Morning Comes (Dexter)

"Morning Comes" is the eighth episode of the second season and twentieth overall episode of the American television drama series Dexter, which first aired on 18 November 2007 on Showtime in the United States. The episode was written by Scott Buck and was directed by Keith Gordon.

Plot
Lila and Debra are at odds with one another, with Debra not liking Lila and Dexter's new relationship following the latter's breakup with Rita. Both Deb and Dexter dislike each others' current choice of dates. Dexter finds a toy of Cody's in his bag and comments how Cody has been doing it a lot lately. Lila comments that Cody is trying to control him and Dexter states that all seven-year-olds think about is candy. Rita tells Dexter that he is no longer welcome to visit her house or her children. Dexter realizes that Lila is lying when she claims her apartment fire was an accident. Dexter tries to avoid Lila, saying he is going bowling with Batista and Masuka but she tags along. As Dexter is leaving the bowling alley, Santos Jimenez, the man who murdered Dexter's mother, ambushes Dexter, trying to kill him with a knife and slashing his arm, but is chased off by Batista and Masuka who draw their guns on him. Dexter decides to give in to his addiction and kill Jimenez. Lundy re-examines all of the department's old cases when he suspects that the Bay Harbor Butcher has a history in law enforcement. The police are set on edge as Lundy is calling their police work into question. Angel and Deb look at some old connections to the Bay Harbor Butcher. Deb and Angel are able to get the license plate of who they believe to be the Bay Harbor Butcher. Lundy, Deb, and Angel discover the person who was driving the car is a member of the Miami Metro Police. Some of Dexter's blood work reports are called into question as well. Lundy and Deb go on a dinner date. Doakes returns to the station to talk to Lundy. Lundy discloses that a case of his was dropped due to Dexter's blood work. Doakes breaks into Dexter's apartment and finds Dexter's collection of blood slides. Meanwhile, Dexter follows Jimenez to a remote cabin in the Everglades and subdues him, securing him to a table inside the cabin. Dexter kills Jimenez, dismembering him with a chainsaw in the same fashion Jimenez killed Dexter's mother over three decades earlier. After looking through Jimenez's wallet, Dexter discovers that Lila paid Jimenez to attack him. Receiving a call from Rita, Dexter realizes that Lila has broken into Rita's house. Forced to leave the dismembered body of Jimenez inside the cabin, Dexter rushes to Rita's house but Lila is gone. Dexter confronts Lila at her apartment, breaking off their relationship and threatening her into staying away from him and Rita.

Production
Filming locations for the episode included the AMF Bowling Center in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, as well as sites in Palos Verdes Estates, and Santa Monica, California.

Reception
The episode was positively received. IGN's Eric Goldman gave the episode a rating of 8.8 out of 10, and commented that "[o]ne thing's for sure - when a show has you this involved and theorizing this much on what could happen, it's working especially well." The A.V. Club critic Scott Tobias gave the episode an A grade and stated "Man oh man what a thrilling episode. I love when a great series like this one makes that decisive shift into the third act, when all those weeks of set-up and slowly ratcheted tension really start to pay off. While I’ve had some niggling problems with the season overall, I think the table has been set more effective than it was in Season One, because we’re getting a chance to see what happens when Dexter is put in a corner and has to fight his way out."