User Reviews

Dexter becomes close to Jordan and trains with him to investigate his life. He sees a necklace with a vial with blood in his closet. Lumen calls him because someone is breaking into the house. Soon Dexter discovers that the invaders are the rebel Astor her friend Olivia and they are drunk. Quinn and Debra are sort of in love with each other. Angel summons Debra and tells that he will support her. Debra is assigned to work at the archive department. She snoops the documentation and finds other DNAs in the barrel girls' case. Dexter steals blood from Jordan's vial. Lumen calls Dexter and tells that the girls are missing. The neighbor reports a van around Dexter's house and a man is arrested. Soon he is identified as Olivia's father. Lumen discovers marks in Olivia's body. Debra confronts LaGuerta, and she tells that Quinn was not on vacation, but suspended by her to protect her brother, affecting their relationship. Dexter threatens Olivia's father, telling him to leave her family. LaGuerta reopens the barrel girl's case. Lumen receives a frightening phone call.

In "Teenage Wasteland", Debra proves again that she is a very efficient detective. The strong personality is one of the greatest attractions of this show. But she seems to have the gift of falling for the wrong guy. It is impressive how Christina Robinson has grown up. But the relationship of Dexter and Lumen is probably the best part of this season. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Adolescentes" ("Teenagers")

This is my first review. I was driven first to review this episode do to seeing one certain sloppy review and to correct the mistake. I will after I comment on the episode.

The series has been building up but there were just certain scenes in this episode that finally for this season get me feeling great. For one thing, we are reminded how much of a b____ Maria is. We probably would have forgot do to her involvement over a series of episodes that has not been very negative. The agent Deb's boyfriend hired finds Dexter quite suspicious, and for good reason, but suddenly the bf doesn't seem so interested anymore. I enjoyed the scene of confrontation between the just fired agent and the bf. The part that I love is the moment before he has to leave and the clash of ego. I might like this agent dude. A friend told me over text one thing they like about Dex is he's a bad_ss dad. This is the episode where I see this. Dexter expresses human emotional concern - he however does it in his own way of course and scares the living daylights out of an abusive father. And it was great! The episode ends on a good cliffhanger to look forward for the coming episodes. Anyway about why I'm writing this review... Another user complains that in this episode there was a plot hole that did not make sense. Namely that the girls taking off without their cell-phones was not explained. That's not true. In the conversation with his daughter it is clearly enough explained for anybody paying attention.

I have to admit, I have been pretty uncomfortable with this season so far and I didn't believe this show would be able to recover from the weird direction it had taken the last few episodes. I was proved wrong tonight. So what's the deal here? Actually it's a pretty simple formula: less of Lumen and more of Dexter and the rest of the cast, paired with a believable and personally engaging plot.

Dexter is back from zombie-land! He shows a whole spectrum of emotions in this episode (not only the weird and seemingly forced ones related to Lumen) and finally behaves like a human being again. It feels as if he returned from an 8-episode during hibernation. The Dexter/Lumen relationship gets shrunk to acceptable proportions again and this way I actually am buying it. Lumen is bad news. Dex finally gets a clear head and realizes this fact. He is helping her not because he is a nice guy, but for very egoistic reasons; a) to be able to continue his perverted hobby without feeling guilty and b) because Lumens vulnerability gives him a lot of power over her. In this episode we get reminded about his true nature.

The rest of the cast gets more on-screen time than in any of the previous episodes. I can't remember when I last saw Quinn working at his desk in the department. Or Masuka. Or Laguerta saying anything making sense. Or Deb not being shag*ed for once :). This episode was so good, I think I shed a little tear of joy when the credits started rolling.

I'll be honest with you, I do not care very much about the Jordan Chase storyline or even the Lumen character (which is portrayed very well by Julia Stiles). What I do care about is what will happen to Dexter, who will find out what about him, how he will cope with it etc. This episode does exactly this, it puts the main focus back on Dexter, on his character and his destiny. It is tense and interesting again.

