Dexter Almost Gets Caught Red-Handed

[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Dexter: Resurrection Episode 8, “The Kill Room Where It Happens.”]

Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) got rather sloppy on the latest episode of Dexter: Resurrection, and it could cost him everything. After failing to clock the fact that Angel Batista (David Zayas) would and did plant a tracking device in his car — a pair of earpods that he used to keep tabs on Dexter’s usual driving routine — he almost got caught with a man on his table and then did get caught at a very different kind of table.

The episode began with Angel making a recording of himself on the case, following Dexter’s every move just as he, as “Red,” made a plan with Al (Eric Stonestreet) to meet up after he caught a showing of Hamilton. After Dexter decided on a temporarily closed beauty salon to become his next kill room, Angel took note of the location since it was out of the norm for him and started snooping around the block.

Things went sideways when Al decided Hamilton wasn’t his bag, and he headed back to Wisconsin with his new #1 Dad license plate and I Heart NY souvenirs, thus leaving Dexter’s mission incomplete and his kill room unvarnished. It didn’t take Dexter long to find a new occupant for the space, though.

Vince (Steve Schirripa), the landlord of Harrison’s (Jack Alcott) friend Elsa (Emilia Suárez), was still giving her the runaround about the mold that was making her son sick. After Dexter tried to reason with the guy, to no avail, he decided to snatch him and give him a wakeup call on the table. That effort was interrupted, however, by Angel, and although Dexter escaped, his setup was left for Angel and Detectives Claudette Wallace (Kadia Saraf) and Melvin Oliva (Dominic Fumusa) to sniff around in.

The trouble for Angel was that he didn’t see Dexter, and Vince ran off before he could describe his captor, who’d been masked anyway. As Angel described his theory, the detectives became skeptical of Angel’s story, and when Claudette called Joey Quinn (Desmond Harrington), she learned that Batista was no longer an active law enforcement officer. So even though Angel was exactly, 1000% right about everything he said, the others didn’t seem to believe him.

Despite Angel’s setbacks, Dexter still had other problems to grapple with. First, he accidentally betrayed Blessing (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine) by revealing his backstory about being a child soldier to his daughter, leaving their relationship in the mud, possibly forever. Secondly, and more importantly, he got a visit from Leon Prater (Peter Dinklage) right in the middle of a celebratory dinner with Harrison.

Prater, who was otherwise busy planning a gala for injured police — that both detectives may be going to, by the way — fielded pressure from Charley (Uma Thurman) about her suspicions of “Red.” Though he resisted them at first, she must have persisted because he somehow ended up crashing Dexter’s meal with a smile and saying, “Red, I didn’t know you have a son.”

We’ll have to wait to see what Leon’s arrival means for Dexter, whether the detectives will buy into Angel’s story at last, if Blessing will retaliate in some way, and if Al is gone for good, but for now, it seems like Dexter’s got his work cut out for him to keep his feet on solid ground.

Dexter: Resurrection, Fridays, Paramount+