‘Dexter’ Recap: Dexter Goes Head To Head With The Brain Surgeon
This is the end, people. We’re racing towards the finish line. And after that thing that happened last week (you know what I’m referring to), the walls are closing in on Dexter like never before. Will he be caught? Killed? Or will he make it to Argentina? Enough talking, let’s do this.
Dexter (Michael C. Hall) has officially witnessed the deaths of both his biological mother and his spiritual mother. If he wasn’t a psychopath before, he definitely is now. And amazingly, Oliver Saxon may not even be Dexter’s biggest problem right now!
Dexter Is… Changing?
Besides cleaning Dr. Vogel’s (Charlotte Rampling) jugular off the floor, he also has to delete any connection that ever existed between him and her. Because you know what, he’s actually going to call in Miami Metro about this murder! Dexter really is making some changes.
“Maybe I’m not the old Dexter,” he tells his dad/subconscious.
Dexter continuously counts down his remaining days until he leaves Miami in this episode, which is exactly what a person who isn’t leaving does. I just can’t say what’s ultimately going to keep him in Miami — Saxon, the U.S. Marshall, or this tropical storm named Laura that people are talking about (because of course Mother Nature needs to jump in and mess with Dexter’s s**t too).
He’s also doing a lot of talking to himself about how Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovsky) has changed him and reduced his urge to kill. Which is exactly what a person says about someone who’s about to get murdered Brain Surgeon-style.
A Serial Killer Showdown
Dexter and Saxon are playing cat and mouse — Saxon shows up to Miami Metro, Dexter finds his kill room and steals his laptop, Saxon pretends to buy Dexter’s apartment, Dexter releases his kill videos — but the whole time it feels like Saxon is the player, and Dexter is the one getting played.
Saxon has a proposal: he’ll leave Dexter alone if Dexter leaves him alone. “Go on with your life or come after me, but choose poorly — like mom — and you will lose,” Saxon tells Dex. The Sax-man actually makes some good points — he doesn’t really have anyone to lose the way Dexter does. This fight would be pretty easy for him to win if he just started picking off Dexter’s loved ones.
Unfortunately this offer also only makes Dexter realize more that he needs to take care of Saxon because he’s such a threat, which is a good point too.
So Dex has another choice to make — does he go after Saxon, or does he rush to catch a plane to Argentina before Tropical Storm Laura (yeah, that’s actually happening!) hits?
Dexter Morgan Makes The Wrong Choice
Come on, what do you think he chose?
After Dexter tricks Saxon into trying to kill him — and catches him with Deb’s help, which was an awesome twist — it looks like he’s finally going to come out on top in this psycho killer face-off. But Dexter decides at the last second that he doesn’t need to kill Saxon, and decides to turn him over to Debra.
Which, sort of goes awry because the U.S. Marshall has been following Deb. He comes in and decides to let Saxon free, without questioning him, next to a bag of knives (has this guy not been watching the news?). So obviously Saxon kills him, grabs his gun, and shoots Debra in the gut before running away.
As we fade to black, Debra’s laying in a pool of her blood, Elway’s running to the airport to catch Hannah, and Dexter’s still… packing? It’s safe to say the series finale (which is next week!) is going to find Dexter in a much less peaceful state than the one he was in this episode.
— Andrew Gruttadaro
More ‘Dexter’ Recaps:
- ‘Dexter’ Recap: Dexter Gets A New Protege & Sees An Old Friend
- ‘Dexter’ Recap: Dexter & Debra Team Up To Save The Day
- ‘Dexter’ Recap: Vogel Pushes The Morgans Over The Edge