Dexter: Season Two, Episodes 3 and 4

About Dexter: An affable Miami forensics expert moonlights as a serial killer of criminals who he believes have escaped justice. Based on a series of popular novels by Jeff Lindsay.

An Inconvenient Lie

Episode: 2.3

In this episode, things are heating up as Dexter (Michael C. Hall) joins the local Addicts Anonymous and encounters a mysterious woman (Lila, played by Jaime Murray) at a meeting who seems to know all about the "dark passenger" — or least, its shadow. It's a creepy, effective scene — is she a fellow serial slasher, or is she merely talking about drug addiction? (No spoilers here!).

Back at work at the Miami P.D., the families of missing people turn up, desperate to see if they can identify any of the remains found and retrieved from the "Bay Harbor Butcher's" dump site.

Vince (C.S. Lee) is in seventh heaven as new evidence comes to light shortly after he's added to Special Agent Lundy's (Keith Carradine) task force. As it turns out, Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) is also selected — having Dexter's own sister hunt him "makes for an awkward family dynamic," as he puts it — and proceeds with trepidation and doubt about her own judgment and skills.

On top of all this, Dexter is still up for the kill. Unfortunately, the bad guy he hunts has some rather slippery DNA, and is even oilier in other ways… which makes sense, since he's a used car salesman.

See-Through

Episode: 2.4

It's week three of the Bay Harbor Butcher investigation, and the tea-sipping bulldog Lundy is still on the case. Also on Dexter's case is Rita's (Julie Benz) mom (Jo Beth Williams) who's come to stay for awhile.

After a break last time, this episode returns to the format of flashbacks from America's favorite serial killer's childhood intercut with the current goings-on. James Remar is back as Dexter's dad, and we meet a younger Dexter —  I couldn't find his credit online, but this otherwise good actor is unfortunately miscast and totally unbelievable looks-wise — as he snookers the school psychologist.

After dealing with the blood-blanched bodies found under the water in the past few episodes, Dexter finally gets a case that involves his specialty: Blood-spatter. And plenty of it. Unfortunately for Dexter, Doakes (Erik King) swoops in and takes the reins. (This is one of the best episodes for the Doakes character; King gets to show a few different sides, without being too showy.)

There's even more of the Maria LaGuerta  (Lauren Vélez) vs. Esme Pasquale (Judith Scott) face-off, which, after much annoyance from the latter, finally pays off. And, for fans of Deb, there's a kinky-cop sex scene in this episode.

After a somewhat shaky first couple of episodes (and I still maintain that newcomers should definitely brush up on the Season One DVD first), it looks like Dexter is back on track and promises a suspense-soaked sophomore season.

Dexter Season Two premieres September 30 at 9PM on Showtime. You can view the first episode in its entirety by clicking on the Showtime Dexter website, then typing in Killer Shows.

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson