SPOILERS: 'Dexter' Premieres With A Killing Spree

After a mediocre sixth season, Showtime’s serial-killer hit Dexter made waves with its season premiere, “Are you…?.” Season Six ended with Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) stumbling in on brother Dexter (Michael C. Hall) after he had just killed Travis (Colin Hanks). The question we were left with was, how would Debra react?

“Are you…?” follows up on the cliffhanger and explains what happened next in a flashback. Dexter tries to play it off like it was a self-defense killing, but this is troubling since the victim is so carefully wrapped as per Dexter’s usual ritual. So Dexter then says he briefly went crazy, which Debra believes, but she still wants to call the killing in. Dexter, though, convinces Debra to make the scene appear like a suicide instead. It looks like Dexter might just get away with it, but during the cleanup he forgets to grab the slide of Travis’s blood, which is later found at the scene of the crime.

Debra continues to think about the scene she just witnessed and realizes it was the same as when she was trapped in the Ice Truck Killer’s kill room, which raises her suspicions. Meanwhile, Dexter finds himself in a mad dash to kill everyone who could possibly give him away, in a hopeless attempt to maintain his cover. He is reminded that his father told him to hide his real self from his sister because, if she knew he was a killer, it would ruin their relationship. Alas, Dexter can’t cover his tracks fast enough and when he returns to his apartment, he sees Debra has gone through all of his things. The episode ends with Dexter admitting to Debra that he is a serial killer.

After a long run, Dexter is now in the early stages of concluding its long run, with only one additional season scheduled after this one. The challenge for the show will be to amp up some of the lost tension from last year, and then maintain this tension through two full seasons, something that AMC’s Breaking Bad has also been navigating, albeit deftly. Season Seven will consists of a total of 12 episodes, and former Ally McBeal star Calista Flockhart is slated to guest star later in the season.

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Watch the Season Seven trailer for Dexter: