Dexter Season 6, Episode 3: "Smokey and the Bandit" Recap & Review

This episode of "Dexter" opens with a focus on Debra and the issues she's experiencing as she takes the position of lieutenant. She finds that LaGuerta is trying to control her through aggressive "suggestions" and "advice" on how to run the department. LaGuerta is being most aggressive on the issue of who to bring on to fills Debra's vacant detective position. On the advice of Batista, Debra ignores LaGuerta's preferred choice for the position and goes with her gut. This means bringing in a new detective from Chicago.

The differences between LaGuerta and Debra as head of homicide are immediately apparent. LaGuerta's choice for the detective position was based on political connections, while Debra's was based on whom she felt was the best cop. It's also clear that Debra is going to quickly miss being out in the field working cases. There's also the issue of Quinn, who believes that Debra chose her career over him. At this point he's opting for debauchery to move on and passive aggressiveness in the workplace, irritating but not overly damaging. It's unclear yet if the break-up of these two will yield specific dramatic payoff or if it was just done because the writers decided it was a mistake to put them together.

Meanwhile a new body turns up, that of a prostitute and it appears that somebody tried and failed to remove one of her teeth. This immediately reminds Dexter of the serial killer known as the "Tooth Fairy," who was prominent in the 1980s, and one of Dexter's childhood idols. The Tooth Fairy had operated in Oregon and was never caught. Some investigating leads Dexter to believe he may have found the Tooth Fairy, aged, bitter and living at a local retirement home. The man he suspects is named Walter Kenney, and Dexter gets closer to him under the guise of considering putting his father into the home.

Back at the station Masuka gets closer with his new intern. In fact he goes too far as to show her some of the evidence from the Ice Truck Killer case. The Ice Truck Killer was of course the primary antagonist of the first season, who ultimately turned out to be Dexter's brother. Dexter had been forced to kill his brother and took steps to ensure that their relationship would not be discovered. The intern shows great interest in the evidence, particularly a prosthetic limb with painted fingernails. Towards the end of the episode she actually steals it from the evidence box. Given that her intelligence has been demonstrated a few times it appears that she may discover something about Dexter's connection to the Ice Truck Killer through her obsession with that case.

As Dexter spends more time with Walter he becomes continually disappointed with what he finds: a grumpy old pervert who has nothing but contempt for everyone, even his own son. Dexter finds his proof of Walter's identity as the Tooth Fairy when he investigates the old man's storage locker and finds a box of extracted bloody teeth. He's instantly reminded of his own box of blood slides and can't help but wonder if one day that will be nothing but a memory of past glories that he can no longer live up to, as seems to be what's happened to Walter.

Meanwhile the pair of religious fanatics who killed the fruit vendor in the opening episode have kidnapped a jogger. Travis, the younger of the two, torments the man by telling him over and over that he must beg forgiveness from god. When not in the presence of the jogger Travis expresses his dismay at his actions to his mentor. The older man reminds him that they are doing important work and that it is not meant to be easy.

A little while later Dexter retrieves his car from the garage run by Brother Samuel. Samuel expresses a desire to get to know Dexter better, asking him to join him at a baptism he's holding for one of his employees. Dexter is reluctant at first but Samuel convinces him that it would be a warm and welcoming environment and Dexter ultimately agrees to come and also to bring Harrison along.

Later Dexter gets ready to take out Walter, but the old man get's the drop on Dexter. He pulls a gun on Dexter while the two are in the latter's car, saying that knows Dexter is with the police and demanding to know how he was found out. Dexter is able to knock out Walter by crashing the car, which then allows Dexter to set up Walter's own apartment as a kill room as had been his original plan. When Walter comes to Dexter finds any lingering respect he had slip away as Walter is fully revealed to be little more than a bitter angry shell of what he once was.

Walter, recognizing Dexter as a killer like himself, taunts his captor. He tells Dexter that in the end he will end up like him, a notion that Dexter dismisses. Walter expresses some delight at the thought that once he's dead and discovered it will mess up his son, who he has little regard for. Dexter robs him of this pleasure by not killing him with a knife as he normally would, but instead smothering him. This way Walter's death will be ruled natural causes and nobody will ever know, giving the old killer no posthumous glory. It's clear that Dexter is disturbed by Walter and fearful that he may end up the same way. It brings back echoes of Season 4 when Dexter was afraid that he would treat his family no better than the Trinity killer treated his.

This episode does a good job of continuing the themes of religion and family legacy. A few clear subplots are also starting to form, first with Brother Samuel and now with the intern. The episode closes with an image that has been teased a few times in promotional material for the season. Horses walk down the street with bodies riding atop them. The bodies are half corpse and half mannequin, sewn together. The Alpha and Omega symbols appear on the horses so this is no doubt the work of the religiously motivated pair and will be investigated next episode.