Dexter: Season 7 Premiere

I think it’s safe to say that this series premiere was one of the most highly anticipated of the fall season. Dexter has beaten the six-season slump. Most drama shows that focus on plot and shock value can’t keep up momentum. They continue chucking out seasons as viewer numbers fall. But Dexter has proven to be an exception.

Last season was disappointing (and that’s coming from a huge fan). We were consistently one step ahead of our protagonist, getting a closer look into the serial killer’s point of view. It was a good idea that wasn’t well executed. I found myself skipping episodes or tuning out, instead of throwing my usual Sunday night watching parties. So, all in all…I have high hopes for this season. And the premiere makes the upcoming season look like bloody good fun.

“Deborah, no!!!!” That was most of our reactions at the end of season six. We all knew it was coming. I’m impressed the writers were able to delay that discovery for so long; it was worth the wait. At the beginning of this latest episode, Deborah (Jennifer Carpenter) confronts her brother Dexter (Michael C. Hall). Before she can get to the bottom of what exactly is happening with the murder, they’ve got to destroy the evidence. Dexter has the idea to make Travis’ (Colin Hanks) death look like a suicide. And because Dexter is always brilliant, Miami Metro buys the lie.

Except for LaGuerta (Lauren Velez). She finds a blood slide hidden in a floor vent. This should be an interesting twist for the season since the only other relation of a slide dates back to the Bay Side Butcher…

When Dexter returns home after the whole mess, he finds his babysitter’s strange boyfriend Louis (Josh Cooke) fiddling with his computer. In one of those Dexter-suppressed-rage moments he yells at Louis never to touch his things. Sure enough, Louis had ill intentions. Will he be Dexter’s newest foe?

Quinn (Desmond Harrington) and Batista (David Zayas) are on to the latest Miami homicide. This time, a stripper has been killed and stuffed in her own trunk. They trace her back to a strip joint, where is seems the Russian mafia is linked.

Of course, Dexter is already hot on the killer’s trail even though he wiped most of his prints clean off the car. “They always forget the turn signal.” In classic Dexter fashion (Spoiler alert, although much expected), he needles the killer in an airport bathroom and kills him in the lost baggage room. It never gets old, does it? Muahaha.

But Dexter can’t get away with everything. Deborah is still completely and totally unsettled by what she saw. Is her brother a cold-blooded killer? The end of the episode is the best part. I screamed; which is always a good sign.

It’s season seven. We know the characters by now. The reason why Dexter has found such longevity is because the writers haven’t been afraid to make it a character driven show and they’ve found some of the best actors around to keep our attention laser focused. But what now? For the first time, I’m not quite sure what to expect. Last season it was clearly advertised that Dexter would become more religious and we’d see his softer side. Two seasons before, we knew he’d face his strongest adversary yet, the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow).

There’s definitely some juice to be squeezed out of the Deborah discovery, but where else will blood be spilt? Only next Sunday will tell…