“Dexter” Season 5, Episode 3

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• Oh thank goodness for nannies.

Last week we saw Dexter hit a bit of a speed bump, a forehead-slapping episode full of lazy writing, confounding plot developments, and the weakest supporting-character side-plot in a show that could win an award for weakest supporting characters. It was everything bad about Dexter, barely anything good, and a dispiriting segue from old business to new. Seemingly designed only to jettisoning the most bulky, extraneous baggage from last season’s cliffhanger—the two Rita-lings, Cody and Astor—it felt to me like a cheat, backing out of the family story and leaving us with nothing to look forward to but a lame new victim-of-the-week (two weeks running) and a ho-hum murder cult for Deb to pursue half of each episode.

Then I got learned. My first hint that things were going to get better: Julia Stiles in the credits! Why, she’s my favorite part of any dance- or high school-themed movie! And wasn’t she in one or two of the Borne movies?! Julia Stiles! Who will she play?!