'Dexter' Recap: Deb Tries To Kill Herself And Dexter; Dexter Learns Who The Brain Surgeon Is

Dexter returned with Dr. Vogel (Charlotte Rampling) taking a keen interest in Deb’s (Jennifer Carpenter) rehabilitation from the all-consuming guilt of killing LaGuerta and the ensuing substance abuse. She takes her back to the storage unit where she chose her serial killer brother over her Captain. Deb has flashbacks of the night, but imagines she kills Dexter (Michael C. Hall) instead. When Vogel continues to press her to forgive herself, she loses it on her, confused as to why she cares about her wellbeing.

At a crime scene across town, Dexter is examining a slain young woman. The scene is less about the murder than moving along a few other plot points. Battista (David Zayas) shares with Quinn (Desmond Harrington) that he passed the sergeant’s test with flying colors and would therefore be up for the promotion. Masuka (C.S. Lee), ever the flirt, has a friendly conversation with new Miami Metro homicide cop Angie Miller.

When Dexter meets up with Vogel later, she tells him to keep his distance from his sister. She’s not sure if Deb’s hit rock bottom yet, and even less sure if Deb will ever be able to have Dexter back in her life. This, of course, is completely unacceptable to Dexter who’s clearly growing impatient with Vogel’s all-knowing act. Nevertheless, he’s still helping her track down the Brain Surgeon killer and informs her that he’s going to further investigate her former patient A.J., who he noticed has a telling scar on the back of his head.

Back at Vogel’s house, the doctor refuses to let Deb have a beer, offering her tea and a maternal reprimand instead. She then proceeds to show Deb one of the sessions she had with her father, Harry Morgan (James Remar). In the video, Harry and Vogel discuss Dexter finally becoming the killer that they had taught him to become. Harry is visibly worried, but seemingly dedicated to the idea of helping Dexter survive. “Harry did not make a mistake saving Dexter’s life,” Vogel tells Deb, implying she didn’t make a mistake either.

Dexter grows increasingly angry with Vogel – about the surgery she suggested Yates undergo that she failed to tell him about, and that she continues to try to keep him away from Deb. She tells him that he uses Deb as a mirror, and that he’s dependent on the image of himself reflected back at him, which makes him feel less of a monster. When he arrives at Yates’ house, he’s not as alone as he presumes. Yates is holed up in his AV room in the basement, watching his every move. Strangely, when he lurks upstairs and spots Dexter, listening to him tell Vogel everything he sees, he skulks back down. As Dexter is taking prints off Yates’ collection of women’s shoes, the serial killer returns to his latest victim clearly distressed at hearing Vogel’s voice.

Once again at the storage bin, Vogel tries once more to convince Deb that she made the best out of a bad situation. She killed a woman in cold blood to save her brother, who can’t control who he is. Vogel pushes further, telling Deb she’d do it again if she had to. “You’ll always choose Dexter,” Vogel adds. Finally, Deb seems to be responding to Vogel’s “treatment,” but wants to know how she’s supposed to live with that.

Back at the Miami Metro offices, Matthews (Geoff Pierson) suggests Battista pick Miller over Quinn for the promotion, insisting that he at least give her a chance. Battista is already irritated with Quinn for getting into a fight over Deb at his restaurant the night before, and tells him to solve the case if he really wants the new title. Meanwhile, a female college student approaches Masuka in his lab. He seems ready to hit on her when she reveals that she's his daughter, born from sperm Masuka had donated in college.

At Elway, Deb appears clear-headed and is hard at work mapping out her cases. Elway (Sean Patrick Flannery) comes in and says he’d be happy to help her. He orders food and the unlikely pals swap stories about their fathers. Deb admits that she might be more like her father than she’d ever thought.

Dexter meanwhile, tries to trap Yates by luring him to his father’s nursing home bed, pretending to be a nurse and claiming his father is near death. When Yates arrives to the room and finds Dexter waiting for him with his syringe, he pulls his father’s breathing tube out to create just enough of a distraction to escape. Dexter appears stunned that he’d risk killing his father to save himself. Underneath, it’s clear Dexter is beginning to fear he’d risk Deb’s life to save his own. When he returns to Yates' house where Vogel meets him, he finds case files – his case files stored on Yates’ computer. He’s livid that Vogel is still taking notes on him, suggesting she sees him as just another lab rat.

When Vogel out of the house, Deb does some snooping of her own. She finds the final recorded session Vogel had with her father. In it, Harry seems entirely distraught and says he doesn’t know if he can live with what he created in Dexter. It’s learned that soon after Harry had killed himself – a fate Deb had never been aware of. Deb later arrives at Miami Metro and has a brief heart to heart with Quinn. She tells him to make it work with Jamie and gives him a warm hug and peck on the cheek. When she spots Dexter, she asks if they can talk and suggests they take a ride.

On the ride, Deb asks Dex to confirm that their father committed suicide. He admits that Matthews had told him that a few years prior. Deb reponds that Harry “only got half of it right” and proceeds to yank the wheel of the car, pulling it off the bridge and into the water in an attempt to kill them both. A man sitting off to the side of the river dives in and rescues Deb. When she comes to, she swims back into the water to save her brother from the death she’d tried to deliver him.

Next week on Dexter: Will Dex forgive Deb for her attempted murder-suicide? Is Dex going to continue helping Vogel find the Brain Surgeon? Will Quinn get Sergeant?

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