Episode 506: Everything Is Illumenated

Everything Is Illumenated is the sixth of twelve episodes in Season Five of Showtime's series DEXTER, and the fifty-fourth overall episode of the series. It first aired 31 October 2010 on Showtime.

Trying to get his life back on track, Dexter hunts a new target, but is distracted and drawn into a precarious situation while helping his troubled acquaintance; Batista discovers an interesting lead in the Santa Muerte murder cases.

Summary
Dexter and Debra are boxing up items in his house so that he can sell it. She asks where he’s going to live and they agree that he’ll have the apartment and she’ll move out. Dexter jokes that he thought she already did, since she is always at Quinn’s place.

When Debra takes a box to the car, she finds a pair of sunglasses and remarks, "I don't remember Rita in these." Because they belong to Lumen, Dexter thought. He adds the sunglasses to a box marked for donation Lumen is home in Minneapolis. Another part of my life packed away.

Back in the apartment, Dexter returns his blood slide box to the AC compartment. ''Life seems different now... manageable. Everything in its right place.''

Lumen runs her hand over a handgun, wipes steam off a bathroom mirror, and stares at her reflection.

While playing with Harrison at a beach playground, Dexter is stalking Lance Robinson, who meets a man at the restrooms. ''Lance trolls the Internet, engaging in casual encounters with innocent men... who never suspect those encounters could turn deadly.''

In his lab, Dexter prints out gruesome photos of Lance’s victims. ''Four times Lance deliberately pushed someone's fantasies too far. He will be an easy kill, just like old times. Tonight's the night.''

Meanwhile, Lumen disguises herself with long fake eyelashes, mascara, pink lipstick, and a black wig.

Debra and the Miami Metro crew are going over their strategy to take down the Fuentes Brothers at Club Mayan. Captain Thomas Matthews thinks it is a waste of time and money. Lt. Maria LaGuerta talks to him privately, but he only gives them one more night to make something happen.

Angel and Maria argue about how she secretly worked the I.A. sting to get his bar fight charges dropped. She orders him out of her office when he says, “You weren't looking out for me out of some sense of compassion. You were taking care of yourself. God forbid your name should lose some of its shine.”

Elsewhere, Lumen picks up the gun, sighs, and puts it in her handbag.

When Debra stops by Quinn’s apartment for a debriefing before they hit Club Mayan, he won’t let her inside. She asks suspiciously who’s naked in his apartment. Calling herself an idiot, she starts to leave, Quinn then introduces her to a man on the couch. "This is Stan Liddy. Liddy had a run-in with I.A.D. and, uh, got suspended. We're prepping him for his union-rep meeting tomorrow." Debra apologizes and quickly leaves, unaware that Liddy was hired by Quinn to keep an eye on Dexter.

Liddy scoffs, "You are boning our target's sister?” Then he reveals what he found out about Dexter. “Your boy's squeaky clean on paper. He's only been out of the country once, to Paris. Pays his bills on time, keeps to himself. I'll tell you, it's all too neat and a little too phony. You see drug dealers with the very same profiles all the time.” Agreeing, Quinn says, “Oh, that's exactly what I'm thinking. I mean, what's he hiding?”

Dexter plays Peekaboo with Harrison before he departs to kill Lance Robinson. He lies to Sonya that he has to work that night because the lab fell behind while he was out. Sonya asks Harrison to say, “Bye-bye, Daddy,” but he says, “Die-die.” This concerns Dexter, but Sonya insists that he said, "Bye-bye." Harrison, though, repeats, “Die-die.” From the mouth of babes, Dexter thought.

Dexter waits in the beach parking lot for Lance. I rented an RV, placed an ad online, saying I was cruising down to the Keys, and just like that... my victim came to me. Lance approaches Dexter and says, “You must be Ten Inches of Pure Steel, hmm?” Dexter replies, “You betcha,” as he injects Lance with M99 and throws him inside the RV.

