Dexter Season 6

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The first season of Dexter is an adaptation of Jeff Lindsay's first novel in the Dexter series, Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Subsequent seasons have featured original storylines. This season aired from October 1, 2006 to December 17, 2006, and follows Dexter's investigation of "The Ice Truck Killer". Introduced in the first episode, "Dexter", this serial killer targets prostitutes and leaves their bodies severed and bloodless. At the same time, Dexter's foster sister, Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter), a vice squad officer, aspires to work in the homicide department, and Dexter's girlfriend, Rita Bennett (Julie Benz), wants their relationship to be more intimate. Christian Camargo appears as Rudy Cooper and is a recurring character until the end of the season.

The show's first season received generally favorable reviews from critics; it was praised as "bold, different and exciting, with a central character and performance that take your breath away" by the New York Daily News. The Wall Street Journal saw "the grotesqueries of Dexter" as "not something that can easily be dismissed with the old "you don't have to watch" line", and concluded that "We do have to live among the viewers who will be desensitized, or aroused, by this show". The aggregate site Metacritic scored the show's first season at 77 out of 100 based on 27 critics reviews.

Dexter's main enemy in Season 1 is "The Ice Truck Killer", a serial killer of prostitutes who eludes the Miami Metro Police Department. The killer leaves items at the crime scene that have personal relevance to Dexter.

Meanwhile, Dexter is romantically involved with Rita, a single mother whose soon-to-be ex-husband, Paul Bennett, is released from prison on parole. While Bennett is good to their children, he repeatedly — but unsuccessfully — attempts to get back with Rita. After Bennett threatens him, Dexter knocks Paul out, and then sets him up to look like he violated his parole by using heroin. While back in prison, Bennett insists that Dexter set him up, but Rita ignores him.

Debra begins dating a prosthetics doctor named Rudy Cooper — who is secretly the Ice Truck Killer. After they get engaged, Cooper kidnaps Debra and lures Dexter to the house where he is keeping her. Here Dexter recognizes Cooper as Brian, his long-lost brother. Brian tells Dexter that, as children, they witnessed their mother's murder at the hands of drug dealers, who then left the two of them in a shipping crate for two days, sitting in a pool of their mother's blood. He also learns that Brian spent much of his childhood in an institution. Brian brings Dexter to a bound Debra, intent that the two of them would kill her together to cement their bond and sever the ties between Dexter and his adoptive family. Dexter hesitates for a moment, but eventually stops Brian from killing her; moments later, the police arrive and Brian escapes. After luring Brian into a trap, Dexter drugs and kills him, making it look like a suicide; everyone, including Debra, remains unaware of the exact connection between Dexter and Brian. Dexter feels some regret over killing Brian, the one person who fully understood him, in order to save Debra, who he knows would reject him if she ever learned his true nature.

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At the start of Season 2, the psychological fallout from killing Brian (his brother) and the constant surveillance by Sgt. Doakes have resulted in Dexter having not killed anyone in a month. Furthermore, Dexter learns two upsetting things about Harry: that he was sleeping with Laura Moser, Dexter's biological mother, before she died and that, after walking in on Dexter in the middle of a kill, Harry committed suicide from the guilt. These discoveries cause his faith in The Code to waver, and Dexter imagines scenarios in which he turns himself in.

Meanwhile, Debra's experiences with the Ice Truck Killer continue to traumatize her. For safety and comfort, she stays with Dexter, further complicating his life. Additionally, scuba divers discover Dexter's victims in the bay. As the police extract bags of dismembered human remains from the water, the media dubs the suspected killer the "Bay Harbor Butcher," and FBI Special Agent Lundy—an expert on serial killers— is brought in to catch him. Debra becomes romantically involved with Special Agent Lundy. A cult following begins to form behind the "Butcher" when it is discovered that his victims were largely criminals.

