Previously on ‘Dexter,’ we saw Dexter go toe to toe with Kaska Brotherhood Boss, Issac, who lands in jail because of Dexters ploys. Deb essentially gives Dexter her blessing to continue being a serial killer as long as she doesn’t know, after she saves him by discovering his picture while investigating one of his victims. Hannah skates away from Dexter as he discovers more and more about her, while Angel is brushed off for thinking Alex’s death wasn’t by his own hand. This season has been pretty intense so far, and we’re at the halfway point. Do you think LaGuerta is going to figure Dexter out? Will Deb slip?
This is a recap, so there will be spoilers ahead!
Dexter sits watching Hannah McKay while Harry talks to him about letting her off. Dexter tells him how Hannah’s husband died at 40, perfect health with no family history of heart attack, which Harry tells him he is reaching. Harry argues that Dexter has bigger fish to fry than Hannah but Dexter retorts that there’s a reason why she needs to kill so badly. He gets up to follow her, to talk to her, but Harry stops him. Dexter turns around and walks into work, making Deb angry for being late. Deb and LaGuerta are applauding the task force for the arrest of Issac, but Deb is unsure that he will stay behind bars. Dexter and Quinn argue that he has no case to get off on but Deb remains adamant that they need to continue building the case against him.
After the meeting, Dexter goes into his office to contemplate a peace offering to Hannah so he can get closer to her. He tells Harry that he hasn’t filled out the blood report yet and offers to keep certain details out to keep Hannah clear of the case. Harry brings up that he promised Deb he wouldn’t take any cases from the police, but Dexter smiles and tells him that Hannah has immunity. There would be nothing that Deb. Harry continues to question him, but Dexter tells him, “What other choice do I have?”
Issac sits in the prison yard when he is approached and threatened by a Colombian inmate. Issac doesn’t take to the threat well and wrestles him down on the table. He explains to the inmate exactly who he is and exactly why he should be afraid of him, all while keeping a very calm manner. He tells him the art of any deal is negotiation, and asks if they have come to terms, which the Columbian agrees. Somehow Issac has a cell phone which he uses to call George, telling him to pay him a visit because it is urgent.
Dexter stops by Hannah’s place knowing her schedule. When she doesn’t answer the door, he walks to her backyard where she is burying a rabbit that was eating her plants. He apologizes to Hannah for accusing her of murder and shows her the blood report. They continue flirting, but Dexter refocuses his thoughts on her dead husband. He changes the subject to needing a plant for his apartment and she leads him to the greenhouse. He asks about her husband, which he quickly finds is a subject that is off limits. Dexter tells her a little about Rita and her death as they try changing the subject away from doom and gloom. He asks Hannah how she came into the flower business. She tells him she bought it from her mentor who had also passed away. Dexter realizes that this is a sign since she had stabbed her first victim and two of her closest people had passed away. He excuses himself saying he needs to be at work, picking a pink orchid which she offers to him as a gift. Back in the office, Dexter looks up Hannah’s mentor who also passed away from a heart attack. Harry chides him asking why he is so convinced that Hannah is a killer. Dexter looks up to see Deb walking out of the office with someone whom he recognizes almost immediately as Sal Price. He wonders if he can answer some questions about Hannah and dashes off to meet him.
Dexter catches up with Sal at the coffee truck. Acting as a fanboy, he gets him to sign his book after saying he’ll put in a good word with Deb so Sal can ask her out. Sal tells Dexter that a few weeks out of juvenile detention, Hannah accused one of the counselors of sexual harassment. Nothing was solved for her and a few weeks later that person dropped dead from rat poison. Dexter decides then that he will continue looking into Hannah’s story. Sal goes to see Deb and asks her out to dinner but makes a slip by mentioning the Ice Truck Killer, whom she was previously engagd to. This puts Deb on the defensive. He recovers, though, and manages to give Deb his number.
Quinn waits in his car for Nadia. When she gets in, he motions to her to open the glove box where a bag of money lies. She questions him about it. In return, he asks if she has anything to do with it. He tells her how he used to look away when they would leave a bag of money in the car, but now that Issac has been arrested, he didn’t know what they were going to ask of him. Nadia begs him to give it back telling him that the money is no good if he’s dead. In the next scene, we see Quinn walk in with the bag and tossing it on George’s desk. He tells him that he is not for sale.
Dexter breaks into Sal Prices’ home to find out information about Hannah and copies his files on Hannah onto a hard drive. He notices that he might have information on him, too, but will have to come back for it. He quickly leaves.
Angel and Jamie talk over lunch. Jamie tells him that she hasn’t heard anything from Louis and telling him that hookers are gross. Angel brushes that off and asks her what she thinks of the place they are dining at. He tells her that he is thinking about retiring from the force and buying the place. Jamie tells him he is too impulsive and that he needs to not do that.
George goes to see Issac in jail. Issac makes the comment that George is too busy to see him these days. Issac tells him that he needs to get out of jail as soon as humanly possible. George asks him what happened. Issac tells him that nothing has happened yet, but if he kills anyone in there, it would really get in the way of him being released. George nods in agreement and tells him that Quinn gave back the money. Issac tells him not to disappoint him and hangs up.
