'Dexter' Recap: "Run"

Previously, on Dexter, Deb finally understood what Dexter does, why he kills when the system can’t touch other serial killers. She told him to move back to his own place and my understanding was that she was basically turning a blind eye on the whole thing.

ICYMI: Dexter Recap: “Buck the System”

According to Dexter, Deb’s accepts that he has to do what he does, but he’s not sure she accepts what he is, or that she ever will. Deb is at home, taking a bath with a beer while Dexter and Masuka investigate Speltzer’s crypt. They find nothing, but Dexter is more worried about him and Deb finding their way back to each other.

Back in Deb’s apartment, things are getting creepier. Her bathtub is suddenly filled with blood instead of water and a dressed up Dexter is standing that, asking if she will be his. Gross. Let’s not go down that path, please, show? He has a huge knife and the blood is overflowing from the bathtub. Deb tries closing the faucet but she can’t. She wakes up and water is actually overflowing, but she manages to close it this time.

Next morning she’s at the station and she wants to talk to Dexter. They go back to their little hallway outside, it’s very narrow and uncomfortable looking which I guess it’s fitting. Deb wants to talk about Rita, why Trinity killed her, why was Dexter going after him if he knew about his family? Did he really love Rita? Is he even capable of love? Her tells her he loves her. Asks her if she ever doubted he loved her before she knew and why it’s so different now. But Batista calls her, they found Speltzer. He’s in the interrogation room but they have nothing on him, so they need a confession or he walks.

At the stripper club, the Russians have a file on Dexter thanks to Louis. Isaac thinks he looks familiar. They make the connection between Louis and Dexter through Miami Metro. George is talking about how Viktor screwed them up but looks like he should shut up because Isaac is getting pissed off. But Quinn and a bunch of cops arrive and interrupt business as usual, George offers Quinn money and blow, he brushes him off. George doesn’t get why they are still doing this when they already have Viktor, but Isaac thinks not everyone at Miami Metro knows they have him, maybe Morgan is working alone. He wants to talk to him.

Batista is the one interrogating Speltzer. He’s pretending to trash talk Deb to get on his good side, saying he envies Speltzer for getting to hurt Deb. Deb is amused. Dexter sits back to watch Deb’s interrogation, Speltzer was his, but Deb needs him more than he does, and she needs to do it her way. So she’s working Speltzer up by talking about his mom since he’s pretending he has never seen Deb before. Finally he says “I should’ve killed you like I killed that other bitch.” And they’ve got him.

As they are leaving work, Dex wants to go for drinks but Deb isn’t in the mood to celebrate since the girl is still dead. Also, she’s been thinking about Rita a lot and how she’s dead because of Dexter, because he went after Trinity. And she thinks Harrison needs to move with Cody and Astor, with their grandparents, so he can be protected from Dexter. But Dex isn’t having any of that, his son needs him. He says he should have killed Trinity the first time he saw him, that that was his mistake. Deb says it’s not in his control but Dexter says everything is in his control and he’s not giving up his son.

The Russians are at the strip club’s bartender, Alex’s house. George and Isaac want to talk to him about giving his family a lot of money, including to his wife and kids who are still in Russia. In exchange for a small price of course: taking the blame for Mike’s death. Then killing himself. Or they will kill him anyway. So he does it, for his family.

Hannah shows up at the station, she wants to help them find the bodies, but she also heard that Dexter was the last person to talk to Wayne, you know before he threw himself in front of a truck. His last words were about Hannah, how everyday was like opening a present. She remembers when he got that fortune from a cookie. She misses how she felt with him on the road, like anything was possible. Meanwhile, Spelter never gave a verbal answer saying he understood his rights when he was arrested, which means his confession is worth nothing and again, he walks. Looks like a job for Dexter!

Back at Alex’s place, cops are at the scene, including Dexter. But Isaac is also there, watching from a distance. The gun Alex used to kill himself is the same kind that killed Mike, Masuka wants an investigation. Batista thinks it’s weird he left a letter apologizing to the dead stripper, but Quinn says it makes sense if he killed her.

