Fender Bender – The episode begins with two rollerbladers discovering Jimmy Powell’s (Brayden Gleave) hanging from a bridge. When the police are on the scene, no one handles the discovery well, including Dexter Morgan (Patrick Morgan). Detective Maria LaGuerta (Christian Milian) wants to take the lead on the case but Captain Aaron Spencer (Patrick Dempsey) sends her and Officer Clark Sanders (Aaron Jennings) to the Coconut Grove Case. Sergeant Harry Morgan (Christian Slater) and Detective Bobby Watt (Reno Wilson) are assigned to the Powell case. Harry notices that Dexter isn’t handling the body so well and asks Sanders to take him to the Coconut Grove Case.
Debra Morgan (Molly Brown) and Sofia (Raquel Justice) are planning a day at the beach with the volleyball team when Deb realizes that Harry took the truck to work. At the same time, Sanders and Dexter arrive at the Coconut Grove crime scene. Sanders notices Dexter isn’t doing so well and spends the next few minutes telling him about seeing his first dead kid when he was 14. That was also apparently the day Sanders decided to become a cop. It is only minutes after this that all eyes are on Dexter, waiting to hear what he’s learned from the crime scene. Although Dexter’s assessment appears to be spot on, Maria does not appreciate his talents.
Deb’s teammates are right in the process of learning that they are going to have to take the bus to the beach when Tiffany (Victoria Martzloff) saves the day with the SUV that her mother bought her last week. Unfortunately, there isn’t room for Deb or Sofia.
Out of fear that Dexter might start looking into his mother’s case, Laura Moser (Brittany Allen), Harry visits Camilla Figg (Sarah Kinsey) to make sure all the records have been redacted. Although she is positive that they have been, she offers to double-check. While she does so, Harry has a flashback to the day Laura’s sitter canceled at the last minute and he had to babysit young Brian (Xander Mateo) and Dexter (Eli Sherman).
Deb and Sofia buy weed and coke from Flip (Ollie Walters) at Blockbuster while Dexter takes Sander’s earlier advice about taking action. In the records room, Dexter comes across former mob hitman, Mad Dog (Joe Pantoliano), who just recently moved to Miami. When Dexter returns home that evening, he shares his discovery with Harry, who has also heard of Mad Dog. Despite the Mad Dog’s reputation, Harry still needs more proof of his guilt. Before the conversation gets much further, Debra bursts in with the news that she’s made captain of the volleyball team. What should be a good moment is ruined when Deb realizes Dexter hasn’t already shared the news with Harry. This spills over into another argument about the truck. After Deb storms off to her room, Harry tells Dexter to confirm Mad Dog’s identity but be careful while doing so.
Dexter begins his research by approaching Mad Dog with an interest in chartering his boat. Mad Dog doesn’t have a current open but he has one for the following after. He gives Dexter his business card, which also contains his home address, and tells him to book fast. Although it requires some patience and time, Dexter finds the proof that he needs to satisfy Harry’s code.
Tanya Martin (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and the team are at the station spinning theories and going over evidence on the Powell case when Becca (Amanda Brooks) shows up to jump onto Aaron for not taking his son, Nicky Spencer (London Thatcher), to his soccer game. The rest of the argument reveals that Becca and Aaron have been separated for quite some time now because of her cheating with someone named Nelson (Travis Myers).
Dexter briefly meets and speaks with Nicky when he shows up at Spencer’s office to discover that he is still tied up with Becca. Second later, Dexter meets with Sanders and Mari to pitch his theory on the Blake Kersten (Johnny Keatth) case. Much to Maria’s surprise, Dexter has hard evidence this time that the murder was intimate.
While Dexter cautiously assembles his evidence from the Mad Dog case at the prescient, Deb and Sofia scheme to get into a nightclub. Dexter’s evidence leads him back to Omar Reyes, a CI who is set to testify next Tuesday. As it turns out, Reyes is Mad Dog’s next victim.
Deb and Sofia are taking advantage of their time at the club but things reach an all-new level when Deb pretends to be part of a group that receives a $300.00 bottle of champagne. Gio (Isaac Gonzalez Rossi) not only catches her but calls her out on it. Debra plays unknowingly and even more so when she learns the bottle belongs to Eladio Ramirez, Miami’s middleweight boxing champion. The two briefly joke a bit more before Gio leaves his card on his exit.
Harry isn’t in the best of moods after arriving home to find Deb’s note in the fridge. His mood only further sours when Dexter shows up to present his evidence. Despite Harry’s initial refusal, he gives Dexter the go-ahead to kill Mad Dog. After giving Dexter the go-ahead, Harry returns to his earlier flashback, where he tries to teach Dexter and Brian about death after a lizard incident.
Dexter thinks he has his plans all worked out when he shows up to charter Mad Dog’s boat. Little does he know, Mad Dog has also chartered the other half of the boat to a small family of three. At the same time, Deb finds a note on the fridge from Harry, telling her that he won’t be home for dinner. Instead of using the money he left for takeout, Deb calls Gio. Gio arrives to pick Deb up in a convertible with a 5-disc changer, and a working car phone. Deb verifies that the car phone works by calling home and leaving a message about spending the night at Sofia’s house.
It’s only minutes later when Harry arrives home to receive the message. After opening a fresh beer and sitting down on the couch, he looks at his ticking watch. Something about this causes another flashback to the end of his babysitting affair. Laura arrives home to find Harry, Brian, and Dexter asleep. After Harry wakes up, she excitedly explains how she is moving up in the ranks and Estrada has even been mentioning her. She comes on to him again and he tries to refuse her until he gets to the door. At the same time, Mad Dog’s record player blares to life. When he goes to turn it off, he is smashed in the back of the head with one of his own guitars by Dexter.
Mad Dog wakes just in time to escape Dexter. There is a brief struggle in which Mad Dog manages to escape his restraints and get into the street. Dexter will briefly chase him into the street until he is smashed by a speed vehicle. That’s where the episode ends.
Dexter: Original Sin Review
I’d have to give this episode a 5.6 out of 10. I am really enjoying the series thus far, although there have been some not-so-great parts. Take the ending of this episode, for instance. That was just horrible and there have been a few moments just as bad. Another would have been just several seconds before the ending when Dexter looks like he is about to smash Mad Dog with a guitar and he says, “No not the Clapton.’ Dexter then smashes the guitar on the ground and then tries to attack him with what’s left of the broken neck.
I get the nostalgic throwback but that was just heinous to me. Get more Dexter: Original Sin recaps here. See what others are saying about the series by clicking the link. Check out our advertising packages here. Support our platform by clicking the link.
