Can Dexter top its success so far? Will the storyline continue to grip viewers? From the looks of the trailer, I’d imagine Season 5 will be as great as the previous four.

Also check the Dexter sneak peek below.

The show premieres on Showtime on September 26 at 9/8c.

Post from: EveryJoe

First of all, Debra continued her investigation into her father’s past and finally came upon the file of Laura Moser.  She learned that Laura was the biological mother of both Dexter and Brian Moser, The Ice Truck Killer.  She had been engaged to Brian and felt like she must be defective in some way to attract a serial killer and also be fooled by him enough to not be suspicious of him.  She really doubted herself as a police officer after that (fortunately, she seems to have recovered in a major way). 

The department realized that they had been deliberately mislead and had been sent on a wild goose chase by someone who had gone through a lot of trouble to keep them from discovering Arthur.  The search for the real Trinity resumed and, with some help with the child who survived being abducted by Arthur, they put the pieces together and raided Arthur’s home.  Dexter (as Kyle) was already there talking to the family and hid when he saw the cops approaching.  After Arthur’s family was taken away by the police, Deb told Dexter what she learned about his mother and he successfully pretended to be shocked.  He told her that it wasn’t her fault that she attracted Brian and told her that it was because of him that she was put in harms way.  She told him that he was the only good thing in her life and he felt hopeful that he wasn’t such a bad person.

After some failed attempts, Dexter was able to capture Arthur who asked to listen to his favorite song as he knew that Dexter was about to kill him and put an end to Trinity’s reign of terror.  Poetically, Dexter used the hammer that Arthur had given him (the same tool he had used in his own murders) to end his life and it seemed like the episode was about to have a nice tidy ending.

Meanwhile, Rita had sent the kids off to visit with their grandparents since she and Dexter would be taking Harrison with them on a delayed honeymoon.  He told her to take an earlier flight so that he could wrap up some loose ends (he needed to kill Trinity) and promised he would catch a later flight.  He put Rita and their baby in a taxi and watched them leave for the airport.

Later, after he returned home and noticed that he had a message on his machine.  He was excitedly getting his bags since he couldn’t wait to reunite with his wife and baby.  The message was from Rita who said that she had left her purse at the house and was on her way back but was looking forward to seeing him later that night.  He smiled and called her and was shocked when he heard her phone ringing.  He followed the sound and discovered her purse sitting in the kitchen and turned just as he heard Harrison’s cries.  He ran to the baby and discovered him sitting in a pool of blood – reminiscent to the way Dexter was found by Harry after his mother’s murder.  Of course, Dexter (and the stunned audience) realized that this must mean that Rita was dead and, sure enough, Dexter turns to find her in the bathtub filled with blood in the same way that Trinity had killed so many women.

And there you have it.  What are your thoughts?  I can’t believe this happened!  I was never a huge fan of Rita’s but I don’t know if I wanted her to die!  What is going to happen?  Is Dexter going to abandon the kids since he now believes that he can only bring harm to them?  Should he run off?  What are Deb and his fellow colleagues going to think about this?  It’s insane!

Post from: EveryJoe

Where to start… okay, LaGuerta and Batista are found out after a surveillance camera shows them making out in a liquor store before a robbery.  They get threatened with disciplinary action and, in retaliation, they get married and basically challenge the brass to condemn them for being husband and wife.  Of course, LaGuerta ends up looking as though she is wondering if they sealed the deal for the right reasons (plus, the wedding was pretty crappy since they did it in her office with just Dexter as their witness).

Rita confesses to Dexter that she kissed Elliott and is disappointed when Dexter doesn’t act jealous and just goes to sleep.  Masuka is relieved to learn that Rita is confessed since he’s been carrying around the secret since he saw them kissing through the window on Thanksgiving.  Dexter comes home from work and sees Elliott sitting on his porch and he goes over to him, tells him to stay away from his wife and punches him in the face.  Rita is happy since it showed that Dexter actually cares.

That’s all nice and everything but what I was really waiting for was the storyline with Christine, Arthur/Trinity, Debra and Dexter.  Trinity is intent on finding “Kyle Butler” and ends up killing someone by that name.  When Dexter is called to the scene of the murder, he realizes what is going on and he immediately sets out to try to catch Trinity at the next Kyle Butler’s house but it doesn’t pan out.

Meanwhile, Christine is being questioned while in police custody since they know that she is Trinity’s daughter.  She doesn’t reveal anything but they find postcards in her apartment from the locations where the killings have taken place over the years.  They release her in hopes that she will lead them to her murderous father but when she calls him, he tells her to never call him again and that he wishes that she was never born.

