“You have no idea what those animals did to me.” – Lumen
I was ready to congratulate the folks at Dexter on a job well done. They were thisclose to pulling off a short, sweet, and successful Julia Stiles guest spot. But of course, this being Dexter and all, they have to go and overdo it. “First Blood” is all about Dexter dealing with the difference between killing to keep his dark passenger at bay and killing for revenge. Since Rita’s murder, Dexter has been straying from his code and this situation with Lumen offers him a chance to correct course.
Lumen (Julia Stiles) is still in Miami, despite Dex’s attempts to convince her to return home. Like Dexter (Michael C. Hall), she’s damaged goods and feels revenge is the only way for her to move on with her life. She asks for Dexter’s help to find and kill Boys’s accomplices, but he would rather work alone. He underestimates Lumen’s hunting skills, though, and realizes he is a step behind when he breaks into Boyd’s old cellmate’s place looking for clues only to find that she had already been there.
So now we have a target. Brunner (Chirs Gilbert), Boyd’s former bunkmate, is a sex offender currently living a under a bridge. Dexter gets to him first and brings him to the kill room he had originally set up for Boyd. Once he strips him down for the kill, Dex discovers that Brunner is equipped with an ankle bracelet that tracks his movement, making it impossible for him to be the accomplice in Lumen’s attack.
Lumen is unaware of Dexter’s discovery and is still operating under the assumption that Brunner one of the guys responsible for hurting her. Packing a large caliber revolver, she makes a trip to the pervert campground with blood in her heart. But before she can pull the trigger, Dexter pops out of nowhere and pleads with her to put the gun down. “You have no idea what those animals did to me, they passed me around,” Lumen says. Dexter tells her about the ankle bracelet and she seems to trust him. They share a touching moment and she agrees to go back home to Minnesota.
Dex takes her to the airport, where he tells her is real name. “You’re the only who knows,” Lumen says to him about her attack, but it’s clear that Dexter could have said the same to her about his secret. The show could have left it at this, she could have got on the plane and Dex could have learned his lesson about breaking the code and making targets personal, but no. They had to go and muddy the waters. After a really well-done scene in which an airport security check is pretty much compared to rape, we see Lumen hop into a cab. Not in Minnesota, but in Miami.
I have made my feelings pretty clear on all of the peripheral stuff that goes on this show (it sucks), but here is a quick breakdown:
* Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) is making headway in the Santa Muerte case. She also admits to Dex that she and Quinn (Desmond Harrington) are sleeping together.
* Dexter is worried that Harrison might be emotionally scarred by Rita’s murder when he scratches another child during playtime.
* Batista (David Zayas) is suspicious that La Guerta (Lauren Velez) might be cheating on him, but it turns out she is just helping out with an IA sting as a favor to keep Angel out of hot water for his bar fight.
* Last, but certainly not least (in fact this was my favorite part of the episode), Masuka (C.S. Lee) has a tattoo of a dragon covering his entire back.
Some stats and info about Dexter, “First Blood”
TV SHOW – Dexter
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 5 Episode 5
AIRED ON – October 24th, 2010
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Showtime
GENRE – Drama, Crime Dramas, Office Culture, Thrillers
CREATED BY – James Manos, Jr.
CAST – Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, David Zayas, James Remar, C.S. Lee, Luna Lauren Velez, Desmond Harrington, Julie Benz
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.