Take It!

In its original American broadcast, "Take It!" was seen by an estimated 1.94 million household viewers with a 0.9/2 in the 18–49 demographics. This means that 0.9 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 2 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast watched it.^[2] This was a slight increase in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by an estimated 1.90 million household viewers with a 0.9/2 in the 18–49 demographics.^[3]

"Take It!" received critical acclaim. Matt Fowler of IGN gave the episode a perfect "masterpiece" 10 out of 10, and wrote, "Look, this doesn't happen very often, so I'll admit it. I wept. "Take It" was an absolute marvel; suspenseful, touching and surprising. I feel like, in a way, so many of the episodes that we've already seen - so much of the series so far - was leading up to the scene near the end between Lumen and Dexter, where they both stood over Cole's dead body and Dexter unburdened his soul. I can't fully explain why I got so emotional. Looking at it objectively, it seems a bit silly, sure. But the music and the sentiment both struck a chord. I cried."^[4]

Emily St. James of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B+" grade and wrote, "I don't know if this is where we're going ultimately, but the question of the lack of moral ambiguity in these last few episodes may be because this is the season where we get little hints of how others see Dexter, of how his mission looks to those who get a glimpse of who he really is. It scares most, but to a woman who endured hell, he might seem a little like a lifeline."^[5] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix wrote, "the show is (in the central Dexter plot, at least) well-crafted enough that I continue to watch to enjoy the performances, but my enthusiasm doesn’t extend much beyond that."^[6]

Lizzy Goodman of Vulture wrote, "Wow, what an episode! In the ramp-up to the season finale (only three episodes left!), things are getting intense."^[7] Sandra Gonzalez of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Going against his primal instinct (which is, of course, to stay away from people who are crazier than himself) Dexter took the plunge this week and attended his first Jordan Chase seminar/convention of incredibly disturbing individuals. But it was all in the name of research for a job - which in this case was the mission to kill Cole."^[8]

Billy Grifter of Den of Geek wrote, "Take It! was a complete and total experience from beginning to end. After I'd watched it, I tried to fuse in my mind those parts I most liked, but eventually concluded that it was great, throughout and ought to be considered in the whole."^[9] Gina DiNunno of TV Guide wrote, "Dexter and Lumen are on his boat dumping Cole's body. Just as you think they're sharing a moment over the bags of body parts, we learn Liddy has caught a few snapshots of them in the act."^[10]

Claire Zulkey of Los Angeles Times wrote, "Sad to say, even if we knew what Dexter and Lumen mean to each other, I don't think there are boatloads of chemistry between Michael C. Hall and Julia Stiles to enjoy just for fun’s sake."^[11] Television Without Pity gave the episode an "A" grade.^[12]

• "Take It!" at IMDb