At the same time, Dexter doesn’t want them to figure out Trinity’s true identity and he kills a guy who got off on a crime and makes it look like he’s the serial killer.  Deb is confused by it all but accepts all of the evidence that her brother so craftily planted.  At Christine’s apartment, Deb tells her that they’ve found out who her father is and when the name doesn’t match, Christine doesn’t correct her (which sucks).  She confesses to killing Lundy and shooting Deb and then asks for Deb’s forgiveness.  When Deb refuses to forgive her, Christine shoots herself, committing suicide right in front of Deb.  How nice.  Christine couldn’t be happy with murdering Deb’s lover but she had to traumatize the woman by killing herself in her presence after asking for forgiveness.  Classy, folks…

Trinity proved that he’s one step ahead of Dexter by luring him to the same arcade where he abducted that kid from last episode.  Dexter takes the bait and goes to the arcade looking for him but he can’t find him.  Before he can figure it out, he’s distracted by Deb’s call and heads to the police station to console her.  Of course, Trinity steps out of the shadows and follows him.  He’s surprised to end up at the Miami police department and after stealing a visitor’s badge, Trinity walks right into the territory of the men and women who are hunting him.  He spots a picture of Dexter on a wall and learns that he works in Homicide.  When he gets into the department, he takes a moment to look over the photos from his crimes that have been put up in the room where they search for clues in the Trinity murders.  He seems to get off on it and it’s really just gross.  When he heads into the right area, he and Dexter make eye contact and after our favorite blood splatter analyst hurries over to stand in front of him, Trinity lifts the name tag from his chest and says “hello, Dexter Morgan.”

Yeah, pretty crazy.  Now Trinity knows Dexter’s real identity which is going to make the end of this season intense.  He could totally threaten to go after Rita and the kids and what could Dexter do?  Nothing.  It’s going to be very interesting to see how this ends.

image: Showtime

Post from: EveryJoe

image: Showtime

Deb agrees to sit down with this witch and she asks Batista to watch the exchange, secretly of course.  When Deb pulls out the post-mortem pictures of Lundy from the crime scene, Christine abruptly ends the interview and leaves – but not before Batista and Deb catch her in a lie about how she ended up at the crime scene so quickly.  The cops decide to investigate without telling Quinn but Deb eventually asks her partner for help.  He gives her a toothbrush that Christine has left at his house.

Meanwhile, Dexter follows Arthur/Trinity as he stalks his next prey.  He kidnaps a 10-year-old boy from an arcade.  Dexter tries to follow them but Arthur gets away.  Dexter is confused by this since it seems inconsistent with Trinity’s pattern but when he does a little digging, he discovers that the killing cycles always begin with the abduction of a little boy.  He begins searching for where Trinity could be hiding the kid and he continuously comes up empty.

Christine realizes that she’s under suspicion and she tries to reach out to her father for help.  He brushes her off but when she leaves him a message about a woman in a bathtub of blood, he agrees to meet her.  She tells him that she’s always known he was the Trinity Killer and when she realized that Lundy was getting close to discovering his true identity, she killed him to protect her father.  Arthur is shocked but pretends to be flattered by the fact that his daughter put herself at risk to try to keep her father from being captured.  He tells her to go home and wait for him but his anger is revealed when he’s back in his truck alone.  I can’t even repeat what he said about her.

LaGuerta and Batista are still going strong and Masuka tries to tell Dexter about Rita’s cheating but the timing is never right.

Dexter, with the help of Arthur’s son, Jonah, discovers that the serial killer is likely holding the boy captive in an empty house.  He finally finds the right one but it’s clear that he’s just missed them.  He notices some powder and realizes that Arthur has probably taken Scott to a build site with the intention of encasing the boy in cement.  He finds them just in time and, after hitting Arthur with a shovel, Dexter is able to free the boy.  Unfortunately, he sees that Arthur has managed to get away.

Towards the end of the episode, Masuka’s DNA analysis shows that Christine is actually related to Trinity.  It’s a huge break and the cops mobilize.  At home, the skanky reporter goes to the door thinking her father has arrived and is stunned to see Deb, Batista and Quinn waiting for her.  They take her into custody and Quinn looks pretty grossed out.  Dumbass.

The episode ends with Dexter holding baby Harrison and reassuring him that no one will ever hurt him again – including his father.

Post from: EveryJoe

A decade ago, Batista promised a man that he would find his wife’s killer and, after the culprit is finally brought into the station, Batista visits the man only to find him in a vegetative state in the hospital.  It reminded Batista that life is too short so he declared his love for LaGuerta, saying it loud enough for anyone to hear.  I guess he’s not worried about any disciplinary action from the brass.  If they got married, wouldn’t their relationship be a non-issue in the department?

