Dexter Episode 64: A Horse of a Different Color

Dexter and Harrison are at the beach watching Brother Sam baptize Nick when Debra calls Dexter to a new crime scene. There, he finds a grisly display: a runner’s dismembered body parts arranged on four horses with mannequins, which leads the team to suspect a ritualistic killer tied to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

At the morgue and the earlier snake-related murder scene, Dexter and Debra find matching clues: numbers hidden in the victims’ bodies, along with symbols that point to a connected pattern of killings. Mike Anderson suggests the crime scene resembles the Four Horsemen, and the department begins treating the case as the work of a new religious serial killer, soon dubbed the “Doomsday Killer” by Debra.

Debra gives her first press conference as lieutenant and is dissatisfied with how it goes, while LaGuerta pushes her into therapy related to the restaurant shooting and is irritated about the way the press duties are being handled. Dexter also spends time with Brother Sam, talking about faith and the killer’s use of God as justification, which leads him to think more about belief and morality.

Meanwhile, Travis spends time with a waitress he likes, and after a date with her, he sleeps with her; the next day, he is shocked to find that Gellar has kidnapped her and demands that Travis refocus on their mission. Later, the police are drawn to a botanical garden where the woman is bound in place as part of another staged tableau; an accidental contact with a wire triggers a trap that kills her and presents the scene as the Angel of Death while locusts are released.

At the same time, Harrison has a medical emergency that requires surgery, which leaves Dexter shaken and more openly questioning faith and what he owes if his son survives. As Dexter leaves the botanical garden, he notices Travis watching the scene, and he realizes Travis may be involved in the killings.