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Dexter Season 5 Episode 5

First Blood

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AIRED: Oct 24, 2010

8.7

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EPISODE REVIEWS
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Episode Summary

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Dexter is saddled with an unwanted conspirator; Dexter worries about how Rita's death will affect Harrison; Deb works alone; Quinn enlists an old friend's help.

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (6)

We learn more about Lumen, see Quinn's continued interest in Dexter, Deb's further investigation into the Santa Muerta killings and Batista slowly getting more and more jealous.

8.8

By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Sep 10, 2011

If there's one thing that I've agreed with all these years about Dexter, it's that the supporting characters of the show have slowly become overshadowed by Michael C. Hall, who makes this show stand out from any other dramas, comedies, horror shows or anything else on TV. He plays the role perfectly, and five seasons in, we're compelled to see how his story will turn out. And while I've never been all that interested in the supporting characters (Deb and Doakes as an exception), I'm slowly becoming more intrigued by all of these story lines. Tonight's episode pushed forward everybody's story a little bit, some more than others, but enough for me to be interested in where this season is going.

The most interesting stuff happening here is.. you guessed it: Dexter and Lumen. Dexter tries to get Lumen to move on and go back home to her family, but Lumen claims she wants to find the men who did this to her. It becomes clear that she was raped by multiple men, one of them possibly being Boyd Fowler. Dexter understands her need to kill, but he knows first-hand that killing out of revenge does nothing good for you. He learns that she's planning on visiting a man who she believes was involved. He was cellmates with Boyd and may have had a hand in it. The best parts of the episode come in the very sketchy place underneath the bridge. Dexter visiting pretending to be a convicted rapist was eerie, especially when we see the kind of people that stay there, and Lumen's later visit and her near kill of Boyd's friend were intense and could've easily gone bad. In the end, Lumen pretends to leave Miami and instead stays, likely to try and kill her captors.

The Santa Muerta case gets a lot more creepy and the stakes get higher after they find the Fuentes brother's first kill. The sight of their bodies infested with maggots and flies was disgusting, and that's saying something coming from somebody who's watched this show since the beginning. As for any actual revelations, there was nothing... but there were some good scenes between characters here, particularly Masuka.

What I'm really interested in is Quinn. People keep saying over and over and over again "Quinn is the new Doakes!" And sure, there are similarities between the two, but it's clear there's a difference. Quinn finds a disgraced cop, an old friend of his apparently, and hires him to look into Dexter. The cop is played by Peter Weller, most known as Robo-Cop, so it should be interesting to see how his role plays out.

And Batista and LaGuerta continue to have pointless and uninteresting roles, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little interested in where Batista's jealousy leads him. I like seeing him show some actual emotion and his character becomes more likable the further he goes towards the edge.. I guess that's what Dexter Morgan does to you. I just hope this plot goes in an interesting and worthwhile place. There's also a minor plot involving Dexter worried about how his son will be affected by Rita's death, and it leads to some funny lines here and there, but there's not much attention paid to it.

Season 5 has a lot of balls juggling in the air right now, and while some shows have trouble focusing on their plotlines (Big Love mainly.. I'm looking at you), Dexter finds a way to focus as much time on each one as possible. And yes, some are more interesting than others, but at least we're going somewhere now after Rita's death. I'm very excited to see how Dexter and Lumen's relationship grows from here.moreless
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*** Spoiler-free *** Clumsy writing but captivating modern fairytale, sugary and salty arcs, flourishing Julia Stiles, intriguing dual elements and Desperate "BatisGuerta" V

7.0

By goa103, Sep 10, 2011

And the last show standing is… Dexter ! Of course. Who could give up on Dex and his spicy sister ? The Beauty and the Beast proved once more that our favorite serial is not ready to jump the shark, but definitely in shape to annihilate it like if it was a giant school of piranhas. Of course I wish they would also take care of Batista & LaGuerta but after watching this installment I've definitely changed my mind about their relationship. Yes, they deserve their own spin-off. Because it would be the perfect way to get ride of them ! Seriously their arc wasn't as painful as in Practically Perfect so it's not that bad. In fact since the previous episode I'm even starting to consider its potential considering the impact it had on other characters.

As for the rest it was wicked as usual but I couldn't help noticing a few mistakes and inaccuracies. In the third episode I already noticed that what Jennifer Carpenter said about a corpse wasn't compatible with Deb's development. She knows her investigation can lead to innocent people being killed so she should be more careful. Still her chemistry with Masuka was excellent and I really enjoyed their slightly underground story. The filming was also quite expressive, front Carpenter and back tattoo. Shame on sexy TV ! Otherwise these funny moments couldn't hide an other major issue. In fact I'm starting to question the writing because it's getting clumsy. In season 4 after Dex stang Trinity and had to go back to the police station the last escaped and didn't go back to his vehicle. It wouldn't have been secure and logical. In First Blood a similar event occurred but its development went the other way, the wrong one. Game over, insert coin ! We should also question LaGuerta and the other detectives behavior regarding Dexter. Quinn is on his tail but what about her ? Has she forgotten about Doakes ? I don't ! So I wonder if she'll wake up anytime soon because for the moment this season has far too many plot holes. Julia Stiles is convincing and touching as Lumen Pierce but even an ivory beauty can't hide the seams of the rag she wears. So I really hope the writers will pay more attention to these details in the upcoming episodes because I like to think that most viewers are as demanding as I am.

