Rebecca Spencer (commonly referred to as Becca) is a character in the Showtime series Dexter: Original Sin.
Becca is the mother of Nicky Spencer and the ex-wife of Aaron Spencer, with whom she has frequent arguments with. She became involved with a man named Nelson during their marriage and this led to their divorce, as well as her own engagement to Nelson. After her son Nicky is kidnapped by a masked man she breaks down from his disappearance, fearful if he's not found.
Background[]
Rebecca met and married Aaron Spencer - they would have a "son" named Nicky Spencer shortly after (though it is later revealed that Aaron isn't Nicky's biological father). At some point in 1977 she started seeing a man behind Aaron’s back named Nelson, whom she would continue this affair with until their divorce and whom she would eventually become engaged with. Becca however, blames Aaron for choosing Miami Metro Homicide over her family, likely following his promotion but according to Aaron she had been sleeping with Nelson for 14 years - suggesting her infidelity predates his promotion that created a rift between he and his "son" (later revealed to be Nelson's son). Regardless Nicky grew up with them constantly fighting while she held primary custody of their "son" and was awarded Aaron's house, following the divorce. Despite the fact that Aaron isn't Nicky's biological father, Becca gaslights him for years, by making him believe that the child is his and guilting him into taking Nicky to soccer games and what-not. Her relationship with Nelson suggests he has been there for both of Becca and Nicky, during Aaron’s absence.
Summary[]
Dexter: Original Sin[]
Becca is offhandedly mentioned during a bit of banter among detectives at a crime scene. After Dexter Morgan is sent on a mission to purchase coffees for those at the scene her ex-husband Captain Aaron Spencer asks for a banana bread slice with chocolate chips in it. The specific request earns him some stares as he looks around saying "what? I'm a sweet guy" and Harry Morgan chimes in saying "that's not what I heard from his ex-wife!" which catches Spencer by surprise.
Following the arrival of Jimmy Powell, Jr.'s finger at Miami Metro Homicide, Spencer gives a huge speech on national TV calling out the kidnapper while standing beside Judge Powell and his wife. Later that day after a less than warm welcome given to Maria LaGuerta, Spencer retires to his office where he can be seen sitting on the couch holding his head in deep thought. When Harry enters the room he tells him how he can't believe it's a judges kid, that he and Becca go way back with the Powells - their kids playing Little League together.
Becca arrives with her son Nicky Spencer at the police station following the discovery of Jimmy Powell, Jr.'s corpse earlier that morning. She approaches Aaron in the briefing room telling him that she didn’t want to deal with the receptionist and needed to talk to him - Aaron takes her into his office to talk while Nicky is left out in the nearby hallway with a video game.
Aaron’s demeanor immediately shifts to irritation as he asks what the hell is so important and Becca responds if he’s too busy for his son, that he needs to take their son to soccer as she has a step aerobics class to teach. This sets off an argument as Spencer asks if she’s seen the news and she ignores that talking about how he hasn’t been to any of Nicky’s games this season. Eventually she mentions her fiancé Nelson which sets Spencer off and he begins to chastise her for her history of infidelity. She responds saying that he chose Miami Metro as his family long ago and he initiated her cheating. As the fighting draws on Dexter Morgan sits down next to Nicky and learns a bit about his situation - his parents fight a great deal and his father hasn’t been around as much since his promotion.
On the morning of Saturday June 1st, 1991 Nicky can be seen playing a video game his mother calls out to him to hurry up and get ready, they're running late. She also tells him to turn down the game since it's driving her nuts and she proceeds to bring a couple bags of food to their car in the attached garage. As she loads up, Nicky puts in a pair of headphones to drown out the sound around him and keep the outward audio down and he makes his way to the backseat where he continues playing his game. She mutters to herself about oranges and grabs a bag of them, heading back to the trunk while telling Nicky to put his seatbelt on - to no reaction. As she sighs realizing he isn't listening to her she sets down the bag awkwardly and some fall out, prompting her to bend down to pick them up. Suddenly a masked man appears behind her grabbing her shoulder which prompts her to turn around and she's punched in the face - knocking her backwards into the wall and rendered unconscious. He drags her body to the side, tying up her hands as he moves around to the backseat where Nicky is and abducts the boy.
Later on a call is made to the Miami Metro Homicide department reaching the desk of Clark Sanders informing him of the kidnapping and he relays this info to Detective Bobby Watt, who passes it onto Aaron Spencer who is in the briefing room. Spencer reacts violently, throwing a chair while Bobby tries to calm him. At this time Becca, along with Nelson, step off the elevator and Aaron moves over to her to embrace her as she has a visible bruise on her left eye. Nelson blames him for this and then asks if he even knew Becca was tied up (and gagged, apparently) in the house for hours to which Aaron angrily responds that he did not since he's the one that's "been living in my goddamn house". Nelson says that he knew that they were targeting the families of public officials and chastises him for calling them out on national television, with Aaron saying he was doing his job. Becca can be seen in the background trying to calm both of them down until it escalates when Aaron says "none of this would have happened if you had not been fucking my wife for the past 14 years!" and then Nelson starts to swing at him, resulting in Bobby and Angel Batista stepping in to stop the two pulling them apart.
When tensions calm down, Becca can be seen crying in Aaron's office as he calmly questions her about the attack. First he asks if she's sure it was just one man, to which she's unclear since he was behind her...but she does say that he was wearing a mask. He continues to probe but she becomes distressed, telling him to stop as he gets closer to saying he might die - with her waving her hands to get him to quit. She says it was her fault...she should have protected him and apologizes...then begs Aaron to find their son. He says he'll give her some time and exits the office...acting as if he's wiping tears from his eyes. Little did she realize that the man she was talking to, the father of their child, was the kidnapper responsible for punching her in the face and abducting their boy.
On the fourth day since Jimmy's kidnapping, a briefing is held where Angel Batista and Bobby Watt provide an update to the task force on their current investigation. They're looking into the Los Tigres Cartel, checking up on any leads they can secure to Cartel safe houses to anyone willing to talk by cutting them a deal. As Aaron goes over the fact that on the fourth day Jimmy Powell was missing his finger showed up at his parents' house - so every second counts. Batista and Bobby then say that they have 24 hour surveillance on Becca's house (who is likely home waiting on news of her son) and that they will be relieving Officer Franklin and Officer Muszynski, saying that they should be there in case anything shows up.
Later that day, after Aaron had went to cut off his son's finger, Officers Franklin and Muszynski can be seen in the break room conversing Dexter, Clark Sanders and Vince Masuka indicating they had already been relieved from Becca's house. After awhile Bobby shows up carrying a box, walking alongside Batista through the department until they reach Tanya Martin...who opens it to find Nicky's finger. Aaron rushes in shortly after, a bandage concealed on his left arm, acting in a panicked state as his detectives hold him back and he leaves for his office. It's unknown if Becca saw the finger or if Bobby and Batista chose to spare her from it to take it directly to the office.
TBC
Notes[]
- Becca is the first shown spouse of a Main Antagonist in the franchise, predating those in the original series. However, given that she was divorced from her husband, she makes the only known ex-wife.
- The honor of first main antagonist's wife originally belonged to Sylvia Prado in the original series followed by Sally Mitchell in the next season.