This episode begins with Dexter, he is sporting in the gym with Jordan. Astor returned to Miami, she drank booze with a friend. Dexter took a sample of Jordan's neckless trophee. Jordan discovered that Dexter took some of the trophees blood. Astor and Olivia are gone, they might have been ubducted by Jordan's people. Barry Kurt got arrested, but he is Olivia's father. The girls have been found, they had been arrested for shoplifting. Maria opens the barrel girls case. Dexter confronts Barry with Olivia's brushes. Dexter knocks Barry to get revenge for Olivia. Quinn stops the Dexter/Kyle Butler investigation. Nice episode of Dexter Season 5, Lumen talks with Jordan on the phone. Jordan wants an appointment with Dexter, what are his plans?

1. Dex runs with Jordan 2. Astor is a troublemaker 3. Dexter punches GOOD

Did not expect them to reintroduce Astor - this was a good episode that wasn't too focused on the main plot lines but nonetheless very enjoyable. Especially when Dexter gave good punches. Quinn looks like he's dropping his suspicions on Dexter because he's suddenly more interested in Deb. Looks like this is leading up to a big battle between jordan and Dex. Hope that buildup pays off.

Dexter has been trying to get closer to Jordan Chase. His sessions are conducted in a gym facility. He gets to see a pendant which apparently contains blood that Jordan takes off for his exercises and leaves it in his locker. Dexter figures he would like to get a sample of the blood inside the pendant, only he does not get an opportunity.

Lumen, who has been staying in the house, calls Dexter. She watches two figures trying to break through the front door, and the kitchen door. Dexter, going home, fears the worst. The intruders turn out to be his daughter Astor and her girlfriend Olivia. They are drunk, having stolen a bottle from Olivia's parents. Astor is surprised with Lumen's presence in the house, thinking Dexter is already dating.

The next days, the girls disappear. A mysterious white van has been seen at the curb and the neighbor get a partial look at the license plate. Dexter calls it in. It turns out the man is Olivia's step-father, who has come looking for her. The girls have gone to a shopping mall where they tried shoplifting and got caught.

Deb is not too happy being sent to do menial office jobs. It is a good thing because she stumbles into something in the file of the five women killed and stored in the barrels. She sees that Cole Harmon figures prominently in the investigation. Deb confronts LaGuerta about what she had found; she wants to reopen the case, Maria agrees to do that.

Deb also has a bone to pick with Quinn. She wants to know about his so-called vacation, instead of his temporary suspension from his job. Quinn has no alternative but to confess what he suspected Dexter was really Kyle Butler, but that lead had gone nowhere, so he dropped it. What Quinn is not ready to tell Deb is his association with Liddey.

In a surprising development, the blood sample test reveals the blood found on Jordan's vial is that of Emily Birch, a woman that is much alive and living in Coral Gables. Jordan calls Dexter at home. Lumen answering the call, gives herself away when Jordan detects it is her. He leaves a cryptic message for Dexter as he repeats his clock ticking mantra tic-tic-tic.

The episode was directed by Ernest Dickerson, a man that has worked extensively in television. Mr. Dickerson gets a lot from the regulars in the program. Lauren Gussis wrote the screenplay. Prominently featured in this installment were Julia Stiles, the guest star for this season and Jonny Lee Miller, who plays Jordan Chase

(S5. E9) My Reaction / Review for Dexter Season 5 Episode 9 ''Teenage Wasteland'': Episode 8 was great and I gave it a rating of 9.5/10. Let's see if this one is better or worse. Seems like Chase has trophies, interesting. Who got inside the house? Astor? Nice to see her again, I thought this character was gone. Does Chase know that Dex took that blood sample? I hope not. Wow, olivia has bruises everywhere, I hope Dex will teach her stepfather a lesson. Oh boy, yes dexter show him what's up. He gave this man a good beating, I really enjoyed it. So the guy that Quinn hired has photos of Dex with all the bags on the boat and Quinn doesn't even care? I didn't expect that. Wow, Chase knows about Lumen and Dex, damn. Amazing episode overall, my rating is 9/10.

I have loved watching Dexter for years and know the writing, direction and acting to be far superior to the run of the mill shows you see on pay TV here. But I can't help but feel that in this season they are struggling for ideas. And the plot holes are getting too big. Spoiler alert: In this episode Dexter uses the fact his two teenage runaways have left their mobile (cell) phones in the house as proof they must have been abducted. When this turns out to be wrong there's no reason given as to why they left the house without them. Come on guys; don't use these plot devices and just leave them hanging. Any how, lets hope season 6 does not degrade further.