Dexter 6x03: Smokey and the Bandit

Original Air Date: 16 October 2011

Storyline: Deb faces her first day as the homicide squad's Lieutenant and has trouble getting used to her new role, especially with Quinn and LaGuerta questioning her decisions. A dead woman who may have been a prostitute is found on the shore and it's her missing tooth that sends Dexter on the path of finding an old serial killer that activated in the '80s. Masuka shows intern Ryan Chambers some evidence from the Ice Truck Killer case. Gellar and Marshal take a new prisoner. Trivia: The Tooth Fairy is the first "victim" that went through the "taped" ritual but didn't end up in garbage bags and thrown into the ocean.

The title refers to a very brief reference to the film Smokey and the Bandit in the beginning of this episode, when Dexter and Batista are looking at vintage muscle car that was featured in the film.

Best Quote:

Dexter: They say old age is like a second childhood. There are primary colors... tricycles... and ball chasing. I barely made it through my first childhood. I guess no one makes it through the second.

Review: The future seems to become more and more of an issue for Dexter this season - and not only his son's future. The murder of a street girl brings him back to the serial killers scrapbook he used to keep as a teenager and to the Tooth Fairy - a guy who used to kill prostitutes and remove their left incisors. In chasing the Tooth Fairy - now an old man living in a retirement facility who spent his days looking at a box of teeth - Dexter sees the similarities between them and a glimpse of what his future might look like. The image is not pretty - "it includes adult fucking diapers!" 

The idea is not original, true, but watching Dexter's road to acceptance or change is always entertaining. Will he eventually become that old man, incapable of doing what he loves most and being a renegade for his own son? I think this is something all of us ask ourselves at some point, no matter what it is that we love to do: hike, dance, write, play football - there will come a day in everyone's life when our hobbies will become difficult, if not impossible to do.
Chasing down a 70-year old killer is not all that difficult for someone as trained in uncovering clues as Dexter is - especially when he is as "considerate" as sparing him the trouble of finding reasons to run into him. But you don't escape the police for 30 years without being cunning yourself and Kenney figures Dexter out fast, though his frail state doesn't stand a chance against someone much younger and experienced. 
Dexter's chase for the Tooth Fairy is not the only arc of the episode - we're privy to another one of Gellar and Marshall's actions towards ridding the world of sin - if indeed that's their end game. They abduct a jogger, whom they ask to repent for his deeds - but will they let him go if he does? A sneak peak to next week's installment says no, and the display they stage is a magnificent one and one that can put the fear of God even in someone as Godless as Dex. We're still to find the reason behind their actions - are they trying to preface the Apocalypse? 
Elsewhere, Deb's first day as Lieutenant doesn't go as well as she had hoped: LaGuerta is trying to run things from the background and doesn't like it when Deb takes matters into her own hands, and Quinn, hurt by the rejection, will surely become a wild card. I'm always impressed when Dexter finds the right words of encouragement and helps his sister go through the bad moments, since basically he's incapable of feeling regular human emotions, and that scene is my favorite this week. 
Other things: Masuka's new intern is a death chaser; I wonder if stealing the hand from the Ice Truck killer's evidence box will bring back memories for Deb. The new detective seems like a straight arrow and someone who could possibly find out about Dexter's extracurricular activities. 
I'm extremely excited for next week's episode and hope things will start to tie together soon.Dexter 6x02: Once Upon a Time... Back to Season 6