While he is setting up the kill room, Dexter's cell phone keeps vibrating with calls from Lumen. He finally calls her back when she sends a picture of what looks like a bloody dead man. She begs for his help, saying that she brought one of her rapists to a warehouse and shot him, but now doesn’t know what to do. Dexter is shocked that she is still in Miami and annoyed at the interruption of his ritual. Since the M99 won’t wear off for a few hours, he loads an unconscious Lance into his car trunk, and speeds to the warehouse.

Outside Club Mayan, Debra and Angel are sitting in a van on a stakeout. Quinn and Cira Manzon are inside, undercover as clubbers. Quinn is having fun, flirting and drinking with women. A hot blonde even offers a threesome with Cira. Debra grows annoyed as she watches Quinn on camera. Angel thinks she’s jealous.

By the time Dexter arrives at the warehouse, the man Lumen shot is gone. apparently still alive, though he has lost a lot of blood. Dexter is furious at Lumen for putting him in a precarious situation. He locates bullet holes in the area and checks her gun. A blood trail is noticed by Dexter and they begin to follow it.

Dexter questions Lumen on what happened. She explains that she kept going back to the same bar from where she was taken until one of her attackers showed up. He didn’t recognize her and she asked to go somewhere else. When she got in his car, she pulled out her gun and forced him to drive to the warehouse. Once inside, she attempted to get the names of the other men and shot him when he called her a “cunt.” The amount of blood scared her so she called Dexter for help.

Dexter is livid and asks how she knew that she shot the right man since she was kept blindfolded. Lumen is adamant that she shot the right guy because he smelled of old sweat and chlorine, as one of her rapists did. Dexter skeptically reminds her that she almost shot the wrong man under Tuttle bridge. They squabble about her ineptitude when she admits that she didn’t take his wallet or cell phone.

Dexter tracks the man’s blood trail, with Lumen remarking, “You sure know a lot about blood.”

During their stakeout, Debra gives advice to Angel on how to patch up his marriage. They get a call that gunshots were heard in the warehouse. Debra leaves to check out a possible homicide. As Angel continues watching the cameras, he notices the necklace of a beautiful Latina woman.

Lumen is puzzled when Dexter begins spraying Luminol to find blood, and he explains how it works. Unexpectedly, Dexter’s phone rings with a message about a crime scene at the warehouse. He tells her that they still have at least fifteen minutes before homicide arrives on the scene. Lumen immediately assumes that Dexter is a “cop.” He denies it, saying that he is “complicated.”

As they continue looking for the man, Dexter asks Lumen why she’s still in Miami. She says she can’t leave, and describes the torture she went through.

Dexter keeps following the blood trail and discovers the man hiding under a grate. He asks Lumen if he’s her monster.

Angel has left the van and entered Club Mayan. He flirts a bit with the young woman and she agrees to leave with him.

Dexter restrains the man, inspects his wounds, and stems the bleeding. This infuriates Lumen because she wants him to die, but Dexter says he doesn’t know who he is. The man instantly states that his name is Dan Mendell and accuses Lumen of being crazy, claiming that he never saw her before that night. Lumen screams that he’s a liar. Dan begs Dexter to save his life because he has a wife and daughter. Dexter checks Dan’s wallet and informs Lumen that he is a kids' dentist. Lumen retorts that he is a rapist and spits on Dan.

Dexter’s cell phone vibrates and he orders Lumen to stay away from Dan while he takes it to another area. When he answers the call, Harrison says, “Die-die.” Sonya asks Dexter to sing to Harrison and he does. Again, Harrison says, “Die-die,” with Dexter responding, “Die-die. I love you.”

Dan is yelling at Lumen to get off him and Dexter runs back to find her cramming her shoe into his mouth. He forces Lumen away from Dan and they engage in a heated discussion. While they’re distracted, Dexter hears Dan talking to someone and he covers Lumen's mouth with his hand to quiet her. They quietly walk back to Dan, as he is talking on Lumen’s phone. “Can you hear me? She shot me. She's alive. You hear me? That last fucking bitch is alive.” Dan notices that Dexter and Lumen are listening. He smugly warns Lumen that “they” will find her and calls her a “cunt.” Dexter leans over, says, “Die-die,” and snaps Dan’s neck.

