I am loving the season so far as it is new and fresh with the direction they are going with Deb and I am also curious as to the direction they are going to go with LaGuerta.

The only downside is it seems they are missing a strong villain.  Stevenson is fine, but Ukrainian mafia just doesnt seem a great fit for Dexter's world.  I will still give it the benefit of the doubt.

Thanks for the comment fatpantz! I really am stoked at how it is going so far b/c I did not have high expectations going in to Season 7. I thought that Colin Hanks was grossly miscast last season as the DDK although I did like the "twist" w/ Edward James Olmos towards the end of the season. I dug the tableaux's very much but it wound up being a little too "SAW"-like. I agree w/ you on the Ukranian angle and I am not sure how they can make such a broad subplot line work. If I were a betting man, I would say that Quinn is already too close to the strippers & the Miami nightlife scene and will probably be early exit fodder (IMO). Lewis the PT-forensics geek is really poking the bear and I was floored that he had the balls to go back to Dex's apt....especially after Dex "Darth Vader'd" his ass by lifting him off the ground against the wall! It is rare that a series this late in its run can be revitalized and feel so fresh. Can't wait for next week...and thanks for reading.

Even in the so-called low points of this series, I never stopped enjoying this show, because even if the main plots weren't exciting, there was always character development going on in the background and that's why this show is so enjoyable now that it has a refreshed feel, we already intimately know pretty much every character. 

It's such a bizarre story so far because it's really hard to tell if Dexter actually wants to reform or if he's just trying to spare Deb's life right now, not willing to accept that his only real way out of this is to kill Deb so he can continue his lifestyle.  Watching the convict kill himself was all the proof he needed that killers like him are no good existing in any other way if they can't be killers.  In the books he constantly reminds the readers that he has no emotions whatsoever but if he did feel something for someone, it would be Deb.  Killing her wouldn't hurt him in the same way it would a normal person, it would be inconvenient and it would absolutely go against Harry's code, but he wouldn't feel guilt over it for the same reasons.  This makes me really wonder what's going to happen, the way I see it there are only a coulple of ways it can play out to a successful conclusion:

1. Dexter dies, probably at the hands of Deb

2. Deb dies, probably at the hands of Dexter

3. Deb confesses her love for Dexter, the one where his parts enter her parts and they end up either killing together, or she turns a blind eye and allows him to keep taking out the trash.

The one way it can't end is for Dexter to reform and stop killing, that would be the absolute perfect way to ruin this show and ensure that all the fans walk away hating it.

I'm kinda hoping for Dexter to kill Deb and keep doing what he does, it would be a perfectly dark way to end it and they have been hinting at an increasingly darker Dexter for the last few seasons now, becoming more and more detached from the qualities that keep him human. 

FWIW, in the books, Deb's known since book 1 (when Laguerta was murdered), and lives with it because his "insight" helps solve cases. 

Also, Laguerta wanted to bang Dexter. 

Doakes was an a$$hole in both.

 Also - this season is excellent. And I am really looking forward to seeing what Mr Stevenson does...