Narcotics Anonymous Meeting Hall

Narcotics Anonymous Meeting Hall is a location in Season Two of the Showtime series DEXTER.

It’s a church school room with a podium at the front.

History

 * “Waiting to Exhale”

Rita Bennett interrogates Dexter Morgan about Paul Bennett’s shoe, which she found outside her house. Dexter admits that he hit and drugged Paul to protect Rita and the kids. He says he stole the heroin from the evidence locker. Rita wonders how he was able to cook heroin and inject Paul with the correct dosage. Finding Dexter’s story suspicious, she asks outright if he's an addict, and if that's the reason he disappears at all hours of the night with no explanation. Dexter (thinking of his need to kill) acknowledges that he's an addict. Rita comforts Dexter, saying she will help with his recovery.

Summary

 * “An Inconvenient Lie”

First Meeting
At a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, Dexter listens to a woman named Caroline share her depressing story with the group. He sits in the back, bored senseless, and wonders how long it's been since he last sharpened his knives. He stands up and walks over to a table to inspect the stale doughnuts. A beautiful, dark-haired woman, Lila, another attendee, checks him out. Dexter leaves before the meeting is over.

At Rita’s house, she quizzes him about his experience at the NA meeting. When he doesn’t produce a “Newcomer Chip,” she realizes he left early. She refuses to continue a relationship with another addict unless he works the program. Dexter promises to attend a meeting the next day and to stay until the end.

Second Meeting
Dexter listens to Gordon tell his tale of drug use. Lila is again there, and Dexter notices her watching him. The NA Leader tells the group that lengths of sobriety are recognized with chips. He asks if anyone wants a Newcomer Chip and Dexter raises his hand. He walks to the front of the room as everyone claps. He is about to walk back to his chair, when the NA leader invites Dexter to share his story. A man speaks up, telling Dexter to go ahead because he’s with friends. As Dexter stands at the podium, searching for words, Lila asks for his name. Dexter says it’s “Bob” and recites a spiel of drug use.

Lila approaches Dexter as he’s getting a cup of coffee during a break, and invites “Bob” to go with her to Edie's Diner next door, where the coffee is better. After they are seated, she tells Dexter that she knows he's lying, but he did give a good performance. As they talk, Dexter finds himself drawn into Lila's description of his "dark passenger" of addiction. Unnerved, Dexter leaves, worried that she knows his secret, and thinking that the program is too risky for him.

Dexter brings the Newcomer Chip to Rita, and tries to explain why the meetings aren't good for him. Disappointed, Rita tells Dexter that she prays he will change his mind, and sends him home. Dexter wonders if she is breaking up with him.

Third Meeting
Dexter finally admits his true name to the group. He talks from the podium about being driven by the Dark Passenger and how he feels his mask is slipping away. The group listens intently, clearly moved. At the end, Dexter receives a round of applause. Lila volunteers to lead the Serenity Prayer.

Suddenly Dexter notices James Doakes staring at him from the doorway. He tells Dexter that he always knew something was wrong with him, but now erroneously believes he is a drug addict. However, Doakes' false conclusion works in Dexter's favor, as he thinks Dexter's drug addiction is caused by work-related stress which, as Doakes recounts, has led many policemen down the same path. Feeling sympathetic towards Dexter, he ends his stalking, but not before telling him to "stay clean" and stating that he owes him a new tire (because Dexter had punctured one on his car).

Fourth Meeting
As Rita drops off Dexter at the NA meeting place, she tells him she’ll return in an hour to pick him up. She sees Lila for the first time when Dexter points her out as his sponsor. Rita appears worried as Dexter and Lila (both smiling) walk away together into the church.


 * “The Dark Defender”

Fifth Meeting
During an NA meeting, Dexter falls asleep next to Lila and dreams of the cargo container where his mother was murdered. Appearing as The Dark Defender, Dexter confronts the killers and saves his mother’s life. When he tells Lila about his dream, she insists that he must seek closure.

Quote

 * Dexter: "I'm Dexter, and I'm not sure what I am. I just know there's something dark in me...and I hide it. I certainly don't talk about it...but it's there...always. This Dark Passenger. And when he's driving, I feel... alive...half sick with the thrill of complete wrongness. I don't fight him. I don't want to. He's all I've got. Nothing else could love me, not even.....especially not me. Or is that just a lie the Dark Passenger tells me? Because lately there are these moments when I feel.....connected to something else -- someone. It's like...the mask is slipping...and things...people...who never mattered before are suddenly starting to matter. It scares the hell out of me." (exhales sharply)

Related Pages

 * Caroline
 * Dark Passenger
 * Droning Man
 * Edie's Diner
 * Gordon
 * Lila West
 * NA Leader
 * Rita Morgan