[The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Dexter: Resurrection Episode 9, “Touched By an Angel.”]
Pour one out for Angel Batista (David Zayas). In Dexter: Resurrection‘s newest episode, Miami Metro’s very finest finally found a captive audience for his theories on Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), but unfortunately for him, it was the worst one possible.
The episode began where the last one left off, with Leon Prater (Peter Dinklage) dropping in on Dexter’s dinner with Harrison (Jack Alcott). Though Dexter quickly asked Leon to step outside to talk to him, the billionaire genius still got a few key details out of Dexter’s son before doing so. Outside, Prater promised to leave Harrison alone in exchange for Dexter giving him a truthful one-on-one about every detail of his life — all while Batista was looking on from a distance and snapping photos of them together.
After that, Dexter and Harrison exited through the back of the building in a panic, and Dexter was forced to tell Harrison the full truth about Prater’s serial killer club meetings and how he took out select members of it. Instead of being horrified, Harrison was almost impressed that he could count the Gemini Killer(s) as victims.
Harrison then went to work while Dexter made amends with Blessing (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine) and arranged for him to pick Harrison up from work at the end of the day. However, it wasn’t safe for Harrison at the hotel; instead, Charley (Uma Thurman) showed up there and asked him a slew of questions about his past. Harrison answered them in an honest yet guarded enough way to protect his father and then immediately reported it all back to him, prompting Dexter to pay Charley’s own place a little visit. There, he found that she had an infirm mother and a background as a decorated military veteran.
Dexter then used his Dark Passenger gear to get a word in with Charley in her car, wherein she explained that it was Prater’s call for her to investigate Harrison and that he used her mother’s illness as a way to control her. By the time Dexter let her go, he felt confident that she wouldn’t be a problem for him and Harrison anymore, but that was decidedly not the case.
Charley reported her visit with “Red” directly back to Prater, and he was enthralled by the sight of her neck wound from his instrument. “He was sending me a message. You were the message,” he said. “The real message is I’m still in charge, the Dark Passenger is mine, and more importantly, he wants to continue to play with us.” Dexter then called to arrange a meeting, alone, and Prater agreed to see him before his big gala.
At the same time, Angel was busy trying to convince Detectives Claudette Wallace (Kadia Saraf) and Melvin Oliva (Dominic Fumusa) of his story, again, but they were not convinced. They asked for his badge, at the request of Miami Metro no less, and sent him on his way once again. On the way out, though, Angel saw an ad for the gala with Prater’s picture on it and recognized it from the exchange he witnessed outside before.
Angel then headed to Prater’s place and, after a tussle with some of his lower security guards, got the attention of Charley. From there, he was taken to Prater’s office to explain, and unlike the detectives before, this time, they believed him.
So when Dexter arrived for his appointment with Prater, it was clear he was walking into a trap. It wasn’t a cavalry of police that awaited him, however. Instead, Prater was joined by Charley, who disarmed Dexter and took away his phone before ushering him into the vault, where Angel was tied up and gagged. Prater then revelled in knowing he was talking to the Bay Harbor Butcher and offered him a deal: Prater’s killer club could continue, but in a different way, with him summoning mass murderers from across the land to come to his lair, after which Dexter could do what he wanted with all of them. The “price of admission,” as he put it, was to take out Angel right then and there.
The offer had to be attractive to Dexter, as he noted, “Angel Batista has threatened my life, my son’s life. Now that he’s confirmed who I am beyond the shadow of a doubt, he will never give up, and rule number one is, ‘Don’t get caught.’” However, Dexter used his knife to free Angel, who then began to choke him out right then and there, and Dexter was momentarily resigned to the poetry of dying at the hands of a lifelong friend. The attack was interrupted when Leon shot Angel in the back and ran away with Charley, effectively locking Dexter in the vault without hope of exit. He rushed over to help Angel, but there was no chance of saving him.
Dexter tried to tell Angel that he didn’t kill James Doakes (Erik King) or Maria LaGuerta (Lauren Vélez), but Angel gave him no absolution on the matter. “It’s your fault,” he said. “And now I’m dying because you, just like they did.” After Dexter apologized sincerely, Batista used his final breath to say simply, “Dexter Morgan, f**k you.”
With that, another long chapter in the saga of Dexter Morgan has closed. Angel finally knew the whole truth about Dexter, and it cost him his life. It seems unlikely that his disappearance will raise any red flags right away, since the NY detectives told him to get lost, and even his colleagues in Miami don’t seem too concerned with him right now.
Dexter is still far from in the clear, though. Now, he’s trapped in the vault and in full enmity mode with Leon Prater. We’ll have to wait and see whether he can use that “gee-whiz smile,” as Angel put it, to get himself out of trouble again in next week’s finale.
Dexter: Resurrection, Fridays, Paramount+ With Showtime