It’s Thanksgiving and everyone is getting ready to celebrate.  Dexter wants to check on Trinity so he tells Rita that he’s got some police work to handle to explain his absence.  He promises to be back for dinner, though, leaving her with the flirty neighbor, Elliott.  Deb and Masuka are also at the Morgan’s home for the holiday and, unfortunately, Masuka has the misfortune of seeing Elliott kissing Rita through a window.  Since he’s fairly close to Dexter, I’m sure he’s going to have a hard time keeping that to himself.  Rita definitely kissed him back until she came to her senses and broke away.

Quinn and his nasty reporter girlfriend, Christine, spend the holiday together but not before she has what seems like a heartfelt moment with Deb.  She tells Deb that she’s so sorry for what she’s gone through and sympathizes about the detective’s misfortune of watching the man that she loves taking his last breath.  Deb thinks nothing of it until later she realizes that she never told anyone about that horrible moment.  Deb calls Quinn to ask if he’s told Christine about any of it and he says no so she realizes that Christine must have some other reason for knowing about it.

Trinity/Arthur is not expecting Dexter to show up for Thanksgiving dinner which meant that his son, Jonah, never mentioned inviting him.  The atmosphere is really tense, especially after Jonah reveals that his father’s car was damaged while in his possession.  The whole family is completely nuts but things get really out of hand after Arthur breaks Jonah’s finger and they fight at the dinner table.

Arthur complains that no one says that they are grateful to have him in their lives and Jonah loses it.  He starts breaking things, including the urn holding Vera’s ashes.  Arthur goes nuts and attacks Jonah and, after no one does anything to break it up, Dexter takes off his belt, loops it around Arthur’s neck and drags him into the kitchen.  He grabs a knife and just when he says “I should have killed you when I had a chance” the family barges in and the wife and daughter run to Arthur’s side protectively.  So weird… Dexter leaves and goes home for dinner.

Rita acts as though nothing has happened and doesn’t tell him about kissing Elliott and, as they are sitting down to eat, Cody says that he’s thankful for Dexter.  This brings a smile to our favorite serial killer’s face, of course.

The big twist, though, comes after Quinn says goodnight to Christine.  He leaves her at her apartment and when there’s a knock on the door, she assumes it’s Quinn but it’s not – Trinity is standing there at the door when she opens it.  She greets him by saying “hey dad” so, of course, this is an important revelation.  It ties in with Deb’s suspicions earlier.  Maybe Christine is the one who shot her.

images: Showtime

Post from: EveryJoe

LaGuerta and Batista continued to have a hard time being around each other without ripping each other’s clothes off.  Eventually, the inevitable happened and they got it on in one of the conference rooms.  Of course, they are risking their careers but sometimes love is more important, right?

Quinn’s suspicions about Dexter are growing.  He commented on the fact that the blood spatter analyst always takes his lunch break off campus (that’s not true, is it?) and then he was intrigued when Masuka told him that Dexter cheated on Rita once with the very insane Lila (thank goodness she’s gone!).   Meanwhile, his nasty reporter girlfriend, Christine, snooped around and discovered that Miami Homicide is doing random swap tests on drivers in hopes of finding a genetic match for the Trinity Killer.

Which brings us to Debra.  She’s discovered that she could not have been shot by the Trinity Killer because of the trajectory of the bullet that hit her.  The person hit her straight-on but if Trinity had shot her the bullet would have had a downward trajectory because of his height.  This revelation means that Debra is free to work on the Trinity case and finish Frank Lundy’s work (she’s the one who suggested the mouth swabs) but it also raises the question of who shot her.  I’m thinking Anton saw her coming out of the hotel with Lundy and shot them both.  He wounded her, sparing her life, and killed the older agent out of jealousy.

Dexter found a way to get closer to Trinity, a.k.a Arthur, and invited himself along on a road trip to Tampa where Arthur said he was going to build housing for the needy.  Dexter told him that he had accidentally killed a man and that seemed to open some rift between them.  Without any real warning, Arthur took Dexter back to his childhood home and showed him the bathroom where his sister died.  He explained that he was just 10 years old and was innocently looking at her in the shower.  She freaked out, slipped and shattered the shower doors which cut her leg and caused her to bleed out before the paramedics could arrive.  He went on to say that his mother committed suicide and left him with an abusive father who he said died without any further explanation.  Arthur then tried to kill himself by jumping off of a building but Dexter saved him.

While Dexter was away, Rita got close with a male neighbor while doing some activities with their kids.  They had a little too much to drink and suddenly, there was a moment between them.  Fortunately, Rita had a level head and said that he should probably go since it was getting late.  Yikes!  I wouldn’t want her to cheat on Dexter and have that neighbor pay the ultimate price.

