Are You...?[1] is the first of twelve episodes in Season Seven of DEXTER, and the Seventy-Third overall episode of the series. Directed by John Dahl and written by Scott Buck, it first aired 30 September 2012 on Showtime.
The estimated number of viewers for the episode during its original airing was 2.40 million.[2]
After witnessing her brother kill Travis Marshall, Debra attempts to reconcile with Dexter while struggling to cover up their involvement with the murder. Meanwhile, Detective Mike Anderson has an unfortunate run-in, Quinn and Batista begin to make amends, and LaGuerta finds evidence that causes her to re-think the closed Bay Harbor Butcher case.[3]
Summary
Dexter is driving his car to the airport, presumably escaping from someone. When he tries to get fuel for his vehicle, all his cards are declined, which means he has to use some of the cash he is keeping in his travel bag he has in the trunk of his Escape. He rapidly drives to the Miami International Airport with the bag, and heads to buy a ticket for Budapest.
Dexter Morgan, having just claimed another victim, looked up to see his sister Debra Morgan standing in the doorway. After uttering the words "Oh god...", she immediately pulled her gun out pointing it at her brother who stepped away quickly from the knife that was still plunged into Travis's chest.
She demanded he step away from the body while Dexter said that it was him, trying to reassure her that he was her brother. Debra then asked who that was on the alter before receiving her answer that it was Travis Marshall, the Doomsday Killer that she had been tracking for the past month and had made an apparent escape after a fiasco involving a "final ritual" before the Eclipse earlier that evening. Debra, staring at her brother with confusion filling her every nerve, asked him "Dex, what the fuck?!" while battling with what she actually was seeing.
Dexter began to act quick on his feet, he couldn't reveal that he was a Serial Killer especially not to his own sister. Instead he fabricated a lie to try and protect himself. Placing his hands on his temple while faking a sense of his own confusion, he quickly said "Shit!" while Debra urged him to explain what happened. He asked that she lower her gun, which Debra slowly began to do. Now, forming the words in his mind, he started to act out his own "surprise" at what he had done.
- "I came to do one last forensic sweep like you asked me to do and..." he slowly approached Debra who took a few steps back, while he continued to speak. "Travis was here. He came at me, with his sword...I fought him off." Dexter moved closer to his sister who proceeded to back away..."I knocked him out...".
- "How did he end up...wrapped in plastic on the alter?", Debra would say watching Dexter closely.
- "I snapped." Dexter would respond.
- "You snapped?? Fuck does that mean?" she looked at him with bewilderment, struggling to believe him. Dexter played a fist to his forehead and worked on expressing emotion while carefully choosing his next words.
- "There's been a lot of anger inside me ever since Rita died." his expression became loose, wondering if that would stick with her. "When I looked at Travis and thought about everything he did I just wanted him dead so I killed him..."
- "..Dexter!" "I know..."...he stared at her for a moment, holding his expression while she surveyed the corpse. She could see him wrapped in plastic, possibly having fragmented memories of the Ice Truck Killer in this moment. She tried to piece together what was happening, especially since Travis was strapped to that table naked which really made her think. "...that still doesn't explain why he's wrapped up like that!".
- Dexter turned and looked at Travis while taking a moment to practice what he'd say next. "I didn't even think about it. I'm a forensics expert I guess it's just second nature not to leave a trace...", an almost eerie look on his face after saying that.
