Dexter – Recap & Review – In The Beginning

photo: showtime

Dexter
In The Beginning

Original Air Date: Nov 28, 2010

Karen Belgrad – Associate Staff Writer
karenbelgrad
@thetwocentscorp.com

As season five of Dexter winds down, our annual game of cat and mouse has begun to intensify. Dexter and Lumen know what Jordan is up to. Jordan knows what they are up to. Liddy is figuring out what Dexter has going on. And Deb is closing in on the Barrel Girl Killer… and noticing a pattern.

Dexter is always at its strongest when all of the story lines converge together. This week had every main character pointed in a sole direction of Jordan Chase and his associates. And Deb once again proved that she is the smartest detective in the group when it comes to police matters. The hour moved at a brisk pace and ended with an inevitable event that still seemed surprising.

Knowing that Jordan is onto him, Dexter sends Harrison to Orlando (with Paul’s parents?) and moves Lumen out of the house and into his apartment. He thinks it will be safer since Jordan doesn’t know of it, but I can’t help but think it’d be awfully easy to track down the apartment that’s he’s lived in (on and off) for years. Liddy is apparently smarter than Jordan as he sets up video and audio surveillance on the apartment and Dexter and Lumen.

LaGuerta briefs the department that Barrel Girl Killer case is back open due to new evidence. Quinn and Deb (off suspension) are trying to track down DNA-implicated Cole and surprised to find out he has disappeared. Deb is surprised that Jordan seems so nonplussed about his missing head of security and surmises he knows more than he’s letting on.

Dexter and Lumen pay a visit to Emily Birch of Jordan Chase blood vial fame, but she shuts the door in their face. Dexter makes note of the security bars on her windows and doors and know she fears something.

Deb executes a search warrant at Cole’s house. She notes a little blood (left behind from Dexter and Lumen’s attack on him) and that his car is in the driveway (shouldn’t it have been at the hotel where he died?). However, a more disturbing find is in the next room where they uncover thirteen DVD’s documenting the torture of the barrel girls. Dexter knows the thirteenth girl must be Lumen and devises a plan to get the DVD before Deb sees it and recognizes her. While Masuka notes that Boyd had twelve locks of hair and there are thirteen DVDs, Dexter knocks them over and pulls a switcheroo.

Dexter gives Lumen the DVD of herself. He listens uncomfortably as she watches the footage in the next room, muffling her own tears.

The next day, Deb says she thinks it’s a blessing that these girls are dead based on the torture they endured. After perusing Cole’s phone and emails, she notes that Dan the Dentist (found saran wrapped/shot in the warehouse) was a Facebook poke buddy of his (really?). She quickly realizes that Boyd, Dan, and Cole are missing or dead and thinks there may be a vigilante taking them out.

Lumen goes back to Emily’s and shows her the DVD. Emily finally opens up, admitting that Jordan (previously chubby Eugene Greer) was a camper where she worked 20 years ago. She befriended him and on a walk one day, she blacked out and when she came to, she was tied to a bed. Jordan/Eugene never touched her, but goaded his friends into assaulting her while he watched. He then made her take the infamous photo of himself, Dan the Dentist, Cole, Boyd, and Alex Tilden.

Lumen brings the information to Dexter and he takes her to task for going out unprotected. She says she wants to be the one to kill Alex. Dexter cautions it will change her, but she’s already changed.

Deb and Quinn pay a visit to Alex Tilden, having noted calls between him and Cole. (Alex is played by 80’s teen heartthrob, and later ER star, Scott Grimes. They had Chad Allen on earlier this season. Can Ralph Macchio be far behind?) Alex begs off Deb and Quinn’s questions with a fantasy football excuse, but is clearly nervous.

Dexter gifts Lumen with black leather gloves like his. His face has an almost serene expression watching her try them on. Close by, Liddy listens as they talk about not leaving trace evidence. Dexter and Lumen go to scope out Alex’s house and to set up the kill room. They find his trophy box of thirteen jewelry souvenirs from the victims. Dexter helps fasten Lumen’s own necklace back around her neck.

At Emily Birch’s, Jordan is going over the details of her visit with Lumen, making sure she has shared all the pertinent information, including Alex’s name. He’s says, thanks to her, everything will be OK. She’s clearly under his control and credits him for making her. He pulls back from her touch to his hand, but tells her she is special.

Jordan goes to the police and offers up his own DNA. As Dexter takes his cheek swab, they verbally dance around each other. Jordan implores Dexter not to get involved with someone who is toxic and dangerous. Dexter surprisingly plays his hand out right, happy that he knows Jordan’s DNA won’t be a match and that he’ll be able to take him out.

Lumen is dressed to kill for a kill in a form fitting outfit. She admires Dexter’s (killing) tools and practices her plunging technique. In his van, Liddy is watching the activities on his surveillance equipment.

Jordan advises a nervous Alex to stay in town and go about his normal routine. Jordan waits in his car until he sees Dexter and Lumen enter Alex’s home. He calls Deb and tips her off that Alex may be leaving town. Deb and Quinn take off for Alex’s home.

When Alex arrives home, he finds the DVD of Lumen’s assault playing on his television and Lumen steps in front of the screen. Alex makes a run for it, but Dexter intercepts him and sedates him. He awakens in the familiar plastic wrap, as Dexter takes a blood slide for Lumen. Alex doesn’t even know Lumen’s name.

Deb and Quinn arrive at Alex’s and begin to search the house. They proceed towards a lit room, only to find it empty. At the vacant house next door, Alex blames everything on Jordan and his manipulative ways. Lumen mounts the table and plunges the knife into Alex. Dexter asks if she’s OK and she affirms that she is.

Outside of Alex’s, Deb notices a small, fresh footprint and puts the pieces together, realizing that there were twelve hairs and thirteen DVDs. She ascertains that one of the girls may have escaped and be out for revenge.

Back at Dexter’s, Lumen emotionally approaches Dexter in his room. She removes her shirt, then his (at first his arms are still in it, eerily bondage like), and kisses him. He caresses her face, kisses her forehead, and as he sees her responsiveness, they begin to kiss more passionately and move to the bed. As they lie there post-coital, he voiceovers that Lumen sees him differently, not as a monster at all.

And that’s it! With two weeks to go, the stakes have changed as Dexter has opened up all aspects of himself to Lumen. I do ask though, didn’t Deb basically dump Quinn last week for investigating Dexter? Where is she staying? Although I appreciate all of the stories being Dexter-focused this week (no LaGuerta/Batista to speak of, no Fuentes brothers), sometimes I do wonder about these little details. But, overall, this was a quick moving, intense hour that bodes well for the two remaining episodes of the season. What do you see coming?

There’s my TwoCents! Share your TwoCents, comments, and feedback below!