Previously, Dexter spent the whole season a) dithering endlessly with his voice-over and his subconscious manifesting as his dead father about whether having a family is too much of a burden, and b) not killing Arthur Mitchell, a.k.a. the Trinity killer. He did stake him out for a while, though, and when his alias was punctured, Arthur was able to follow him right into the middle of his workplace.

We open exactly where we left off last week, with Arthur smugly staring down a pants-crapping Dexter. I mentioned this a lot last week, but I totally love how there is no effort made to conceal the fact that John Lithgow has a good half a foot (at least) on Michael C. Hall, and in fact, they're accentuating it. Dexter is just dwarfed here, in every respect (including, sad to say, in intellect; and that's not exactly calling Trinity brilliant). DVO freaks out as Dexter sees Angel walking by, so he tells this terribly imposing stranger that he must be on the wrong floor. Arthur knows he's got the advantage, though, and proceeds to nose around. The one advantage Dexter has maintained is that Arthur is misapprehending his endgame. He still thinks Dexter wants to extort money from him. Dexter asks what he wants, and Arthur replies he simply wants Dexter to get out of his life. "And you'll stay out of mine?" Dexter asks (nearly pleads, but he holds it together). "I couldn't care less about your life," Arthur sniffs. "Or death. Unless you get in my way." Arthur smiles at him, advises he give up vigilantism, and shakes his hand, making sure to again call him "Dexter Morgan." He knows him now.

Arthur's barely in the elevator before DVO is self-flagellating for letting things come to this point, before vowing once again to kill Trinity NO SERIOUSLY HE MEANS IT TONIGHT TODAY RIGHT NOW LOOK HE'S GOING! He pulls a syringe out of the back of a file drawer of his office (love that!) and takes the parking lot at a run. Unfortunately he runs across one Joey Quinn, who's still in a snit about his girlfriend turning out to be a lying murderer who killed herself. Tell it to your shrink, pussy. Anyway, Quinn bitches about Dexter once again leaving work for no reason and tells him he needs to sign off on Christine's spatter report. Dexter says she's not going anywhere, but Quinn is anxious to put the whole mess behind him, and why should he have to wait just so Dex can go chase some midday tail. Dexter is seriously in no mood to have his devotion to his family questioned and says so. He tries to push past, but Quinn grabs him, and Dexter throws him to the ground. NOT TODAY! PEOPLE TO KILL! FOR REALSIES!