S01.E08: Business and Pleasure

[Snazzy Daisy]

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Deb sneaks away for a trip with her mysterious boyfriend. Dexter is tasked with finding her.

Harry and LaGuerta travel to Tampa to look into a potential serial killer on the loose.

Miami Metro closes in on suspects in the child kidnapping.

Air Date: Jan 31, 2025

 

Edited Sunday at 12:43 AM by Snazzy Daisy

[Chicago Redshirt]

Well, confirmed that Brian is on the loose and killing peeps as a rookie serial killer. Now they'll have to explain how he and Dexter don't cross paths. 

It struck me this episode that Christian Slater's Harry is a lot more profane, blunt and impatient than James Remar's OG Harry. 

I kinda hate that Harry kept it secret that Brian is the killer they are looking for. I sort of wish that we could have Christian Slater narrate why. Hopefully we will get to the bottom of why Harry took Dexter in but apparently let  Brian fend for himself.

The Miami Metro SWAT team is officially the worst ever. After catching the gangsters off guard and being in a position to secure the house, they failed to cuff anyone and left multiple firearms within easy reach. I don't understand why the writers didn't just make the scene so they were not just raging incompetents.

Poor Sofia, trying to make Dexter feel jealous and he didn't even know and he wouldn't have cared even if he did.

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

Another thing that I didn't really think about until now:

Why do the cartel gangsters leave Brian and Dexter alive (other than, because without that there's no show)?

I can see why they kidnap the kids along with Laura, either wrong place/wrong time or because they want Laura to suffer knowing that her kids are going to be next or at least are going to be messed up by witnessing her die. 

But wouldn't it make more sense to just kill Dexter and Brian rather than leave them alive for days?

Also another mini-mystery solved: a number of people were killed around the same time as Laura and their blood was also pooling in the shipping container. If it was just Laura, there's only so much blood in one human body and it would be feasible to escape most of it in a shipping container.

Also, Laura is about as incompetent and making sure the kids don't see the bloodbath as Miami Metro was in securing the gang house.

[leighdear]

Um, yeah.  I'm wondering where the actual professional writers are, because that was a load of shit. 

Gio is 24, Deb 17.  That's statutory rape in Florida.  And Harry just hand-waves it?  WTAF?  And why would a guy like Gio waste a second with a basic looking, obnoxious and poor high school girl?  Beyond unlikely. 

And lets drop a diamond bracelet in the ocean.  Trope-tastic.

And yeah, get a court order or a subpoena, and you can go through SELECTED medical files after a therapist is dead.  They had no time to get either.  HIPPA is in place for a reason, folks. So sloppy.   

The cops burst through the cartel's door, start yelling, then go all the way down the hallway to throw open a door and catch the couple in bed STILL BANGING?  Like they didn't hear the entry?  OMG, so stupid.  

And Aaron.  Oh Aaron, that overacting and barstool bashing is just beyond ludicrous.  PLEASE tell me he's just putting on a show, because otherwise we may have an evil twin situation, which I wouldn't be too surprised with at this point.  

And Laura telling Harry "He wants me to learn the business".  No dear, women were cattle, mules and sidepieces back then, they were not IN the business.  Harry didn't catch that?  Did he sustain a brain injury we didn't see?

I just can't understand this schlocky crap we just saw.  What happened? 

Edited Monday at 02:45 PM by leighdear

[Snazzy Daisy]

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“Close your eyes, Dexter.”

The sound of the chainsaw and little Dexter unable to look away… 🫣

Wow, this episode is loaded with Easter eggs — Bimini, Slice of Pie (Slice of Life & key lime pie), young Miguel Prado dreaming to be a DA someday and little Brian Moser loves painting fingernails in different colors.

There are so many villains too — Spencer McKiller, Brian Moser, Hector Estrada and Gio.

Tanya gives Captain Spencer a weird look when he’s handing over Nicky’s jersey to her. Could these two be working together? How can an experienced Head of Forensics missed a blood spot on the finger’s box? 👀

Deb is an idiot. She should have sold that diamond bracelet to get her mom’s pearls back. 🤦🏻‍♀️

So, Brian Moser is the NHI Killer. He still hasn’t perfected his craft. LaGuerta finds his patient file that Harry steals from Tampa PD. Then…

Spoiler

…many years later, she couldn’t remember and recall that name??! Come on. 🙄

At this point, Harry burying secrets and stealing incriminating documents — it’s all about protecting himself, not Dexter. Prequel Harry is a sh!tty person.

Spoiler

RETCON — Brian could’ve killed Harry and staged it like a suicide.

In Brian’s eyes, Harry is the ultimate villain for taking Dexter away from him, leading him to be institutionalized. All he wants is just to be with Dexter. 

[CarpeFelis]

3 hours ago, leighdear said:

And lets drop a diamond bracelet in the ocean.  Trope-tastic.

