...which is confirmed when, as we cut to a crime scene on which are several firemen, DVO tells us that he should be rooting for the assassins to take Isaak Pullo out, but he isn't, although he's not sure whether it's merely because he wants Isaak Pullo for himself, or if it's that they're more alike that he cares to admit. For now, though, we have a crime to focus on, as we see a burned-out car with one of the crispier extras from the "Thriller" video in the driver's seat. Dexter finds the MM gang all there, and, squatting down next to the driver, he asks Batista if he minds if he takes a look - whereupon a shortish balding guy pops up on the passenger side and says he'd rather Dexter didn't, "at least until I'm done here." Batista giggles - yeah, HILARIOUS gag, dude - and explains that the guy is an arson investigator; the guy pipes up that there's an empty canister of accelerant under the passenger's seat, an oily residue all over the car's interior, and an ID badge.

Deb then turns up, and after the guy once again does his little Whack-A-Mole pop-up, scaring a "Holy fillet of fuck!" out of Deb, he reminds her that his name is "Phil Bosso" and that they met a little while ago. "That church burning?" So this guy has immediate potential to connect to Dexter's secret. Excellent. Deb, of course, has been through so much with Dexter this season that she doesn't even bat an eye at that, instead turning to Batista, and by the way, didn't all the tears shed over the restaurant suggest that Batista was leaving MM? Along with HIM SAYING THAT HE WAS RETIRING? I mean, I don't really care - I barely notice him one way or the other - but there has to be a ghost of a point to all that or I'll be annoyed on GPs.

Anyway, the victim was an Asian paralegal; Whack-A-Phil concludes that it looks like a suicide, whereupon Masuka sighs, "Self-immolation. What is it with my people?" Don't get my hopes up, guy. Whack-A-Phil offhandedly informs Masuka that the term he's looking for is "self-incineration," as "immolation" can refer to any form of sacrifice. Well, that's true, but since one definition of "immolate" is "to destroy by fire," I have to defend Masuka's usage as acceptable, much as it pains me. I wonder, though, if Whack-A-Phil's implication that the death was a sacrifice is significant. Anyway, Dexter notes that the burn rate behind the driver is different from that of the rest of the car, prompting Whack-A-Phil to ask if Dexter's the blood guy; when Dexter affirms that, the guy snarks, "Exactly." Rude! Also, Whack-A-Phil, you can stay.