Dexter: Hungry Man

Last night’s episode of Dexter, was the turning point we’ve been waiting for all season. In the delicately balanced world of our favorite do-gooder serial killer, things are finally coming to a head.

The Thanksgiving episode—appropriately titled "Hungry Man"—started out business as usual for Dexter. We see him carefully choosing a knife from his kill tools, only to realize that he’s going to use it to carve the turkey.

But instead of mundane family fun, Dexter takes the holiday to get closer to his rival, the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow). After realizing that Arthur, aka Trinity, is abusing his family (beating his son Jonah, locking his daughter Rebecca in her room), Dexter determines to spend part of Thanksgiving protecting them from Arthur.

Rita (Julie Benz) is not pleased with Dexter’s vague excuse about a blood spatter job out of town. Fortunately, neighbor Eliot (the very same Eliot who got a little too flirtatious with Rita last week) will be there to help cook dinner. Add Deb and Masuka to the mix and you have a full house for turkey day.

Meanwhile, Quinn reluctantly spends the holiday with his new girlfriend, reporter Christine Hall, but not before Christine has a chance to tell Deb how sorry she is that she had to watch Lundy die. La Guerta and Batista catch a killer in a 10-year-old case, and visit the victim’s husband to give him the news.

Audiences have been asking the same question for weeks: When is Dexter going to kill Trinity? How long can he put off the inevitable, all in the name of "learning from" the most successful serial killer of all time? Last week Dexter had the chance to let Arthur commit suicide, and he didn’t. A mistake? Perhaps. But not as serious as the mistake he made at dinner with the Millers. When Arthur erupts in physical violence against his family, Dexter chokes him with his belt and hauls him into the kitchen. While holding a kitchen knife, Dexter tells him, "I should’ve killed you when I had the chance." Arthur is saved when his wife and daughter throw themselves in the way.

As the ghost of Harry reminds him, now Trinity has seen the monster in Dexter, and he’ll be expecting an attack. How could Dexter be so sloppy? His unsuccessful attempt to protect Arthur’s family might have cost him his own. While Dexter is at the Millers’, Rita and Eliot are alone in Eliot’s house, to use the extra oven. Eliot takes the chance to steal a kiss from Rita. Flustered, she claims that she’s not lonely like him because she has Dexter. Masuka watches the whole incident from the window.

Deb, ever the smart detective, realizes two things: 1) The Trinity Killer is in the school system, since he only kills during school vacations, and 2) Christine couldn’t have known that Deb watched Lundy take his last breath because Deb didn’t tell that to anyone. This fact, paired with last week’s revelation that Deb was shot by a short person, is a major clue in bringing Deb closer to Lundy’s killer.

In what is possibly the most sentimental and pointless plotline of the season, Batista and La Guerta continue their secret affair. Only now they’ve exchanged the L-word. That word could cost them both their careers, and they know it.

Dexter makes it home just in time to sit down to dinner with his own family, all of them desperately trying to appear relaxed and happy. Deb is busy wondering about who shot her. Rita is trying to ignore Eliot and shower Dexter with affection. Masuka is trying to forget Eliot and Rita’s stolen kiss. And Dexter, as usual, is preoccupied with thoughts of the Trinity Killer. It’s Thanksgiving as usual.

The tables are turning on Dexter. Now Arthur will be expecting Dexter to strike, and Dexter’s carefully constructed family life is starting to crumble. But the most surprising twist comes in the last minute of the episode (as usual), when Arthur shows up at Christine Hall’s door. It seems at first like he’s going to eliminate the reporter who’s been writing about the hunt for the Trinity Killer. But then she greets him with, "Hi Dad."

Christine is Arthur’s daughter? What happened to her mother? Could she be the one who shot Deb and Lundy? Watch Dexter next Sunday on Showtime, and all might be revealed.