Dexter “First Blood” 

There seems to be a trend now with Dexter. I’m more interested in the last ten minutes of every episode than I am of the rest but it looks like we’re in for some action soon. So this episode ended with a nice introduction of Peter Weller’s character (we don’t yet know his name). Laguerta caught him in a sting operation to save Batista’s job. Because both Weller’s character and Quinn were “screwed” so to speak by Laguerta, Quinn decided he would proposition Weller to help him out in his own investigation on Dexter. Quinn was willing to pay him to investigate since he needs cash for lawyers. I’m excited to see what’s in store because Weller played quite the eloquently spoken narcotics officer. Just kidding, just kidding. I’m only joking because the character really seems like a lawman straight out of a John Wayne movie. This means he was tough and no frills. It was great when he slid back a few shots of Cuervo as he talked to Quinn and said: “that bitch (Laguerta) put handcuffs on me and then that no nuts McCourt paraded me around the station like I’m a carnival prize. Well they can go both fuck the dog. If they think I’m gonna cop a plea then they’re both crackin’ walnuts up their ass. I’m gonna fight this thing with my last damn dime.” I can’t wait for his character to get into action! And I’m looking forward to more lines from the Wild West!

Dexter bought Lumen a plane ticket in hopes she would go home to Minnesota. He broke into her motel room and realized that she was plotting revenge against the other men who abused her. Her mind was still so unstable she was sleeping in the motel room closet (where she felt safe). Dexter decided to go after one of the guy before she got to him but realized Lumen had the wrong person. They guy she was plotting to kill (Boyd’s former cell mate) had an ankle tracker that reports him if he leaves the Tuttle Bridges area. Tuttle Bridge is apparently the place where all sex offenders in Miami live. Dexter was all fired up ready to kill Boyd’s cell mate in the kill room he had prepped for Boyd (weird he never took it down) when his subconscious (father) pointed out the man was wearing the ankle tracker.

Exciting moments of the episode: When Lumen goes to Tuttle Bridge to kill Boyd’s former cell mate Dexter shows up to stop her. It’s nice to see Dexter helping someone out but we can already see that Lumen is only going to create more problems for him. She’s extremely unstable emotionally so we can only expect that she’s going to make some major mistakes and Dexter will feel obligated to save her.

I think they did a great job with the airport scene when Lumen was about to board her flight to Minnesota she was searched by airport security. It was a routine pat down they do when someone doesn’t clear the metal detector but the sequence in which they shot the pat down was superb! It showed the effect of Lumen’s abuse through her vulnerability and fear. As she was being searched she pretty much freaked out on the inside and we got to see it. In the previous episode I don’t think they did a good job portraying how much emotional damage Lumen has from her experience. They kind of brushed over it and as a viewer I didn’t understand why she wouldn’t just go home. In this episode Dexter gives her a ticket back to Minnesota and she was pissed he was trying to get rid of her. I understood that she was abused and she wanted revenge but the magnitude of abuse really didn’t register. In this sequence, I think they hit on her emotional state and I hope they do more of that in the future. The only reason we care about Dexter is because we hear his every thought. They need to spend a little more attention on Lumen since they are making her story a big part of this season. I really like Julia Stiles’ performance. I hope we get to see more of her inner turmoil.

I also like how Dexter’s dad is still with him as his subconscious making him realize the reasonable path he should be taking. His father keeps warning him that Lumen’s going to bring him down if he keeps helping her.

Major Dexter Fuck-Up of the episode: Before he leaves Lumen at the airport, he tells her his last name. She only asks for it because she said she wanted to reimburse him for the ticket. I don’t understand why he gave it to her if he didn’t want her to pay him back. Now because she didn’t get on the plane she’s even more of a liability to him because she knows his full name. She’s unstable and there’s no telling if she’s going to snap and bring him down. He’ll have a hard time covering that one up considering the motel manager where she stayed thinks Dexter is Lumen’s husband.

Fun Fact:: Masuka wears leopard-printed women’s underpants. We get a glimpse of them when he shows his full back tattoo (the “Lady Dragon”) to Deborah and Batista.

Deborah: Deb is still trying her best to be the ultimate detective. Following leads to track down the Mendez brothers suspected of killing people for money to spend at a nightclub. She is heading the investigation team and is emotionally invested because a kid had his throat slit by one of the Mendez brothers in front of her. The kid noticed a mark of an eye on his attacker’s hand to which Batista and Deb thought was a tattoo. They go to Masuka for help because he knows a lot about the tattoo community in Miami. This is when we see his comical “Dragon Lady” tattoo. He also gives them the name of his tattoo artist that supposedly would know about the eye marking. The lead turns up nothing but his female tattoo artist did hit on Deb, which was interesting, If her relationship with Quinn doesn’t work out (which it probably won’t seeing as though he’s still trying to investigate Dexter) they might make her a lesbian or at least bi-sexual. It seems like a viable plot line because she’s had so many failed relationships.

Deb also finds the Mendez brothers’ first kill. She enters a house with her sidekick, Officer Cira Manzon, only to find two rotting corpses with bugs all over them. This is also where she finds out the eye-marking they thought was a tattoo is actually a stamp for a popular Miami nightclub. She’s going to follow this lead in the next episode as head of the investigation.

Quinn: Deb and Quinn are still carrying out their relationship. She doesn’t want to tell Dexter when he questions the fact she didn’t come home one night (the night she spent at Quinn’s). Quinn is lying to everyone on the force about why he’s taking days off. He’s telling everyone he’s being forced to take the days and it raises mild suspicions with Deb and Batista but they’re both obviously too preoccupied to think too deeply about it. Quinn’s days off have given him time to devise a plan to pursue his Dexter investigation. Now that he has Peter Weller’s character working for him, I’m excited to see where this goes because he seems hardcore. Side note: While Quinn visited Deb in her apartment he noticed Dexter had gloves in his back pocket when he came home. That’s when Dexter returned from almost killing Boyd’s former cell mate.

Batista and Laguerta: Batista thought Laquerta was cheating on him because she was sneaking around. He ends up barging in on her in a hotel in the middle of a sting thinking she was cheating. IA needed her help to bust a narcotics cop. She was only helping them to clear Batista’s bar brawl case. I said it once before and I’ll say it again, their relationship has been filled with nothing but problems. Is the significance of their dysfunctional relationship based upon the fact that when they gave their vow for marriage they chose Dexter as their only witness? We can only wonder.

Harrison and the Kids: There was no mention of Astor and Cody in this episode which is weird. They did do a nice open and close of the episode with Dexter and Harrison at a parent/kid activity. They open with Dexter talking about people wrapping themselves in rainbows because everyone likes to hide while he was engaging in this activity with Harrison and the other mommy/baby pairings. As the parents lowered a giant rainbow parachute over the babies, one began to cry because one of the others scratched him. Dexter thought it was Harrison and promptly left the group after this happened. At the end of the episode Dexter went back to the same activity and two of the mothers were talking about Harrison thinking he was the one who scratched the woman’s child. One of the women said “I just know he (Harrison) was the one who scratched Teddy he was right next to him” to which the other mother replied “did you hear what happened to his mother that kid will never be the same.” Dexter hears this as he was leaving and said as he passed there’s nothing wrong with my son. When he strapped Harrison into the car seat Harrison scratched him on the cheek. Was this the meaning of the episode title “First Blood”? It wasn’t too clear to me but I guess this was Harrison’s “first blood.” As Dexter puts it at the end of the episode, “Is there darkness in Harrison or is it just my own fear reflected back.” I can’t wait to find out!