Michael C. Hall as Dexter. (Handout)

The previous season of Dexter ended with Deb finding out the title character's biggest secret.

Now, eight episodes into the seventh season, Dexter knows Deb's biggest secret.

As usual, Dexter didn't know what to say. "You never do," Deb lamented.

SPOILER ALERT: What follows is a discussion of the Dexter episode titled Argentina, which aired Sunday, Nov. 18 on Showtime in the United States and on The Movie Network and Movie Central in Canada. If you don't want to know what happened, now's the time to abandon ship before it gets to South America.

OK, in the final scene of Dexter's sixth season, Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) found out that her step-brother Dexter (Michael C. Hall) is a killer. Deb subsequently has been brought up to speed on the fact that Dexter not only is a killer, but a serial killer. That thing in the church was not a one-off.

But now Deb finally has come clean about why she headed to the church that fateful night. Acting on probably the worst advice a psychiatrist ever has given, Deb was going to confront Dexter with the news that she had romantic feelings for him.

Deb ultimately blurted that jaw-dropper when she was overcome by emotion upon hearing that Dexter has romantic feelings for fellow serial killer Hannah McKay (Yvonne Strahovski).

"You picked the one way that you could hurt me worse than you could ever f------ understand," Deb said.

"It's one thing to be in love with your brother, but it's a whole other level to be in love with your brother who's a goddam f------ serial killer. You're a serial killer and I'm more f----- up than you are."

Meanwhile, Astor, Cody and Harrison were in a nearby room, supposedly sleeping. Hope no one was up for a glass of water.

This will sound like a strange thing to say, given that Dexter always has been a show about a serial killer. But Dexter as an individual has become harder to like this season, more selfish, more self-centred.

He cares about his son and his two step-kids, but only peripherally, if they don't get in the way of his business. He cares about Deb, but he has no problem lying to her repeatedly. And now that he not only has the hots for Hannah but also is connecting with her emotionally and intellectually, he's willing to risk the well-being of just about everyone else in his life.

Bad friend. Bad father. Bad brother.

Not to mention bad employee. The guy's never at work!

Does the viewing audience still have a soft spot for Dexter Morgan? If so, it truly speaks to Hall's acting skill.

Other observations:

- The police tailing Isaak (Ray Stevenson) sure were easily shaken, weren't they? And what were the police doing letting Isaac sit there in his own apartment with his murdered would-be assassin lying in a pool of blood as the lab rats - including Dexter - did their work? Miami Metro really is the worst police force in history.

- By the way, did Dexter really need to slit the throat of that overwhelmed would-be assassin? Code, my ass.

- So finally it has been confirmed: Isaak and Viktor (Enver Gjokaj) were lovers.

- I haven't figured what LaGuerta (Lauren Velez) is up to with regard to Dexter's boat. Many of this show's past seasons are just a blurry memory to me now, which surely isn't helping my powers of deduction. Does anyone have any decent theories about what LaGuerta is pondering?

bill.harris@sunmedia.ca

@billharris_tv