Spoiler alert: Do not read on if you haven't seen "Dexter" Season 8, Episode 9, titled "Make Your Own Kind Of Music."
If last week's "Dexter" felt like the final leg of an "Are we there yet?" car trip, "Make Your Own Kind of Music" announced that Dexter's end-game was very much in motion. The Brain Surgeon was finally revealed ... and he's Vogel's son! And as the final scene showed, Dexter's spiritual mother chose her deranged biological progeny over her perfect pupil.
The twist confirmed season-long suspicions that something wasn't quite right with Dr. Vogel. Those who half-jokingly suggested that Vogel might turn out to be the Brain Surgeon weren't far off.
Besides the Vogel-Brain Surgeon connection, other walls have started to slowly close in around Dexter. He's hoping to escape with Hannah to Argentina, but with a federal Marshall investigating her whereabouts and Dexter making himself look like an obvious accomplice, that happy ending seems like a pipe dream.
Meanwhile, Dexter talked Deb into harboring his fugitive lover, just as she's contemplating making a comeback at Miami Metro. That can't end well.
All in all, "Make Your Own Kind Music" was a suspenseful episode that did a great job of setting up the series' final three hours. It gave me that excited feeling of watching a well-executed "Dexter" climax come together down the stretch. And at this point, for this show, that's all we can ask for.
So what did we learn about Oliver Saxon, the Brain Surgeon? He's Vogel psychopath son that we didn't know existed. (And apparently neither did Dexter. For a guy who prides himself on vetting people, Dexter didn't do much research on his shrink.) As told by Vogel, young Oliver drowned his brother and was then committed to an institution, sparking Dr. Vogel's career as a scholar of serial killers. He probably had some kind of experimental partial lobotomy surgery. He killed Dexter's neighbor Cassie, and a bunch of other people. And apparently he was raised by Mama Cass.
Earlier in the episode, Vogel made it seem like she had no idea that Oliver was in Miami, watching her and getting jealous of her new serial-killing pseudo-family. But what if this whole time she was using Dexter in her twisted, Freudian science experiment?
If Vogel is teaming up with the Brain Surgeon to face off against Dexter in a kill-or-be-killed showdown, she could be an incredibly formidable adversary. She knows Dexter's every weakness: his double life, every step of his routine, and everyone he loves. And Dexter doesn't yet know that she's betrayed him. She's a huge threat to him, and has officially become this season's "Big Bad," even if she hasn't killed anyone herself.
Other thoughts:
What if Dr. Vogel also has a daughter ... with Masuka?! Just kidding. I hope.
Quinn awkwardly kissed Deb, which probably means that Jamie Batista's chances of getting stuck in the Brain Surgeon-Dexter crossfire just skyrocketed.
What did you think of this episode? Leave your thoughts and theories in the comments.
"Dexter" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime.
