[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Dexter: Resurrection Episode 4, “Call Me Red.”]
Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) has always been something of a serial killer collector himself, but he’s met his match in Leon Prater (Peter Dinklage). The billionaire venture capitalist is obsessed with slaughterers to the point that he not only collects the tokens of some of the world’s most infamous mass murderers, but he also invites the ones that are still active to dinner.
In Friday’s newest episode, Dexter takes up Red a.k.a. Dark Passenger’s invitation to Prater’s party and, thanks to Red’s replicated thumbprint, finds himself surrounded by trophies and others with a hunger for carnage — “the itch,” “the need,” “the great yearning,” and “the urge,” as they dub it in a moment of unsettling unity.
Dexter is instantly taken with Mia a.k.a. Lady Vengeance (Krysten Ritter), a wine-savvy woman who also targets predators — those of a more lascivious nature, in her case — but he doesn’t know what to make of the others at first. There’s Al (Eric Stonestreet), a jovial family man who likes to kill women with ponytails but is otherwise bouncy and even pleasant. Then, there’s Gareth a.k.a. Gemini Killer (David Dastmalchian), a mystery man with a tendency to target multiples, it seems. And then there’s Lowell (Neil Patrick Harris), who’s obsessed with tattoos and has his sights on a new victim in town, much to Dexter’s chagrin.
During their very intimate dinner at Prater’s lavish home, they have the ultimate privacy in which to discuss serial killer business, with only Prater and his assistant Charley (Uma Thurman) as outsiders present. Even Dexter finds comfort in this rare bit of exclusivity and openness — though, thanks in part to Harry’s (James Remar) reminders, he knows he has to do something about Lowell.
How do these wildly different, but uniquely united characters really feel about each other?
“I don’t know if Gareth feels collegial with anybody. I feel like Gareth is annoyed, irritated,” Dastmalchian told TV Insider of the character’s sentiment in the scene. “Obviously, he has a familiarity and a mild amount of respect for his fellow serial killers, but honestly, considering that he is the FBI’s most wanted, he really looks at everyone else as second best.”
Meanwhile, Ritter dubbed Mia as “incredulous about everybody” and “doesn’t trust anybody.” Ritter continued, “[Mia] is there for the curiosity and the money.” The actress also cautioned fans not to draw too many quick comparisons between Mia and Dexter, saying, “We first are thinking, hoping that she will be a love interest for Dexter because she seems to have a code. The media and the press have given her a code, and she has big feelings about that because she feels like people can’t accept that a woman would just enjoy killing… When she has an itch, she scratches it. She’s the devil in a very fabulous fur coat.”
As for Al, fans also might be inclined to draw some comparisons between his outer demeanor and that of another ostensible family man with a thirst for blood — Arthur Miller a.k.a. Trinity Killer (John Lithgow). About that Stonestreet said, “I even appreciate being mentioned in the same sentence as the Trinity Killer, but that was really a great reference point, because I do represent to Dexter what he wishes he had. Obviously, we know that Trinity didn’t have that, and we do believe that Al has that… which makes my character very, very unique in this world, that I can really compartmentalize those two things, which I think confuses everyone, and hopefully, it confuses the audience because the goal here is to put people at ease and put people in comfort, and then come from nowhere.”
The end of the episode sees Dexter reunite with two of his dinner companions — first, with Mia for a bit of exercise and commiseration, and second with Lowell, who he ultimately offers a place at (read: on) his table.
After that, Dexter decides to finally come face to face with Harrison (Jack Alcott) for good measure — their first encounter since Harrison left Dexter for dead in the events of Dexter: New Blood.
What’s next for the father-son duo? Michael C. Hall teased, “Well, they obviously have a big crater out of which they need to both crawl, but I think watching the two of them interact and negotiate all that wreckage and try to move forward will be interesting for the audience. And I think both Dexter and his son [will be] needing to grow up a bit and let the past be what it is. Not deny it, but I find a way to move forward in spite of it.”
Dexter: Resurrection, Fridays, Paramount+