Paul Bennett, still in prison, continues asserting his innocence to Rita, only to eventually be killed in a prison fight. Against Dexter's wishes, Rita gives Bennett a full funeral. After reflecting on Paul's claims, Rita confronts Dexter and he admits to framing Paul. This admission, coupled with Dexter's other odd behavior, leads Rita to believe that Dexter himself is a heroin addict, a lie he goes with to cover for his actual activities. She compels him to join Narcotics Anonymous, where he meets and becomes involved with his sponsor, Lila Tournay, a pyromaniac who starts to pursue Dexter obsessively.

Doakes confronts Dexter leaving an NA meeting. Doakes is temporarily satisfied that Dexter's odd behavior can be explained by the traumatic experience of a law enforcement career combined with drug abuse. Doakes' suspicions about Dexter eventually return, and he ultimately discovers Dexter's glass slides. The possibility of matching them with the bodies of the Butcher's victims sets up a climactic showdown in which Doakes confronts Dexter at a remote cabin, ending with Dexter overpowering Doakes and keeping him locked in a cage inside the cabin. Dexter then begins framing Doakes as the Butcher. After the police discover Dexter's slides in Doakes's car, the FBI begins a manhunt for Doakes. Lieutenant LaGuerta, Doakes's former partner, is the only one who believes that Doakes is innocent. LaGuerta tries to prove to Lundy that Doakes was with her on a stakeout during one of the Bay Harbor murders; however, Lundy rejects LaGuerta's case files because she did not report that she received a phone call from Doakes after the FBI began its manhunt.

In the season finale, Tournay finds the cabin where Doakes is imprisoned and causes a propane tank explosion, killing Doakes and blowing up the corpse of one of Dexter's victims, thus preventing Dexter from being caught. Tournay then meets with Dexter, expecting him to accept her love now that she knows his "dark secret". She catches him preparing to kill her and seeks revenge by kidnapping Rita's children and using them to lure Dexter into a trap intended to kill them. Dexter saves the children and escapes, later exacting his own revenge on her after she has fled to Paris. In the closing scenes, Doakes' memorial service goes largely unattended, with the exception of LaGuerta, Dexter, and Doakes' immediate family.

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Rita discovers she is pregnant, informing Dexter that she will keep the baby and raise him with or without his help. He ends up proposing marriage to Rita, which she eventually accepts.

While stalking a murderous drug dealer, "Freebo", Dexter stumbles upon a fight between Freebo and another man, whom he is forced to kill in self defense. This victim turns out to be Oscar Prado, brother of Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits), a prominent assistant district attorney and old flame of Lt. LaGuerta. Miguel comes to confide in and trust Dexter after he helps assist with the case. Dexter tracks down Freebo and kills him, but as he leaves he encounters Miguel, who has followed a lead to Freebo's location. Dexter tells Miguel he had discovered Freebo and killed him in self defense, but instead of reprimanding him, Miguel thanks him and offers to help him cover up the crime. As Dexter and Miguel cooperate to conceal Freebo's true demise from everyone else, the duo end up becoming close friends, as do Rita and Miguel's wife, Sylvia.

Later, Miguel discovers that Dexter killed a murderer Miguel had complained to him about before. He praises Dexter for killing another criminal and offers his aid in the future. Trying to discourage Miguel, Dexter proposes a risky operation to free an infamous Aryan Brotherhood leader from prison in order to kill him. Miguel agrees with the idea and the plan succeeds. Dexter starts to recognize Miguel as his first and only true friend, to the point of inviting him to be his best man at his wedding.

Debra starts working more seriously to earn her detective shield, and also starts working with a new partner, Joey Quinn. They investigate a serial killer, "The Skinner", who skins his victims alive. She also starts a relationship with Anton Briggs, one of Quinn's confidential informants.

Miguel and Dexter's partnership takes a new step when Miguel offers to be the one to kill their next target. With some reluctance, Dexter agrees, only watching as Miguel kills without hesitation. The next day, Ellen Wolf, a ruthless defense attorney and old courtroom adversary of Miguel's, goes missing, and Dexter discovers that Miguel has killed her alone. Dexter also learns that Miguel has been manipulating him since the beginning, having never trusted him at all.

