Dexter Episode 57: Teenage Wasteland

Dexter and Lumen are interrupted in the middle of preparing for their next move when an unexpected visitor turns up at the house, forcing them to postpone their hunt. At the same time, Deb is stuck back in the file room but finds new DNA evidence in the closed Barrel Girls case that suggests more than one person was involved, which gives her a reason to push for the investigation to be reopened.

The episode opens with Dexter running, using the exercise as a way to calm himself, but he is thrown off because he is now spending time with Jordan Chase and is focused on proving Jordan’s guilt. Dexter trains with Jordan and notices a blood vial on Jordan’s person; he secretly takes a sample from it, but Jordan realizes something is wrong and understands that Dexter has tampered with it.

Back at the house, Lumen finds someone trying to sneak inside and calls Dexter for help, believing it could be a threat. It turns out to be Astor, Dexter’s daughter, who has returned with her friend Olivia and has been drinking and stealing alcohol. Astor is unhappy to find Lumen living there and assumes she is Dexter’s girlfriend, especially after Harrison says “mama,” which Astor hears as if he means Lumen.

Dexter has to manage the situation with Astor while also continuing the hunt. When Astor and Olivia later go missing, Lumen calls Dexter in alarm, and when he arrives he sees signs that make it look like the girls may have been abducted. The police quickly trace a van near the house to Barry Kurt, who turns out to be Olivia’s stepfather and was also looking for her. Before the situation can escalate further, the girls are found because they were arrested for shoplifting.

Dexter bails Astor and Olivia out and brings them back to the house, where he finally starts to repair his relationship with Astor. Lumen then realizes that Olivia has been physically abused by Barry, which reframes what was going on with the girls’ sudden disappearance. After this, Dexter explains to Astor that Lumen is not his girlfriend, but a friend he is helping because she has been through something terrible.

Meanwhile, the pressure around Dexter and Lumen’s secret work increases when Chase calls the house looking for Dexter and instead gets Lumen on the phone. Chase immediately recognizes her voice and taunts her, making it clear that he knows who she is. Deb’s storyline continues in parallel as she uses the DNA evidence she found to argue that the Barrel Girls case should be reopened, even though she has been pushed aside and publicly blamed for the earlier shootout.