"Dexter" Season 5, Episode 1

• Showtime
• Yeah, I'm pretty sure this'll do.

Tonight's the night! Well a couple nights ago was, actually. Unfortunately I have gotten way, way behind in my television. Apologies, Atlanta. Expect a slightly more prompt recap from here on out.

So: Dexter returns! Happily, we're using the same brilliant credits sequence, which makes getting ready for work into a grueling ordeal of violence and bondage. Unhappily, we're still getting the longest, spoon-feedingest "previously on" montage in television history. But if there's one thing we've all learned after four seasons of Dexter, it's that we'll have to take the good (Michael C. Hall! Twisted morality lessons! Badass villains! Squirm-inducing but viscerally rewarding executions!) with the bad (Debra's dippy boyfriend subplots; the dumbest bunch of homicide cops in the world; tone-deaf comic relief; Rita). But it’s always been worth it, and I don’t think I’m alone in thinking last season’s grand Trinity Killer arc was perhaps Dexter’s best.