Dexter Season 5 Episode 3 Guest Stars Julia Stiles

Dexter season 5 episode 3 'Practically Perfect' ended with the guest appearance fans have been eagerly awaiting and theorizing about--actress Julia Stiles. It has been hotly debated, since her appearance was leaked, what part Stiles will play on the show. Would she be Dexter's therapist? Love interest? Victim? The answers are no, not likely and remains to be seen.

Since Stiles doesn't appear until the end of episode 3, let's get to the recap.

*Spoilers follow.

Dexter Picks the Perfect Nanny

Season 5 episode 3 begins with Debra interrogating potential nannies for Harrison, while Dexter sits back with the baby. Nothing gets by his sister, as she grills 'em like the homicide detective she is. College drug use, love of cheese and any abuser signs are shown the door.

Finally, the perfect woman walks in and even picky Deb can't find a thing wrong. (It almost seems like she's disappointed.) Unemployed due to hospital budget cuts, educated and baby Harrison even smiles when she holds him. Dexter can now get on with filling his previously cherished emptiness by going ahead with the murder of killer Boyd Fowler. Well, after he visits the crisis counselor.

The therapist assures Dexter that Harrison is unaffected by watching his mother's violent murder. Dex isn't so sure because of his own past, having watched his own mother's bloody death. According to the therapist, the baby was too young to have the cognitive abilities to even comprehend what happened. So it looks like even though baby Harry is popping off doll's heads, he may not be reborn in blood like his daddy.

Beheading Investigation Continues

The investigation for the double murders continue at Miami Metro. Batista and Masuka are showing battle wounds from their bar brawl. Batista refuses to give any detail to his wife and boss, LaGuerta.

As far as the case goes, they have odd ATM video of the husband who was shot. Deb wants to re-canvas the neighborhood with Batista, since he is Hispanic. Quinn tags along (and can't keep from referring to their sexual interlude) and they get nowhere. Batista decides it is because he is Cuban, not Venezuelan. He pairs Deb with a female cop from the neighborhood.

Dexter Gets His Stalking On

Dexter hangs around Fowler's lunch spot and the sanitation/dead animal pickup worker finally recognizes him. Under the alias Darrel Tucker, Dexter spins a lie about being unemployed and looking for work. There happens to be an opening in Fowler's line of work and stuff women in formaldehyde drums psycho invites Dex for a work ride along the next day.

With little time to prepare for the ritual, Dexter scouts his work route for a possible kill room. He finds one in an abandoned Miami welcome center. Harry's ghost appears to question the riskiness of a daytime kill and to tell his son that killing Fowler won't bring Rita back. Dexter insists that he is following the code and putting his life back together.

Harry is worried if Dexter makes this first kill since his wife's death too important, that it will invite mistakes. (At this point we have to begin to wonder if the Harry ghost/Dexter hallucination is psychic or an over-played foreshadowing tool.)

Confrontations on Dexter Season 5 Episode 3

Deb and the officer visit a neighborhood store, gaining access to the mystical back room. They don't get much out of the shopkeeper, mainly due to Deb. She agrees that the cop should go back the next day without her.

Dexter comes home to nanny Sonya & baby Harrison gone. As he is beginning to freak out, they walk in the front door. She had left a note on the fridge.

Masuka tells LaGuerta that her husband is a "knight in shining armor. You should be polishing his lance." Referring to the bar throw-down. She insists as his boss, not wife, Batista tell her everything that happened. He does and promises to work on his sugar momma issues.

The uniform officer does get a description from the shopkeeper, unfortunately they next see his face unattached from his body and surrounded by candles.

Meanwhile, Quinn is still working on his Dexter is Kyle Butler hunch, trying to score a meeting with the Trinity Killer's family.

Sedated Serial Killers Go for a Ride

Dexter prepares for his day with Fowler by calling in a dead gator near the kill room. Hours later, Fowler finally gets the call and Dexter gets his needle in the man's neck. But Fowler, with his CSI-like skills, manages to shoot Dexter with a tranquilizer gun.

Episode three takes and ingenious turn, as both killers awake in an ambulance. They convince the EMT that it was all an accident and keep an eye on each other as they are wheeled to separate, bit close, treatment areas. As soon as the doctors leave Fowler alone, he finds a weapon and goes after Dexter. But Dex is gone.

A twitchy Fowler arrives home, thinking he is safe there. Wrong. He hears a noise and grabs a knife, only to hear his self-improvement CD playing in the kitchen he just left. This time Dexter's needle is the only effective weapon. He gets some more relief when the nanny informs him that Harrison took his first step, a sign that he is a normal child.

Back at the station, internal affairs is warning LaGuerta that they are investigating Batista for fighting a cop. The guy has internal bleeding, supposedly caused by Angel kicking him when he was down. That is assault with a deadly weapon and Batista may lose more than his badge. He could be looking at prison time.

Julia Stiles Joins Dexter Season 5 Cast

Fowler wakes up strapped to his stove/killing table. He tells Dexter that by killing all those women he was doing them a favor and Dexter didn't know what he was getting into. After the usual sermonizing, sans pictures, Dexter stabs him--and doesn't feel any better.

Hearing a noise by the locked attic stairs, Dexter realizes someone was there. Opening the door he finds an obviously abused woman (Julia Stiles) and captures her. He has no choice but to take her to a safe (for him) place, even though she begs to be set free. She saw everything.

Dexter Season 5 Episode 4 Spoilers

Previews for the next episode of Dexter show Quinn still looking into the Kyle Butler as Dexter theory. He questions Trinity's son.

Dexter has turned Fowler's captive into his own, but she escapes.

Deb has a confrontation with one of the Santa Muerta murder suspects.

Sources:
Dexter, 10-10-10 air date
Dexter, Season 5 Episode 3, Sho.com