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: "Let's Give the Boy a Hand"
Episode summary:As the hunt for Tony Tucci continues,posed body parts start surfacing. Is there a new killer in town or, are these the calling cards of an irritated Ice Truck Killer? The mysterious Ice Truck Killer escalates his killing spree by leaving body parts of his latest victim at sites that relate to memories from Dexter's childhood which leads him to confront his dark personal history. As Halloween approaches, Rita takes drastic steps to quiet a barking dog from it's cynical owner who keeps her children up at night. Lt. Laguerta seeks a way to comfort the mother of the latest Ice Truck victim. Angel cannot find the right anniversary gift for his wife, who is currently separated from him. Also, the heat against Sgt. Doakes escalates when Guerrero's thugs begin tailing him.
Original air date: 10/22/2006
Written by: Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by: Robert Lieberman
| | Description of crime:
 Criminal is cutting off body parts of a victim. Suspected that this is the continued work of the Ice Truck Killer.
Victim(s):Tony Tucci
Assigned officer(s):Detective Batista and James Doakes
Crime scene:Hand found at Petrie Beach (formerly Rand Beach), foot found at Office Park (former soccer field where Dexter visited as a child), and calf found at Miami pumpkin patch.
Suspect(s): Ice Truck Killer
Clue(s): The killer leaves photographs of his own crime scene on the crime scene. Police are baffled by the tableau's, but Dexter secretly knows the killer is communicating something to him.
Blood spatter evidence suggests: Blood flow suggests that victim's heart was still pumping when foot and hand were severed. Both hand from previous crime scene and foot had same lividity, ashen color and decomposition suggesting the victim is still living. Tony Tucci is being kept alive to be slowly amputated.
Killer calling card(s): Doesn't fit Ice Truck Killer's usual M.O.
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Victim Name: Tonny Tucci
Age/Occupation: Nightwatchmen at the local hockey rink.
Where/how Dexter stalks victim: The Icetruck Killer leaves him clues that leads him to where Tony is tied up, blind folded, and begging for death.
Why victim deserves it: He doesn't. His worse offense is pulling a knife at a party many years ago. However, the Icetruck Killer left him here specifically for Dexter to kill him. Dexter likes the connection he is making with the ITK, and knows he could kill Tucci and nobody would ever know.
Why Dexter let him live: Dexter isn't entirely comfortable playing the cat and mouse game by the ITK's "rules". Instead of killing Tucci, he anonymously tips the police off to his whereabouts. He hopes this will prove to the ITK that perhaps he doesn't know him as well as he thought he did.
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FLASHBACKS
- The Ice Truck Killer's first picture causes Dexter to remember a time on the beach with his family. Harry is taking a family picture but Dexter doesn't smile. His father takes him aside to explain that smiling is what normal people do when a picture is taken and that is what he should do to fit in.
- The Ice Truck Killer's second picture flashes Dexter back to playing soccer as a teenager. He and some other boys are playing keep away with another boy's shirt. Harry stops the teasing, takes Dexter aside and explains that what he was doing was bullying. And that bullying stands out, especially to cops. Harry says that cops see bullying as a felony waiting to happen.
- The location of the third piece of Tony flashed Dexter to a pumpkin patch hayride with Harry and his sister. Harry notices that Dexter is having a good time. Dexter snaps out of his "fun" act and explains to Harry that the hay is giving him an allergy attack and he doesn't understand the point of riding around in circles. He snaps back into "fun" mode just in time to smile for a picture to be taken, showing he had learned from the lesson on the beach.
- In the final flashback, an early twenties Dexter is with Harry at the entrance to Angel of Mercy Hospital. Harry explains that his father, Dexter's "grandfather', worked at this hospital for 30 years and that in 2 weeks it would be shut down. He calls to a stranger to take a picture. Dexter objects. Just before the stranger reaches them, Harry doubles over in pain, foreshadowing his eventual medical problems. Harry says he doesn't want to take the picture. Dexter reminds Harry of his earlier lesson that "smiling for pictures is what families do."
| CLUES TO DEXTER'S PAST
- Debra use to have (and perhaps still does have) some resentment towards Dexter for stealing away all of Harry's time.
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DEXTER'S RELATIONSHIPS
Developments with Rita:
- Rita and Dexter bond over stealing a dog from Rita's neighbor together.
