Last Night's 'Dexter'

WOW! Last night's episode of Dexter was off the freakin' chain! So much went on. If you haven't seen it yet, consider this your spoiler alert. Not that I am the only person who thought so, but in my posting last week about Dexter, I predicted what would happen: "My guess is that Doakes will be the one who goes down as the Bay Harbor Butcher (based on his suspension from the force and his angry reaction to being questioned), or Dexter will be killing him soon for finding his 'trophies.' There is no way he can survive this season without dying or going to jail." This is pretty much exactly what happened.

When the episode began, Agent Lundy and his task force made a major breakthrough in the BHB case. Because they had already determined that the killer was a member of the Miami Police Dept., Lundy decided to freeze out Miami cops from the inside information. Dexter noticed an FBI tail following him everywhere he went, and began thinking Lundy was on to him. This, of course, made it impossible for Dexter to go back down to the Everglades and dispose of the body of the guy he just killed. Instead, Dexter decided to play it cool and go to work like it was any other day. His office was overflowing with Feds, including three in his lab going over his cases from the last 10 years or so.

It was beginning to look bad for Dex, especially when he went home and realized his blood samples (his trophies) were gone. However, like I predicted, the FBI suspected Doakes is the killer. The reason they were following Dexter is that they were protecting him because they know that he and Doakes have had recent conflicts. The FBI then gave Dexter his slides back (which they removed from Doakes' car) and asked him to analyze them as evidence against Doakes. How funny is that?

Doakes' big mistake was leaving the country. He went to Haiti to find someone who could analyze the slides on the down-low. To the Feds, who were following him, this looked like a guilty man fleeing the country. With the heat off of him (at least for now), Dexter sneaked away from his protective detail and took his boat down to the Everglades to dispose of that body which had now been sitting there exposed for a couple of days.

While cleaning up, Dexter was startled by Doakes who tracked him through a GPS device he planted on his boat. A clearly shocked Doakes seemed rather unsettled by having all of his worst suspicions confirmed -- Dexter is a serial killer, and he has now been caught red-handed. Rather than surrender quietly, the two struggled for a while until Dexter was able to subdue him. Dexter obviously realized that Doakes would not kill him, because if he did, there is no way for Doakes to prove his innocence. This gave him an advantage. When the episode ended, Doakes was locked in a cage and was demanding to be released.

With only three more episodes left in the season, there are a number of possibilities for how this could turn out. Honestly, I don't see how Dexter avoids killing Doakes. He knows the truth about him. Even though the cops suspect Doakes, for Dexter to let him go is a huge risk for him. If Doakes is killed and his body never found, it looks like the BHB fled the country. However, this violates Dexter's code. He cannot kill innocent people. Despite Doakes being an asshole, he is an innocent man -- and he's a cop. How would killing him line up with the "Code of Harry"?

Also, there is the major loose end of Lila. Lila knows about Jimemez (the man who killed Dexter's mother, and who Dexter has now killed). Despite being asked to stay away, Lila is pushing herself further into Dexter's life. She is now showing up, unannounced, at his work and making plans with his friends. It seems unlikely that he could kill her since his friends know her, and Batista wants to date her. She seems to be the real wild card to me. Also, will Laguerta truly accept that Doakes was the Bay Harbor Butcher, or will she try and clear his name? She doesn't seem like much of a cop, but she can be real determined when she wants to be. Also, Lundy keeps things so close to the vest, that he may still have suspicions about Dexter. This is seeming increasingly unlikely, but I don't see this season wrapping up very neatly.