Hoo-kay, so last time: Everyone was looking for drug dealer Freebo, but Dexter found him first, and killed him, but ADA Prado caught Dex doing it, but he was actually happy about that, because he thought Freebo killed his brother, even though that was actually Dexter's doing too. And Rita's pregnant.
We open this week in a grocery store with Rita and the kids, where Dexter is imagining some kind of shopping-as-hunting metaphor to cover the fact that this particular king of the jungle is becoming hopelessly domesticated. He catches a guy about his own age chatting with Astor, and immediately senses a "predator." Creepy.
Prado comes into the squadroom, and he's looking pretty happy about the end of Freebo, even though he can't tell anyone about it. He invites Dexter out to some sort of cultural festival that night, having already okayed it with Rita. Deb comes in and says that another body's been found, of a Freebo associate named Javier, killed in the same way they think Freebo killed Teegan. Since Freebo isn't around anymore, he couldn't have done it, but only Dex and Prado know that. Of course, there's been no proof that Freebo actually killed Teegan, either. It's all very complicated, and -- sorry to say -- just a little boring.
Dexter lets Deb know that Rita's pregnant. She's flabbergasted, but happy, and congratulates him on his future "motherf&ckin' roly-poly chubby-cheeked shit machine." The lady has a way with words. Dexter seems to wish he were as happy as everyone else is about the situation.
Rita's been to the doctor, and there are forms for them both to fill out. But as an adoptee, Dex doesn't know anything about his medical history, other than that his mother was a drug addict killed by a chainsaw, and his brother was killed by him. So he offers to see a doctor and get himself checked out. He has some sort of body scan, and it causes him to remember that when he was a kid his father had his brain scanned, and showed him how it was similar to that of a serial killer. Later, at prenatal yoga class, he's told to send "positive intentions" to the baby, but he's afraid he doesn't have any.
At the festival, Prado introduces Dexter to his brother, Ramon -- the one from the sheriff's department. Ramon immediately gives Dexter grief for being part of the team that can't find their other brother's killer -- not knowing, as Prado does, that Dexter killed Freebo himself. When they're alone together, Prado seems to be having doubts about Dexter. But he just wants to be sure that Dex is upset about the killing, and isn't some cold, crazed murderer who does that sort of thing all the time.
Dexter goes back to his apartment, where, to his surprise, Prado shows up with a bottle of rum. This is a guy who wants a friend. He gets drunk and talks about his alcoholic father. Dexter relates, and admits for the first time that his own adoptive father was "disgusted" by him.
Based on their newfound cameraderie, Prado suggests that the two of them dump Freebo's body together. Of course, Dex has already gotten rid of it. Now Prado wants to see it. "You're not in this alone," Prado says, which is the last thing Dex wants to hear. He says that he's snuck it under a casket in a newly filled-in grave, and has to convince Prado not to try to exhume it. But Prado agrees, though he insists on trying to help the police by steering their investigation in a non-Freebo direction.
Deb tracks down Anton, the snitch, in a coffeehouse to find out about the dead guy. He's angry that she keeps questioning him, and lights a joint to get rid of her. She doesn't back down, and arrests him for drug possession. Back at the stationhouse, this makes Quinn furious -- we suspect because he has something going on with Anton that he doesn't want anyone to know about.
At the beach, Nathan, the guy from the grocery store, is taking photos of the family, or maybe just Astor. Dexter had written down his license-plate number at the store and gotten all his information from the police database, so he's ready to take care of things if necessary. Later, he catches the guy taking photos of kids outside a school. Nathan admits that he had "a problem" once, but says he's changed. Dexter knows better than anyone that people don't change their basic nature, though. But as much as he'd like to do away with the problem in his usual way, as far as he knows Nathan has never killed anyone, and thus is off limits according to his code.
The whole "Chicky Heinz" situation comes up again, as new evidence seems to exonerate the man Prado had sent to prison. LaGuerta asks if he'd contacted a witness who could have helped shed light on the situation, and Prado said it didn't come to anything. He's clearly hiding something -- yet we still don't know what this particular subplot has to do with anything else, and until we do we're kind of tired of hearing about it.
Dex admits to Deb that he may not stick around to raise the baby, because he doesn't think he'll be a good father. Deb thinks that's ridiculous -- of course, she doesn't know her brother nearly as well as she thinks she does. Although... he's a pretty good dad to Rita's kids, despite being a psychopath. Maybe that second part doesn't matter.
Meanwhile, he tries to solve his problem with Prado by covertly feeding Deb the information that her "Jane Doe" was Teegan Campbell. That leads the detectives to the apartment where Freebo was staying, where there's evidence that Freebo may not have killed Teegan, meaning someone else probably killed Javier as well.
Dexter thinks Prado will consider this to be good news, and he does. But he's worried that Dex still doesn't seem to trust him. So he gives his new pal the bloody shirt that proves he was there the night Dex killed Freebo, which would make him an accessory after the fact if he ever turned Dex in. It's a nice gesture, trust-wise, but it means Prado intends to stick around in Dex's life. And while Dex might like to have a friend, it could cramp his style, serial-killing-wise.
Deb goes to a nightclub to make nice with Anton the snitch, and he plays her an insulting song in Spanish. She doesn't seem to care, though, because she's cool like that, and he seems to appreciate how she handles it. So it looks like there could be some inappropriate sparks between the two of them. (In season one, Deb fell for a killer; in season two, her supervisor -- this year, why not a drug-addicted snitch?)
Dexter sneaks into Nathan's house at night and catches him looking at photos of Astor on his computer. This makes him so furious that his code flies right out the window. Without any preparation or protection, he strangles the guy. "Nobody hurts my children," he says.
As he drags out the body, he stops to steal some milk from the fridge for Astor and Cody. See? A good dad. And when he gets to Rita's, he can finally send some positive intentions to the baby.
Previously:
Dexter: Finding Freebo