Dexter Episode 76: Run

Dexter and Debra spend this episode trying to make sure Ray Speltzer pays for his murders, but the case falls apart on a technicality and he walks free. Dexter later tracks Speltzer himself, is attacked, wakes up trapped in Speltzer’s maze-like lair, and escapes before making a second attempt to stop him.

The episode opens with Debra still emotionally shaken, including nightmares and anger over Dexter’s role in Arthur Mitchell’s case and Rita’s death. Dexter tells Debra that he did chase Arthur, but he did not want Rita to be killed because of it. At Miami Metro, Speltzer is arrested after a tense struggle, but the officers do not have enough evidence to prosecute him without a confession. Debra gets that confession by pushing him about his fixation on his mother and his crimes.

Despite the confession, Speltzer and his lawyer convince a judge that the arrest involved police brutality and that Speltzer was not properly able to give a valid *Miranda* waiver, so he is released. Dexter then takes matters into his own hands and sneaks into Speltzer’s RV looking for evidence, but Speltzer catches him and knocks him unconscious. Dexter wakes up inside Speltzer’s underground maze and has to find his way out before escaping.

Debra later runs into Speltzer at a funeral for one of his victims and confronts him directly. Her reaction leaves her troubled about what kind of person she is becoming, especially as she talks with Dexter about not wanting to end up like him. Dexter then ambushes Speltzer at the cemetery, knocks him out with a shovel, and takes him to his crematorium kill site. There, Dexter kills Speltzer by burning him in the cremation chamber along with his blood slide collection, symbolically discarding the slides as well.

Afterward, Dexter meets Debra and tells her Speltzer is dead. When she asks whether he did it for her, he says he did not. Debra is relieved that Speltzer is gone, but the episode leaves her unsettled about her own reactions and what they mean for her going forward.