Dexter - "Go Your Own Way" (Episode 310)

Dexter and Miguel were yukking it up with the ladies at a fancy-schmancy restaurant. Dexter (sarcastically) said the dinner was just what he needed "feigned civility with a heaping side of betrayal." He knew he had to "deal with" Miguel and weighed his options. Option one - he could kill him, but Miguel is too "high-profile" - and he's Dexter's best man (he'd be "expected to grieve.") Option two, getting Miguel out of his life isn't so easy either. Miguel showed Dex how to play golf and in exchange he showed Miguel how to kill - and now Dexter is now responsible if Miguel takes another innocent life. Miguel got Rita and Dex a lavish wedding gift - he hired the chef at the elegant restaurant to cater their reception. Dexter said it was "too much" but Miguel insisted. So much for option two, Miguel managed to find a way to keep their partnership intact by dragging Rita into the situation. Dexter's third option was to get Miguel "under his thumb...and keep him there."

On the way back from dinner, Rita said she was happy to see Syl and Miguel getting along. Dexter asked her if they had to serve food at the wedding. He was reluctant to take Miguel up on his overly-generous offer. Rita didn't want to hurt Miguel and Syl's feelings, but Dexter said he felt that Miguel isn't who he thought he was. Rita asks if he found something out about Syl and assumed his lack of a response as a confiormation of her fear that Miguel was having an affair. Dex didn't do much to change her opinion, but whan Rita asked if she should say something to Syl, Dexter told her to stay out of it. Rita persisted - she continued to pump Dexter for information. Syl had told Rita that she was uncomfortable that her husband and LaGuerta were spending so much time together and feared they may have rekindled their romance. Rita assumed Dexter was just protecting his boss.

Dex and Rita came home to Deb, who was watching Rita's kids (there's a great babysitter for you - the kids will be cursing like truck drivers if they hang around her much longer.) Rita tells Deb that Dexter's best friend was cheating on her best friend. Deb was just shocked that Dexter had a best friend. Dexter was a bit surprised himself - when he saw Anton in the house. Mr. Tact first referred to Anton as "the skinner victim" and then, when Dex was told that Deb saved his life, asked Anton if he would be a "plus one" for the wedding. Nice.

The next morning, Deb woke up in her house with Anton and went off like a tourette alarm clock. She feared that Anton's protective detail would think he and Deb were sleeping together (which they were), which would unleash a torrent of crap on Deb if they were found out (because Anton is a key witness in the skinner case.) She boots Anton out of the apartment and he asks her if his being a key witness against King was what was really bothering her. She half-heartedly assured him that it was.

Back at the station, Dex was again working on option three with Miguel, he needed some "leverage." LaGuerta assembled the troops and said she had a suspect in Ellen's murder. Dexter secretly hoped that Maria was on to Miguel? No such luck, it was a man named Toby Edwards, who called three times on the night of Ellen's murder - once from the bar he worked at and twice from outside of her home. (He was the bartender Ellen was overtly flirting with the night she and Maria went to the police benefit.) Dex knew Toby wasn't the killer, but could he be a witness? Angel orders Toby to the station for questioning and Maria gets a search warrant for his house. She's looking for a platinum wedding ring (Ellen wore two, one for each of her ex-husbands.) Apparently, Miguel couldn't leave the scene of the crime without a trophy. Now Dexter and Miguel have "something to talk about." Meanwhile, Vince is collecting money for Dexter's bachelor party. He's pulling out all the stops - "Sergeant Cop-A-Feel, Jo-Jo the Lesbian Go-Go, Maureen the Limber Mermaid and her even more limber friend, Nadia the Russian Gymnast." Angel pulls Vince aside and tells him that since the department is working on a pair of high-profile cases, that he should keep the party "low-key." Vince insists that he's got a reputation to protect - and if his show doesn't make people "vomit and have an erection at the same time", he'll have let his audience down. Angel again insisted that there be no hookers or any of the weird things that Vince is into. Vince calls him "Sgt. Buzzkill" and Angel drives home the fact that there are to be no illegal activities at the shindig. Vince gets in the last word, "A hooker is a terrible thing to waste."

Deb's calling potential leads and getting no success. Quinn got the report from protective detail and knows that Deb's been sleeping with Anton. Angel's also having problems with the law enforcement authorities in Nicaragua as he tries to get information on King. His pursuit is interrupted by an urgent call which sends him speeding out of the station. Dexter showed up at Miguel's office. Miguel didn't look too happy to see him. Dex told him that the Ellen Wolf case is breaking. LaGuerta found a suspect/witness. Miguel says Toby couldn't have seen a thing and asked Dex what they were going to do about it. Dexter says he doesn't want a partner. Miguel said he wasn't giving up on their friendship. Dex told him that after the wedding, they go their own way and go back to who they were before they met. Miguel would go back to being a dedicated ADA and Dexter would "do what it takes to keep the innocent people of Miami safe." That's what he wants. Dexter declares "Game over" - or is it?