"Jesus, Dex!"...Dexter would nod before looking at Travis again, except now he heard something clicking in the background. He quickly turned to see that Debra was using her phone. His expression quickly filled with concern as he asked "Who are you calling?". Debra replied by saying that she had to get everyone from the station down there...something that made Dexter loudly say "No!" which scared Debra enough that she jumped back as he moved forward. Dexter asks Debra how the situation looks, she states it looks weird and he agrees. Dexter states this can complicate their lives. Debra states she will get Dexter the best lawyer in the city to fix the situation, maybe explaining he just had a moment of temporary insanity. Dexter is reluctant to the idea, stating he could lose his job and Harrison, and end in a psych ward. Dexter says they could just get rid of the body by putting it in his car and dumping it somewhere else, however Debra is reluctant to the idea as that could make things worse. Dexter plans to make it look like a suicide, by burning the church down and explaining the scenario: a frustrated Travis killed himself as the world did not end as he predicted. The fire can erase any trace linking Deb and Dexter, as explained by Dexter himself, Debra heads to a nearby station to get some gas, to make the church burn fast.[4]
Dexter burns down the church to make it look like Travis committed a ritual suicide by stabbing himself with the sword.
Dexter and Debra head to the docks and wait until they are called to a crime scene, as Dexter predicted, the very same crime scene they just got out of: Travis Marshall’s death at the church.
Vince and the rest of the team establish the crime scene is indeed a suicide. Dexter notices a piece of the plastic wrap is still on Travis. Debra distracts Vince while Dexter takes it off. LaGuerta arrives as the scene and congrats the success of having Travis out of the streets. However she then notices something shiny in the crime scene. She quickly picks up what appears to be a blood slide, which unknown to her, was dropped by Dexter.
Heading into his apartment door, Dexter is relieved that Debra believed the story he fabricated about why he killed Travis. Upon entering his apartment, Dexter finds Louis in. He notices Louis used his computer and quickly tells him not to do it again. Jaime leaves with Louis, and Dexter checks his blood slide box to see if Louis touched anything from it. Instead what he discovers is he forgot the blood slide with Travis’ blood.
Louis cancels Dexter's credit cards
At Louis' apartment, the latter tries to put Jaime against Dexter to no avail, as Jaime still thinks Dexter is a good boss and instead asks Louis what is wrong with him. Unknown to Jaime, Louis is on his computer hacking Dexter’s credit card and blocking further usage of it. Debra is watching the news about Travis' death, growing nervous at how she lied during the interview at the scene. She receives a call from Detective Mike Anderson who asks her how Travis got to the church if his car was not found at the scene. She replies the actions of a suicidal man don’t have to make sense. Mike still says he will look into it.
Viktor double taps Mike
After hanging up on Debra, Detective Anderson spots a man fixing his car’s wheel at the side of the road and decides to help. The man states he doesn't need the help but Mike still proceeds to the back of the man’s car and opens it, discovering the corpse of a blonde woman. The man quickly shoots at Detective Anderson on the chest. He then yells in Ukrainian, cleans the vehicle from prints and takes off in Anderson’s vehicle.
Dexter grabs his getaway bag
Next morning, Deb arrives at Dexter’s apartment and questions him as to how he was so prepared with various gear to kill Travis. Dexter states it all was in the church or belonged to Travis. Even if Dexter did not want to involve Deb in Travis’ murder, she states she is involved. Dexter just answers they have to go to work. Debra receives a call and is informed Mike has been shot. She heads to the address given to her. Dexter states he just have to get his bags ready and will also head to the address in 2 minutes. After Deb leaves Dexter gets his getaway pack that was purposely hidden inside the wall at the back of his room’s door and heads to the crime scene.
Kaja's dead body
At the crime scene, Debra, Quinn, Angel and Dexter discover Mike is dead. Quinn states the killer is (will) be death, to which Debra replies that everything will be done by the book as they are cops, not killers. Dexter analyses the woman’s corpse and states the cause of death. He also looks for prints but is only able to find the woman’s as the vehicle has been wiped clean from any other prints. The prints reveal the woman’s identity as Kaja Soroka, also revealing the vehicle is in fact under her name too. Without telling anyone else, Dexter discovers a print from the driver on the one place everyone forgets to clean up: The turn signal. Debra watches as Dexter leaves the scene and she is shocked as flashbacks from Dexter killing Travis combined with memories from when she was wrapped on a table, come to her mind.
