Dexter Season 5, Episode 10: "In the Beginning" Recap

With the previous episode having ended with Jordan Chase revealing that he knew Dexter was housing Lumen, Dexter takes immediate precautions. First he sends Harrison off with the Nanny to spend some time with Astor, Cody and Rita's parents. After what happened to Rita he is not about to risk his family in any way. Next he moves Lumen out of the house and into his apartment, which he's confident that Chase is not aware of. While Dexter may be right about Chase not knowing about the apartment, that doesn't mean that he isn't being watched. Liddy has set up a stake out, and takes note that Dexter has moved Lumen from the house to the apartment.

With his family a safe distance Dexter and Lumen move onto their next step, trying to identify the remaining men from the photograph they took from Cole's place. At the end of the previous episode Dexter had been able to test the blood from the vial that Chase wears around his neck. What Dexter found was not blood from an early murder victim but instead the blood of a live person, Emily Birch. Dexter shows Lumen a file on Emily and they're quick to note that she looks a bit like Lumen and all of the other victims. The key difference (aside from not having been killed) is her age, she is the same age as Jordan Chase. They hope that she can identify the last two men in the picture. Unfortunately when they go to see her she refuses to help, clearly shaken by seeing the picture when they show it to her.

Back at the precinct Dexter discovers that the "barrel girls" case has been reopened despite his efforts to have it closed with Boyd Fowler as the sole suspect. Since she was integral to the investigation before Debra has been moved out of files and back onto the squad, somewhat to Laguerta's chagrin. Miami Metro Homicide now chooses to focus their efforts on Cole Harmon, having suspected him before Dexter nudged the investigation to Fowler. This does mean that Dexter is at least one step ahead of his colleagues since Cole was already taken out. However one step ahead or not Dexter is once again having to race against his coworkers to be sure that he can get to the guilty men and take them out before they are discovered and arrested by Debra and the others.

Debra and Quinn go to try and arrest Cole at his place of work, only to be told by Jordan Chase that he took a leave of absence and hasn't been heard from. This instantly aggravates Debra, who does little to hide her suspicion of Chase himself. Leaving the office Debra and Quinn go with the rest of homicide to Cole's house to execute a search warrant. Dexter is called in as well since there is a small amount of blood on the wall. Dexter immediately recognizes it as Cole's own blood from when Lumen struck him to save Dexter previously. Of course he can't tell Debra or anyone else that so he goes about his work as he normally would. The most damning and disturbing evidence is found in Cole's house when Quinn uncovers DVDs (numbered 1-13) of young blond women being raped and tortured. Dexter knows that the 13th DVD will show Lumen, and since Debra has now met her it could blow the cover on everything that they've been doing and everything that Dexter is. Luckily Dexter is able to switch out disc 13 with a DVD he intentionally gouged so it would not play before anybody was able to see it.

Dexter takes the DVD back to the apartment where he gives it to Lumen to do with it as she will. Lumen is sure to make Dexter know that she is aware of how much he is risking to help her. When he returns to the precinct he finds that Debra has been there all night pouring over the DVDs. She admits to being glad that the 13th disc didn't work so she wouldn't have to watch another one. Debra also shares some of her new theory with Dexter. She is able to connect Cole to Fowler and Dan the dentist (who Lumen wounded in the warehouse.) She believes that the three of them were some of the men in the video and that somebody has been taking them out for what they did.

While Dexter is at work Lumen goes back to talk to Emily Birch again. This time she starts by showing Emily some of the video from the DVD on her phone, telling Emily that this is what was done to her. Emily then opens up, saying that she had no idea that there had been other girls. She then relays a story from years ago when she had worked at a camp and five boys had tied her down and raped her. The ring leader had been Jordan Chase, though at the time his name was Eugene Greer. Emily noted that Chase himself never touched her, but rather egged on the four others and was able to push them to be as vicious with her as possible. Lumen asks Emily to identify the other two men from the picture. First Emily identifies an overweight boy as Chase (something Dexter and Lumen had been unable to recognize.) Then she identifies the final member of the group as Alex Tilden.