Gio is undoubtedly making a lot of money with whatever he’s smuggling. But I can’t help thinking the bracelet would turn out to be fake if Deb had kept it and pawned it. Why would he blow a lot of money on a dumbass high school girl? Because let’s face it, there’s only one reason a guy his age hits on an underage girl, and True Love ain’t it.

ETA: I always watch with closed captioning on, and it screwed up. When “Drift Away” was playing it said it was by the Doobie Brothers. I’m old enough to have had the 45 back in the day. It was Dobie Gray.

Edited Saturday at 09:06 PM by CarpeFelis

[bilgistic]

I was yelling at the TV every time Harry told Dexter to find Deb. Look for her yourself, jackhole! You're her father! You're on the police force! Use your resources!

[AstridM]

On 1/31/2025 at 11:00 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

Also another mini-mystery solved: a number of people were killed around the same time as Laura and their blood was also pooling in the shipping container.

IIRC, this was already known information 🤷‍♀️. Dexter and Brian shouldn’t have been separated, imo. Huge mistake.

23 hours ago, leighdear said:

HIPPA is in place for a reason, folks. So sloppy. 

Except HIPAA wasn’t even enacted until 1996. . . 

[AstridM]

23 hours ago, leighdear said:

And Laura telling Harry "He wants me to learn the business".  No dear, women were cattle, mules and sidepieces back then, they were not IN the business.  Harry didn't catch that?  Did he sustain a brain injury we didn't see?

Not all of them. For example, Griselda Blanco Restrepo was a Colombian drug lord who was prominent in the cocaine-based drug trade of Miami, during the 1970s through the early 2000s.

 

 

 

 

21 hours ago, Snazzy Daisy said:

In Brian’s eyes, Harry is the ultimate villain for taking Dexter away from him, leading him to be institutionalized. All he wants is just to be with Dexter. 

Exactly. Can anyone blame him? They never should have been separated, imho. 

Edited Sunday at 05:20 PM by AstridM

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 2/1/2025 at 11:45 AM, leighdear said:

Um, yeah.  I'm wondering where the actual professional writers are, because that was a load of shit. 

Gio is 24, Deb 17.  That's statutory rape in Florida.  And Harry just hand-waves it?  WTAF?  And why would a guy like Gio waste a second with a basic looking, obnoxious and poor high school girl?  Beyond unlikely. 

And lets drop a diamond bracelet in the ocean.  Trope-tastic.

And yeah, get a court order or a subpoena, and you can go through SELECTED medical files after a therapist is dead.  They had no time to get either.  HIPPA is in place for a reason, folks. So sloppy.   

The cops burst through the cartel's door, start yelling, then go all the way down the hallway to throw open a door and catch the couple in bed STILL BANGING?  Like they didn't hear the entry?  OMG, so stupid.  

And Aaron.  Oh Aaron, that overacting and barstool bashing is just beyond ludicrous.  PLEASE tell me he's just putting on a show, because otherwise we may have an evil twin situation, which I wouldn't be too surprised with at this point.  

And Laura telling Harry "He wants me to learn the business".  No dear, women were cattle, mules and sidepieces back then, they were not IN the business.  Harry didn't catch that?  Did he sustain a brain injury we didn't see?

I just can't understand this schlocky crap we just saw.  What happened? 

It's a stretch as to Gio's wanting to be involved with Deb in the first place when a) he's got a way hotter fiancee b) he can cheat with way hotter women than Deb. 

But:

1. He was and remains turned on by how brazen Deb was in not only sneaking into the club but taking that primo table from the people who it belonged to.

2. He is turned on by Deb's being underaged.

3. He is turned on by the notion of corrupting a cop's daughter.

4. Horndogs gonna horndog.

It still baffles that he would take a 17-year-old on an island trip where he's smuggling contraband and expect her to be like "Never mind those crates." Like why would he go out of his way to specifically suggest bringing her. Even if she's the greatest in bed, even if he's somehow in lurve with her, doesn't the big head say "maybe not bring the cop's daughter to another country for your criminal deal?" Why not just pick up some rando hot island woman? Or wait to you get back from the day trip to hang out with Deb more.

Also, what's the sense of just leaving Deb stranded? She has seen nothing of note other that there were some crates that are being smuggled. If you are worried that is too incriminating, why not kill her? Because eventually she is going to get back to the states and be incentivized by your ditching her to rat you out. It would be obviously better to just be like, "Look, we love each other, please don't say anything about this."

There's always the chance that Estrada was an exception to the rule and sincerely was open to promoting Laura. On paper at least, Laura was being exceptionally successful at moving drugs. If Harry had been more careful in meeting with Laura, maybe Estrada would have brought her more onboard. 

Presumably the Tampa cops previously got a court order or other permission to go through the therapist files as part of their investigation into his murder, and either thought that it would cover the fellow cops from Miami, or DGAF that it didn't. 