The police investigate the death of Wolf and capture The Skinner. Dexter eventually realizes that Miguel cannot be allowed to run loose any longer, at which point Dexter decides to kill him and make it look like The Skinner did it. Meanwhile, Miguel uses his position to help The Skinner escape police custody in return for his agreeing to kill Dexter. Striving to discover the truth about Wolf's death, LaGuerta ends up obtaining evidence which links Miguel to the crime. Miguel discovers that LaGuerta was investigating him and decides to kill her, but Dexter discovers Miguel's plot and captures him. Before killing Miguel, Dexter confesses to him that he was the one who killed Oscar.

After Miguel's body is discovered, he is immediately identified as a victim of The Skinner, just as Dexter planned. Miguel's other brother, Ramon, however, becomes suspicious of Dexter. After pointing a gun at Dexter during a dinner with Rita, he is taken into custody. During a visit to him in jail, Dexter helps Ramon put his demons to rest.

On the night before his wedding, Dexter is captured by The Skinner, but breaks free by taking advantage of a moment when the Skinner is distracted, shattering his hand in the process. After a short but vicious fight, Dexter snaps The Skinner's neck and makes it look like suicide by throwing his body before a moving police car. Dexter gets his broken hand put in a cast and attends his wedding.

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Dexter went home to become a family man, and Rita has given birth to a baby boy named Harrison. The family has moved to the suburbs, where Dexter struggles to reconcile his new life with his killing urges. Special Agent Frank Lundy returns to hunt down the "Trinity Killer" (John Lithgow) who he believes always murders three people in a very specific sequence: a young woman in a bathtub, an older mother of two falling to her death, and a father of two bludgeoned to death.

Lundy begins working with Debra and shortly after, an unseen assailant shoots them both, killing Lundy. Afterwards, Debra is barred from working the Trinity case because the shooting is suspected to be the work of Trinity, making Debra an investigator who was also a victim, creating a conflict of interest. Debra eventually discovers that Trinity was not the shooter, and she is put in charge of the case. Meanwhile, LaGuerta and Batista have renewed their relationship and, in danger of losing their jobs, decide to marry. They call Dexter in to have him be their witness.

While investigating Lundy's data about Trinity, Dexter determines Lundy was killed because he had determined when and where Trinity would claim his third victim. Dexter stakes out the building, and witnesses Trinity bludgeoning a man on a security camera. Dexter follows Trinity to his home, where he is surprised to discover that Trinity is a family man named Arthur Mitchell. Using the alias Kyle Butler, Dexter attends the same church as Arthur and eventually befriends him by helping him at the "Four Walls, One Heart" charity organization. While investigating the reasons behind Trinity's crimes, Dexter learns how he manages to reconcile his family life with his killing urges and utilizes that knowledge to deal with his own issues.

Dexter visits Arthur at his home and discovers that he will be traveling to Tampa on another building project, which could be the start of another three-pronged killing cycle. Dexter decides to make the trip with Trinity to ensure this does not happen. On the way, Arthur takes Dexter to his childhood home and reveals that at the age of ten, he spied on his older sister in the shower out of innocent curiosity. Startled by his presence, she slipped, shattering the glass shower door and cutting open her femoral artery, causing her to bleed to death. His mother committed suicide and his father died soon after. Dexter realizes that Trinity compulsively murders groups of people that bear resemblance to those in his family, recreating their deaths each time.

During Thanksgiving at Trinity's home, Dexter learns that Arthur has been terrorizing his family, locking his daughter away in her bedroom and physically abusing his son. After Arthur attacks his son, Dexter is forced to restrain him. Arthur then goes to see a reporter who has been snooping around the Miami Metro Police Department, Christine Hill, who is revealed to be his illegitimate daughter.

