"Dexter" Season 5, Episode 3: "Practically Perfect" Recap

Practically Perfect opens with Debra grilling a young woman in classic police interrogation fashion. Except it soon becomes clear that the young woman isn't a suspect of any crime, instead she's a candidate to be Harrison's nanny. Dexter is in desperate need of the help so that he can safely resume his routine, both at work and as a killer. Following an amusing montage the siblings settle on a middle aged Irish woman who seems like an ideal candidate for the job. This allows both Dexter and Debra and focus, Dexter on his next kill and Debra on the beheading case she's been assigned to.

The beheading case starts to look less like and open and shut "murder suicide" when a surveillance tape of the suspected killer emerges and throws doubt on what Miami Metro had assumed happened. Debra decides to go back to canvasing the neighborhood and somewhat reluctantly brings along the beat cop who'd mentioned cult murders previously. Going along with Debra the pair question a local shop owner who seems to know something about the killings but is reluctant to talk. Later they are able to get a small amount of information from him only to find him murdered in the same fashion as the previous beheaded victim.

It's interesting to note that for the first time Dexter is in no way a part of the serial killings investigation that is taking up the time of Miami Metro. He is still on leave from his job, leaving Masuka to (begrudgingly) pick up the slack. This makes the beheadings a slightly awkward part of the story because as the major case that homicide is working on it ties to every major character in the show EXCEPT for Dexter himself. While Dexter hadn't always been at the epicenter of the major cases in other seasons he was at the periphery and knew that they were happening. It's unclear at what point (if any) Dexter will return to work and actually become a part of the investigation which for now is resting primarily with Debra.

Dexter takes solace from his grief councilor that Harrison may indeed be young enough that the death of his mother won't have a massively damaging impact on him. This is obviously something that Dexter has dreaded since he himself was "born into blood" at the tender age of three. However Harrison seems to be on track to being a perfectly normal kid, and the councilor encourages Dexter to do something for himself. Taking the advice, Dexter sets about making his first clean kill of the season and works on making sure that Boyd (first seen in the previous episode) will be where he wants him when he wants him there. While it's true that Dexter has taken a life since Rita's death (as seen in the first episode of this season) that was done in anger and was not part of his precious routine or code. Dexter takes comfort in the preparation of his killing room (using an abandoned tourist information center) and hopes that killing Boyd will help get him back on track. However when the moment comes things don't go so smoothly. Almost immediately after Dexter injects his sedative into Boyd's neck the young killer is able to round on Dexter and shoot him with a tranquilizer dart. This leaves both men unconscious on the side of the road.

During all of this Debra's partner Quinn continues to put the pieces together that Dexter is the mysterious "Kyle Butler" who was a known associate of the Trinity Killer. Up to this point Quinn has yet to be 100% positive about his suspicions but he's been working on ways to get his confirmation. What's not clear at this point is what he would do with the information. Unlike Sgt. Doakes from Seasons 1 and 2, Quinn has no particular vendetta against Dexter. However at the end of the day Quinn is still a good cop (even if he pockets the occasional bit of cash from a crime scene.) As a good cop he's going to keep on the issue until he can make sense of it. At this point of course Quinn may suspect that Dexter is Kyle Butler but he has yet to come even close to uncovering the "why" behind the rouse. It seems clear at this point that Quinn will identify Dexter as Kyle within another one or two episodes, but what he will do with that information is still an open question.

When Dexter and Boyd wake up they are on an ambulance being taken to a hospital. Neither man says anything to the paramedics but each knows that the other now wants to kill him (though in Boyd's case he doesn't understand why.) Boyd sneaks from his bed in the emergency rooms but fails to get to Dexter before he's made his own escape. Returning home Boyd arms himself and tries to be ready but Dexter is too skilled and is able to put him under without incident this time. Forced to improvise and use Boyd's own house to do the kill Dexter sacrificed his meticulously prepared killing room. When he finally plunges his knife into his victim Dexter does not feel the relief or catharsis that he had been hoping for. However he has little time to ponder the meaning of this as he realizes that he's just been watched. Through a small window within the house a young woman (Julia Stiles) who would have been Boyd's latest victim saw everything that Dexter did.

The episode ends on this note but it puts Dexter into a completely new situation that will have to be addressed immediately in the next episode. Dexter has now not only been seen, he has been seen by somebody who falls completely outside of Harry's code. From a strictly pragmatic view as a killer Dexter has little choice but to kill the woman so she can't turn him in. However that is a line that Dexter will very likely not allow himself to cross. This leaves him with a very creative dilemma: how can he ensure that the woman will not turn him into the police without resorting to killing her? It seems clear that the dynamic between these two characters is likely to form the backbone for most of Dexter's arc over the rest of this season.