Dexter - Episode 4.11 - "Hello, Dexter Morgan"

Season 4 of "Dexter" has been amazing, and the latest installment, "Hello, Dexter Morgan" was one of the best. It set into motion events to be capitalized on in the finale, as well as had a couple iconic moments that will be remembered fondly by fans well after the show is gone.

To recap:

1) Dexter, after saving the boy, becomes even more obsessive about tracking Arthur down and putting an end to his life. To weed Arthur out, Dex tries blackmailing him by saying he'll tell the police Arthur's a pedophile. Arthur has plans of his own as he begins to wonder why "Kyle" hasn't turned him in. Arthur finds other "Kyle Butler's" and kills them.

2) Deb and Angel get Christine Hill alone in the interrogation room, but she isn't talking about her dad. Deb tries to play the "we have something in common" angle, but it doesn't work. Finally, they are forced to release her by order of Christine's lawyer.

3) Angel and LaGuerta, in order to save their jobs after having their clandestine romance discovered by Captain Matthews, get married in the office and use the values of Miami's latino community as a political shield to get Matthews to back off.

4) Dexter realizes that with Christine in police custody, the cops are closing in on finding Arthur, putting the Trinity Killer out of his knife's reach. So, he finds a suspect from Lundy's Trinity files to peg the murders on and plants incriminating evidence after killing the man, quickie-style.

5) Rita tells Dex about how she kissed Elliot, their next door neighbor. Dex is nonchalant about the whole thing, much to Rita's dismay. It's not until Dex comes home one night, sees Elliot, and proceeds to punch him out, that Rita feels loved by her constantly absent hubby.

6) Christine still tries to get her daddy's approval/help, but Arthur tells her he wishes she had never been born. Devastated, Christine calls Deb to her place to confess to the murder of Lundy, asks Deb for forgiveness, and after being rebuffed, kills herself in front of Deb.

7) In a crazy game of cat-and-mouse, Arthur organizes a money drop spot for "Kyle" to meet him, is a no-show, and follows Dexter back to the police station. In one of the series' most jaw dropping events, Arthur enters the homicide department, admires the pictures from his case posted on the crime bulletin boards, and meets Dex face-to-face in the middle of the homicide floor.

First of all, this episode was a nail-biter. After several episodes focused on character building, this one poured on the plot fast and furious. Dexter's murder of the truck driver felt more like an after thought than an actual release. (It was indeed a quickie. Fortunately, the driver fulfilled Dex's code, making him a safe target. Although as I watched this, I did wonder how Dex found enough time to perform his ritual in its entirety. Even if he cut down the banter, didn't post pics of the killer's victims, he still needed to kill, dismember, bag the body, tear down the kill room, get to the marina and dump the bags in the gulf stream. All in broad daylight, no less. This seemed a bit of a stretch.) Deb made quick work of getting Christine to confess. Trinity's dangerous game felt dangerous. And the Laguerta/Angel scenes didn't feel as distracting (even though they still felt just as tacked on and pointless).

What's to come for the season finale? There's lots of speculation out there. Most fans/writers are thinking Trinity is going to figure out where Dex lives and make an attack on his family. Some even feel Rita (or one of the kids) is going to die. I have my own ideas.

1) Rita, nor any of the children (egads!), are going to die. Dex will not let this happen. I think Rita is going to learn some very damning information about her new hubby from Trinity, but as Dex realized in the episode "Dirty Harry," he would rather risk having his family discover the Dark Passenger than lose them. I think that statement will be put to the test in the finale.

2) The trailer for the finale makes it pretty clear that Deb is going to learn about the existence of Laura Moser. Whether this will cause her to put two-and-two together and connect Dex to his father's ex C.I. is up in the air. But I've always believed that Deb would learn Dexter's origin by the end of this season, so I'm sticking to it.

3) Either LaGuerta or Angel will die. How? Don't know. If it's between the two of them, though, I pick LaGuerta to die. Angel's too cool; LaGuerta too bitchy.

4) Trinity will not die on Dex's kill table. Season 1 it was the Ice Truck Killer. Season 2 it was Lyla. Season 3 it was Miguel Prado. This season, though, the writer's will shake things up a bit. I think, somehow, that Trinity will be caught by Deb and the police. Over the course of the series, Dex has always seemed like the better detective, despite not being one. During the last half of this season, Miami Metro has stepped up their game. It would be an interesting twist having Arthur in police custody, knowing Dex's secret. Shades of Hannibal Lecter.

Sunday night is the season finale. Showtime is promising a twist of epic proportions. Let's hope so. Suffice to say, this week has been moving along at a snail's pace on the long journey to Sunday night.