Dexter Episode 39: Blinded by the Light

Dexter’s neighborhood problems and the Trinity Killer’s latest murder both drive the episode, while Dexter also spends most of it being chauffeured around after Rita learns he lied about being cleared to drive.

At a neighborhood barbecue, Rita is furious when she discovers Dexter has been hiding the truth about his concussion and insists on driving him herself for a while. The temporary loss of freedom frustrates Dexter, especially as the neighborhood becomes increasingly watchful because of a vandal damaging property nearby.

Dexter initially suspects a local teenager, Jesse, who is interested in Astor, and even finds evidence that seems to point to him. He later sneaks over to investigate and discovers that Jesse’s father, Andy, is actually the vandal. Andy admits that he hates his life and the neighborhood and is willing to let Dexter kill him, but Dexter changes tactics and threatens Jesse instead, forcing Andy to promise he will stop.

Meanwhile, Miami Metro investigates a new death linked to the Trinity Killer. Trinity forces a woman named Tarla to climb inside a warehouse and then jump from the building after threatening her family. After she dies, he leaves powder near the body, and the medical examiner’s findings make the death look like a suicide because Tarla had a brain tumor. Debra is not convinced, and Lundy notices a pattern that connects the death to a similar case from thirty years earlier.

Other Miami Metro scenes continue in the background: Quinn gives Dexter two Miami Dolphins tickets, which Dexter passes along to Masuka, and Quinn later confronts Dexter about his evasiveness; Dexter coolly says he does not care if Quinn is “a dirty cop.” Dexter also becomes annoyed when neighbor Elliot installs security lights aimed toward his yard, and by the end of the episode he smashes the lights with a rake, only to be seen by Rita.