Later Trinity kidnaps a boy while being pursued by Dexter. Dexter does some research and finds out that Trinity's pattern begins with the abduction and murder of a ten year old boy; revealing Trinity's pattern actually cycles in groups of four with the boys always disappearing five days before the first bathtub death. Dexter locates the place where Trinity is holding the boy and arrives just in time to save him, as Arthur escapes.

Debra begins to investigate and eventually arrests Hill after finding out that she is Trinity’s daughter. However, Hill is released due to a lack of evidence. Hill secretly contacts Arthur, but he refuses to help her and instead forbids further contact. Arthur also reveals his disdain for her having killed Lundy, which she did to protect her father. Realizing the error of her ways, Hill confesses to Debra. Distraught, Hill seeks forgiveness from Debra, which the latter refuses to provide. Hill then pulls out a gun and commits suicide in front of Debra.

One of Harry's old informants takes Deb to the house of Laura Moser. Debra immediately recognizes the house as the home of Brian Moser, the Ice Truck Killer. After piecing together Dexter's connection to Brian and Laura, Deb reveals this information to Dexter, explaining that Laura was his mother and Brian his brother. Dexter feigns surprise, stating that Brian must have tried to get to him through Deb.

Dexter decides that he must draw police attention away from Trinity so that he can kill Trinity himself. He finds a man whom he can kill and pin the blame on. He then plants evidence and kills the man. Arthur lures Dexter to an arcade where he previously stalked victims and follows Dexter back to the police station, where he learns Dexter's true identity. Soon after, Dexter tails Trinity, but sideswipes a car on the way. Dexter captures and drugs Trinity, but the driver of the damaged car has found Dexter's car, called the police, and in the ensuing confrontation, Dexter is taken in by the police for leaving the scene of an accident and fighting with the driver in the presence of the police. By the time Dexter is released due to cell overcrowding, Trinity is gone from where Dexter had left his unconscious body.

Dexter eventually tracks down Arthur, capturing and bringing him to the bomb shelter where he held the missing boy. Dexter kills him with a hammer and dumps the body. At the beginning of this episode, Dexter arranges a vacation for Rita, Harrison, and himself in order to get Rita out of harm's way. They're to meet in the Keys at the end of the work day. Rita and Harrison leave in the morning and Dexter promises them that he'll see them after work. When Dexter returns home after dealing with Trinity, he picks up a message from Rita. After listening to the message, he calls her back. He hears Rita's phone ring from within the house and soon after, he hears Harrison crying. He rushes to the bathroom, where he finds Harrison sitting on the tile floor in a pool of blood while Rita lies dead in the bathtub, having been murdered in the same fashion as each of the other Trinity bathtub killings.[/link]]

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As the police arrive at Dexter's house, he is obviously in shock and, either because he feels guilty that his relationship with the Trinity Killer caused Rita's death or because he is answering a question ("Sir, did you say that you called this in?") asked by one of the police officers, admits "it was me". Quinn is already suspicious about the circumstances surrounding Rita's death, considering it was not Trinity's modus operandi. Astor takes the news particularly hard, and blames Dexter for her death. Unable to reconcile, Astor decides that she wants to live with her grandparents in Orlando, and she and Cody leave Miami.

Miami Metro begin investigating a severed head in a Venezuelan neighborhood, and also find several related cases. The suspect is quickly nicknamed the Santa Muerte Killer. The FBI, unable to find Arthur Mitchell (the 'trinity killer'), follows its only other lead, Kyle Butler (Dexter's alias when interacting with Mitchell). Quinn recognizes the similarities between sketches of Kyle Butler and Dexter. Dexter finds a Department of Sanitation worker, Boyd Fowler, who is responsible for the deaths of many women. Dexter hires a nanny named Sonya to care for Harrison. Dexter eventually kills Fowler, but the crime is witnessed by Fowler's next victim Lumen Pierce (played by Julia Stiles), whom he has in captivity.

