On last night's episode of "Dexter", "Turning Biminese", we saw the titular slayer face the nexus of his old and new life as the supposed American dream - wife, kids, friends - interfered with his ability to pursue his own dream of delighting in feeling a heartbeat cease.

As the voiceover pointed out, this is the first time in Dexter's life that he's been able to start a heartbeat - the one belonging to his and Rita's soon-to-be baby. That baby is the catalyst for many of the show's events: Rita trying to force Dexter house hunt, her hospitalization, and Dexter ultimately agreeing to set a wedding date in the very near future.

All this, and the developing romance between Debra and her CI, were all merely side dishes to the main course: Dexter and Prado's relationship forged in blood.

On the golf course, Prado furiously explains to Dexter the case of a man who's about to get away with murder for the second time. He doesn't expressly ask Dexter to take care of the guy for him, but there's enough in his tirade for Dexter to develop that inference.

This leads Dexter to abandon everybody as he hunts down this killer on the high seas, ultimately disposing of him out the window of his cabin on a cruise ship. During his slaughter, however, Rita was in a hospital bed fearing the loss of her baby while Prado and Debra frantically searched for Dexter - the former even sending out the Coast Guard to the spot Dexter was supposedly fishing.

Of course, the Coast Guard never found Dexter. That fact led Prado to the assumption that Dexter had killed the man he'd been trying to put away. Dexter went straight into defensive mode, the way he'd been trained, and began to deny it, but Prado wouldn't let him.

It seems that Prado knows what Dexter is, and plans to use him as a tool of justice. Of course, he may not know exactly the type of monster with which he's dealing. Prado appears to see Dexter as a mere vigilante, somebody who kill his victims simply and not the bloodthirsty fiend who would kill anyone were it not for his code.

This leaves us with two questions: Is Prado simply using Dexter to do what he cannot and will Prado be taken aback when he discovers the true nature of Dexter's killings? Those answers will surely come later but for now they'll continue to function as a team of sinister superheroes.

One last note from this episode - Michael C. Hall truly showed the depth of his skills and how richly he's developed this character. This was clearly evident through the contrast between a couple scenes. In the moments where he was looking at his child on the ultrasound and the instance where he'd learned that Rita was okay, it was clear that Dexter was pretending to be happy, pretending to care about these monumental life-changing events. We saw his complete detachment from normal life. Compare this with the scene during which he killed his target where we saw a man come to full life like a child at play or a lover reaching climax. These continue to be the only instances during which Hall seems like he's not acting, precisely what he's trying to present through this mask of a serial killer.

Hall's work is beyond reproach and the series on which he gets to display those skills continues to impress weekly.

Story by Andrew Payne

Starpulse contributing writer