Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner In ‘Dexter: Resurrection’ Episode 4

I suppose there’s no invitation more compelling for a serial killer than one to a dinner party full of other serial killers. Habitual murder is a pretty lonely endeavour by necessity, so it stands to reason there isn’t much socializing involved. This is precisely what compels Dexter Morgan to attend the sinners’ soiree he discovered an invitation for in the Dark Passenger’s apartment. It’s a terrific hook for Episode 4 of Dexter: Resurrection, fittingly titled “Call Me Red”, because Dexter’s infiltrating disguised as his latest victim.

You know those high-profile guest stars you heard about in relation to this show? They’re all here, and all playing serial killers invited to the same shindig by Peter Dinklage’s Leon Prater, a deeply eccentric, voyeuristic rich dude who keeps a museum of macabre trinkets in a safe room hidden behind a rack in his wine cellar. Despite a brief moment of panic when Red’s thumb doesn’t quite work to get him inside, Dexter is welcomed with open arms. And the introductions begin.

Prater’s collection would be the envy of any true-crime obsessive, so one can only imagine what it does for a serial killer. John Wayne Gacy’s clown suit is in there, and so is Jeffrey Dahmer’s fridge. Much to Dexter’s delight, so are the Bay Harbor Butcher’s rack of glass microscope slides, neat little circles of blood squished between each. Some of the collections pertain to the incoming guests, all arriving under the watchful eye of Uma Thurman’s Charley, who seems to be Prater’s personal bodyguard.

The killers arrive in turn. First is Mia (Krysten Ritter), aka Lady Vengeance, notorious for taking out sexual predators, which makes Dexter wonder if she might be bound by the same kind of Code he is. She teaches Dexter the finer points of enjoying absurdly expensive wine until Al (Eric Stonestreet) arrives. This guy’s a family man who sees his little “business trips” as a way to keep himself mentally healthy so he can be more present for his wife and children. He also cuts ponytails off his victims’ heads and has thus been nicknamed Rapunzel, so I’m not buying it.

Up next is Lowell (Neil Patrick Harris), a collector of tattoos — and the skin they’re inked on — who is extremely full of himself and, over dinner, gives a mixed media presentation shining some light on his process and his intention to kill a young woman named Jules who is being tattooed with a really average portrait of her recently deceased dog. For reasons unknown to everyone but him, Lowell is fixated on the idea of Jules being his next victim.

Finally, we’re introduced to Gareth (David Dastmalchian, always a welcome presence, especially after MurderBot), otherwise known as the Gemini Killer. The only conspicuous absence is that of Keith, who, it turns out, was the guy we saw Charley killing earlier in the season. Breaking Prater’s rules carries fatal consequences. And this is a guy who seems to have plenty of rules.

David Zayas and Jack Alcott in Dexter: Resurrection | Image via Paramount+

Dexter: Resurrection Episode 4 uses this dinner as a setup for the rest of the season, essentially by giving Dexter a laundry list of new targets and a diary full of upcoming social events, since Prater has laid out a two-week schedule of fun evenings together. But what’s most interesting is Dexter’s reaction to the whole thing. While he’s pretending to be somebody else, the feeling of release he feels being able to speak openly, and the connectedness he finds in meeting other people who share their own versions of “The Urge”, are very much his. And his “fact-finding mission” the next day, which involves meeting Mia for a jog, a pastry, and very nearly a shower, is clearly driven as much by intelligence-gathering as by an understandable attraction to Krysten Ritter.

But duty calls, unfortunately. With Lowell on the cusp of killing Jules, Dexter has to intervene hastily, using a tattoo parlor for the kill site and Lowell’s own tools of the trade to get the job done. He even opens up the usual little cut on Lowell’s cheek and collects his blood between two pieces of broken glass, just for old times’ sake. Dexter’s going back to basics. That’s two victims in as many weeks, which is a record harkening back to his heyday.

Harrison’s subplot isn’t neglected in “Call Me Red” either. After suddenly getting a call to pick up the newly repaired watch of his victim, Ryan Foster, he’s a little bit shaken by the recollections of battering a man to death with a toilet cistern lid and almost getting caught for it. His uneasiness only intensifies when Batista turns up at the hotel to speak with him, having tracked him down by following Dexter’s truck to Lance. When Batista sees that Harrison still believes Dexter to be dead, he spots an opportunity to trick him into providing information about his old man being the Bay Harbor Butcher, but Harrison doesn’t fall for it.

Elsa leaping to Harrison’s defense only makes things worse, though. When she mentions that Ryan Foster, whose death Harrison definitely didn’t have anything to do with, was chopped into nice pieces, Batista puts several of them together. He goes to see Claudette, who seemingly only ever listens to one song, and has a chat with her about the case and its similarities to several in Miami back in the day. After that, he returns to Harrison to lean on him a little harder.

Harrison still doesn’t give anything away, but Batista’s words — especially the ones about Dexter’s altruistic motivations all being baloney — resonate. In a crisis of conscience, Harrison calls Claudette, but when he’s sent to voicemail, he heads for the station in person. Just as he’s about to walk up the steps, his father puts a hand on his shoulder from behind. It’s a great way for Dexter: Resurrection Episode 4 to end, since it’s a reminder that even among a cavalcade of eccentric famous faces, the show hasn’t forgotten the relationship it’s truly about.

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