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If you’re seeing a surplus of knowing grins and medical slides around this week, it can only be because Dexter is coming back! If you’re like me, you’ve been rewatching classic eps, reliving previous season arcs, and decorating your living room with sheets of bloody plastic. As with every season, we’re dying to see if Angel has a new hat, or what new, disgusting thing Masuka will say, or if it’s humanly possible for LaGuerta to get any bitchier (spoiler alert: Yes, somehow). Dexter Season 7 will bring answers to even more puzzles. What’s the deal with Louis? Did Quinn drown in a pool of booze, exotic dancers, and shame? How can I still miss Sergeant Doakes after all this time? And most importantly, what the hell is gonna happen now that Dexter has broken The Code?

Fans are no doubt aware that the first season of Showtime’s Dexter closely followed the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. Later seasons veered off from the books, as author and series took radically different directions. More on this later.

Season One introduced audiences to a handsome, lovable protagonist who has the inconvenient problem of needing to kill people on a regular basis. Don’t worry, we were told, All the people Dexter murdered are bad. As we watch Dexter interact with a flawed and hilarious supporting cast, we are settled in our belief that Dexter is the Good Guy despite his adventures on the Slice of Life. The introduction of Rudy/Brian gave us yet another web of Dexterian intrigue that we get to unravel in later seasons.

Dexter often speaks with his father, Harry despite the vexation of his dying before the series begins. Dexter does his best to play the picture of normalcy and to live by The Code that Harry gave him.

Don’t get caught.

Don’t arouse suspicion.

No killing the innocent.

Do what you have to fit in.

Don’t get caught.

Yeah, I said that one twice. It’s vital. Harry told Dexter, and us, that Don’t Get Caught supersedes every other rule.

Season Two brought Rita and her kids into the forefront. Their story arc swings them from the serial-killer equivalent of a “beard,” to central figures in his emotional life. Dexter began as a man who claimed to be incapable of love. He isn’t. And by Season Two, the evidence is overwhelming.

In Season Three Dexter endures another failed attempt at friendship with a like-minded person. Sorry, Brothers Prado. It also brings marriage, and Dexter and Rita with a baby carriage. We are happy for Dexter’s progression as a character, and sad that he had such a difficult time finding a best man. While Dexter officially becomes a family man in the Season Three finale, punctuality is still not his strongest suit.

Season Four introduced easily Dexter’s most compelling and disturbing nemesis, Trinity. Trinity changed the lives of much of the cast, and the blowback from it erupted as recently as Season Six. The Season Four finale made the internet implode on itself. Losing a beloved character is never easy—but it shifted the focus of the show clearly back to Dexter. Dexter’s son. Dexter’s struggles. It also left him wide open for a rebound relationship for Season Five.

It took an entire gang of villains to out-horrify Trinity. But man…they kinda did. Dexter engaged in some serious introspection in Season Five, and explored motifs of healing and redemption as only he can. He also tutored a young apprentice with an armload of her own darkness to deal with. His brutal work does plenty of good for the world, but leaves Dexter angry, broken, and feeling devoid of authentic companionship. On a brighter note, the episode where Astor returns is my fave of the season. I miss Cody, mainly because I know he misses Dexter.

In Season Six, Dexter the Dad takes a new direction. Harrison is talking, (but never while actually facing the camera) and what he wants to talk about is “Daddy’s Box.” You see, Dexter finally became aware that kids can hear you even before they have the language skills to remind you that they’re listening. Duh. He also gets some spiritual advice from a delightfully cast Mos Def as a Reverend with his own Dark Passenger. This fits in brilliantly with the Doomsday killings, lavishly staged biblical tableaus featuring Colin Hanks and Edward James Olmos (you may know them as Tom Hank’s son and Admiral Adama from BSG). Season Six holds the distinction of being the season Jennifer Carpenter does her best work.

Ah, Deb. For the first 5 seasons, Deb was easily the most irritating character on the show—the Jar Jar Binks, if you will. I understand why she’s necessary; but damn, she’s irritating. Her romantic missteps were predictable and frustrating to watch. Her anything boys can do, I can do better attitude toward being a cop played like a cheap stereotype. Yet, when Deb actually seeks out therapy and looks toward some genuine introspection—she shines.

Going in to Season Six—I’m gonna be honest here, I was hoping she’d die. I suspected that Michael C Hall and Jennifer Carpenter getting a divorce in real life *cue silly incest joke here* might mean that she’d be making her exit. This was further suggested by the fact that I was really getting to love her by the 9th episode or so. She’s a great LT. She makes great strides in therapy and does the work she needs to make lasting change in her life. Isn’t that the best time to kill off a character? You’d think so. You’d think she was as good as dead.

But what actually developed this season was the last thing fans were expecting. Season Six finale was easily more mind-blowing than we ever could have expected. Fans were comfortable in the belief that Deb finding out about Dexter’s hobby would inalterably change the show—and therefore, that it wouldn’t happen.

Fans were wrong. Dead wrong.

The season six finale ended with the same giant reveal that ended the first book. Deb. She knows. Irrefutable evidence she sees with her own eyes.

The Code is broken. The number one rule is violated, and in the worst way possible. Harry would have killed himself from the horror if he knew. Seriously. Dramatically, it’s also the most exciting thing that’s ever happened. If it weren’t for an extremely revealing and spoilery trailer, I’d be totally baffled as to what’s coming next. If I may say so, Showtime puts WAY too much spoilery info in their trailers. They really should knock that off.

Still…I can’t wait for Sunday!

-Wednesday