Dexter Season 5, Season Finale: "The Big One" Recap

As the season finale opens Dexter is gathering his tools and preparing to go after Chase before the worst can happen to Lumen. While preparing Dexter argues with his vision of Harry, who keeps pointing out how little Dexter has to go on when it comes to finding Chase quickly. Dexter makes clear how much Lumen means to him, the fact that she knows what he is and has accepted him means that he will do everything to keep hold of that. However when Dexter opens his front door to his apartment he's greeted by Astor, Cody, Harrison, their grandparents and the nanny. They all came down from Orlando to surprise Dexter and have Harrison's birthday party there with him. Dexter does his best to fumble through the greetings but explains that he has an urgent matter at work to get to and is able to escape relatively quickly. But he isn't able to break free before Astor and Cody ask if they can stay with him for the summer, which Dexter agrees to.

At the precinct Debra explains to Laguerta that Chase missed his flight out of the country. There isn't enough evidence to issue a warrant for him. However Laguerta is able to issue a stake and notify which means that they will be immediately alerted if any news of him turns up. Quinn then tries to reconnect with Debra by equating the hunt for chase as a race between two couples: him and Debra one one side and the two vigilantes on the other. Debra tactfully defuses the notion of the two of them as a couple, clearly still hurt by Quinn. She opts to re-watch the rape DVDs of the barrel girls to look for further clues than continue her conversation with Quinn.

From his car Dexter calls Chase on his cell phone. Chase is also driving and picks up the call. He primarily uses the opportunity to goad and mock Dexter. He seems to take pleasure in pointing out how Dexter is once again going to lose the woman he cares about. Chase also declines Dexter's offer to trade himself for Lumen. However Chase does let slip that Lumen is still alive, which gives Dexter some hope. After hanging up from the call Chase realizes that Lumen has woken up in his truck and is banging around and making as much noise as possible. Chase is forced to stop behind a car at a red light and is approached by a fruit vendor, who recognizes him and hears the noises from the car. As soon as he's able to pull away Chase drives down the road a bit and pulls off to knock Lumen out again before continuing onto his destination.

Dexter's only hope of finding Lumen is to go through Chase's real estate holdings to try to find the place where he and the other men took the women they raped. Dexter recognizes that Chase is a creature of habit, like himself, and will return to familiar ground. Dexter goes to get the police's list of real estate holdings and finds Debra combing over the rape DVDs again. She has noticed that the men in the DVDs seem to be looking to somebody off camera for approval, and she believes that somebody is Chase. Dexter is able to acquire the list of real estate holdings but can't find anything that would be suitable to hold somebody against their will. Harry then reminds Dexter that Jordan Chase wasn't always his name. Dexter calls over to the county records asking for any property owned by Chase's born name, Eugene Greer. It takes some convincing to have the clerk make it a priority but he says he will call Dexter back with information.

At this point the entire squad is called in and informed that Liddy's body was found in a van. Dexter is sent out along with Quinn and Debra to investigate the man that Dexter himself killed not long ago. Meanwhile Chase brings Lumen back to where she had been held and raped. Because Dexter's crime scene is in the bay he's forced to go (along with the rest of the homicide team) on a slow boat where Quinn asks Dexter a few veiled yet pointed questions about what he thinks happened to Liddy. Once there Dexter does his part to work the crime scene as quickly as possible. It's clear that Liddy had be surveying somebody and Batista believes if they can find out who then they will probably find the killer. Fairly early on Quinn is pulled aside by Laguerta and questioned because the last five calls on Liddy's phone all went to Quinn. Quinn is evasive in his answers when Laguerta spots blood on his shoe. It had dripped there from the door of the van when Quinn had gone to meet Liddy at the van but found it lock with no sign of Liddy. At that point Quinn says that he thinks he shouldn't say anymore until he talks to a lawyer. Debra sees Quinn put in a patrol car and his shoes bagged for evidence, but Laguerta won't say exactly what is going on. At that point County records calls Dexter and lets him know that Eugene Greer owns an old camp that's been closed down for decades. Dexter is able to break away from the crime scene, steal a car and resume his hunt of Chase.

At the camp Chase taunts Lumen and makes it clear that he's expecting Dexter to come and try to save her. Lumen fights back, kicking Chase in the crotch and attempting to flee. Unfortunately since she doesn't know the grounds she finds herself in a dead end and Chase recaptures her easily enough. Back at the precinct Debra tries to talk to Quinn who's being held in the interrogation room. However she's not able to get him to open up about what's going on or why he felt he should have a lawyer. The only thing he will say is that he didn't kill Liddy, but he won't say to Debra who he thinks might have done it. Once out of the room Laguerta tries to comfort Debra by telling her to have a little faith. Debra seems to take a little solace in that when she gets a report of a street vendor who saw Jordan Chase and heard struggling from the trunk.

