Hey, Dexter Buffs! Click the EasyEdit button to take a stab at the wikiguide to Dexter! (Don't see the EasyEdit button above? Sign in or sign up.) | | EPISODE 4: "See-Through"
Episode summary: Rita's estranged mother visits and senses something is wrong with Dexter. Masuka thinks he's developed a lead in the Bay Harbor Butcher case, which has Dexter concerned. Angel's interrogation of a witness crosses a line. Dexter's Narcotics Anonymous sponsor (Jaime Murray as Lila) poses a threat to Rita.
It's 3 weeks into the Bay Harbour Butcher case, and Dexter is getting increasingly worried. Meanwhile, Rita is frantically preparing for a visit from her mother, wanting everything to be perfect because they have not been on good terms. Cody is having nightmares about the Butcher and Dexter soothes him by saying that the Butcher "only kills bad people".Back at the station, Lundy has realized that the victims mostly have murder or attempted murder in their records. While they decide whether or not to release this information to the press, Vince comes rushing into the lab with a new break in the case. Dexter is itching to find out what he knows, but realizes he needs to be calm and collected first, so he visits his NA sponsor, Lila.
She welds metal and mannequins into sculptures, and takes Dexter out on a trip for "art supplies" (she steals different metal objects for her "found art"). She asks him why he "uses", and he says it's part of who he is. Lila asks him who he is and he can't really answer - so she decides that her mission will be to get him to discover himself, and says he will tell her his "deepest, darkest secrets". Dexter flashes back to a memory of Harry's wife telling him she senses something is off about Dexter and suggesting that they get him tested.
Before he can respond to Lila, LaGuerta calls him in to a murder scene, where he tries to get information from her on the break in the Butcher case before Doakes interrupts, asking for details on the murder. He recognizes the method of killing and says she was "Mozambiqued". They find evidence that her husband served in special ops in Africa and the Middle East - he is their suspect.
Lundy bring his team into the morgue where The Butcher/Dexter's victims are being kept, and asks each of them to "pick a body" from the 5 victims without criminal records; he wants them to find the connection.
Back on the Barnes murder case, Doakes has found a way to contact someone from the suspect's former unit. Lt. Pascal calls Dexter into her office asking him who can identify a woman's smell on one of her fiancé's shirts - he refers her to Vince, hoping to give him more work and distract him from the Butcher case.
Dexter gets back to Rita's and meets her mother, Gale, who has finally arrived. Over dinner, she tries to get to know him, but the conversation soon turns to the Butcher case. Gale comments that if he only kills criminals, he should be left alone and that he has her "seal of approval".
At the station, Debra has decided that the victim she chose to study was guilty of murder; his sister suspects him of staging their parents' car crash in order to get the money in their trust fund - this gets her more points from Lundy.
Rita thinks Dexter seems troubled and he admits that he's not entirely comfortable with Lila; she suggests that a man might be better suited to help him. It's clear that she's jealous.
After Lundy's suggestion that she balance her work and social life, Deb ends up hooking up with the guy who's been checking her out at the gym - there is an awkward moment when Dexter walks in on them accidentally. In the morning, Dexter questions her about the break in the case. He discovers that Vince thinks he can identify where the killer docks his boat by identifying the particular type of algae on the bodies.
All the members of the team have pegged their victims as murderers - except for Angel, who seems to be at a dead end. The victim's wife insists that he was innocent.
Doakes heads off to a meeting with his suspect's unit member - but he discovers that the meeting is with Curtis Barnes himself. Barnes has checked up on Doakes and knows that he was special ops as well - and asks him to stall the case so that he can escape to Cuba. Doakes first asked if he killed his wife and he admits, after which they both draw guns. After standing off for a while, they lower their guns and Barnes says he didn't mean to kill his wife. He tells Doakes a story about a wife who can't deal with the after-effects of being a ranger, who threatened to leave him, to which Doakes responds that he left his wife fearing that he would end up killing her. Barnes refuses to back down, and Doakes is forced to kill him.
Dexter tries to get more information on the algae from Vince, when they are interrupted by an emotional Pascal who is upset that Vince can find no proof that her fiancé is cheating; she starts to tell off the entire team, and LaGuerta comes in and walks her out.
Lila and Dexter are having lunch, and she tries to get him to open up; he tells her he thinks they're over. He then flashes back again, to Harry prepping him for a session with a psychiatrist, telling him that "whatever he thinks is right, is wrong" and that he should answer with the opposite of what his instincts tell him. Back in the present, he leaves Lila behind and heads back to work.
The Captain questions LaGuerta about Pascal, and puts her back in charge of Homocide so that she can fix Pascal's mess.
