“Dexter” Season 4, Episode 7 Recap

Last night’s episode of Dexter began with the arm of a female victim being found in the belly of an alligator.  One might assume that the animal was the culprit but wounds on the wrist showed that the woman had been murdered before she was fed to the gators.  After the victim was identified, Miami Homicide discovers that she was a model and was among several women who had disappeared after working with a certain photographer. 

Meanwhile, Quinn’s reporter girlfriend, Christina, tries to get an interview with Debra and the detective asks her big brother to help get her off her case.  When the reporter tries to corner Deb at the station, Dexter steps in and irritates Quinn with his attitude.  Dexter then reminds Quinn that he saw him steal money from a crime scene and tells him to get his girlfriend to back off.  When Quinn learns that Dexter kept his apartment for eight months after getting married, he questions what Dexter is hiding and follows him to a nightclub where he planned to nab the photographer.  Fortunately, Dexter spotted him and sent a girl over to the detective by pretending Quinn was someone famous.  He was distracted long enough for Dexter to sneak out

Trinity was off his game for the entire episode.  He freaked out when he was unable to start his chainsaw out in the woods where he took Dexter to cut down a tree.  He was irritable but got worse after accidentally hitting a deer who darted out in front of his van.  When the two got out to check on the animal, Dexter told Trinity that the deer needed to be put out of his misery.  Surprisingly, Trinity said that he couldn’t do it and seemed genuinely distressed.  Dexter kills the deer for him and Trinity takes his fresh lumber home.  It’s later revealed that he’s building a coffin.

Debra convinces LaGuerta to allow her to open an investigation on the Trinity Killer which, of course, upsets Dexter.  He still wants to learn more from his fellow serial killer and doesn’t want to risk Deb figuring out who he really is. 

It was a pretty big episode for Deb in general, actually, since she also had the opportunity to meet with one of her father’s CIs who explained that the man had several girlfriends among his informants.  Disgusted, Debra decides to stop her search into her father’s past and it’s not a moment too soon – Dexter’s mother’s file was the next in her pile and he’s relieved to see that she hadn’t made it that far.  He tells her that he will return all of the files for her and shreds his mother’s paperwork and begins to shred her picture too but stops himself saying that he won’t let her get cut up again…

It has become obvious to some of the people in the department that something is amiss between LaGuerta and Batista.  After they are individually asked about it by Quinn and Debra, Batista goes in to talk to LaGuerta about it and they both confess to missing their relationship but they don’t take it any further.

Dexter enrols Cody in the Young Sailors program and was initially thrilled by the prospect of the boy being more busy (which would give Dex more time to do his killings) but then he realized that he’s expected to volunteer to chaperone events like an awful camping trip that Rita forces him to attend.  After Cody and the other children go to sleep, Dexter sneaks off to take care of the murderous photographer.  He kills him but then later discovers that he has exacted revenge on an innocent man.

image: Showtime