The Ice Truck Killer Moves to the Back Seat

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Even vigilante serial killers need a little down time.

"Popping Cherry," the third Dexter episode, opens with what appears to be familiar ground for the series. The Ice Truck Killer has struck again, this time leaving his victim's bloodless body parts neatly stacked in a pro hockey ice rink's goal line. This time, though, there may be a lead. A night watchman who's disappeared is identified on surveillance tape. Lt. LaGuerta, in her typically singleminded approach to detective work, orders a manhunt for the watchman.

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Of course, neither Deb nor Dexter believe that LaGuerta is on the right track, and Deb begins her own investigation to find the real Ice Truck Killer. Dexter has other, more pressing matters to address in the form of a recently paroled teenage murderer who's poised to strike again.

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It's the the developing subplots that drive Dexter as a series, though, and in this installment, there's no shortage of those. More clues to Rita's past come to the fore when a drug dealer with ties to her ex-husband repos her Rav-4 to satisfy a debt her ex- apparently owed him. She's amazingly compliant to his demands, handing him the keys with almost no argument. It's beginning to appear that Rita may not be the innocent she seemed in the first two episodes. With a furrowed brow and a muttered "he obviously doesn't know who he's dealing with," Dexter clues us that this is an unfinished matter. On the plus side (for Rita, anyway), Dexter treats her to a replacement for the SUV--a pimped-out classic convertible.

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Doakes, meanwhile, is treading dangerous turf as he pursues his own vendetta against crime lord Cuerrto, confronting him and his daughter at church. Doakes's dogged pursuit to prove Cuerrto's complicity in the murder of the undercover cop and his wife (with whom Doakes was having an affair) may yet be one of the more violent threads in Dexter. That's saying a lot, given the premise of the series.

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"Popping Cherry" could have almost been titled "The Origin of Dexter." In the present-day context, Dexter pretty much allows himself a personal day from his occupational mayhem. He even lets the teenager go once he discovers why his intended victim committed murder.This could prove to be a serious error on Dexter's part as the series continues to unfold. Still, it's in keeping with his adherence to Harry's Code-- that only those truly deserving fall to his brand of gruesome retribution.

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But no episode of Dexter would be complete without a bit of righteous vivisection. In this instance, it's all done in a series of flashbacks. What's revealed is what we always suspected: Harry not only inspired Dexter, but mentored him. We see how it all began for Dexter, how his first experience was sloppy, by Dexter's standards. Just for the record, his "first" was Nurse Jane, the "Angel of Death" who killed several patients by overdose. Thanks to her, Dexter was inspired to paralyze his victims via syringe. Thanks to Dexter, she became alligator food.

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"Popping Cherry" was a bit of an off day for Dexter. Nevertheless, it laid out more than a few clues as to where this dark satire may be heading.