Out at the lab morgue, Angel makes a comment to Dexter about the heat, and her realizes that he needs to sabotage the refrigeration in the morgue so that the bodies spoil, destroying evidence. Lila shows up, telling him that they should have another chance, and "breaking up" is not in his best interest. She tries to convince him that he doesn't have to be whoever he thinks he is - he tries to run away again, and she tells him he convinces himself he's a monster so that he doesn't have to take responsibility for his actions. He then tells her he will show her evil, and takes her into the morgue with all his kills. Instead of being disgusted by the bodies, she's fascinated. Dexter is amazed by her reaction, and flashes back a third time, to Harry congratulating him on hiding "the monster inside him" from the doctor. After realizing that Lila can make him feel OK about himself, he decides to keep her as his sponsor; she kisses him goodbye, on the lips, and leaves.
Angel pays a visit to his victim's wife and apologizes for disgracing her husband's memory, saying it was his way of dealing with all the deaths. As he leaves, she stops him and admits that her husband had guns hidden in the walls of their house.
Dexter sabotages the bodies by busting the refrigeration unit and making it look like an accident by the garbage men.
Deb makes plans for a real date with Gabriel, her gym guy.
We find out that Pascal's fiancé has been cheating on her with LaGuerta, and now that she has her job back she says they're done.
Gale tells Rita that she feels Dexter is a good actor, but he's hiding something.
Dexter discovers that his plan didn't work, because the algae they planned to test was from the rocks he used to weigh the bodies down, not the bodies themselves.
Original air date: 10-21-2007 on Showtime
Written by:Scott Buck
Directed by:Nick Gomez
|   Description of crime: A woman is shot dead in her own home.
Victim(s):Alisha Barnes
Assigned officer(s):Sgt Doakes, Lt. LaGuerta
Crime scene:The victim's home.
Suspect(s):Curtis Barnes, the victim's husband.
Clue(s): The victim was "triple tapped"- shot twice in the chest and once in the head. The husband has gone missing and photos in the home reveal that he was a special ops agent, just like Doakes.
Blood evidence suggests: The shooter was an expert with nearly identical shots to the chest.
| |
 Description of crime: The continued investigation of the Bay Harbor Butcher.
New Developments: All 18 victims have been positively identified, and 13 of them were tried for murder or at least suspected of murder. Before the episodes end, the remaining five victims were connected somehow to at least one murder.
Masuka discovered algae in the disposal bags of the victims. With this information it was hoped that the police can pinpoint the marina the Butcher docks his boat. Dexter, in a desperate attempt to stop the investigation, breaks the overflow tent's AC unit which causes the bodies to melt overnight. Unfortunately for him, there are still plenty of samples of algae on rocks from inside the bag, which were stored separately.
| | |
FLASHBACKS
- Harry and Doris Morgan argue about testing Young Dexter because Doris thinks something is off about Dexter.
- Before Dexter's psychological evaluation, Harry preps Dexter by telling him that whatever questions the proctor asks him, Dexter should think of his real answer, then answer the exact opposite. This comes in handy when Dexter is asked questions like, "Have you ever killed an animal?".
- Harry congratulates Dexter for passing the examination and very inappropriately refers to Dexter as a "monster". Honestly, what adult tells a kid that?
| CLUES TO DEXTER'S PAST
- Doris suspected something about Dexter
- From an early age Dexter got the idea he had to hide from others by this experience and that Harry was protecting him from the outside world
|
DEXTER'S RELATIONSHIPS
Developments with Rita:
- Rita is increasingly upset about the fact that Lila is Dexter's sponsor. She asks Dexter to pick someone else.
- Dexter decides to keep Lila as a sponsor which causes tension.
- Dexter puts all his charms on for Rita's mother, but she confides in Rita that she doesn't trust Dexter.
| Interactions with others:
- Dexter struggles to find out what the new BHB case breakthrough is. Deb is the one to give him the news.
- Dexter walks in on Deb having sex in his own bed.
- Dexter tried to break up with Lila as his sponsor, but she refuses to let go. When Dexter shows her the bodies in the tent, Lila is fascinated. Dexter decides to stay with Lila.
|
| SIGNIFICANCE OF EPISODE TITLE |
| Dexter spends his whole life hiding from others, keeping the truth away. But when he's with Lila, he feels as though she can really see him. As if he were transparent, or see-through. |
|
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Best Moments:
- Lundy and Deb talk about their dates. Lundy tells her that a beautiful relationship happens once in a lifetime and that he has already had his. This make her think about what if she already had that moment or perhaps will never have it...
| Best Lines:
- "I am who I am and nobody's going to change that." (Dexter, to Lila).
|
EPISODE TRIVIA
- SS FUBAR (Curtis Barnes' boat): FUBAR is a military term for F**ked Up Beyond All Repair (or Recognition)
- In this episode, it is revealed that Doakes was once married. It's interesting to note that never again is this mentioned, not even during the Doakes intensive events and fallout at the end of the season.
- Goofs: When Dexter brings Lila into the morgue and shows her one of his victims, the body is missing Dexter's signature mark: a cut on the cheek. In each of his kills, Dexter cut the victim's cheek with a scalpel to draw blood for his slide collection.
| |
Share this