Dexter gets home and Jaime is going through Harrison’s toys while he is a sleep since they’ve agreed to get rid of some. It gets him thinking about what Deb told him. He looks at the AC where his blood slides are. “Some toys are more difficult than others to part with. Next morning, he’s in his killer outfit at the cemetery. Dexter waits for Speltzer to leave and sneaks into his RV. The perfect kill room, since he can transport the body in it and everything. He looks around and finds the earrings, but Speltzer comes back. They struggle, but he manages to knock Dex unconscious. Shit.

When Dex wakes up again it looks like he’s underground somewhere. There’s a note for him, all is says is ‘Run’. But Dexter doesn’t run, he makes people run. He starts down a corridor and Speltzer shows up, bull mask on and axe in hand. “However I do run if there’s a bull coming after me with an axe.” Oh Dex. They run through Speltzer’s maze, Dex ends up at an elevator pit with Speltzer right after him. He jumps for the cables and slides down to the elevator car and manages to get away for now. But then he finds himself in a very creepy room, with blinking lights and filled with mannequins. One of them is wearing a bull hat. Dexter is going for it, but Speltzer is behind him. Just as he’s about to strike, Dexter strikes first and they are on the floor.

But Speltzer is strong, so he manages to push Dexter off him and get away. Dex is after him, he is at a stairwell and the way up is blocked, clearly he’s supposed to go down, so he goes up instead. They are both on a rooftop, Dex jumps onto the next one, makes his way down to the street and jumps onto a passing truck, finally getting away. But Speltzer knows his face now, if he wants to get him, he will have to be smarter. He needs to make sure he has nothing to lose.

Back home, Jaime is ready to take Harrison up to Orlando to be with his grandparents for a week. Only until he is done with Speltzer, then Harrison is coming back home where he belongs.

Meanwhile, Isaac is at Viktor’s apartment, never mind that it’s a sealed crime scene. He picks up a picture and opens the frame, hidden behind it is another picture. A picture of Isaac himself, and Viktor. Daddy? He promises to avenge Viktor’s death.

They are having a funeral for Melanie, the girl Speltzer killed. Deb and Batista are there, and across the way is Speltzer. Deb sees him and starts toward him. She takes off her heels, she means business this time. She yells at him and throws a shoe at him but Batista pulls her away. “I’ll see you around” creeper Speltzer calls.

Back at her apartment, Dex is there. He asks what happened and Deb is shaking and crying with anger, “I went to fucking kill him.” She tells Dex, he just stares at her. She yells at Dexter, asks if he went there to prove some point that everyone wants someone dead. He says he went to see how she is, that nothing has changed. She just knows more about him. But what she knows makes him a completely different person. He’s still her brother, who will always be there for her, maybe the question is if she will be there for him. She doesn’t know if she can feel the same way about them. “I do.” Dexter tells her, awkward pause. “I do. And I don’t do.” Deb says before opening the door for him to leave and walking away.

Back at the station, Batista is still not sure Alex is the one to blame for Mike’s death. Quinn is pushing him to believe it, all the evidence proves it was him. Batista wants to go by the club one more time, Quinn agrees but not tonight. Batista is on to him and he tells him about Nadia, they agree on going to the club the next day.

Dexter is back at the cemetery, Speltzer sees him. Flight or fight? Dex left a note for him, it says ‘stay’. A second later, he knocks him out and into a grave. When he wakes up again, he’s tied down in Dexter’s table. This time, Dex doesn’t take his trophy. There’s no plastic on the table either. They are at the crematory, apparently. Dexter puts a stake through Speltzer’s heart, a different method than his usual one too. He brought his box of blood slides. And he burns it alone with Speltzer’s body. It’s time for everyone to move on.

He’s outside, watching the smoke from the crematory when a car pulls up. It’s Deb. He wasn’t sure she’d come. She asks what they are doing there and he tells her that that smoke is Speltzer. She asks if he did this for her. No. He asks her how does she feel. “Glad.” She’s not sure what that makes her, Dex tells her it makes her human.

No idea how things between the two of them will go from here, but it looks like Deb is a lot more accepting now. Unlike most episodes, this one doesn’t have an end narration by Dexter, which makes sense with how he didn’t kill Speltzer the usual way. And how everything is different now.