As the latest episode of Showtime’s “Dexter” opens the titular serial killer is enjoying one of his rituals. This time however it’s not a ritual related to killing, but rather to parenting. He finds solace and enjoyment in the rituals involved in readying his son Harrison for bed. He also is finding a special form of acceptance. Since Harrison is only 2 years old Dexter does not yet need to hide his darker side from his son. He exposes his son to his “dark passenger” in the form of the boy’s favorite bedtime story, the “monster story.” However as much as Dexter enjoys these moments he realizes that they are fleeting when Harrison mentions “Daddy’s box,” in reference to the box of blood slides that Dexter keeps as a trophies.
Meanwhile at their shared apartment Quinn finally manages to ask Debra to marry him. The reaction he gets however is not the one he hoped for. Debra reacts at first with sheer shock and then anger. She knows that she likes being with Quinn but she doesn’t know if she wants more than what they have. She’s immediately upset with him for putting her in a situation where now things have to either change or end; they can no longer stay the same. She asks for some time to think about it.
At the precinct a man who Dexter had once targeted comes onto his radar once more. Mos Def plays the part of Brother Samuel, a former drug addict and murderer. Dexter had planned to kill him in the past but lost the chance when Samuel was arrested on drug charges. Now he runs an auto-shop staffed by parolees. Dexter can see that Samuel claims to have changed but he decides to find that out for himself.
Dexter does intentional damage to his car and brings it into Samuel’s garage. He finds that Samuel talks openly about his past. Rather than claiming to be completely cured as one would expect he admits to still struggling with his darker side even as he plays the “good shepherd” to men he feels need another chance. However Dexter is still skeptical about whether or not the man has truly changed.
Once Debra gets to the precinct she has two more bombs dropped on her. First video of her take-down of a criminal on the restaurant has gone viral on the internet, bringing her attention she’d rather not have. The last bomb is dropped by the top man on the Miami Metro police force, Matthews. He offers Debra the position of lieutenant, which shocks Debra because she (and everybody else) had expected Baptista to get the job. Completely bowled over by the offer she asks for a little time. She’s not aware that Matthews’ primary reason for choosing her over Baptista is to rile LaGuerta. The two share a fairly open hatred of each other and since Matthews knew that Baptista was her top choice he knew this would get under her skin.
Dexter returns to the garage after hours to observe and he spots Samuel leaving. Tailing him, Dexter sees the former convict enter a very nasty neighborhood and enter a house. There is then a gunshot and Samuel carries out a limp body which he dumps into his trunk. Dexter believes that he has just seen Samuel reveal his true colors. He follows Samuel back to the garage to confirm that he did kill the man but he’s spotted. Under the pretext of needing his garage opener out of his car Dexter is allowed into the garage and he gets a shock.
Dexter sees the man Samuel carried out alive and well, though with a sore jaw. It transpires that the man works for Samuel and had missed work. This prompted Samuel to believe the man had slipped back into drugs, so he went to his house. It was the worker who fired the shot and in response Samuel punched him out and brought him back. Dexter is amazed at what he is seeing, but he soon has bigger issues to deal with.
Friends of the worker arrive at the garage and threaten Samuel. Dexter defends him by revealing himself to be part of the police force and the men back off. Samuel calls it a night of miracles and Dexter finds himself not completely opposed to. In addition to seeing a man changed Dexter also has found his new target in the form of the leader of the drug gang he just scared off.
Meanwhile the pair of killers introduced last episode are shown making preparations, but for what isn’t exactly clear. However the elder of the two is shown holding a mannequin head. The younger one goes to visit his older sister for dinner and in spite of his promise to his mentor that he would return she convinced him to stay through dinner and dessert. The result is that when he does return to his mentor the elder man burns himself with a red hot rebar rod, which causes the younger man to break down and swear he will not stray again.
Debra’s stress continues as she gives Batista the heads up that she’s been offered the lieutenant position. Batista is supportive though his disappointment is evident all the same. Returning to the apartment she shares with Quinn, Debra is forced to decline his proposal which effectively gets her kicked out of the apartment. As a result she moves in, temporarily, with Dexter and receives her promotion the following day to the surprise of most of her colleagues. LaGuerta tries to apologize to Batista but he is more upset with her than anybody, feeling that he always has to suffer because of her issues with Matthews.
Dexter tracks down and takes out the drug gang leader who had tried to terrorize Brother Samuel. He returns home to the ritual of putting Harrison to bed. He introduces something new to the mix, a box identical to the one he keeps his blood slides in, except filled with some of Harrison’s favorite toys. Dexter’s hope is that it will blur the box in Harrison’s memory and avoid his son ever discovering what he is.
The episode continues with the themes of faith, largely through Brother Samuel. Mos Def plays the character wonderfully, and hopefully will return later in the season. Masuka now has the young hot intern all were expecting, and she’s already shown some brains to go with her beauty. Debra becoming the lieutenant is going to be a great deal of pressure on her and a possible source of tension between her and her former peers. It’s worth noting at this point that the off camera divorce between Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall has not affected the on screen chemistry between Debra and Dexter. The show is continuing to display a very strong through line for the season and everything feels connected, much more than last year.