Episode 208: Morning Comes

Morning Comes is the eighth episode of Season Two of the Showtime series DEXTER, and the twentieth overall episode of the series. It first aired 18 November 2007.

Summary
Since her loft caught fire, Lila has been staying with Dexter, which is getting on Debra's nerves. Dexter finds an action figure that Cody slipped into his bag. Lila tells Dexter that Cody's trying to control him. On his way to work, Dexter stops by Rita's house to return the action figure and deliver donuts, and knocks instead of using his key. Rita lets him in, but later tells him never to come here again, as it's too hard on her and the kids.

With Lundy having determined that The Bay Harbor Butcher is somebody in law enforcement, Deb and Batista are reluctant to consider the possibility that one of their own is the Butcher. Later, Lundy asks Deb to look into drug dealer Anthony Rodrigo, one of the BHB victims. He also asks her to dinner, which she accepts.

LaGuerta and Doakes walk on the beach together and discuss the BHB investigation. After she tells him that he'll likely be brought in for questioning, Doakes expresses his desire to quit the force. LaGuerta then suggests that he become a security contractor, and agrees to set up a meeting with a friend of hers in the industry.

While helping Lila clean up her loft, Dexter takes a closer look around and realizes that the fire seemingly had multiple points of origin. Suspecting that Lila started the fire on purpose, Dexter leaves somewhat hastily.

Dexter meets with Lundy, who brings up the Rodrigo case. Rodrigo was arrested for murder, but the blood work allowed him to walk free; soon afterward, on April 16, 2002, he disappeared thanks to the Bay Harbor Butcher. Lundy notes that Dexter performed the blood work, which was later proven wrong. Dexter tries to cover for himself, arguing that the blood work was actually correct, but Lundy expertly counters all of his points. Eventually, Dexter "admits" that he made a mistake because he was overworked.

Deb and Batista question Lenny Asher, a paranoid man who used to live next to Rodrigo. Though he doesn't know who killed Rodrigo, Lenny makes notes of almost everything he witnesses from his window, and gives them all the ones he wrote down in 2002.

Back at the station, Deb tells Dexter that she found an apartment and will move out soon. She also tells him she has a date with Lundy, and Dexter passively and somewhat facetiously accuses her of sleeping her way to the top. Annoyed, Deb insults Dexter's choice in women—namely, Lila.

That night, Deb has dinner at Lundy's apartment, and the two kiss.

Despite his attempts to avoid Lila, she invites herself to Dexter's bowling night with his coworkers. Afterward, in the parking lot, Santos Jimenez attacks Dexter with a knife, but flees when Masuka and Batista come running. Dexter lies that it was just a mugger, and leaves with Lila. At her loft, Dexter tells Lila the truth about who the man was, and she comforts him as they lie in bed together. Later, however, Dexter resolves to stop being vulnerable and embrace who he is. He leaves Lila asleep in her bed, and drives to Naples to kill Jimenez.

Rita finally tells Astor and Cody that she broke up with Dexter. Cody fears that this means Dexter doesn't like him anymore, leaving Rita saddened.

As LaGuerta arranges the meeting with her security friend that night, Doakes meets with Lundy for questioning. Lundy notes that Doakes worked on several of the BHB victims' cases, but never got a conviction. Upon learning that it was erroneous blood work that let Rodrigo go free, Doakes has a sudden realization and quickly leaves.

Lila drops by the station and asks to see Dexter, who told her he'd be working late tonight. Deb tells her that Dexter isn't here, and realizes with great satisfaction that he lied to Lila. Upset, Lila leaves.

Deb and Batista find a note dated April 16, which describes an unconscious Rodrigo being carried into a car. They run the license plate that Lenny wrote down, and discover that the vehicle was registered to drug dealer Charlie Lewis. However, Lewis was arrested four days before April 16, and his vehicle was seized as evidence; the only people who had access to it were members of the Miami Metro Police Department. This proves that the Bay Harbor Butcher is one of their own.

LaGuerta and her friend wait for Doakes. However, instead of going to the meeting, Doakes breaks into Dexter's apartment and inspects the place. He eventually looks behind the air conditioner and finds Dexter's collection of blood slide trophies.

Dexter stakes out Jimenez's bar, and follows him to the Everglades. Jimenez arrives at an isolated cabin and prepares to make a cocaine run, but Dexter knocks him out. When he comes to, Dexter cuts him up with a chainsaw, avenging his mother.

Rita and the kids come home, but strangely, the door is already unlocked. None of them notice Lila leaving the house.

Dexter looks through Jimenez's wallet and finds the bowling alley's address written on a piece of paper. As he deduces that Lila gave Jimenez the location, Dexter gets a call from Rita, asking if he was there and telling him about the unlocked door. Realizing that Lila stole his key, Dexter tells Rita to take the kids outside and call the police. Forced to leave Jimenez's corpse at the cabin for now, Dexter returns to Miami.

With a policeman standing guard at Rita's house and a unit patrolling her neighborhood, Dexter goes to Lila's loft. He takes his key back and interrogates her. Lila confirms that she called Jimenez, but she never planned for Dexter to get killed — that's why she arranged for it to happen when Dexter's colleagues were nearby. She did it to bring Dexter back into her arms, and it worked. Dexter orders Lila to stay away from him and Rita, or else "you will see the monster."

Quotes

 * It's one thing to fuck with me, another to fuck with my ex-girlfriend who hates me. The Lila experiment is officially over. - Dexter, to himself

Dialogue
At the end of the episode, an angry Dexter pays a visit to Lila's loft.

Dexter: "Give me Rita's key." Lila: "Well, that's your fault, isn't it, Dexter? You lied to me about working late, and I thought I might find you there." Dexter: "Do not ever go to Rita's house again. Do you understand? Do you understand?" Lila: "Oh. Is this the monster that you keep telling me about?" Dexter: "Trust me, when you meet the monster, you'll know. You called Jiminez." Lila: "Yeah, I suppose I did." Dexter: "Why? Why would you try to have me killed?" Lila: "You weren't going to get killed. That's why I did it at the bowling, so all your police-officer friends would be there." Dexter: [grabbing Lila] "What were you thinking?! Are you insane?!" Lila: "I was trying to bring us back together again! You were pulling away, and..." Dexter shoves her into a chair. Lila: "Remember at the hotel after you faced Jiminez? That -- That's what I wanted! To bring you back!" Dexter: [glaring at her] "So you called him?" Lila: "Well, it worked, didn't it? Last night. You and I. You fell asleep in my arms. What?!" Dexter: "You -- You are more dangerous than my addiction will ever be. That's saying a lot."  Dexter: [leaning closer] "Stay away from Rita. Stay away from me." Lila: "Or what?" Dexter: [menacingly] "Or you will see the monster."

Related Pages

 * Anthony Rodrigo
 * Bay Harbor Butcher 18
 * Bay Harbor Butcher Case
 * Blood Slide Boxes
 * Cabin in the Everglades
 * Dexter's Apartment
 * Kill Tools
 * Lila West's Loft Apartment
 * Orozco
 * Rita Bennett's House
 * Smith
 * Starlight Lanes
 * The Swamp (tavern)

Gallery
Morning Comes