‘Dexter’ season 8, episode 4 review: Masuka finally gets attention and other tales

After many weeks of waiting, we may finally witnessed Debra Morgan’s breaking point: She cannot handle the fact that Dexter is going to die, even if she is the one who may be responsible for killing him. That issue was the crux of Sunday night’s “Dexter” season 8 episode, as she had to truly face the possibility that she cannot live without trying to protect him to the fullest.

It was for this reason that she probably tried to take his life by swerving the car off of the bridge. The only way she could keep herself from trying to help him is by putting herself in a position where she could not even save herself. She didn’t count on that good Samaritan being there, which is a happy, made-for-TV coincidence. So while Dr. Evelyn Vogel may be the most manipulative psychologist ever with her own agenda, she was completely right about what makes Dexter’s sister tick.

As intriguing as all of this was, and this includes Dexter and Vogel finally uncovering who they believe to be the Brain Surgeon after all of this time, it was just one of a few interesting stories that we saw this week. It is clear that Deb and Quinn are starting to become more and more endgame, which is sure to upset Jamie. Meanwhile, this in turn could upset Jamie’s attempts to set Dexter up with his neighbor Cassie, which to her probably seems like a great idea even though there is no chemistry whatsoever between them. (Note to Cassie: Run far, far away from this mess.)

For whatever reason, what may intrigue us the most right now is the possibility of getting a genuine Masuka story for the first time pretty much ever, outside of him hitting on someone who is just trying to steal the Ice Truck Killer’s hand. Granted, he did try to hit on this girl too … but it was his college-age daughter, who was apparently born using a “donation” that he gave while in college. Can Masuka actually rise as a father figure? That sounds like a nice dose of levity through what is probably going to otherwise be a serious and painful eight episodes ahead. Remember, Hannah McKay is still set to show back up at some point to cause more chaos.

Overall, this is turning out to be a great final season so far, with the only major concern here being that unless Vogel is setting up something terrible for Dexter, we don’t really know if the Brain Surgeon is a worthy adversary. If this is the end, he really needs to figure out a way to end this big.

Do you like the way that this season is progressing, with the focus being more on Dexter and Deb’s relationship rather then Dexter’s killings? For more “Dexter” news, including a preview for next week’s episode, just be sure to visit the link here.

Photo: Showtime