- Rita "goes down" on Dexter in his apartment, and he isn't entirely displeased with it.
| Interactions with others:
- Dexter attempts to come to some sort of resolution with Rita's neighbor about her noisy dog Walter. The neighbor is very discourteous towards Dexter, and eventually he and Rita kidnap her dog and give it to a more loving family.
- Angel seeks Dexter's advise on anniversary gifts for his wife, but Dexter, being somewhat socially clueless, is far too honest with Angel about his gift opinions, and forces Angel to second guess his purchasing decisions.
- Dexter is given the opportunity to kill Tony Tucci when the Ice Truck Killer leaves Tucci out, "gift wrapped" for Dexter. Dexter decides not to kill him, possibly upsetting the new friend he was making in the Ice Truck Killer.
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| SIGNIFICANCE OF EPISODE TITLE |
| A play on words, as a reference to both a request for applause, and the discovery of the severed hand at the beach in the beginning of the episode, which starts Dexter down the path of clues the Ice Truck Killer leaves for Dexter. |
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Best Moments:
| Best Lines:
- "I find people around me are all making some kind of connection. Like friendship, or romance. But human bonds always lead to messy complications. Commitment, sharing, driving people to the airport. Besides, if I let someone get that close they'll see who I really am- and I can't let that happen. So time to put on my mask" (Dexter to himself)
- "Check out what else he left behind. A postcard to remember him by." (Angel to Dexter)
- "I could make things so much easier for Rita... but that would be wrong (Dexter to himself, regarding the rude neighbor and noisy dog).
- "I love Halloween. The one time of year when everyone wears a mask... not just me. People think it's fun to pretend you're a monster. Me, I spend my life pretending I'm not. Brother, friend, boyfriend - All part of my costume collection. Some people might call me a fraud. I prefer to think of myself as a master of disguise" (Dexter to himself).
- "I almost feel sorry for them. Trying to put together a puzzle when they don't even know pieces are missing. Pieces he gave me. He wants me to play the game his way" (Dexter to himself)
- "Harry was the only one who saw me. Really saw me. So he taught me to hide. And that's what's kept me safe. But sometimes I'm not sure where Harry's vision of me ends and the real me starts. If I'm just a collection of learned behaviors, bits and pieces of Harry, then maybe my new friend is right. Maybe I am a fraud" (Dexter to himself)
- "My friend left this. He's showing me where to go. Am I going because that's what he wants? Or because that's what Harry would want? And what do I want?" (Dexter to himself)
- "Hospital's shut down now. Abandoned for years. But tonight, it's visiting hours again" (Dexter to himself)
- "Gift wrapped. And begging for death. Tools at the ready. He was left here so I would kill him. But my new friend doesn't see me as clearly as he thinks. I can't kill this man. Harry wouldn't want it. And neither would I". (Dexter to himself, regarding Tucci and the ITK)
- "Everyone hides who they are at least some of the time. Sometimes you bury that part of you so deeply that you have to be reminded that it's there at all. And sometimes you just want to forget who you are altogether. And what about me? Maybe I'll never be the human Harry wanted me to be. I couldn't kill Tony Tucci. That's not me either. My new friend thought I wouldn't be able to resist the kill he left for me. But I did. I'm not the monster he wants me to be. So I'm neither man nor beast. I'm something new entirely. With my own set of rules. I'm Dexter. Boo." (Dexter to himself).
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EPISODE TRIVIA - Factual errors: In describing the anatomical location of the cut which severed Tony Tucci's foot, Dexter says it was "severed between the tarsus and the metatarsus" when it was clearly through the distal end of tibia and fibula.
- Factual errors: When Dexter discovers the smiley face on the reverse of the photo of himself and Harry outside the Angel of Mercy Hospital, many Hewlett Packard (HP) logos are visible suggesting the photo was printed on a Digital Photo Printer. The flashback which preceded this clearly shows that the camera, which was used to take the photo, was a standard film camera and not a digital one with printing capabilities.
- At the beginning of the episode as Dexter does a voiceover about the Halloween tradition of people wearing masks of monsters, Cody appears wearing a mask of U.S. President George W. Bush.
- The car we see Doakes driving in this episode is different from the car we see him driving in the finale of this season, and different still from the car he drives during season two.
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ORIGINAL VERSUS NETWORK BROADCAST
This one is for the superfans, tell the newbie fans what they're missin' out on!
 IN THE SHOWTIME SERIES | |  IN THE CBS BROADCAST | | | | |
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