There’s so much going on right now.  Do you think Anton shot Deb and killed Lundy?  Is Dexter going to deal with Trinity or are they going to form some sort of fraternity (I doubt it since Trinity is crazy)?  Will Rita cheat?  Is Quinn going to find out about Dexter’s “dark passenger”?

Weigh in – tell me what you think!

image: Showtime

Post from: EveryJoe

Meanwhile, Quinn’s reporter girlfriend, Christina, tries to get an interview with Debra and the detective asks her big brother to help get her off her case.  When the reporter tries to corner Deb at the station, Dexter steps in and irritates Quinn with his attitude.  Dexter then reminds Quinn that he saw him steal money from a crime scene and tells him to get his girlfriend to back off.  When Quinn learns that Dexter kept his apartment for eight months after getting married, he questions what Dexter is hiding and follows him to a nightclub where he planned to nab the photographer.  Fortunately, Dexter spotted him and sent a girl over to the detective by pretending Quinn was someone famous.  He was distracted long enough for Dexter to sneak out

Trinity was off his game for the entire episode.  He freaked out when he was unable to start his chainsaw out in the woods where he took Dexter to cut down a tree.  He was irritable but got worse after accidentally hitting a deer who darted out in front of his van.  When the two got out to check on the animal, Dexter told Trinity that the deer needed to be put out of his misery.  Surprisingly, Trinity said that he couldn’t do it and seemed genuinely distressed.  Dexter kills the deer for him and Trinity takes his fresh lumber home.  It’s later revealed that he’s building a coffin.

Debra convinces LaGuerta to allow her to open an investigation on the Trinity Killer which, of course, upsets Dexter.  He still wants to learn more from his fellow serial killer and doesn’t want to risk Deb figuring out who he really is. 

It was a pretty big episode for Deb in general, actually, since she also had the opportunity to meet with one of her father’s CIs who explained that the man had several girlfriends among his informants.  Disgusted, Debra decides to stop her search into her father’s past and it’s not a moment too soon – Dexter’s mother’s file was the next in her pile and he’s relieved to see that she hadn’t made it that far.  He tells her that he will return all of the files for her and shreds his mother’s paperwork and begins to shred her picture too but stops himself saying that he won’t let her get cut up again…

It has become obvious to some of the people in the department that something is amiss between LaGuerta and Batista.  After they are individually asked about it by Quinn and Debra, Batista goes in to talk to LaGuerta about it and they both confess to missing their relationship but they don’t take it any further.

Dexter enrols Cody in the Young Sailors program and was initially thrilled by the prospect of the boy being more busy (which would give Dex more time to do his killings) but then he realized that he’s expected to volunteer to chaperone events like an awful camping trip that Rita forces him to attend.  After Cody and the other children go to sleep, Dexter sneaks off to take care of the murderous photographer.  He kills him but then later discovers that he has exacted revenge on an innocent man.

image: Showtime

Post from: EveryJoe

At home, Dexter is dealing with the fact that Rita is still angry about learning that he’s hung on to his apartment.  She has asked him to empty the place and has set up an appointment with a couple’s therapist too.  Wow…

Trinity has committed his latest murder and Debra already knows where it’s happened since it occurred where Lundy thought it would (why didn’t she tell anyone before?).  At the scene, Dexter holds back when it comes to providing clues about the killer’s identity.  Of course, Masuke grabs an evidence bag that Dexter was trying to conceal.

Batista expressed his displeasure about being transferred out of homicide before the attacks on Lundy and Deb are solved but he is trying to look at the upside of his new position – he’s been promoted, his hours are better and he is able to have a relationship with LaGuerta.  She’s less than convinced and asks to be transferred instead of Batista but he hates the idea.  The two hand in affidavits stating that their relationship is over so that they can both stay in their department and it’s clearly difficult for both of them.

In therapy, Dexter fails to demonstrate his listening skills which only infuriates Rita.  She brings up his drug addiction (which he faked to cover up his killing) and his affair with that psychopath Lila.  The therapist points out that Rita knew about Dexter’s imperfections before they got married and she was forced to stop putting all of the blame on him.  I was happy about that.  She drives me nuts.

Masuke took the evidence that Dexter was trying to hide at the crime scene and was able to pull two separate DNA samples from it (to Dexter’s dismay).  He discloses that one thing was cremated ashes and the other was saliva.

Debra gets a voicemail from a woman offering to tell her the truth about her father and apologizes for taking so long to return her call.  She hangs up before she’s able to hear the whole message, though.

