Road Kill (Dexter)

Dexter (Michael C. Hall) is still shaken after having killed Jonathan Farrow, whose innocence means he violated the Code of Harry. His assistant, Timothy Brand, has confessed to the murders and he is also a suspect when Farrow goes "missing." He checks on Arthur (John Lithgow) after the deer incident, and finds that he is leaving for Tampa to help his organization.

Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) convinces Miami Metro that Lundy's death is linked to Trinity Killer, showing evidence that he has been active for thirty years. LaGuerta (Lauren Vélez) is willing to continue the investigation, but does not want Debra involved as she was involved with Lundy. Nevertheless, Debra tries to get Quinn (Desmond Harrington) to help her, getting him to come up with the concept of mouth swabs in order to find a suspect. To get the DNA results, Quinn convinces the unit to give up one vacation day to get enough funding. Quinn is also visited by Christine (Courtney Ford), who could face losing her job if she finds nothing on the case. As he consoles her, Christine sees the reports on the mouth swab tests.

Needing an excuse to leave for Tampa, Dexter convinces LaGuerta in letting him leave for a blood spatter conference in the city. He convinces Arthur to accompany him, explaining that he feels a greater purpose with him. At a stop, Arthur asks Dexter about what his problem is, as he feels frustrated that he does not open up with him. Dexter finally admits that he killed a man, but claims it was a hunting accident. Arthur sympathizes with Dexter, feeling that confessing is part of the healing progress. Dexter, who took the hammer that Arthur gave him, plans to kill him in Tampa. However, the confession makes a change of plans for Arthur, who decides to deviate from their route.

Arthur takes Dexter to his childhood house, ignoring the Asian owner's protests to leave. Arthur then stares at the bathroom, explaining that when he was ten years old, he saw his sister Vera showering. When she saw him, she accidentally slipped and cut her leg with glass, bleeding to death. Arthur's mother committed suicide, while his father often beat him, blaming him for her death. Arthur is relieved to have told this to someone else, hoping Dexter can feel better by knowing he can change as a person. They subsequently go to a coffee shop, and Dexter uses this to get his alibi at the conference by taking pictures. Later, he stages his hotel room to kill Arthur, but he has left his hotel room.

Checking some files, Debra is shocked by a discovery. She gets Masuka (C. S. Lee) to try to calculate the distance from her gunshot. Masuka concludes that the shooter, based on Lundy's description, could not be Trinity, as the shooter was actually smaller. Seeing her progress, LaGuerta assigns Debra to lead Trinity's investigation. Dexter finds Arthur on the second floor of a build, where he drops Vera's ashes. Arthur then jumps to his death, but is stopped by Dexter. Before Dexter considers dropping him, he is aided by more people. Arthur believes Dexter was sent to save him, but Dexter believes he knew he would intervene. On their way back to Miami, they notice a police checkpoint for DNA testing. When Dexter states that it is due to the search for a serial killer, Arthur decides to take a different route.

The episode was written by executive producer Melissa Rosenberg and Scott Reynolds, and was directed by Ernest Dickerson. This was Rosenberg's tenth writing credit, Reynolds' third writing credit, and Dickerson's second directing credit.^[1]