'Dexter' recap: Ticking Time Bomb

We always knew there would be a time this season when Jonny Lee Miller's Jordan Chase would move out of "quiet looming threat" status into a full-fledged villain. At the end of episode 9, here we are -- has the color returned to anyone's knuckles yet? (Probably not.) But before we get into the tense note we ended on, let's return to the beginning of the episode -- a happier time.

Well, it was happier for Jordan, anyway. The same couldn't be said for Dexter, who was running in place alongside his then assumed (and eventually confirmed) foe for a private session that was all about revealing his feelings. Had he really done so, Dexter would have told Jordan that he was only there to collect enough evidence to justify killing him. I'm sure that wouldn't have been received well.

Still, in the name of the code, Dexter ran. He humored Jordan as he talked about how a broken man could rebuild himself. Inside, Dexter was only thinking of eventually taking apart the Plato-quoting man in front of him. After an hour, Dexter believed the only thing he'd walk away from the session with was cardio and a shower, but that's when he spotted what seemed like a trophy hanging in Jordan's locker -- a vial of blood on a necklace. Dexter suddenly had his a new agenda: Get the blood, test the blood, kill the man. By the time he'd get home, he'd add, "deal with drunk teen" to that list.

Astor had gone to the house with two friends (neighbor Olivia + bottle of wine) for some fun, when she ran into knife-wielding Lumen, who had been scared s---less after thinking someone had been breaking into the house. "The tenant," Dexter explained to a disbelieving and bitter 12-year-old. (Honestly, Astor, he's not sleeping with her -- yet?) But there were bigger issues for Dexter than proving his post-Rita celibacy, like how his pre-teen stepdaughter got to Miami from her grandparents' house in Orlando (bus), how she got her hands on wine (it belonged to Olivia's parents), and why her grandparents were making her shop from Miley Cyrus' Walmart line. (Okay, the latter wasn't his concern -- it was mine.)

As the teen-ebraited headed to bed, Dexter did what any parent in that position would do and banged his head against the kitchen counter. That's when Harry appeared (after being absent for a few episodes) and told Dexter to get Astor out of the house as soon as possible. It was the same argument he's always had: There's a reason serial killers don't have children. "You can't be a killer and a dad," Harry said. Dexter was hesitant to comply because he viewed her arrival as a cry for help. He wanted to make things right with Astor, and he couldn't do that by turning his back on her.

The next morning, at Quinn's place, Deb was abusing Quinn's kitchen cabinets and appliances as she prepared to head to her union rep meeting, and he did damage control by saying sweet words of support, including the big "l" -- "love." It was said almost in passing, but it took them both by surprise. "Seriously, you're going to drop that on me now?" Deb said, as Quinn brushed it off. "Forget I said it," he told her as she headed out the door. Of course, she wouldn't forget it. Later, in the presence of dusty files and the file room lady, she'd confess that she loved him, too.

NEXT: Dexter makes a tiny slip-up; Jordan notices it. Yikes.

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