Realizing that Homicide will soon be there soon, Dexter tells Lumen to hose down the area, making sure everything flows through the grate. He leaves to get his car so they can move the body.

Meanwhile, the police arrive on site. By flashlight, Debra and Masuka enter the warehouse. Although there is no body, Masuka finds bullet holes and lots of blood, and describes it as a “homicidal situation.” Debra isn’t convinced.

Masuka notices a blood trail and he begins to follow it, accompanied by Debra and two police officers. Debra phones Dexter and asks if he’s taking the scenic route. He claims to be “almost there.” Lance, still in the trunk, opens his eyes.

Dexter informs Lumen that the police are closing in and insists that she get out of there. He tells her the address of his house, and gives her a key and cash. As she leaves, Lance escapes from the trunk and Dexter chases after him. In the nick of time, he catches Lance before they’re seen by Debra and Masuka. Dexter strangles him with plastic wrap and drags him into the warehouse. He quickly stages Lance and Dan’s deaths as a sex act gone wrong.

As Debra and Masuka are about to double back, they notice Dexter’s car. They are surprised when he emerges from the warehouse, feigning shock at what he found inside.

A baffled Debra looks at the bizarre scene, and asks, “What in the mother of fuck went on in here?” Masuka answers, “I know exactly what happened. Two words -- autoerotic mummification. See, Mr. Plastic Man shot Captain Bloody Underpants while Underpants was in the choke. Mr. Plastic Man has hammocks between Underpants' man chop…”  During his explanation, Masuka demonstrates what happened. Debra thanks Masuka for the visual, and he adds, “Asphyxiation heightens the high, but it's not without its risks. Either way, I wouldn't touch the nozzle of that hose.”

Dexter agrees that the blood is consistent with Masuka's theory, and takes off to “relieve Sonya.”

After the club stakeout, Maria finds Angel sitting in her office with the attractive young woman. He introduces her to Yasmin Aragon, and says that she will help bring the Fuentes Brothers to the club if they drop her “boatload of drug charges.”

Debra returns to Quinn’s apartment and he hands her the last beer. She reveals that she has feelings for him, even though she tried not to. Quinn reminds Debra that she’s the one who’s been putting the brakes on. They agree on having a more serious relationship, and kiss.

When Dexter goes to his house, he sees Lumen lying in the bathtub in the same position in which he found Rita murdered. She slips into a robe and they sit down to talk. Lumen asks about his family, and then opens up about her life. “I always did everything by the book, you know? Go, go, go. Never stopped to think. There was high school and college and graduate school... Owen. We were gonna get married at the house that I grew up in. On my wedding day, I... I tried on the dress, and I looked out the window at the backyard where the aisle was, and... I saw everything that that aisle was leading to -- babies and... matching dinnerware... Sunday barbecues. And I couldn't breathe. I had to get out of there and… find something... more. Then everything happened, and... I actually thought, "This is what I get for trying to... live my own life." Lumen says she felt “peace” when Dan was killed, and now she needs to find her other rapists,

I can't get revenge for Rita's death but I can help Lumen avenge what was done to her, Dexter thought. He asks, “How many more were there?”

Quotes

 * I've always tried to keep the different parts of my life separate. Becoming a father made that much more difficult. And as a husband, I failed. But I'm a very neat monster... who won't make the same mistake again. - Dexter to himself
 * Compartmentalization began as an architectural theory... divide buildings into sections which can be closed off to prevent a fire from spreading. Life can also be divided into closed-off sections. Makes everything much simpler. This is the life Harry wanted for me... carefully divided. - Dexter to himself
 * Lumen didn't witness her mother's murder, but she was born in blood... like me. Some experiences are so big, they change your DNA. - Dexter to himself
 * Compartmentalization is a joke. Fires rip through buildings all the time no matter how closed off parts of them are. Life is the same way. It cannot be contained. - Dexter to himself

Related Pages

 * Barrel Girl Gang
 * Baywater Marina Warehouse
 * Club Mayan
 * Dexter's Apartment
 * Fuentes Brothers
 * Hurricane 26
 * Rita and Dexter's House
 * Santa Muerte Case
 * Towne House Motel

Videos
Everything is Illumenated