‘Dexter’ Review: “Dress Code”

‘Dexter’ season 8 slices up the 7th episode of its final year with “Dress Code,” as Dexter tracks down Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovski) to find her true purpose in returning to Miami, while Deb worries he won't be able to face her, and Masuka tries to make things right with his daughter.

Last week’s ‘Dexter’ episode, “A Little Reflection,” saw Dexter attempting to prove Zach Hamilton (Sam Underwood) guilty to a reluctant Dr. Vogel (Charlotte Rampling), while Deb went on a personal sting with Elway (Sean Patrick Flanery), and Hannah finally returned. So how does “Dress Code” continue the 8th and final season?

Read on for your in-depth recap of everything you need to know about ‘Dexter’ season 8, episode 6, “Dress Code”!

Dexter awakens on the side of the road to a call from Dr. Vogel, quickly remembering that Hannah must have put him there. Deb too calls in to ask what happened, before driving down to Dexter’s location to pick him up. Confirming that Hannah was the one to incapacitate them, for whatever reason, Deb laments having to deal with her once again.

Later at home, Dexter finds Zach eagerly knocking on his door, looking to begin their first kill together, though Dexter reminds him they can never be seen together, especially with Quinn on the trail. Regardless, Dexter assures the boy he’ll teach him the right way to do things. The next morning Deb researches Hannah at work, though when Elway sticks his nose in too far, Deb snaps at him.  Elway too loses his temper, angry that for all he’d given Deb without asking questions, she’d be ungrateful.

Dexter uses a traffic cam to find Hannah’s rental car, calling the company to obtain a number and address for her assumed name of “Maggie Castner.” Harrison points out that Hannah likely made it easy for him to come find her, though Dexter insists Hannah doesn’t threaten him. Meanwhile, Quinn and Jamie debate moving in together, while Masuka and his daughter agree to get dinner later that night.

Dexter surveils Hannah’s marina to find her staying on a boat with a wealthy older man (Julian Sands), tailing them as far as an exclusive club that won’t allow Dexter access. A quick phone call to Zach with his connections gets he and Dexter inside the club, to which Dexter confront Hannah at the bar when her suitor steps away. Hannah reveals herself to have married the man, Miles Castner, though she refuses to explain her purpose in drugging him earlier. Miles soon returns to the bar, recognizing Dexter by name, and revealing his knowledge of his and Hannah’s past, before the couple depart.

The next day finds Dexter researching Miles, before Deb comes over to share her own progress tracking Hannah, and worry that Dexter might not be objective about their search. Seeing that Dexter still has feelings for her, Deb reminds Dexter that Hannah nearly ruined and cost them their lives. Across town, Masuka visits Niki at her sports bar, but its horrified to see her working topless, even as she shrugs off the nudity.

Deb meets with Vogel to reveal her desire to bring Hannah to U.S. Marshals in spite of the consequences, while back at the station, Dexter sees Zach and his lawyer walking into Batista’s office. Zach demands that Quinn no longer tail him, for which Batista properly admonishes the detective. Outside, Dexter meets with Zach to congratulate him on getting Quinn off their backs, though Dexter impresses that the most important thing Zach will learn is to control his urges, and wait before killing as Harry taught him.

Awhile later, Miles Castner confronts Dexter at a gas station to clear the air, after which Dexter ignores him by texting Hannah to meet him at the old greenhouse. Once there, Hannah admits that Miles can be possessive and controlling, and that she had drugged Dexter with the intent of asking him to kill Miles for her, before changing her mind. Still, Hannah returns Dexter’s feelings and wouldn’t want to hurt him, though she turns down a kiss. Meanwhile, Deb borrows Elway’s GPS monitor, and apologizes for her earlier outburst.

Deb reluctantly plants the device on Dexter’s car, sharing an awkward conversation with Cassie about Dexter in the process. Meanwhile, Masuka meets with Niki outside the bar and offers her the chance to work a less degrading job as his lab assistant, though she makes far more at the topless bar, and has little issue with the nudity.  In Vogel’s house, the doctor reminds Dexter that Zach was raised to kill in a vastly different way, and may not take so well to patience.

Walking back to his apartment, Dexter finds himself roughed up by a number of Miles’ men, signaling that he knew about their greenhouse meeting. Dexter races to the marina, missing an agitated Zach knocking at his door, while Hannah returns to Miles after shopping. Miles confronts her about meeting with Dexter, and begins to get rough and controlling in his plan for them to sail away together. Dexter steps on the boat after the crew departs, but finds that Hannah has already killed Miles, before assuring her he’ll take care of it.

After dumping the body, Dexter begs Hannah to speak with him again before she leaves town, unaware that Deb is watching nearby. Shortly thereafter, Dexter returns home to find that his neighbor Cassie has been murdered, and possibly by Zach’s hand. Dexter muses that he had a normal father to teach him the code, questioning if he can truly teach Zach to control his impulses, or make things work with Hannah. Roll credits!

And so, the final six episodes of 'Dexter' have planted their flag. Not as exciting as the final eight of 'Breaking Bad' per se, but exciting nonetheless to have Yvonne Strahovski's Hannah McKay return to shake things up. After all, as much as we like seeing the new side to Dexter in imparting killer fatherly advice to Zach Hamilton, the character seems too cartoonish a sneering villain to ascribe any sympathy to.

Of course, the final season has so very many plates to keep from wobbling, we've begun to question the internal logic a bit more than usual. The idea that Zach and Dexter could never be seen together certainly boggles the mind, but not half so much as why Hannah would drop Dexter off in the middle of nowhere, or drug either he or Deb to begin with. They're minor complaints to be certain, but we'd much more appreciate the attention to detail of characters we're actually interested in following, rather than watch Masuka discover his daughter works at a topless bar.

Now that Hannah's husband has already been dealt with, it seems as if the eighth and final season already needs a new story to build toward, preferably one not centered around whether or not Zach Hamilton killed Cassie. Poor, sweet, plot fodder Cassie. And what will Vogel get up to now, other than spending her days phoning serial killers?

What say you? Did you get your fill of darkly dangerous ‘Dexter’ drama? What did you think about the latest episode of the final season? Stay tuned for the latest from ‘Dexter’ season 8, and join us next week for the a new episode recap of “Are We There Yet?” on Showtime!