Angel shows up at the hospital. Vice cop Barbara is there. She got beat up by some would-be john who followed her home. She was able to fight him off with her keys. Barb went off for a CAT scan and Angel spied her keys on the nightstand. He delivered the keys to the officers guarding the door, but sneakliy slipped oine of the keys into this pocket. He gave the purloined key to Dexter to check into it on the DL (no case number - it was "an internal thing.") Toby was brought into the station for questioning by Maria. Apparently Ellen left Toby a hefty tip on the night of her murder and Toby may have wanted more, arranging a late-night rendezvous. Dexter said "For someone so innocent, he looked so guilty." Miguel told Dex that he thought Toby looked like a killer, but Dexter said that no one's getting framed for Ellen's murder. Toby finally admitted he was at Ellen's house - for a booty call only. He didn't want his fiancee to know about it. He wasn't much of a suspect, but not much of a witness either. Quinn said he's not the guy. Security footage from the bat cleared him. Maria asked Toby if he saw anything at Ellen's and he said all he saw was "some douchebag with his high beams on." They weren't actually brights, but "big-ass halogens" on a dark-colored SUV. Dexter reminds Miguel that he's a "good friend to have." Miguel won't give up without a fight and will do anything to regain the upper hand. Dex thinks if Miguel can control LaGuerta, he can control the investigation and Dex loses his leverage. Dex knows Maria's a tough sell, and Miguel won't get far with her. He hopes.

Rita tries on her wedding dress with Syl. Rita says she "feels like Cinderella...without the Disney virgin thing." Syl says she and Miguel are working on things - well, she is, but he's not. Syl still has no idea what Miguel's up to. Rita asks her if she really wants to know what her hubby's been up to. LaGuerta bursts into Dexter's office, wondering why he's working on a case (Angel's key) without a case number assigned to it. Maria's stressed. Dexter notes that Maria is "ripe for the picking" and Miguel knows it. Poor Vince, the "erotic clown" just canceled for Dexter's bachelor party. Quinn sees Vince's struggle and gives him a card for Platinum Enterprises, a full-service party planner - providing booze, boats and babes. Vince's vigor is renewed. Anton came to the station looking for Deb and Quinn apologized to him for fibbing about keeping him off the books (what Deb called a "clerical error.") Anton was not too happy that Quinn almost got him killed and socked him in the jaw. Anton was also mad that Deb lied to him. Deb followed Anton outside and says she'll talk to Quinn to ensure he doesn't press charges, especially because he already knows that she and Anton are together. Anton doubts her intentions and she counters that she's risking everything (especially her precious shield) to be with him. Anton thinks Deb is basing their relationship on guilt and asks her to seriously think about them.

Miguel is at LaGuerta's trying to "comfort" her with a little wine and conversation. He says she's always been important to him. He thanks her for giving him a happy memory of his brother (from when they were together) and completely macks on her. There's a knock at the door and Miguel pulls away quickly, saying he didn't know what came over him. It was Dexter, "apologizing" for the case number screw-up. He said he was doing a favor for a friend from another department. Score another one for Dexter.

Dexter arrived back home and Rita told him that she told Syl about Miguel and LaGuerta's "affair." Of course, Syl showed up at Maria's just as she and Miguel emerged from the house. She tells him to get out of his life and speeds off. Maria was blinded by Miguel's big-ass halogen headlights as he sped off after his wife. The next day, Dex heads to the coffee shop for his "usual" and finds that the hunter is now the hunted - Miguel is now tailing him. He shows Dexter the protective detail report and says that there may be an ethics probe on Deb in the very near future.  Miguel promises to keep a close eye on Deb's case as long as Dex keeps an eye on Ellen's case. Dexter later showed up at Miguel's and charmed the maid to check in Miguel's den for a potential best man gift. He was in search of Ellen's ring and found it in a humidor. He switched the ring with a dry cleaning receipt in Miguel's name. Tammy from the party planing place comes to visit Vince at the station. She's cute, flirts with Vince and tempts him with "Pirates in Petticoats" for the big day. Vince is in love.

Dex got a DNA match on the key Angel gave him. He vowed not to get involved in Angel's affairs but asked about Vice Cop Barb against his better judgment. Dexter gives Angel the file on Barb's assailant and does everything but flat-out tell him not to take the law into his own hands, saying "some doors should remain shut." It's too easy to walk through the door a second time. He should know. Miguel returned home to get his things. He noticed his humidor had been disturbed and found the dry cleaning receipt. He went to the cleaners with the receipt and was given the shirt he gave Dex - but the stubborn cow's blood stain just wouldn't come out.

Angel found Barb's assailant and headed towards him with a retractable club. Dex asked Deb about her relationship with Anton. Deb said it was over. She said he was wrong for him, even though he made her feel happy. Miguel was lurking around the station. He met Dexter on the roof, demanding to know where Ellen's ring was. Miguel threatens to question Rita in connection with all of the men he believes Dexter has already dispatched. Dexter told Miguel that if Rita gets dragged into this, the ring could show up someplace inconvenient. Dexter realizes the game for leverage is pointless. Miguel says he's going to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants to and to whomever he wants. He's so dead.

Dexter concluded that Harry was right - he's always right. Angel didn't deliver rough justice to Barb's attacker - he merely brought him into the station. Angel told Dexter that "some doors should stay closed." Harry also said it was about "choices...good and bad". Deb thinks about calling Anton, but just can't go through with it. Miguel sets King on Dexter. He tells him that Dexter knows where Freebo is. Dexter has no other choice in dealing with Miguel, it's back to option one. He pulls into his condo parking lot and gets taken away under a black hood. Uh-oh.