Still the dual contents should be deep and fascinating enough to captivate your soul. From the rainbow baby to the predictable but twisted ending there were plenty of bitter sweet ingredients. One disturbing scene with Lumen was also quite intense and long enough to rise my heartbeat rate in a split second ! Last but not least the mirroring pattern used to develop Dex and Lumen is intriguing. Indeed it's like if they were enduring the same painful journey, life, but with opposite experiences of it. In fact it's quite interesting that the writers have decided to play with the fairytale ambivalence. What if Lumen was the Beast ? Does Dex want to become a Beauty ? I can't wait to get answers and of course ask more questions !moreless
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First Blood

8.5

By TrueTvWatcher, Mar 15, 2011

First Blood was a great episode of Dexter. I really enjoyed watching this episode and learning more about the characters. This episode was character driven with a little intrigue, drama, and action. I think that this episode was a good stepping stone into future episodes and story lines. I can't wait to see what happens next since Lumen is still in Miami. There are a lot of interesting things happening, and this episode raises some new questions. I look forward to seeing how these stories unfold. Dexter was really struggling a bit with himself in this episode, and I wonder what will come of it.moreless
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7.0

By thefanof, Mar 15, 2011

Dexter had a strong episode last week, but tonight's episode just was not.

I am not going to get my wish of having Maria La Guerta and Angel Batista die a painful death, but at least let them get less screen time than this. Their martial problems are taking up too much time on this show and it is not going to change anytime soon.

The Dexter scenes were really the only good ones here, but even Mr. Morgan could not save a really boring filler episode.

Julia Stiles, calm down! You don't need to shake your entire body and blink 400 times a minute every time you say a word.moreless
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The Birth and Death of Innocence: A Dexter Ensemble Adventure

8.5

By Neksmater, Nov 08, 2010

Good work following up on last week as Lumen offers Dexter the chance to help her take down Boyd's accomplices in her capture and rape but he declines. As Dexter tells her to move she instead moves in on Boyd's cell mate while he was in prison and is out on parole and Lumen plans to take justice into her own hands. Dexter is a total hypocrite for saying that stuff to Lumen to move on but given the circumstances of life and death I'm ok with it because unlike him she can just walk away, even though she doesn't. I figured something was funky in the Batista world if she had been just sleeping with that guy it's way too obvious and way too inferior for Dexter. While a slow episode it does build a compelling dynamic between Lumen and Dexter and she promises to be a bigger thorn in his side as this season continues. I'm curious about Boyd's accomplices because if they're not his cell then they could be quite high profile. Also Harrison's plot with the baby scratch came along nicely to begin the episode. Quinn is a nuisance, not so much as character as much as one for Dexter, hanging out with that Narc crooked cop and offering the job to look into Dexter, but maybe more explosion next week.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Michael C. Hall	Dexter Morgan
Jennifer Carpenter	Debra Morgan
Desmond Harrington	Joey Quinn
C.S. Lee	Vince Masuka
Lauren Velez	Lt. Maria LaGuerta
David Zayas	Sgt. Angel Batista

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Raphael Sbarge	Jim McCourt	Guest Star
Katherine Moennig	Michael Angelo	Guest Star
Chris Payne Gilbert	Robert Brunner	Guest Star
Peter Weller	Stan Liddy	Recurring Role
Maria Doyle Kennedy	Sonya	Recurring Role
April Lee Hernandez	Officer Cira Manzon	Recurring Role

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Episode Photos

Julia Stiles on Dexter from the episode ...

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Julia Stiles on Dexter from the episode ...

© 2010 Showtime
Michael C. Hall and Julia Stiles on Dext...

© 2010 Showtime
Michael C. Hall on Dexter from the episo...

© 2010 Showtime

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (3)
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- Dexter: (voice over) Rainbows are an illusion. Refracted light to make us think something's there when it's really not. Is there darkness in Harrison or is it just my own fear being reflected back?
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- Debra: (about his tattoo) When did you get this?
  Masuka: I've been adding to it over time, but the main work started about two years ago. I was having a bit of a crisis and this was my way of working through it.
  Debra: Viagra probably would have been cheaper.
  Masuka: This was a crisis of the soul, Morgan.
  Debra: Don't you have to have a soul before it could be in crisis?
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- Dexter: (voice over) We all have something to hide. Some dark place inside us we don't want the world to see. So we pretend everything's okay. Wrapping ourselves in rainbows. And maybe that's all for the best, because some of these places are darker than others.
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