Before watching this, as I always do, I watched several old episodes of Dexter to try to get in the mood. To be honest, I enjoyed the first couple of episodes of season 7 and the season finale was great, but the rest was pretty much garbage. It is hard to see a show with such a unique premise and strong story crumble like this has. Part of me wishes that the show would have ended after Trinity in season 4. Because of this, it has been difficult to get excited about Dexter. What made me even care to watch the premiere of season 8 the night it aired was that this is how the show will all end and I plan to follow it there.

The season premiere begins 6 months after the season 7 finale. Dexter has gotten his life together, obviously unaffected by the shooting of Maria LaGuerta. Dexter has never been one to dwell on the deaths he causes. In fact, if he is affected by anything, it is when he cannot kill, like in season 2 when Doakes was tailing him.

Deb is MIA at the memorial service for LaGuerta and nobody has heard from her in a while. The first time we see her she is snorting coke and screwing a jewelry thief, Andrew Briggs. Clearly, she is having more difficulty coping than her brother. Basically, she’s a hot mess.

After finding out that Deb is on a cocktail of prescription drugs and that she hasn’t checked into her job in 2 weeks, Dex tracks her down at a convenience store. Deb tells him that she shot the wrong person in that trailer. OH SNAP.

I have no clue how super-douche Joey Quinn pulls the tail he does, but we get to see him in action with Jamie Batista. This part isn’t super relevant, I just wanted to give everyone reading the opportunity to take a moment and imagine Aimee Garcia naked…

Matthews brings in a special guest, Evelyn Vogel (Charlotte Rampling), to Miami Metro. She is there to help with a new case. She is a neuropsychiatrist. The victim has part of his head and brain separated before being laid out. She profiles serial killers, so of course Dexter is extra nervous. She seems like she may be a bit of s psychopath herself. She starts grilling Dexter about how the Bay Harbor Butcher was, stating that it’s strange that Doakes had a short fuse. She said that it seemed like the Bay Harbor Butcher operated under some sort of moral guidelines. I really love what she seemed to be doing as I watched it.

Dexter, with his son in tow, tracks Deb down to a seedy motel so he can warn her the the fence she is waiting is in fact a hitman. Harrison is with him because Jamie took the night off. Father of the year, ladies and gentlemen.  He leaves Harrison in the car and escalation of the events result in an altercation with Deb’s target, Mr. Briggs. In a move that goes against all of his M.O. and history of preparation, Dexter stabs Briggs in one of his least impactful killings ever. Upon his return to the car he finds Harrison no longer asleep in the vehicle, and after a frantic 10 second search, finds the boy wandering through the parking light. Dexter picks his son up with bloody hands and a sullen look. After Deb calls the death in to the police, she is spotted by the hit man that Dexter was trying to save her from, “El Sapo”.

At the end of the episode, Vogel brings Dexter some of his childhood drawings. He chases her down and she tells him that she knows he cannot kill her because she doesn’t fit Harry’s code. And my thoughts are…. why did they wait until the end of the episode to make me excited?

In a sneak peek at the next episode, Vogel says that Serial Killers are a gift and that she needs a favor from Dexter. I love that there will be someone new who knows what Dexter is, but after LaGuerta’s theories before her death, his sister being MIA, and the fact that he told Angel “she died because she wouldn’t leave things alone” about Maria, there are already a lot of fingers pointing at Dexter right now. Too many people know or at least suspect him to be much darker a person than they originally thought.

I would give this episode a 2.5 out of 5. It was pretty dull for a season premiere, but it did excite me for episodes to come.