Miami Vice – Episode 3 opens at a live press conference where Captain Aaron Spencer (Patrick Dempsey) addresses the world about the abduction and mutilation of Jimmy Powell (Brayden Gleave). Dexter Morgan (Patrick Gibson) and fellow officers watch as Spencer fields several questions and speaks with reporters.
After learning that the scout from FSU is going to be at the upcoming tournament games, Debra Morgan (Molly Brown) sets out to become playoff captain. Although Sofia (Raquel Justice) assures her that the girls will vote for her, Deb isn’t so sure due to Tiffany’s (Victoria Martzloff) pool party. Deb jumps on the opportunity and arranges for the team to meet at her house when she overhears that Tiffany’s party won’t have any coke.
Sergeant Harry Morgan (Christian Slater) and the officers are debating the Powell kidnapping when Detective Maria LaGuerta (Christian Milian) shows up for her first day. Detective Angel Batista (James Martinez) is immediately smitten and proceeds to make a fool of himself before Spencer shows up and introduces Maria to the gang. During this introduction, it becomes very clear that Spencer doesn’t think much of Maria. Even Dexter can pick up on the negative vibes Spencer is shooting and asks Batista about it. Batista says that Spencer doesn’t trust Maria because she went outside the ‘family’ to deal with certain issues, and cops are always about looking after their own.
When Harry goes to Spencer to discuss the press conference, he is assigned the task of babysitting Maria. At the same time, Dexter begins his quest to make sure Tony Ferrer (Roberto Sanchez) aka ‘Handsome Tony’ fits into Harry’s Code. Once Dexter makes sure Tony is tied up at his usual spot, he breaks into his house to uncover evidence that will definitively prove him a murderer. When Dexter notices a Jai alai booking on Tony’s refrigerator calendar, he gets a scare from a parrot in a nearby room who sounds just like Tony. The discovery of the parrot leads Dexter to discover Tony’s book of debt. He takes a picture of the pages with Isabella and Luis’s debt.
Dexter is at his desk researching Isabella and Luis’s deaths when Vince Masuka (Alex Shimizu) comes in to get some work done. Dexter immediately gets his attention when he asks him about scoring a fake ID. Masuka announces himself as the Da Vinci of identity fraud and proves so when he whips up Dexter an easily passable ID in a matter of minutes.
Dexter is at home cooking breakfast for dinner when Deb comes home with Sofia after practice. Deb goes upstairs to take a shower and leaves Sofia alone with Dexter, which leads to him noticing that she is wearing Nurse Mary’s (Tanya Clarke) earrings. Dexter flips out after making the discovery and practically accosts Deb. Deb, however, uses Dexter’s panic to her advantage and trades returning the earrings for him scoring coke for her party.
Dinner at the Morgans is super tense that evening and Harry attributes this to Dexter having a crush on Sofia. Deb also uses this to her advantage to ask if it’s okay to have some friends over for the weekend. Harry agrees without thinking twice. Harry isn’t so accommodating when Dexter later tells him about the earrings in private. Unfortunately, Harry isn’t so accommodating with Dexter when he learns the truth behind the tension at dinner. Things only get worse when Dexter admits the earrings were a trophy. Harry practically tells him to get them back and get rid of them without leaving him any other option. Dexter uses this moment to his advantage to also tell Harry about the Jai alai game that he’ll be attending later that evening. Harry views it as a good distraction.
Dexter’s departure causes Harry to briefly remember how he used Laura Moser (Brittany Allen) to infiltrate Hector Estrada’s (Carlo Mendez) operation. Dexter proves to be just as manipulative as Harry when he convinces Tony to lend him $500 at the Jai alai game. This is what Dexter needed the fake ID for.
