit will fuck you up for life, but honestly, she's a cop, and she should have figured it out by now. Actually, same goes for Dexter, but I like him. They kiss again, but this time Rudy recoils because his lip hurts from when Angel head slammed him just a minute ago. He lies and says it's because he juiced with one of his tools at the workshop, but we all know what the fuck is happening. "Well, let's get you home and take care of it," says Deb.
Dexter's in an elevator, wearing rubber gloves, yet again. It seems like a dream sequence, but I can't call it yet. The doors open, and we can see that he's at the Marina View Hotel. He starts walking towards Room 103, VOing, "So this is doom. I've been the architect of so much of it, it's only fair that I should know what all the fuss is about." He reaches the door. "He left me this room for a reason. Five women gave their blood, their lives, for this moment." He opens the door, which creaks low and loud. "There's only one way to find out why." He stands in the middle of the room, where the blood has all dried, and we hear voices. A woman: "Close your eyes, Dexter." A child crying. "No, not in front of my baby!" Visual flashes. The boy in the blood. A young blonde woman, covered in blood. The dead man face down. "Don't cry, it's going to be okay. Close your eyes, Dexter. Don't look." A ponytailed man starts up a chainsaw and starts slicing the woman I'm guessing is Dexter's mother. "Mommy loves you, Dexter." Dexter, present day, lies down on the floor, his face strained in a grimace of brutal understanding, and we go to black.
Shit, man, that was heavy. I just got goosebumps. Kind of interesting that Rudy mentioned seeing his mother die at a similarly young age. I wonder if that speaks to their connection. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.