At the precinct Dexter notices Liddy nosing around, claiming to be looking for pen so he can leave a note for Quinn. The two talk briefly, as Liddy claims to recognize Dexter as Harry Morgan's son. The banter is cut short when Dexter gets a call from Lumen that she's downstairs. As soon as Dexter has left Liddy quickly references a document on Quinn's desk and forges the detective's signature. He then takes his forged request form downstairs and uses it to acquire high end video and audio surveillance, claiming it's for a stake that Quinn is doing. When Dexter meets up with Lumen he takes in the information she received from Emily but also berates her for leaving the apartment when it's not safe for her to do so. Lumen apologizes but also makes clear that she wants to do the next kill herself, not just watch Dexter do it.

Quinn and Debra go to question Alex Tilden, who works at a bank, about Cole Harmon. While they don't specifically suspect Tilden of anything they know he's an acquaintance of Cole and are tracking any possible leads. While the partners don't get anywhere with Tilden, Dexter takes Lumen out with him to case Tilden's house and determine a kill room. Back at Emily Birch's it is shown that not only is she still in contact with Jordan Chase but she seems to be directly under his influence. It's made clear that Chase had instructed her to tell Lumen the truth about what had been done to her. The nature of their relationship is not made completely clear. Chase mentions their special bond but he also pulls away when Emily attempts to touch his hand.

Chase's next move is to voluntarily go to the police precinct and submit to DNA testing. Since he himself doesn't touch the girls he knows that this will clear him with the authorities. Dexter himself takes the DNA sample, which gives the two an opportunity to face each other down, if only briefly. While this is not the first time that Dexter has been confronted with a foe it was the first time that both were aware and each was out to eliminate the other. It makes for a uniquely tense scene between the two men.

Once back at his apartment Dexter prepared his tools and gives Lumen a gift of black leather gloves, just like the ones he uses. Lumen takes the gift gratefully and Dexter shows her some basics of using the knives. All of this is captured on video tape by Liddy who is at this point both watching and listening to the pair. Meanwhile Alex Tilden makes a panicked call to Chase, wanting to make a run for it. Chase tells him that would only raise suspicion and to maintain his normal routine. While he is giving this advise Chase is actually parked outside of Tilden's home. He watches Dexter and Lumen enter the house and proceeds to call Debra, giving her information that would cause her and Quinn to go to Tilden's home to question him further.

When Debra and Quinn arrive there is nobody there, as Dexter and Lumen have already drugged Tilden and set up the kill room in the house next door. However Debra does take note of Tilden's car in the driveway and a female sized shoe print in the lawn. Debra remembers that despite there being 13 DVDs there were only 12 locks of hair in Boyd Fowler's house. This leads her to believe that one girl got away and is now the one taking out the men who tormented her. Meanwhile next door Dexter does take his obligatory blood slide from Tilden, he says next to nothing. Instead he lets Lumen fully embrace the situation and the moment, which she does with gusto. Lumen taunts Tilden and lets her anger build before she plunges the knife into him. Dexter is quick to ask her if she is alright and she confirms that she is. This training that Dexter is giving Lumen is a whole new level of connection for him. While he had dabbled in this area somewhat with Miguel in Season 3, Miguel was never fully aware of what Dexter was. Lumen on the other hand knows basically all of Dexter's secrets, and yet she isn't frightened by him. No other character in the history of the show has ever seen Dexter as fully and completely as Lumen does, not even Harry. As the result the ending scene of the two embracing and making love hardly comes as a surprise.

The romantic linking of Lumen and Dexter was a long time coming. Most fans have suspected that it would come about sooner or later, thankfully the writers took their time to build the bond between the two and not force the moment. Chase is making an interesting villain, though he's clearly clever he's not really being built up as a heavy threat. At this point he's looking more like a difficult final target for Lumen and Dexter to take down. Liddy on the other hand has become a full on threat, now having video and audio evidence of everything short of an actual murder. Since he's still on suspension he won't be able to just turn Dexter into the police but chances are that he'll try to force Quinn to do it and work an angle that would get him back on the force. With only two episodes left it's still a very open question as to how this season will ultimately play out on the various story lines at work.