Dexter, Episode 1, Living the Dream
Dexter Returns to Showtime for its Fourth Season, With a New Villain
Sep 30, 2009
On September 27th, 2009, Dexter returned to Showtime, premiering its 4th season in its Sunday night spot. The return brought back all of the same stars, including the Emmy nominated lead actor Michael C. Hall as the show's namesake character Dexter Morgan, a forensic specialist working for Miami Metro Homicide. Returning this season is Keith Carradine as now-retired FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy, and joining the cast is veteran actor John Lithgow as the Trinity Killer, this season's villian.
Demented Daddy Dexter
The season starts in the usual way, with Dexter proclaiming that "tonight is the night." Only this time, instead of it being murder or bowling, it is the night for sleep. Daddy Dexter is busy trying to calm down Harrison Morgan, the baby that Rita was pregnant with at the end of season 3. Time has jumped forward 3 months after birth and Harrison is an adorable baby that promises to never let Dexter sleep. This turns into trouble for the forensic superstar when he testifies at trial in his faculty as a blood spatter analyst. Due to a tired mixup, Dexter presents the evidence for a completely different case and lets a killer off the hook. Quite a large mistake, or was it? It would not be the first time Dexter let someone go because he wanted to administer justice himself.
Lundy Returns
Dexter is called to a crime scene where there is a lot of blood, specifically a bathtub full of it. It is the same bathtub featured in a previous scene when we see the Trinity Killer meticulously prepare the bathroom before assaulting the woman that lives in the house. He pulls her into the tub, severs her femoral artery, and then holds a mirror to watch her die as he holds her tight. When Dexter and the team arrive, the scene is completely clean, minus the tub of blood and the corpse resting in it. Dexter comments at how clean the place is, the killer obviously knows what he was doing. Upon a later return to do some blood work, Dexter finds out that there is old blood beneath the linoleum. He takes a sample and before he can leave he is stopped by Frank Lundy. The FBI Special Agent with a gift for tracking serial killers has followed a murdered to Miami. He is retired, but spends his time fishing and tracking down the the "one twisted son of a bitch who got away." Back at the lab Dexter finds out there was another woman who was murdered the same exact way as the current one, in the same exact bathtub, 30 years earlier. Lundy says it is the Trinity Killer. He always kills in threes and moves from place to place. He has been at it so long that he is returning now. He has been on the lam for over 30 years, the most successful serial killer ever. It looks like a team-up between Dexter and Lundy to find the only killer better than Dearly Devoted Dexter.
Deborah, Angel, and Drama
Deb, for the first time ever in Dexter history, is with the same guy for more than a season. Anton is back and him and Deborah are living together and seemingly happy. Of course, this can't last very long in Dexter land. Lundy comes back and when Deborah sees him she is obviously bothered; he renders her bumbly and speechless. Clearly things are not completely over between the two of them. Meanwhile, we find out that Angel is no longer with Gianna. The explanation we get is a single sentence when an unknown officer asks him what happened. "We broke up. We wanted different things." Nice blow off. So what does Angel do with his time now? LaGuerta. We catch Angel going out with Masuka and then deciding to finish the night off with LaGuerta, and notice them two exchanging looks several times over the course of the episode. Regardless of the why, it seems the two of them are together, at least for now. At present, no one else knows, but things can change.
Sleepytime Dexter
Dexter had let a killer go when he botched the evidence at a trial. Of course, Dexter did not let him go very far. Dexter kept an eye on the man and followed him to a bar. He got an old, abandoned boxing gym ready as a kill room and then camped out at the bar to finish off the target. Next thing you know, Dexter is being woken up by a police officer. He fell asleep outside of the bar, much thanks to Harrison never letting him get a moment's rest at night. Dexter decides to try again later, this time at the target's home. He successfully drugs the killer, and takes him to the boxing ring. To get himself going he uses some smelling salts for himself before he wakes up his restrained plaything. Just before the kill Rita calls him, Harrison needs medicine, whatever he is doing can wait. Dexter gets right to business and quickly makes is kill and cleans up in a flash. However, the adrenaline doesn't do enough. On the way home Dexter hallucinates his father yelling at him on the road to stay awake, and naturally swerves to miss his dearly deceased dad, and flips his car. It rolls and smashes and we are left anticipating what will happen next episode.
Dexter is back in true serial killer fashion this year, and it looks like it will be a good season. The preview for the rest of the season promises all sorts of drama, tight situations, and a cat and mouse chase that we have not seen since the Ice Truck Killer back in Season 1. Stay tuned for the rest of Season 4, Sunday nights at 9pm on Showtime.
