"Dex Will Tremble To Take Us."

Dexter

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Mr. Stupidhead: B | Grade It Now!

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"Dex Will Tremble To Take Us."

By Mr. Stupidhead | Season 2 | Episode 1 | Aired on 09.29.2007

In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description!

So, it's been just over a month since Dexter killed his biological brother, Brian, who was also known as the Ice Truck Killer. Dexter is feeling tense, as he hasn't had an opportunity to do any killing since then. There are a few reasons for this: 1) Doakes has been shadowing him ever since, because he's a persistent motherfucker, and 2) killing the only person who truly accepted him for who and what he actually is has left him feeling a bit impotent, as is evidenced with an impromptu make-out session with Rita that ends up being a fruitless endeavor.

In order to throw Doakes off of his scent, Dexter feigns interest in his bowling league, and presents the image of a guy on the straight and narrow. Once he figures out how to get him off his back, however, Dexter finds a voodoo shopkeeper who's been disposing of his foes with Ricin powder to prepare for a long oceanic nap. At the last minute, Dexter is unable to do the deed, leaving himself and his audience feeling disappointed, to say the least. At least the guy is blind and wouldn't be able to finger Dex in a lineup.

Adding to Dexter's stressed-out state is the fact that his PTSD'd sister, Deb, has been crashing at his place since her fiancé, Brian, abducted her and revealed that he was the Ice Truck Killer. Totally not dealing with what happened to her, she works out at all hours of the night and early morning and ends up breaking some dude's nose just for touching her shoulder while she's out for a beer with Rita. I would expect this situation to be a problem, if it weren't totally overshadowed by the fact that divers who are looking for buried treasure in the ocean accidentally discover Dexter's watery graveyard, turning him into Miami's next big serial killer, as if the good people of the city hadn't had enough with the ITK.

Eager to get on with the killin', Dexter has found a hit-man from a local gang called The 29th Street Kings who has a habit of making sure that witnesses against him take a forever-nap. An unsteady Dexter gets "Little Chino" (a raging misnomer) prepped and wrapped, but is so rusty he doesn't realize that this "beef bus," as Deb calls him, isn't bound tightly enough, and after an altercation, the guy escapes, and Dex feels failure-tastic. Unfortunately, Little Chino is most certainly not blind, and this is yet another problem Dexter is definitely going to have to deal with, as if he doesn't have enough problems...

...You know, like the whole FIP situation. FIP keeps trying to convince Rita to help him get out of jail. Finally, she folds and admits that she found the shoe that proves that he was set up, and he's ecstatic until she reveals that she has no intention of divulging this fact to anyone because she has no interest in getting Dex in trouble. FIP predictably loses his shit, gets in a prison fight, and gets himself in a whole buttload of dead. At the end of the episode, a dejected Dexter, who is longing only for Rita's soft touch, finds her sneaking a cigarette and crying. Dex tries to comfort Rita by reminding her that Paul being in prison was his own fault, and she says, "Was it?" Oh, snap! I think she's on to him. If only that were Dexter's biggest problem...

Want more? The full recap starts right below!

Previously: Um, last season happened. What do you want from me? I already recapped this stuff, folks. Why should your laziness trump mine? Get reading! Or watching, if that's your thing. No, seriously, though: you probably wouldn't be reading this if you hadn't already watched the first season already. Don't like it? Don't email me.

We open facing up, out of Dexter's bag o' tricks, looking up at a ceiling fan. A hand puts some sort of cutting tool in the bag as Dexter VOs, "Tonight's the night." Really? Again? He continues loading various instruments, presumably "of death," into the bag. Then, in the car, totally mirroring the pilot episode: "...And it's going to happen again and again." Hmph. You seem pretty certain of...what exactly? That's a pretty weird thing to say and not follow up on. "Has to happen. It's not what I want, but what I want doesn't matter." This whole sequence has the exact same look as the pilot episode, obviously something they're going for as the opening VO is almost identical. Dex comes to a stop in the car and rolls forward. The camera stays still to reveal that Doakes is following him, looking pissed as usual. "This is the only way I know how to survive. I'm coiled and ready to strike." At this, we see Dexter's eyes, and hear the loud crash of a bowling ball hitting pins. The camera pans out and we see Dex, wearing a league bowling shirt, rolling his ball. He leaves one pin standing, and says, "A spare will do." He turns around, and Angel is telling him that was a "decent warm-up roll," and to remember to keep his arm loose. Masuka chimes in that he has to keep his "mind limber." "I'm doing mental jumping jacks," says Dex, trying to stay positive, or to at least appear that way.

"I'm on edge," Dex VOs as he waits for his ball to return. "Thirty-eight days, sixteen hours and twelve minutes have passed since I killed my brother, and that entire time I haven't had a single night to myself. Sergeant Doakes makes sure of that." He ain't lying, because there Doakes is at the bar, having a brewsky and watching Dexter like a hawk. "He follows me everywhere now, a human bloodhound incited by the scent of darkness." Dexter smiles at him while finishing, "My best hope of losing him is to act relentlessly normal. Dull. So I bowl." Dexter finishes off the last pin with deadly accuracy. "What's really disturbing is that I'm good at it." Heh, yeah you are. Angel and Masuka are psyched and there are high-fives all around. Dexter sits down and grabs a tool from his bag to clean out the finger-holes of his ball (ew!) (and, oh! That's what those tools were for). Angel sits down and starts telling Dex that he needs to focus because they're playing "The Alley Cats." Dexter looks at Doakes and tells Angel he's a little tense, but he'll try not to let the team down. Angel tells him to "think positive," and starts rambling about "energy and interconnectedness." "Angel lost someone, too," VOs Dexter. "When his wife left him. Now he's going toward the light, searching for answers. He found one on an Oprah rerun. I wish it were that easy for me." Angel's been talking this whole time, and finishes, "...Now we just gotta direct it to manifest what we want." He looks very serious. "Alright," says Dex.

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