Back at Miami Metro, Debra looks into the files from the Ice Truck Killer case. She finds the modus operandi from the Ice Truck Killer is similar to how Dexter killed Travis. Batista dispatches the team to investigate locations of interest to find more about Kaja Soroka’s death while Debra confronts Dexter about how Travis’ murder reminds her of when Brian strapped her to a table. Dexter states he did what he did with no specific attention to details. After Deb leaves the lab, Dex finds a match on Interpol for the print on the turn signal, which belongs to Viktor Baskov.
Viktor´s apartment
Dexter heads to Viktor’s apartment, and while thinking he should not do a kill now, he still goes through with it. He enter Viktor’s apartment and finds out he left in a hurry and is at the airport.
Dexter goes to the airport and using a fake ID, buys a ticket to Budapest. Dexter gets to the waiting room for passengers and spots Viktor.
At the Foxhole club, Batista and Quinn order everyone to stand down and wait to be questioned, to which the club’s owner, who is familiar to Quinn, reacts. While the owner tries to get the police off the place, Batista does believe him and instead asks for a list of all the clients of the club.
Back at the airport Dexter grabs a wheelchair and follow Viktor into the men’s bathroom. He then injects him with M99 and puts him in the wheelchair to pass unnoticed. Dexter gets an unconscious Viktor into a baggage storage inside the airport.
With no clue about Kaja’s killer Batista and Quinn head to get a drink while Debra is looking for Dexter. At the baggage storage room in the airport, Dexter tells Viktor the reason why he is strapped to the table. Viktor tries to buy his way out of death by offering money to Dexter to no avail. Dexter then proceeds to bash Viktor’s head with a fire extinguisher.
Isaak Sirko first appearance
In Kiev, Ukraine a grey-haired man (Isaak Sirko) receives a call from George Nokinov, Fox Club’s owner. George informs Isaak Viktor arrived to Miami hours ago and that while the matter with the police is still a problem, George states he will make it go away.
Debra calls Dexter’s apartment to talk to him but instead the phone is answered by Jaime. Jaime states Dexter is at work, Debra knows he isn’t , which increases her suspicions. Dexter is onboard the Slice of Life, dispatching Viktor’s remains in a black trash bag while Debra goes through the photos of the Ice Truck Killer investigation.
Back at Miami Metro, LaGuerta asks Vince about the usage of blood slides. He states there is only one person in Miami Metro that ever used blood slides: Doakes – The Bay Harbor Butcher. To LaGuerta’s discontent, she hides the blood slide to look into it personally.
Back at Dexter’s apartment, Dexter opens his apartment door only to find the blood slide box opened by Debra, who is displaying the blood slides on his table. She asks him if he killed all those people from the blood slides and asks him if he is a serial killer, to which Dexter nervously replies "Yes."
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Trivia
- This episode marks the second premiere in the series that picks up directly after the events of the previous season's finale. However, unlike Season 5 picking up after Season 4, the first few minutes are a teaser of Dexter apparently running for his life, trying to escape the country. This is later revealed to be him tracking the victim Viktor Baskov.
- The Episode Title "Are You... ?" refers to Debra's line at the very end of the episode, when she discovers the bloodslide box, Dexter's kill tools and the Prosthetic Arm. She asks first if he killed all those people (referring to the bloodslide box), to which he says yes. Then she asks: "Are you...a Serial Killer?" and after a moment's pause, he whispers "yes".
- Dexter initially was caught redhanded at the scene though he fabricates a story that convinces Debra that he only had a moment of temporary insanity. However, Debra's insistence on piecing together what she actually saw led her to the real truth by the end of the very same episode...and she finds out that he's actually a Serial Killer.
- The dates listed on the Ice Truck Killer Investigation Evidence Box are: 10/1/06 and the second date is 4/16/07. Brian Moser was killed roughly around Christmas Time of 2006, so the latter date is likely when it was filed rather than when the case was closed.