Matthews is no dummy: he knows Dexter’s secret

After my post last week about Dexter’s new path without his Dark Passenger, I went about reading comments here and on reddit about others’ thoughts on the subject. One thing that came up that makes a whole lot of sense: Matthews is fully aware of Dexter’s secret, and he’s going to use it to guarantee LaGuerta honors her side of the bargain … or, at least, that she’s out of the equation altogether.

Right now all Matthews wants is a bit of time to get the full pension he’d have gotten before LaGuerta took over his post. Now that he’s “helped” her out with her witch hunt on Dexter Morgan, he’s settled on assuming LaGuerta will honor their initial agreement, and he’ll be reinstated for a spell. Meanwhile, he’ll just go about letting everyone assume he’s completely in the dark about anything Dexter may or may not have done. However, should LaGuerta reneg on their agreement — and it certainly feels like that’s possible — I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see Matthews pay Dexter a visit and give him the same “do what you do” speech that Deb did earlier this season.

The fact that Matthews was brought into the storyline at all is a very telling thing. It would have been just as fitting if LaGuerta stumbled upon all of this “evidence” against Doakes on her own. So why bother bringing Matthews into the story at all? Clearly it’s because his part of the story isn’t finished, and he’s got more to say to — and about — Dexter than he’s let on about so far.

With Deb and Matthews in on Dexter’s secret for the remainder of the series, it would make for one hell of a final season. Their involvement in steering the rest of the law away from finding him out could be what realistically leads to him getting away in the end.

Then again, Matthews could have just been brought into the fold for his awesome one-liners. Let’s talk about some of his from this episode:

“Personally I think she’s had one too many mosquitos, or whatever you call that goddamn drink.”

“We don’t know Doakes used this place. You’re jumping to conclusions.” – LaGuerta
“This address came from the tackle box. Which came from the cabin. Where Doakes died. This isn’t jumping to a conclusion — this conclusion is hanging from your ass.” – Matthews

“Maria, it’s over. The fat lady isn’t singing. Her song is done. She’s getting dry humped in her dressing room.”

As for the rest of the finale. it appears from the promo below (and from the episode’s title, “Surprise, Motherfucker!”) that Doakes is going to make an appearance in the episode, likely in the form of a flashback or dream sequence. First of all, I hope none of what we saw is something as cheap as a dream sequence. Also, I’m now kinda-sorta wondering if Doakes somehow survived that blast, and the body found on the scene was someone else. Naaaah, it couldn’t be. Could it?