'Dexter' Final Season Recap - Every Silver Lining...

After last week's so-so premiere, I can see why many die hard Dexter fans were a bit wary of the show's 8th and final season (myself included).  However, after last night's strong and solid episode - which was also directed by Dexter himself, Michael C. Hall - I think it's safe to say things are firmly back on track.

In the opening minutes of the episode, we find Dexter conversing one-on-one with Dr. Evelyn Vogel (who in the closing moments of last week's premiere, revealed herself to know Dexter's secret).

Through this initial scene, we learn how Dr. Vogel knew and treated Harry both as a friend and patient while he was raising Dexter.  Dr. Vogel reveals how she was the one who guided Harry in how to construct Dexter to use his urges for good, including his moral code of who and who not to kill.
We also are given insight as to how this new killer on Miami's scene might be a former patient of Dr. Vogel's, as she shows the missing piece of brain from last week's skull-sliced victim, which was conveniently left on her doorstep.

Dr. Vogel states she wants Dexter to hunt this killer down or else she'll go to the authorities with what she knows about his history.  Dexter begrudgingly accepts.

Meanwhile, we find Deb still recovering from last week's murder of her sort-of boyfriend/case, Briggs, thanks in-part to Dexter.  She's gone in to meet with Elway (her new private investigator boss who was introduced last week, played by Sean Patrick Flanery), and explains how she still has a lead on where Briggs was hiding his stolen jewelry.  This ultimately leads Deb to a storage facility where she indeed finds the stolen jewels, only to be beaten down and ripped off by El Sappo, the hitman who was coming to kill Briggs for the jewels anyway.

It looks as if El Sappo is going to make a breakaway until we learn the next day that he was shot and killed before even starting his car.  Dexter and rest of the Miami Metro team are called to the scene, in which of course Dexter gets suspicious when he realizes this guy is the one who was suppose to kill Briggs as well as possibly Deb.  Dex finds a trace a blood outside the car window, pegging that as one of the shooter, not the victim.

To Dex's surprise, he finds out that Deb is the one who shot and killed El Sappo in a murderous rage.  When Dex confronts her about this, she of course wants nothing to do with him (though she does throw the fact in his face that it's not the first time she's shot and killed someone).

The big reveal at tail-end of the episode though is when we learn the killer previously seen earlier who suffocated an innocent victim, was coerced on camera by an unidentified assailant.  This is learned via a DVD left on Dr. Vogel's laptop that she finds after Dexter searches her home under fear someone had broken in.

Notes:

• While I covered the main plotline of this episode, I should also mention how Batista now knows Quinn's been sleeping with Jamie.  In a funny exchange, he basically tells him to man up or else he can't date his sister.  Curious to see where this one goes, though I'm wondering if something is up now with him and Deb...

• Am I the only one who think there's something more to this 'Dr. Vogel' than meets the eye.  Someone 'breaks' into her home and a DVD (which she seems to find popular) is left right on her desk?  Something's off there.

• Poor Masuka really has nothing to contribute to this show anymore....

• The Hispanic actor who played El Sappo just can't seem to catch a break.  If you recognized him, that because he's the same guy who played the unfortunate prisoner who gets a machete to the head in last year's The Walking Dead.  Maybe now he'll land a more recurring role on a show.

• How is it Michael C. Hall the actor, can make an episode so much more interesting with his direction than other directors who seem to do this for a living?  Honestly, how great were some of the long takes or shots in this episode?  Why can't other, more experienced directors be as unique and not stick to such a 'point-shoot' method.

• Is it at all cliche that in the final season we somehow meet the one who 'made' Dexter, as in coming full circle?  Example:  The Dark Knight Rises, The Bourne Ultimatum

Looking forward to next week as it looks like Deb is starting to breakdown to confess everything.

Grade: B+