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After last week's lack lustre episode, Dexter makes some headway in "Everything Is Illumenated". Batista finds his cojones and works his charm on a young thang at Club Mayan. There are two isolated events but both actually work to get him out of the doghouse with Laguerta, especially since the latter is a new lead in the Santa Muerte case. Deb and Quinn take their relationship to the next level though unbeknownst to her, Quinn has enlisted Robocop to do some digging on her brother. Also, Captain Matthews makes his first appearance of Season 5 – albeit a PMS-y one. As for Lumen, she'll be around for a while as Julia Stiles earns her way into the opening credits.

The Lumen/Dexter relationship takes centre stage this week and frankly, it was a wicked performance. Dexter is interrupted mid-kill by a frantic Lumen who has gone "Punisher" on one of her suspected rapists. Frustrated, Dexter is forced to put his kill on hold to help Lumen clean up her mess. His sedated, saran-wrapped would-be victim is shoved in his trunk, as he tries to track down Lumen's escaped perpetrator, keep her in check and stay one step of Miami Metro who has been called to the scene. Did I mention the sedated, saran-wrapped victim wakes up and makes a run for it? Luckily, Dexter thinks quickly on his feet and if there was ever a case of killing two birds (or two really bad men) with one stone, this would be it. Ingenuity comes in the form of a staged murder/suicide scene and Masuka's intricate knowledge of all things kinky. Speaking of Masuka, he steals the show with a visual reenactment (pelvic thrusts and obscene gestures included) of his take on the crime scene: an act autoerotic mummification gone wrong.

Despite these highlights, I can't ignore the fact that at times, the writing seems really lazy.
Ie.

Is Deb really familiar with every pair of sunglasses that Rita owned?
I'm certainly not a cop but if the police are called in because of gun shots, does patrol really have to sit in their car and wait for homicide to get there instead of I dunno, maybe seeing if someone was actually shot and helping them?
Dexter told Lumen he had 15 minutes before Miami Metro would be on their trail. Maybe I have no soul but is that really the best time to field a call from Super Nanny and sing a lullaby to your son?
Lastly, this point has nothing to do with the writing but does anyone else expect Lumen to break out into hip hop (ala Save the Last Dance) to express her frustrations?

Enough bellyaching. This is definitely a solid episode with moments of riveting intensity and understated depth. Michael C Hall and Julia Stiles played their roles beautifully and that bathroom scene at the end really helped establish their common ground. Let's see how this tag-team relationship plays out.

Tags: Dexter, Everything Is Illuminated, Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, Julia Stiles, Desmond Harrington, Season 5, Episode 6