I love it when my shows leak. I really love it when Deb screams inappropriate things in front of her boss without realizing it (which seems to happen a lot...) I don't so much love seeing that much of Julie Benz, but if I must have nekkid!JB in order to get my Dexter fix, it's not like it's a real cross to bear.


DEXTER: Our Father

Previously on DEXTER: Dex has a dad, Harry, who took him in after his mom, Laura got killed. Harry was totally banging Laura. Meanwhile, Dex was a serial killer. Harry killed himself, leaving behind a psycho killer (Dex) and a well-adjusted daughter (Deb). The psycho grew up to be a well-off dude with a nice girlfriend and two foster kids, the well-adjusted daughter grew up to be an alcoholic smoker with a string of one-night stands and a desperate need to get a detective shield in order to prove herself to the father she felt never really accepted her.

Because life is fair like that.

This Season on DEXTER:

Dex is out of the funk he was in last season, and is livin' the good life. Sex with Rita, going to Dad Day at the kids' school, doing well at work, and of course taking some time for his little hobby. Deb is also in less of a funk, because her boyfriend from last season didn't try to cut her up into small pieces, he just dumped her and ran away to Canada. Angel's also doing well for himself, because he gets a promotion: he's the new Sgt! Go him! Deb thinks this means she's a lock for her shield.

But it all goes downhill quick when Dex enters the house of a murderer/drug dealer called Freebo to off him, and winds up accidentally killing Oscar Prado instead, baby brother to renowned prosecutor Miguel Prado, who just happens to be BFFs with Laguerta. Everyone is saying that Oscar was a hero who went to Feebo's house to confront him about selling drugs to kids, or something, but Deb turns up an interesting fact: Oscar was a junkie.

Unfortunately, she shouts this aloud well within hearing of Laguerta and Miguel. Laguerta manipulates Angel into kicking Deb off the Prado case and onto some Jane Doe.

Weirdly, Jane Doe turns out to be Teagan, Freebo's girlfriend. She has a piece of skin removed from her shoulder, which everyone finds weird, including Dexter.

Dex spends the whole episode trying to prove that Oscar was guilty of something so he can feel better inside, but aside from the junkie thing, comes up with zilch. He may be Miguel's new BFF, though.

An IA agent repeatedly approaches Deb to get close to the new boy, Quinn, but Deb repeatedly turns her (Yuko?) down.

Dex tells Deb she's beautiful, which might make her feel bad for falling off the wagon and hitting the bar hard with Angel after he kicks her off the Prado case, but probably not. At least she hasn't had a one-night stand yet? With Quinn? Or Angel? Or anyone?

Meanwhile, Rita is pregnant. No really. Dex is gonna be a dad. FOR REALZ. The downside? Auntie Debra. "What's wrong with giving the five year old a gun? I took the bullets out!"


THEORIES & SPECULATION

Ummm. Deb will get her shield this season. There's some serious weirdness going on with Oscar, Teagan, and Freebo, and Dex and Deb are the only ones good enough to get to the bottom of it. So... don't look at me to figure it out, I'm just a lazy college student. oh shit my thesis ;_;

Laguerta will be an unhinged hardass. Oh wait, that happens every season.

Debra/Angel. IT MAKES SENSE.

Jimmy Smitts will figure some stuff out.

Deb may sell out her boys to get the shield. I'm suspecting her arc this season will have to do with her loyalty to the team v. her loyalty to the memory of her father.

Dex will never truly get over Harry. But he'll think he has ;)


MY TAKE

I loved it, as per usual. I'm so glad to see Lila and Doakes gone. It's like... it's clean now. Not that Doakes didn't have his moments, but for the most part he just kinda annoyed me. He was also total eye candy but that's not why I watch this show >[ The whole thing felt lighter, more free, and just happier than I think it's ever felt before. And I really loved that feeling. Not that I don't trust them not to introduce a character I loathe before the end of the season, but for now I'll enjoy the feeling of actually liking all the characters.

I'm curious about the mystery they're setting up - obviously, there has to be more to it than just "druggie went to kill drug dealer for money, druggie got killed, dealer got away and murdered his gf." I really don't know where they're going with it, but it seems to be a mystery that doesn't actually tie in to the Morgan family in a deeply personal way, which may allow them to grow in different ways than they have in previous seasons. Obviously, Dexter is trying to "become his own man" as Deb says, and break away from the Code of Harry, but as he himself admits: he needs the Code now more than ever. It'll be fun to see him struggle with that.

As for Deb, she seems to be trying to clean herself up, but none of that matters if she can't play the politics game. I'm worried that she'll wind up selling out her boys and her principles in order to get a promotion, which will make me sad. She has such a great relationship with Angel and Masuka that I'd hate to see it compromised by her becoming a spy for IA. Even after Angel kicked her off the case, she understood why he did it and that it was mostly Laguerta and they could still be friends with each other.

I wonder what Quinn did to have IA on his ass?

That shot of Laguerta watching the rest of the team get into the elevator was weird. I wonder what's going on with her? She lost Doakes last season, and I'm wondering if she'll be continuing to try to prove his innocence, or if she has something weird against Deb for being nice to her about it. She never liked Deb, but she was really sort of cruel to her this whole ep, and at the end she looked really unhappy that Deb and Angel were still friends. Hmmmm... Oh, Laguerta, what goes on in your mind?

As for the big reveal at the end, I totally saw it coming, ever since they said there'd be a big reveal at the end of episode 1. But it'll be very... interesting to see where that goes. I'm especially looking forward to Deb and Angel's reactions. I bet they make fun of him ;)

And as we all know (or maybe you don't...? But I'm telling you now! *innocent face*), Dex and Deb are my favorite characters and theirs is the relationship I watch the show for. I see their attitudes towards Harry driving them apart this season as Deb struggles more and more to please Harry while Dex purposefully drives a wedge between himself and Our Father (yay for not-so-subtle title-insertion). But it was nice to see them have a moment at the end. He even called her beautiful :) It made me go awwwwww.

The hair thing was interesting, and I'm wondering if JC got the haircut and then they wrote the episode, or if JC got the haircut for the episode. I really liked it when Quinn told her it made her look younger and she got all scared and cried, "I don't wanna look younger!" LOL, ILU and your issues, Deb.


All in all, an AWESOME opener to S3 and I can't wait til October for more!

And now, on a totally different note...


PSYCH: Talk Derby To Me

Really, all I gotta say is the not-hand-holding was less of a shocker but just as excellent as the close talking. This episode was jam-packed with Jawny goodness and I adored every second of it.

Also? Elephant theft is on the rise. Watch out, people.

And yes, I'm aware that this has been the lamest Psych recap ever.