Dexter Season 7 Episode 8 Recap – “Argentina”

Ah love. What a crazy little thing. Love makes the world go ’round. It’s a many splendored thing, whatever “splendored” means. Love, they say, is all you need. But for Dexter, love is just plain complicated. Especially when it comes to Dexter’s girlfriend, Dexter’s sister, Dexter’s step kids, and, well, just read this spoiler-filled recap of Episode 8 to find out what else. You’ll “love” it!

Episode 8 picks up with Dexter the morning after Deb called and asked him to kill Hannah (while Dexter was lying with Hannah in his arms, mind you). Dexter and Hannah play a game of serial killer house as they make breakfast together (Dexter prefers the butcher knife to chop vegetables, hee hee). Hannah tells Dexter about an old calendar of Argentina that she keeps on the wall. When Hannah was with Wayne, their dream was to run away to Argentina. Now, the destination represents true happiness to Hannah. It’s home.

Dexter goes to see Deb, who is as determined as ever to convince Dexter to kill Hannah. She has vetted Hannah, has proof that she killed people when she was with Wayne, and she fits Dexter’s precious “code.” But Dexter refuses to kill Hannah and he insists that it is for Deb’s own good. He says he is trying to keep Deb from going down a road from which there is no return, and while this is true, it is also a lie because Dexter’s real reason for sparing Hannah is that he is now in a relationship with her.

Meanwhile, Evil British Dude™ Isaak Sirko sneaks away from his police tail and tries to shoot Dexter through the window of a donut shop. Now Dexter knows that Isaak is free and is gunning for him, which is bad enough, but then he gets a call that Astor and Cody’s grandfather is in surgery, so Dexter’s step kids are going to come and visit him for a few days. Deb agrees to let Astor and Cody stay at her place while Dexter figures out what to do about Isaak.

At Miami Metro, Batista announces that the sale is final and he is now owner of a local restaurant. As for his partner Quinn, he continues to refuse George’s bribes, but then George pulls out a recording of Quinn agreeing to steal the blood evidence proving Isaak Sirko guilty of murder. Now that George has Quinn by the short and curlies, Quinn has no choice but to take the money and work for George. George also calls the Brotherhood and tells them that Isaak has gone rogue and needs to be dealt with.

Dexter breaks into Isaak’s apartment and finds a hitman from the Brotherhood lying in wait to kill Isaak. Dexter slits the hitman’s throat. Meanwhile, LaGuerta continues her Bay Harbor Butcher investigation, which leads her to the boat slip that Dexter used to own. She learns from the Harbor Master that Dexter let the slip go eight months before his lease was set to expire. Now LaGuerta has Dexter firmly in her sights. Dun Dun DUUUN.

Dexter’s nanny Jamie shows up with Cody and Astor and Dexter finds out that Astor is smoking weed . Dexter tries to tell Astor (and Deb, by extension) that sometimes the vices that we use to relieve stress can cause even more problems than they solve. Deb believes that Dexter refused to kill Hannah because he really was looking out for her and she thanks him for stopping her from making a big mistake.

Dexter goes to see Hannah, they discuss the definition of “booty call” (Dexter is ignorant of the term), and then Dexter tells Hannah that he killed one of Isaak’s men and Isaak is out for revenge. Dexter marvels that he is able to tell Hannah the truth about his kills and she doesn’t hate or judge him. In fact, Hannah even helps Dexter think through how to deal with Isaak by suggesting that he follow his usual stalking procedure. Dexter borrows Hannah’s van so that he can follow Isaak without risk of being seen. She’s hot, she can cook and she only cares that he’s home from his killings in time for supper. What a great girlfriend!

Isaak discovers the dead hitman in his apartment and realizes that the Brotherhood has cut him loose and wants him dead. He has nothing left now but his vengeance against Dexter. The police show up and Dexter works the crime scene, explaining how the hitman was killed (this tickles Isaak, who jokes that it’s almost as if Dexter committed the crime himself). Dexter leaves to be with Astor, Cody and Jamie at the beach. Dexter bonds with Astor and promises that he won’t bust her for the whole weed thing.

Hannah shows up at the beach to get something out of her van and sees that Dexter has children. Dexter admits that he didn’t tell her because he didn’t trust her and he was afraid that the truth would scare her away, but Hannah is happy for Dexter. Hannah must live with the stigma of being the girl who once ran with serial killer Wayne Randall, but Dexter has a job and a family. Despite who Dexter really is, he has managed to carve out a life for himself (Well, Dexter is talented with a knife, yuk yuk).

Then Dexter goes to see Deb and everything hits the fan. Deb sees Hannah’s keys and realizes that Dexter is seeing Hannah. She goes nuclear and is furious with herself for ever believing that Dexter was looking out for her. She wants Dexter to stop seeing Hannah, but of course he refuses. In the ensuing flood of emotions, Deb admits to Dexter that the night at the church when she caught Dexter murdering the Doomsday Killer, she was going there to tell Dexter that she was in love with him. Dexter is utterly flabbergasted and has no clue what to say (who would?). Deb then offers up the best line of the episode: “You’re a serial killer and I’m more fucked up than you are.”

Confused and angry, Dexter resorts to that which he knows best – stalking and killing. As Dexter follows Isaak with the intention of killing him, Dexter’s father Harry tells him that Deb’s misguided feelings for him actually explain a lot about why she has protected him for so long. Dexter is so worked up that he follows Isaak into a bar with the half-baked idea that he will drug Isaak and then drag him back outside.

But once inside the bar, Dexter sits down next to Isaak and realizes that it’s a gay bar. Isaak confesses that he is gay and that Viktor (the hit man that Dexter killed in episode 1) wasn’t Isaak’s son, he was Isaak’s lover. For years Isaak kept hidden who he really is from the Brotherhood, but now that they’ve ousted him he doesn’t care anymore. They both have something in common – they had loved ones killed and they sought revenge. Isaak tells Dexter that despite how illogical love might seem, it is a powerful force. Even though Isaak seems to respect Dexter, and admits that under different circumstances they could have been friends, Isaak still vows to kill Dexter.

Over Dexter’s final voiceover, where he tells us that everyone is searching for a place to call home – a place Hannah called Argentina – where we can be who we truly are, we see Isaak listening to one of Viktor’s voicemails, LaGuerta looking at Dexter’s boat “Slice of Life,” Quinn overseeing a drug deal for the Brotherhood, Deb sharing a joint with Astor, and finally Dexter returning home to Hannah’s arms…

On next week’s episode, Dexter and Isaak go clubbing! What is love?? Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me no more…