In true Dexter fashion, the latest episode, “Sunshine and Frosty Swirl“ began where the premiere of season 7 left off. The title comes from Dexter’s interaction with an inmate who decided to come clean about where some bodies were hidden, after many years. Since Dexter had to be on the scene, he inquired as to how he changed; how he got rid of his evilness, or his dark passenger. After a gruesome suicide of the inmate (he hurled himself in front of a moving semi truck) Dexter realized that he hadn’t changed, and just wanted some sunshine and the ice cream across the street before killing himself.

After Dexter had officially admitted to Deb that he is a serial killer, she had a very difficult decision to make; does she turn him in, or does she help him? As you know, Deb is a sucker for her big brother and offered to help him try to control his urges. Deb has taken on the duty of rehabilitating her serial killer brother.

Deb has blinded herself to the obvious red flags about her brother being a criminal in the past. She seems to be a great detective, yet she has been completely oblivious to all of the signs. As Deb structures this information in her head, she realizes that Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher. She also starts remembering other signs. If this wasn’t hard enough news for her to take, she learns that her hero father whom she has spent her entire life trying to please, even after his death, knew about Dexter’s true nature; and had actually trained Dexter.

Although she tries like hell, Deb cannot watch Dexter 100% of the time. I am not sure what is going to happen between Dexter and Louis; after this episode, Louis is clearly not scared of Dexter. Even though Louis must know many dark things about Dexter’s past, he doesn’t seem phased by what he knows. This leaves two possibilities: Louis doesn’t know just how dangerous Dexter is, or Louis sees himself as more dangerous than Dexter. I am curious to see what comes of this.

A fun little turn of events was that Dexter did not kill anyone, but we did see a gruesome death. A mob boss by the name of Isaac, played by Ray Stevenson, murdered a bouncer by stabbing him in the eye with a screwdriver! Holy shit! This was so quick and unexpected, that I got a little bit nauseous. That is how you know this was a good episode; if you feel a little bit sick at the end.

When Dexter told Deb that he’d already tried to quit before and it didn’t work, her response was something I hadn’t really considered before. We all assume that since Harry had to nurture Dexter’s urges and teach him how to use them in a more positive (uh…ish) way, that there was simply no way he could help himself. However, Deb tells Dexter that since their dad helped him to become this sick man, it might be solely because of that, that he cannot stop. Harry didn’t tell Dexter to stop killing; he told Dexter to be picky about his victims, how to clean up after himself, and how to avoid getting caught. He used his son’s illness as a means to get revenge on the criminals who slipped through the cracks in the judicial system. If Harry had tried to get Dexter help, who knows how he would have turned out? I do not think that as his age, Dexter can change his entire way of thinking… his need. I know that Deb wants to see the good in him, though.

This was a very fun episode for me to watch. Being a huge Dexter fan, and having re-watched every single episode of the show recently, I can honestly say that I am excited for what’s to come this season. I had lost a lot of hope before the premiere, because of the lazy and poorly written previous seasons, but this one seems different. Different is what Dexter needed, no? What makes the boring episodes so lackluster? Normalcy and monotony. Here, we are getting some of the missing pieces to the puzzle that is Dexter Morgan… and I like it.

4/5 Grizzlies!