Dexter tries to care for Lumen, but she is understandably suspicious, asking Dexter if he is going to "sell her". Quinn approaches Jonah Mitchell, who is now in witness protection. He shows Mitchell a picture of Dexter and asks if it is Kyle Butler, but is interrupted by an undercover FBI agent before Mitchell can identify the picture. Quinn is suspended without pay by LaGuerta for disobeying her orders, and she continues to defend Dexter. Quinn seeks the help of a fellow officer to investigate Dexter. With Dexter's help, Deb closes in on the Santa Muerte killer, but he escapes during a hostage stand-off. Lumen tells Dexter that "there were others" with Fowler who did this to her.

Lumen asks Dexter to help her seek revenge, but he initially refuses. After Lumen continues on her own and targets the wrong suspect, Dexter teaches her the importance of knowing a person is guilty. Lumen falsely leads Dexter to believe she leaves Miami. Dexter soon learns that Lumen has remained in Miami after she shoots one of her attackers. Dexter is forced to help her cover it up, moments before Debra arrives to investigate the crime scene. She later reveals to Dexter that killing one of her attackers brought her a sense of peace, and she tearfully recognizes that it will not last, and she will have to find (and kill) the others to find that peace again. Dexter recognizes this as being her own "Dark Passenger", and decides (in part to forgive himself for failing Rita) to help her.

Meanwhile, the subplots throughout the season focus on the relationships of LaGuerta and Angel, who have made their marriage public but are having marital issues, and of Quinn and Debra who get romantically involved. When Angel gets involved in a bar fight which gets him in trouble with the Internal Affairs Dept (IAD), LaGuerta saves by helping IAD set up a sting on a different cop, Liddy (Peter Weller). Liddy develops a friendship with Quinn, both being angry about being "betrayed" by LaGuerta, and Quinn pays Liddy to investigate Dexter. Debra remains unaware that Quinn suspects her brother is Kyle Butler.

Meanwhile, Dexter and Lumen hunt the other people responsible for torturing her, including Jordan Chase (Jonny Lee Miller) and people associated with him. As Quinn's relationship with Deb deepens, he tries to call off Liddy, but by this point Liddy has taken pictures of Dexter and Lumen on Dexter's boat disposing of large plastic bags and video of them practicing for a kill. Having lost his job and convinced Dexter is a criminal, Liddy captures Dexter and calls Quinn to tell him he's got something to show him. During a struggle Dexter kills Liddy in self defense and destroys the video evidence. But he's forced to leave the body behind when Lumen is captured by Jordan Chase (who had figured out that she and Dexter were killing his accomplices). Quinn, having responded to a call from Liddy, finds Liddy's van locked, and a drop of Liddy's blood falls on his shoe. Dexter returns home to be surprised by Astor and Cody -- they want to have Harrison's first birthday party in Miami and stay with him the coming summer.

Dexter goes to confront Jordan (who has abducted Lumen) but is called away by Liddy's crime scene, where Quinn is arrested for suspicion of implication in Liddy's death. Later Dexter tracks down where Jordan is holding Lumen captive, and following a brief struggle, Dexter overpowers Jordan, and then allows Lumen to kill Jordan. Deb discovers them, though they are behind opaque plastic and she is not aware of their identities. Understanding that Lumen must be an escaped victim, Deb sympathizes, and lets them go, not seeing their faces. After Jordan's death, Lumen no longer feels the "Dark Passenger" and she leaves, leaving Dexter distraught.

Quinn visits Dexter at Harrison's birthday party, thanking him for getting him out of jail as Dexter seems to have faked a blood test to clear Quinn. Quinn and Deb appear to reconcile, as do Maria and Angel. Blowing out Harrison's birthday candle, Dexter wonders if there is hope for him -- to have a genuine relationship, to be human -- but he doubts it.

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Loved Dexter's facial expression when the snakes came out of the dude's stomach, him looking impressed by it brought back shades of the first season for me which was awesome. Feels like a fresh start for the series in which the sense of fun is back in contrast to season 5. Aside from that it's looking to be the most brutal season yet with the way Hanks' victims are looking. Anyway looking forward to Mos Def's debut and how his character's gonna play out in things.