What a fascinating example of how characters familiar to us can transcend a series formula and become three dimensional, able to surprise and excite us through a remarkable screenplay and fine direction. The cast is superb and part of the appeal is recognizing ourselves in the characters. This episode plays on that particularly to jolt us upright with a blade to the chest and a twist of the blade for good measure. We expect certain things from a series we are involved with; but, the mark of greatness is when we get what we expect from episodic TV along with something wonderfully cinematic, something thought provoking that enriches the characters and the audience. This episode does all that and more. It is a masters class in acting (David Zayas is brilliant and Brando Eaton has real star power) and full of surprises. The perfect Dexter episode.