Showtime’s Dexter #806 “A Little Reflection”

Twisteroo
By Catherine Giordano

Anyone who thinks that Showtime’s Dexter is losing its mojo, winding down in its last season, needs to see episode 6 of Season 8, “A Little Reflection”, aired on August 4, 2013. he title “A Little Reflection” will carry a lot of meaning by the end of the episode.

Last week I suggested that Vogel might be “The Brain Surgeon.”  I’m not that confident about that prediction, but Vogel sure does like to mess with people’s brains. She has a new patient, now that the threat to her life has passed (Or so she thinks, because if she is not “The Brain Surgeon,” then this killer is still out there.)

Her new patient is Zach Hamilton. Dexter is interested in him also. He thinks that this young man (still in his teens or barely out of them) is responsible for the murder of the Hamilton family maid. Turns out Dexter is right, and now the kid is stalking a second victim, Sophia, also a dark haired Latina woman. Dark haired Latina women seem to be his type. But in the “twisteroo” moment of the week, we discover that these women are not Zach’s type, but his father’s type.

Dexter has gotten close to Zach, the better to find the proof he needs to put the kid “on his table.” Zach is a photography buff with his own studio. He likes to take pictures of bloody crime scenes.  Dexter is at alone at a murder scene doing is lab-geek thing when the kid shows up. He has a police scanner on his phone. Dexter invites the kid inside the yellow tape to take close up pictures. Later he visits the kid at his photography studio and discovers the proof he needs in the photographs that Zach took.

Vogel asks Dexter not to kill Zach, but Dexter says, “He has to die.”  He finds Zach at the Cypress Harbor Yacht Club, a property owned by Zach’s father. The father embraces Sophia as she gets off work and leaves the club. Zach starts to follow not Sophia, but his father when Dexter and his needle intercepts him. I’m feeling bad—the kid is a killer, but he’s still only a kid. 

 When Zach comes to on Dexter’s table he confesses to the murder. He says the maid was his first kill; he’s had these urges to kill, but he had never killed before. He indulged his urge to protect his mother. His father’s affairs were making his mother so unhappy that she was drinking herself to death. Dexter asks, “So you love your mother?” “Of course, I do,” Zach answers. Dexter questions Zach about his urges to kill and realizes that he and the kid are very much alike. Dexter decides not to kill him. He has found a little protégé, a little reflection of himself.

Dr. Vogel had urged Dexter to consider teaching Zach “the code”; she called it her “little experiment.” Would it work a second time?  Dexter was opposed, but in the killing room he changes his mind.  “You never had a Harry,” he tells Zach who has no idea what he is talking about. The boy has his good qualities, he loves his mother, and he has a conscience as evidenced when Zach tells Dexter to go ahead and kill him because if he lives he will kill again. He seems to be such a nice young man, just like Dexter.

A few other things happen during this episode on the way to the second “twistaroo” moment of the week,   Matsuka offers his daughter, Niki, a check for $5,000 after Debra’s investigation shows that the young woman is broke and in debt up to her eyeballs. The girl gets insulted, refuses the check, and storms off saying she doesn’t want money from him. Poor Matsuka, for once he does something nice and he gets slapped down for it. Is Niki sincere, or is she playing the long con for a bigger payoff?

Dexter gets his come-uppance during a heart-to-heart about how lying is a non-no with his little son, Harrison.  Harrison says, “But you lie too, Daddy.” He pulls a stuffed animal from a drawer, a stuffed animal that got covered in blood when Dexter stabbed Briggs in episode one of season eight.  Daddy Dexter had thrown the toy in the trash, and told Harrison it was lost, but the boy found it. Dexter lets him keep it, suggesting that the toy should “live under the bed” for now.

Angel passes Quinn over for the promotion to detective. He gives the job to Miller, the candidate that Deputy Chief Matthews has been urging on him. Quinn is angry and is determined to prove himself the better choice. He’s been following Zach trying to get the evidence that Zach killed the maid. Will Quinn’s determination to solve the murder interfere with Dexter’s plans for Zach?

Elway, the owner of the detective agency where Debra now works, is sweet on Debra.  She is discouraging him because as she tells Dexter, “He doesn’t know me. He doesn’t know I’m a murderer. He doesn’t know I tried to kill my brother and myself.”  She feels that no man can ever know who she truly is, and thus no man can ever love her. She and Dexter are best buds again, as Dexter says, “You. Me. Steak. Beer. Just like old times.” But it is not like old times. Debra has changed.

Dexter has had a little mini-date with Cassie, his neighbor.  Jamie has been trying to set them up. They meet for a food truck delicacy--fries with Nutella and peanut butter.  (I’ve never heard of that; I sorta want to try it, and I sorta find the idea revolting.)  Cassie asks Dexter about himself like people tend to do on first dates. “What are you passionate about?” she asks. No way can Dexter answer that question.  “Sometimes I go bowling.” They both laugh.  She is learning that Dexter is a “hollow man,” a person with no interests. She’s attractive and vivacious—I think she has written Dexter off as someone she would like to date.

But never mind. Dexter has Debra to hang out with again.  Over a too-tough steak and some beer, Debra starts to feel dizzy and passes out on the couch. Dexter starts to feel the room swim also. At that moment, the shocker of the season—the second “twisteroo.” Hannah is back.

Hooray.  Let the games begin. I’ve been waiting for Hannah to return. I think there are still a few more twistaroos in store for us before Dexter goes to syndication heaven.

 

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