The next day while shopping for replacement earrings, Deb tries to learn why Dexter wants the earrings back so badly. He lies about getting them for their mother for Valentine’s Day but never got around to giving them to her. Deb comes up with the clever idea of Dexter buying Sofia a replacement set of earrings containing the color of her birthstone. With the earrings part of the deal squared away, it’s now Dexter’s time to deliver on the coke. He does this by making a potent over-the-counter cocaine, containing caffeine pills and benzocaine.
With the cold case files entered into the new electronic system, Maria asks Harry if she can go into Overtown and find some CIs for their case. Rather than outright refuse her request, Harry takes her to the break room for a coffee and attempts to explain how it makes sense to allocate resources toward cases that they can actually solve. Maria doesn’t accept this as an answer and ends up going to Overtown anyway. This brief encounter causes Harry to remember the day he, Laura, and Bobby started phase two of their operation.
Dexter stages a pool game at Ernie’s Taproom so that it looks like he is gambling and lost the money that Tony lent him. Tony is already mad when he sees this but when he learns that Dexter doesn’t have any money to pay back, he becomes belligerent. Tony takes him outback and threatens him while firing a shot right next to his head. Although Tony ultimately gives him until tomorrow to cover the debt, Dexter now has the evidence he needs to confirm Tony as Isabella and Luis’s killer, which he does in the next scene at that station.
With the code satisfied, Dexter takes his evidence to Harry. Harry clearly isn’t happy and this and he’s even angrier with the hunger inside Dexter. He makes Dexter agree to run everything past him from now on. Despite his agreeing to run everything past him, Dexter doesn’t let Harry tag along for the kill. This encounter causes Harry to remember the day Hector nearly discovered that Laura was a rat and wearing a wire.
Deb and Sofia have the table all set for the party when Dexter shows up. Much to Dexter’s surprise, getting Nurse Mary’s earrings back is as simple as giving Sofia the new earrings. Although Sofia hugs him in return for the earrings, their encounter doesn’t get the opportunity to go much further thanks to the arrival of the volleyball team. The partying commences and no one is the wiser about the faux coke. Sofia finds the opportunity to properly thank Dexter and kisses him before he leaves to meet Tony.
Much to Harry’s surprise, Maria gets a single mother to admit to seeing a black and gold Pontiac Grand Am. She surprises him even more when she turns down his offer to help. This causes Harry’s flashback to pick right back up where it left off earlier. After losing contact with Laura, he is back at the hotel and ready to send in the cavalry when Laura walks in to announce that she’s secured a meeting with Zenny.
Tony arrives home to find Dexter awaiting his arrival. Although there is a brief struggle, Dexter gains the upper hand and capacitates Tony. In addition to that, he sets his parrot free. When Tony wakes, he finds himself tapped to Dexter’s table which has been placed in a standing position against a wall at the Jai alai court. Dexter launches several balls at him before asking him to talk about the people that he’s sucked dry. Before Tony can get too far in his confession, Dexter knocks him out with one of the 180 mph balls. This time Tony wakes on what appears to be a stage.
Once Tony spots Dexter this time he automatically begins claiming his innocence. He quickly realizes that Dexter isn’t buying it and tells him to name his price. Dexter tells him that he has an itch money can’t scratch and slices his throat wide open. Dexter takes Tony to Alligator Alley where he not only gets rid of Tony’s body, but he also disposes of Nurse Mary’s earrings.
The following morning, Dexter is at a restaurant enjoying breakfast and the high from his kill when Deb enters to brag about scoring him the girlfriend of a lifetime, Sofia. She also thanks him for being cool in front of her friends and this is practically how the episode ends.
Dexter: Original Sin Review
I enjoyed both the second and third episodes and would have enjoyed them separately, but I am not mad they released both at once. Watching both at once certainly made the story more interesting. Other than the Cuban bashing, Debra’s outlandish antics, and Dexter’s overdramatic kill, I don’t have too much to complain about. Some of the stuff with little Jimmy was a bit annoying as well but I feel invested to see how that story plays out, so I can’t complain too much. I’d say this episode deserves a 6.3 out of 10.
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