[Elizzikra]

 

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HIPPA is in place for a reason, folks. So sloppy.   

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). Not HIPPA. It wasn't enacted until 1996 and it took several years to fully implement.

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Not all of them. For example, Griselda Blanco Restrepo was a Colombian drug lord who was prominent in the cocaine-based drug trade of Miami, during the 1970s through the early 2000s.

She was a pretty rare exception. 

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Exactly. Can anyone blame him? They never should have been separated, imho. 

There is a lot better understanding now of the importance of sibling relationships than there was in the 90's. Back then, if CPS could get one child adopted, they probably would take that as a win rather than holding out for adoptive parents who would take both boys, especially if Brian was starting to show symptoms (which we know now could definitely be the result of trauma, but we didn't know as much about that in the old days either).

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If it was just Laura, there's only so much blood in one human body and it would be feasible to escape most of it in a shipping container.

The human body contains about 10 pints of blood. It's a lot. Years ago, I worked in a hospital and a very confused and combative patient managed to rip his blood bag (no easy feat; those things are STRONG). I was amazed how much less than a pint managed to spread in a really short time. Plus, even though her body was bleeding, I can see young children clinging to their mother's body over choosing a cleaner spot in the storage container to await rescue.

[Crashcourse]

1 hour ago, Elizzikra said:

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). Not HIPPA.

Thank you.

[Crashcourse]

I can't imagine any decent guy wanting to date a foul-mouthed twit like Deb.

[Chicago Redshirt]

12 minutes ago, Crashcourse said:

I can't imagine any decent guy wanting to date a foul-mouthed twit like Deb.

Original Sin Deb does not strike me as more foul-mouthed than a typical teen-ager girl (based on my memory of them from decades ago), or any more twit-like.

However, accepting for argument's sake that she's particularly a foul-mouthed twit, you overestimate the downside of foul mouths and twits to your average 17-24 year-old, as well as older guys.

There would be a number of decent guys who would think that they could change her (just as with some good girls think they can reform bad boys).

There would also be a number of guys who would overlook the language and twit-like nature for her positive attributes, or just the fact that she's hot/easy. Maybe the argument there is that such boys aren't "decent," but I'd have to agree to disagree about that. She stereotypically is a Sagittarius -- fun-loving, clever, irresponsible but loyal. Certainly seems some decent men would be attracted to those traits, despite, or even because of downsides.

Obviously in OG Dexter, Older Deb has her share of decent guys who pursue significant relationships with her.

[Crashcourse]

4 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

She stereotypically is a Sagittarius -- fun-loving, clever, irresponsible but loyal. Certainly seems some decent men would be attracted to those traits, despite, or even because of downsides.

I am a Sagittarius, and I was never like that when I was her age.  We're not all alike just because we were born under the same sign.  

Regarding Deb, her acting is overshadowed by her foul mouth, and I wish the writers would give her better dialogue.   Right now, she's just tiresome to listen to.

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 minutes ago, Crashcourse said:

I am a Sagittarius, and I was never like that when I was her age.  We're not all alike just because we were born under the same sign.  

Regarding Deb, her acting is overshadowed by her foul mouth, and I wish the writers would give her better dialogue.   Right now, she's just tiresome to listen to.

I'm also a Sag, and yes, I recognize that there's only so far that astrology can be a fit for anyone's personality. But at the same time, in the case of Deb, the writers are consciously writing her to fit those stereotypical Sag traits. In the case of the character, she thinks of herself (and Sofia) as fitting those traits.

Anyway, suffice it to say bad language has probably never been a deal-breaker for any but the most strict/religious of boys or young men.

If anything, the dealbreakers on Deb would be the deep-rooted daddy issues, self-sabotaging tendencies and clinginess, which are not going to be all that apparent on first dating her.

 

[Crashcourse]

I'm just saying that at some point the never-ending foul language would be tiresome to listen to.   

[Snazzy Daisy]

Postmortem | Ep. 108 | Business and Pleasure | Dexter: Original Sin

 

[Snazzy Daisy]

Deb Goes on a ‘Business Trip’ with Gio | Dexter: Original Sin

 

[leighdear]

On 2/3/2025 at 3:40 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

Original Sin Deb does not strike me as more foul-mouthed than a typical teen-ager girl (based on my memory of them from decades ago), or any more twit-like.

I was a teenager in the 80's.  In Florida. I NEVER spoke that way, nor did anybody I know.  And our parents would NEVER allow that language.  It's constant and incredibly tiresome.  She has ZERO redeeming qualities in this incarnation.  

Her naked rage, aggression & obnoxiousness is pure Gen Z in my view.  

And I think the actress has no talent.  

[Elizzikra]

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Her naked rage, aggression & obnoxiousness is pure Gen Z in my view.  

Dead mother; absentee neglectful father; bitchy mean girls at school - I'd be rageful too.