At church (again), Dexter has a close encounter with Trinity who identifies himself as Arthur.  He invites Dexter to participate in a group that builds houses for the needy and Dexter tells him that he’s looking for answers since his wife kicked him out and took the kids.  Interesting…

Debra tells Quinn that she’s positive about the identity of her shooter (I really don’t believe that) and her partner vows to help her.  Debra later visits Nikki in jail and reaches through and chokes the woman through the bars after she denies being the shooter.

Masuke tells them that the DNA does not match anyone in the criminal database but explains that the remains are those of a relative of whomever left that saliva.  They are getting one step closer to finding Trinity and Dexter is less than thrilled.

At the construction site, Dexter shows up to help build homes without any tools and Trinity hands him a hammer and asks him to take good care of it since they’ve “been through a lot together.”  Yeah, we all saw what he did with that hammer in the last episode.  Dexter takes a moment to talk to Arthur’s son and learns a little more about what sounds like the “father of the year.”  It almost looks like it gives Dexter hope that a man can be both a serial killer and a family man.

In hopes of smoothing things over, Dexter comes home with gifts for Rita and the kids and his wife is less than thrilled.  She asks him to share his feelings instead of showering her with presents and, when he can’t tell her what’s on his mind, she tells him that she’s moving up their next therapy appointment.  I’m rolling my eyes, folks…

Dexter fakes an injury to get into Trinity’s home and realizes that the killer hides his weapons and trophies in plain sight.  He pushes the man’s buttons to see how he will respond (Dexter almost faints from being choked) but then they end up having a heart-to-heart.

After gleaning some insight, Dexter opens up in therapy and tells Rita that he needs a place for his things and also admits to being afraid that Rita will leave him if she finds out who he really is.  Of course, she denies that she would ever abandon him but it’s pretty certain that she would run if she knew he was a murderer.  In the end, Dexter got a shed in the backyard (complete with an air conditioner to hide his blood slides) and Rita even gave him a padlock.  Who knows?  Maybe things are about to get easier for him.

image: Showtime

Post from: EveryJoe

At the hospital, Dexter tries to get Deb to tell him what happened and she recounted the tragic story but without any real useful information.  Anton arrives at the hospital to see Deb and she confesses to sleeping with Lundy and tells him that he deserves better than her.

The fact that Dexter retained his apartment was revealed when his landlord called and told Rita that a pipe in the kitchen had burst.  When she confronts Dexter about it, he makes up a lame story and it’s clear that she doesn’t believe him.

LaGuerta tells Batista that she has informed the brass about their relationship despite his objections.  The revelation doesn’t go well and he tells her that he’s upset that she made that decision for them without talking to him first.  She later apologizes and Batista tells her that they need to be honest with each other if their relationship is going to work.  Unfortunately, LaGuerta’s decision to do the right thing backfires when she is told that she has to transfer Batista out of Miami Homicide…

At his apartment, Dexter laments over the fact that he might have to give the place up and worries about how he will manage without having some private space.  Imagine his horror when he walked through the door at his sanctuary to find Rita (and baby Harrison) waiting for him.  She even told him that she had gone through his drawers looking for evidence of an affair or drug use.  Wow.

Released from the hospital, Deb asks Dexter if she can stay with him and he’s more than happy to let her stay with him (I’m sure he was glad she would be around to distract Rita).  Deb throws her pain medication in the garbage – maybe she’s hoping the physical pain will keep her mind off of her emotional turmoil.

Dexter reviews what Lundy had compiled about the Trinity Killer in hopes of finding his sister’s shooter.  Meanwhile, Trinity is at a local hardware store looking for a tool to complete his next task – he leaves with a hammer and then takes a tour of an apartment building.  Dexter figures out that this is the site of Trinity’s next murder and is stunned to discover that the kill is already in progress.  Dexter is able to follow him as he flees the scene of the crime and is stunned when he pulls into the driveway of a nice, suburban home.  Initially, he has a hard time accepting that Trinity belongs in such a domestic setting but after seeing the killer walk into the welcoming arms of his wife and children, Dexter comes to a frightening realization.  He and Trinity are the same – family men with a murderous secret.

image: Showtime

Post from: EveryJoe

image: Showtime

The webisodes premiere today on www.sho.com and are meant to compliment the television series.  We all know the polished, methodical Dexter (although, recent fatherhood and sleep deprivation have thrown him off his game) but Early Cuts allows us to see how his killing techniques evolved.

We’ll also find out how he bought his boat (Slice of Life) as well as when he began collecting slides of his victims.  Sounds pretty interesting!  I will definitely be checking it out.

Post from: EveryJoe