Dexter: An Inconvenient Lie

 "You're a terrible liar..."

So Dexter begins the episode with what seems to be a huge problem. Rita thinks he's a junkie and enrols him on one of those dodgy twelve step programmes (Just saying, Alcoholics/Narcoholics Anonymous DOES apparently work if you commit to it but, well, it's just one of many ways, and there are less intrusive organisations that don't exclude introverts or non-theists. Also, its world view is just wrong; an ex of mine was a former alcoholic, yes, a former alcoholic, who ended up drinking moderately. Anyway...) and this is going to be a massive time sink, all as Doakes is still watching him. However will he find time for, well, his actual addiction?

But, of course, the whole thing turns out to be a blessing in disguise. He can talk obliquely about his REAL addiction. Even better, he's got Doakes (who gets it wrong for once) off his back, satisfied at the "explanation" for Dexter's secretive behaviour. For now, anyway. I can't see Doakes being fooled for long.

But there's more. There's a very perceptive fellow addict, a girl, with whom he seems to connect... a potential rival for Rita, more on his level? And, from the programme and his current victim (whose lying skills he is in awe of!)... Dexter begins to realise that perhaps he does care about people, and perhaps even loves Rita...

In other threads, Maria continues to bond with the struggling new Lieutenant, even defending her to the Captain.. playing a long game, perhaps, but I think also genuinely just doing the right thing. And then there's the FBI bloke, picking Deb for the investigation into the Bay Harbour Butcher... and turning out to be quite a positive mentor figure, or so it seems. But he also picks Dexter, and the dialogue between them is pointedly ambiguous... does he know, or suspect...?

This is taking a fascinating turn, and I've no idea where it's going. Excellent.

Dexter: Truth Be Told

 "That ain't no little thing..."

Wow. That was quite the penultimate episode, setting everything up for an explosive finale.

There are other plot threads- LaGuerta seemingly losing her power play with the Captain and vowing his revenge, the recovered Angel finally coming to terms with the fact that his marriage is over, and an interesting resolution to the Paul story- Rita's son is not taking his father's absence well, and Dexter is right that the kids need to know that he deserves to be in prison (and he does, despite Dexter's little subterfuge!), much as Rita may not like it. And her solution is perfect: visit Paul and make him tell the truth to the kids or never see them again. Nicely done.

But, well, the main event is all about the setting up of Dexter vs Rudy, as events play out with grim inevitability. The witness from last episode is killed, the first time we see, in person, how he operates. Brr. And the wheels turn inexorably until he has Deb in his clutches, cruelly breaking her heart after proposing to her, using her as bait... and Dexter works out the truth, but too late.

And then there's the mystery of what happened to Dexter's mother, with Harry ordering the records destroyed. Something tells me that Rudy knows something, and we'll find out next episode. Let's see.

One prediction, though- Deb won't die. Because this hint of a thing between her and Doakes, with Rudy out of the picture, is setting things up nicely for friction next season, with Doakes very much having Dexter's number- especially noticing his reaction to the revelation that Angel is going to live.