Dexter’s sixth episode, “A Little Reflection” was by far the slowest and calmest of the firecracker season so far. It’s also halfway through the last season, a perfect time for the calm before the storm.
In a rare Dexter move, what we thought of as Season 8’s Big Bad is dispatched only six episodes in, meaning that the show’s focus will shift once again. This episode gives us two big, big clues about what the final 6 episodes have in store…although, this is Dexter’s and things are never as they seem.
Given this episode’s more meditative nature, I’ll go a different route this time and start with the side plots and wrap back around to the episode’s main theme: Zach Hamilton.
After weeks of Batista prepping Quinn to be promoted to sergeant, he chooses Angie Miller the job instead. At least Matthews is happy: she’s more competent, stabile and an African American woman to boot. That’s a win, win, win. But Quinn doesn’t take the news well, although he stills shows up to Angel’s party for his sister (and Quinn’s latest girlfriend) Jamie.
At that same party, things come to a head with Mazuka, who learns with Deb’s help that his daughter Nikki is broke. After offering her a large check, the usually pervy lab geek is officially sincere when he realizes his plan backfires and Nikki storms out, angry that her dad only thinks she’s after his money.
Oh, and we also learn that Dex is pretty bad at small talk and even worse at cooking steaks (“they taste like a**hole” as Deb delicately puts it), but the major focus was on Zach Hamilton, the son of a murder suspect from last week.
It seems that Zach is a young sociopath, a mirror image of teenage Dex. He knows it and does Vogel, who begins to treat him. It seems Quinn knows somethings up to and begins to follow Zach, although this is mostly to impress Batista. “If you dig deep enough on anyone in this department, you know what you find? The sh*t,” he says waiting in the car with Dexter while watching Zach snap creepy photos of a yoga class, “It’s there. We all got it. Big difference is some people get away with theirs. Some people don’t.” While Quinn hardly knows just how true that is, especially of the guy in his passenger seat, it raises some eyebrows about Quinn’s intentions.
After stalking Zach himself, and realizing he killed his dad’s mistress, Dexter plans to kill him. But Vogel disagrees and even broaches the idea of training him the same way Harry and her trained Dex. When he comes time to kill him, though, Dexter can’t go through with it – he sees too much in him, too much anger and unbridled frustration.
The last scene proves one more shift in the series that – although far from unexpected – was a welcome twist: Hannah McKay is back in Miami.
So, where do we stand? Dexter taking on an intern, so to speak, and teaching Zach The Code is a fascinating way to conclude the series. It’d bring together all that Dexter has learned and force him to examine his own motives even closer. But what about Dr. Vogel, who’s secrets are starting to bubble up? And what about Hannah McKay who is both Dexter’s soul mate and potential kryptonite?
It’s also worth noting that rumors have swirled this week that Showtime might be planning a Dexter spin-off. Whether this is a good idea or not (probably the latter), there are many options to go for: A Batista-centered cop show? A spin-off focused on Zach, another apprentice of The Code? Or a Black Widow narrative with McKay? Right now, I think the best option would be Mazuka taking over from Dave Attell as the host of Showtime’s Old Porn. Leave a comment with your best guess (or the funniest) and i'll put them in next week's recap.
Dexter airs each Sunday at 9/8 central on Showtime.