Quinn goes to a restaurant where he has a reservation for two and was told his other party is here. He is surprised to find George sitting where Nadia should be. He tells George that if he hurts Nadia, he’l put a bullet in his head. George tells him that he wouldn’t do anything to her. He also tells Quinn to lose all of the blood evidence linking Issac to the Colombian murder or he will send Nadia to Dubai where she will more than likely kill herself in a matter of weeks. Quinn agrees to do it on the condition that Nadia’s passport will be given to him. George says he will do him one better – leaving him the money as well. After George leaves, Quinn leaves Nadia a message, telling her to call him immediately.
LaGuerta calls Deb into her office. She tells Deb that the meeting with the DA went swimmingly, but that she has a new theory on the Bay Harbor Butcher. She brings up Jordan Chase, saying that the Butcher possibly got Chase and not that he fled the country. Deb bites her lip trying to dissuade LaGuerta from going this route, but LaGuerta decides this is something worth looking into.
Back in his apartment, Dexter reads the files on Hannah. Sal had discovered a plant that has been kept at the house the whole time called Aconite, which is also a poison that amounts to a heart attack. Beverly tested positive for it. Harry tells Dexter that it isn’t proof that Hannah did the poisoning, but Dexter says the handyman was still there while Beverly was still alive and could be cause for a conversation. Before Dexter can get any further, Hannah knocks on his door with a flower in her hand. She tells him she gave him the wrong flower, showing him one that looks like blood spatter. He thinks to himself that he needs to ask her to leave but invites her in anyway. Hannah says she’ll find a place to put it, looking around the apartment and eventually going into his bedroom. Dexter tries to stop her by telling her that his bedroon is too dark, but she ignores him. Putting the plant on his dresser, she tells him he can look at it when he wakes up and when he goes to bed. Before things go any further, Dexter’s phone rings and he excuses himself to take the call. Its Deb, updating him on LaGuerta, telling him to meet her at her house. Dexter tries to back out of it but Deb insists, making him say that he will be there in 20.
Deb and Dexter fight over Jordan Chase and what happened. Dexter tells Deb about Lumen and that it wasn’t what she thinks it is but Deb still gets angry. Deb tells him that while LaGuerta is bothering with this and that she will be involved. Dexter loses his temper with her telling her to stop worrying about LaGuerta and that he will take care of it. He tells her to go out, have fun, go on a date, bringing up Sal Price. Deb tells him to get out of the house. Dexter asks what he did, but she stares silently at him. While leaving, he thinks to himself “I really need to kill someone.”
Dexter goes to see Hannah, acting like he didn’t know she would be at the market. He talks to the handyman who is fixing the roof. The handyman tells Dexter that Hannah took care of Beverly all on her own and that he wanted to help but Hannah had dug her heels in. Dexter tells him that there is a wildflower that he is interested in and that he wanted to take a look at it. Dexter finds the Aconite which has been recently harvested.
Harry tells him that she might have found a new target telling Dexter not to be naive about the situation. Before he can think about it any longer, Hannah comes up from behind him. She offers him coffee which he realizes could be deadly. He tries to excuse himself to go to work, but she stops him asking him why he is stalking her. He says, “I want to take you out.” Catching her off guard, she replies “Like a date?” He stammers for a second and then replies that yes, like a date. She tells him that she doesn’t date. Hannah explaines that after Wayne she realizes she gets too attached and obsessive about it. Dexter reassures her that he is not Wayne and that she will not land in jail because of him. She eventually agrees to a date and Dexter leaves before she can change her mind. In the car, Harry asks why he asked her out. Dexter replies that he was caught off guard and had to improvise.
Quinn calls Nadia again from the office saying that she wasn’t in the club and that he’s called her 50 times and it’s really important that she call him. Before he can get away, Angel confronts him, asking if he seems compulsive to him. Angel tells him an opportunity came up and he is thinking about retiring, which Misuka overhears. Quinn gets away before it goes any further and Misuka tells Deb. Deb talks to Angel about this decision. He tells her that the idea actually makes him happy and Deb says she’ll support him in whatever he decides to do. Returning to her office, Deb finds the phone number of Sal Price and accepts his date offer.
Quinn goes to the evidence locker saying he needs to refresh his memory for the trial. He goes into the refrigerated blood bank, taking the evidence against Issac reluctantly. On her date, Deb and Sal talk about addictive and obsessive personality. Sal tells Deb his theory on Hannah McKay, that she is still a killer, to which Deb wants to see the evidence. She bribes him saying that if he shows her the evidence she will totally make out with him. He smiles, saying “best first date ever” showing her the spatter patterns from the bodies that Dexter didn’t tell her about.
On his first date, Dexter brings Hannah to Santa’s Workshop where she was obsessed with going while with Wayne. He says that everyone has some sort of longing. They hold hands as they walk into the abandoned amusement park. He takes her into a tent where he lights it up with snow and Christmas lights. He says that he thought if maybe she saw it she could finally get some peace. Internally he says “some of us are never satisfied” drugging Hannah. She wakes up woith duct tape on her mouth and strapped to the table. He explains to her that this is what he longs for, what he needs. He rips the duct tape off of her mouth, and she tells him “do what you gotta do.” He goes to stab her but cuts her free instead. She kisses him and the two of them wind up having sex on the table.
So that was an expected yet unexpected twist at the end. I think that Hannah telling him to do what whatever he has to do switched him from killing mode to a whole other type of passion needed in his life. So how do you think Hannah will react after the passion dies out? How do you think Deb will react to Dexter yet again hiding evidence from her? What did you think of the twist?
If you missed last week’s episode, make sure to read my recap of ‘Swim Deep’ to catch up!