As Dexter races towards the camp his vision of Harry cautions him that Chase was clearly trying to get Dexter upset to make him sloppy. Dexter only gets angry at his adoptive father and yells at him before suddenly hitting a piece of heavy equipment that's blocking the road. Dexter crawls from the wrecked car only to find himself confronted by Chase pointing a gun at him. Soon Dexter is in the basement, with his hands tied behind and Lumen similarly restrained. Chase mocks them, telling them that they bonded over shared pain but what they feel isn't real and it wouldn't last anyways. Chase takes some time to examine Dexter's kill tools and is noticeably impressed. Then he notices that one of the knives is missing. Dexter uses the knife that he had been able to hide from Chase to cut himself free and then stabs Chase through the foot, pinning him to the floor. Dexter is then able to put Chase in a choke hold and cause him to pass out.

Back some ways down the road Debra is questioning the street vendor, with some difficulty due to her not speaking Spanish. However she is able to discern that Chase was headed in the direction of the camp and decides that should be her next place to go. At the camp Chase wakes up to find himself strapped down to a table. Rather than beg or whimper he remains defiant, taunting both Dexter and Lumen right up to the point when Lumen stabs him through the heart. Outside Debra pulls up to the camp and begins her investigation but going into the same building that Dexter and Lumen have just killed Chase in. In the basement the two killers are preparing to leave and talking about how best to handle the body. Debra comes down into the basement and sees Chase dead on the table. Behind a plastic sheet she also sees Lumen and Dexter, however the sheet is not clear enough for her to make out their faces, only their general body shapes. She draws her gun and tells them to drop what's in their hands. Debra tells them that she knows what the men did and it's a miracle anybody was able to survive. She seems to be expressing sympathy but when one of them moves she fires a warning shot. She says that some people may not deserve to live but as a cop she doesn't get to make that decision, and that she has to call this crime scene in. After a pause she tells them that police will be there in about an hour and they should be gone by then, at which point she leaves the building.

Debra returns to the precinct where Quinn is in a holding cell. She tells him that she doesn't know what he's done but that she's not in a position to judge him anymore. Quinn asks her if something happened. Debra says that yes something did but she won't say exactly what. Quinn doesn't press the issue and the two seem to firmly reconnect. Meanwhile out on Dexter's boat he and Lumen dispose of Chase's body and Lumen expresses her disbelief that they were able to complete this. The two of them kiss before heading back into shore.

The next morning Dexter leaves Lumen asleep in bed and head into work. Debra comes to him saying she thought he was at Harrison's birthday that day. Dexter says that he will be but he was called in to work the blood from Quinn's shoe. They also talk briefly about the Barrel Girls case which is now closed with the evidence in the basement at the camp. However Debra points out that Chase has disappeared like the rest. She expresses her general feeling that things are always so much more complicated than they appear to be. Dexter agrees with her and starts to work on he blood from the shoe.

Dexter then returns to the apartment, rather excited about the party and that he'll get to introduce Lumen to the rest of his family. It takes him a minute or two to realize that she's not responding, only sitting quietly on the couch. When Dexter does notice and asks what's up she says that she has to leave that day. Dexter is immediately confused, not understanding. Lumen does her best to explain that once Chase's body was dumped she felt the connection she had with Dexter starting to slip away. She had tried to hold onto it but she had to admit that the fundamental link between them was now gone and she didn't belong in his life knowing he would continue to kill. Dexter at first became angry, throwing a plate against the wall. But then his sadness became evident. The darkness inside of Lumen that had mirrored his own and allowed her to understand him was gone, but his darkness still remained and always would. The two embrace one last time.

At Harrison's birthday party Dexter does his best to mingle. At one point Astor pulls him aside and asks about Lumen, Dexter says only that she left. When Debra arrives she comes with Quinn at her side. Quinn takes a moment to go to Dexter and quietly thank him for the blood work. Dexter does not acknowledge faking the results out loud but the look between the two says more than words and Quinn says that he owes Dexter one. Debra and Dexter talk for a few moments and Dexter is quick to point out that he still doesn't like Quinn but he wants Debra to be happy. Elsewhere at the party Batista and Laguerta reconnect because he had seen her comforting Debra and it gave him hope that the two of them could still work. For the first time Dexter takes off his wedding ring. In a voice-over Dexter says how even with her gone Lumen still helped him find himself again after what happened to Rita. In the final shot Dexter delivers an ice cold stare directly into camera as he blows out Harrison's birthday candle, saying in voice-over how wishes are for children.