This Little Piggy (Dexter)

In its original American broadcast, "This Little Piggy" was seen by an estimated 2.55 million household viewers with a 1.2 in the 18–49 demographics. This means that 1.2 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode.^[2] This was a slight increase in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by an estimated 2.47 million household viewers with a 1.2 in the 18–49 demographics.^[3]

"This Little Piggy" received mixed reviews from critics. Matt Fowler of IGN gave the episode a "great" 8.5 out of 10, and wrote, "There was a bit of a mini-finale feeling to "This Little Piggy," as it (for now) seemed to close off the Vogel/Brain Surgeon story. I wasn't expecting this all to play out as a mini-arc, but that's what happened. It also shut down - perhaps - yet another "How will Dexter end?" theory, which involved Deb killing Dex or Dex killing Deb. I mean, it still could play out like that, but as of now the two of them have just turned a huge corner, relationship-wise. They managed to come back together as brother and sister, with Deb being pulled out of an abyss of depression and despair. It would seem silly to, somehow, tear them apart again."^[4]

Joshua Alston of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "C" grade and wrote, "I still don't understand how a show about retributive justice manages to be so terrified of ambiguity, especially in its eighth season, when it's playing to audiences who have clearly demonstrated an affinity for the show and its characters. The fun of speculating about what will happen in a show about an anti-hero is considering the wide range of fates that could befall a character deserving of his or her comeuppance. But Dexter doesn't appear to have that range, and unless I'm being set up for a last-minute gut punch, it will end with a bang, not a whimper."^[5]

Richard Rys of Vulture gave the episode a 3 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "After the season's best episode last week, this chapter was the weakest. That's relative, of course — though we're not quite halfway to the end, it's been highly satisfying so far. But even with the heavy-handed family theme, there were still enough clever lines and suspenseful turns to keep the story chugging along."^[6] Kevin Fitzpatrick of ScreenCrush wrote, "Overall "This Little Piggy" brings plenty of catharsis in seeing Dexter united with both Deb and Vogel as a family, and even a humanizing moment for Masuka along the way, though few of the storylines going forward seem as strong as those wrapped up here tonight."^[7]

James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Maybe everything we've seen so far will pay off later. Maybe all these various threads will tie together into a stunning knotty climax. And there have been developments this season - Deb and Dex's relationship has continued to evolve. But I wish the final season was increasing stakes and tension every week and felt more like a cohesive story instead of a compartmentalized series of new killers for Dex to dispatch. There was the Brain Surgeon (and his minion), now there's the Maid Murder, and the return of Hannah McKay is still waiting in the wings. Plus there's the Jake Elway character who will eventually be doing... something other than drinking electrolytes, presumably."^[8] Cory Barker of TV.com wrote, "This season is becoming quite the challenge, both to watch and to review. I'm surprised that this is where Dexter is five episodes into its final season, and there's definitely some value in being surprising eight years in. And again, it's quite likely that weird stuff is happening almost entirely because Vogel is really, really good at her job. But the show might need to level out for an episode or two before I'm totally sold on where this is all headed."^[9]

Andrea Reiher of Zap2it wrote, "We're also wondering where Zach Hamilton fits into all this. He killed Norma Rivera and clearly is some kind of young psychopath like Dexter was. Will he be brought into the fold somehow?"^[10] Alan Danzis of BuddyTV wrote, "In the final season, it's great to see Dexter exploring matters of family and what defines one. It's just a shame that it's doing so at such a deliberately slow, uneventful pace."^[11]

Billy Grifter of Den of Geek wrote, "Last week, I was majorly disappointed in the shabby crash sequence and a perceived lack of proper connections between events. A week is a long time in La-La-Land, it seems, because almost everything in "This Little Piggy", I pretty much adored."^[12] Matt Richenthal of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 3.3 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Despite the fact that Deb nearly killed Dexter last week, and the siblings ended up as close as ever to conclude "This Little Piggy," not a lot actually went down on the most disappointing episode to date of Dexter Season 8."^[13]

Alex Moaba of HuffPost wrote, "Ah, that's more like it. With Dexter and Deb finally at peace, this episode of Dexter felt like it was back in its comfort zone, which proves the week-old television maxim: If you want to pull a show out of a rut, sometimes you have to drive into a lake."^[14] Television Without Pity gave the episode a "B" grade.^[15]

• "This Little Piggy" at IMDb