Crocodile (Dexter)
Encyclopedia
"Crocodile" is the 2nd episode of season one
of Showtime TV series Dexter
. The episode centers on the death of a cop, Ricky Simmons, and the Miami Metro Police Department's attempt at bringing in the killer, while Dexter
stalks another victim, Matt Chambers, a man who, drunkenly, kills people by running them over.
(Hall
) has taken a little time off to take his boat out and relax. He watches some teenagers messing around and notes that playing comes easier to them than to him. He goes back to his apartment and Debra
(Carpenter
) brings him bagels and they talk about the Ice Truck Killer case. Dexter tells her that if she wants a promotion that she should look for the truck and suggests that she should look for the ice truck on her own time. After she leaves, Dexter looks over the doll parts that the Ice Truck Killer gave him and notices that the doll parts have differently painted fingernails. Dexter attends court to state a blood report against a criminal. While leaving he notices a crying family and sees what he describes as an "opportunity". He enters a court case where Matt Chambers (Sam Trammell
) is being trialed for manslaughter, for drunkenly running over 18-year-old Alexander Pryce with his car. The court is adjourned and Dexter travels to a crime scene just outside of Miami.
Dexter examines the body and tells LaGuerta
(Lauren Vélez
) that it originated from the Westbound Causeway, after which he notices that the victim has something in his mouth. After a death rattle spurts blood into his face, Dexter removes a piece of human flesh from the victim's mouth. Later, back at the station, Debra tells him about her new boyfriend, Sean, a mechanic and Dexter offers to meet them for lunch along with Rita, which Debra skeptically agrees to. After finding out that the man killed under the causeway was a police officer named Ricky Simmons, James Doakes
(Erik King
) and Lt. LaGuerta go to make a next of kin notification when they find Kara Simmons gutshot in her home. The whole team gets to the house and Dexter takes snapshots of the scene, whereby he notices an inconsistency in the blood and finds a cell phone.
Dexter then goes around Rita's
(Benz
) house and tells her about his double date plan, telling her that it was Debra's idea. He goes home and is woken up when Debra phones and tells him that she has found the Ice Truck. She calls the team in on it and they find human fingertips inside an ice block in the back compartment. The truck is searched and found to be spotless. Later, back at the MMPD (Miami Metro Police Department), they melt the ice and find that the fingertips have differently coloured fingernails. The skin found in Ricky Simmons' mouth is found to be Norberto Cervantes and Doakes and his team apprehend Cervantes while he is meeting with Carlos Guerrero. The Matt Chambers case starts up again and he is put on the stand and tells them that he reported the car stolen hours before Alexander was hit by it and that he has been sober for several months. Meanwhile, Doakes and LaGuerta interrogate Cervantes who tells them that Ricky's wife Kara was sleeping with another man, which Doakes responds to by punching him. María takes a blood sample from his arm to confirm that it was him.
Batista and Dexter reconstruct the scene of Kara's shooting and they find a piece of blood far from the actual scene, which turns out to be a 100% match for Cervantes. María stops Doakes from doing anything about it and tells him that they should look at the big picture and try to get Guerrero. Dexter thinks back to the time that Harry Morgan, his father, lost his partner and is preparing to speak at his funeral. He tells Dexter that his world feels out of control because of his partners' death and he vows to catch the person who did it to him. Dexter stalks his potential victim Matt Chambers to a bar and speaks to him and finds out that he has moved around from place to place his entire life and takes a whisky glass to check prints. He lifts the fingerprint off the glass and runs it through a database to find that he has committed acts in Santa Fe
, New Mexico
and South Boston under the aliases Matthew Brewster and Matt Rasmussen. Dexter then prepares his kill room.
Doakes visits Kara Simmons in hospital and María notices that he is being overly caring. Dexter then attends the double date with Rita, Debra and Sean. When Rita notices the fluidity of Debra and Sean's relationship she starts to feel insecure and Dexter notes that he is lost for words to comfort her with. Norberto Cervantes is killed in jail by a man impersonating a police officer. Later, Rita starts to kiss Dexter but pulls away from him when it starts getting too sexual, Dexter tells her that he is fine with them not having sex until the time is right for them and she tells him that he is a truly decent man. Dexter examines the dead fingertips and discovers that they were removed post-mortem, Debra tells him that the prostitutes' name was Cheri Taylor. Debra, at the command of Captain Matthews goes to see her lieutenant and Matthews and is told by LaGuerta that she is being promoted to Homicide. Later, María goes to Doakes and tells him that Kara Simmons died of a heart failure and voices her suspicions that he was sleeping with her, he confirms it and he tells her that she was going to ask Ricky for a divorce. As a personal favour to him she refrains from taking him off the case because he tells her that no one is more motivated than he is to get justice.
While stalking Matt Chambers, Dexter gets a text message from Debra to celebrate her promotion and she tells him that she dumped Sean because he was in fact married. Dexter thinks back to the time Harry was late picking him up because he was angry at the decision to let the man who killed his partner walk. He sees Guerrero going to the toilet and he contemplates killing him but decides against it. In the final scenes, Dexter has kidnapped Matt Chambers and gets him to confess to killing Alexander Pryce. He then kills him by stabbing him in the heart, he empties the man's remains into trash bags and returns home after throwing the body parts into the ocean. He finds the doll head back on his fridge again and opens his freezer to discover that the doll parts are missing and that the Ice Truck Killer has broken into his apartment for a second time.
gave it a "Good" rating of 7.8, and stated that it was "...not as tightly constructed as the pilot, "Crocodile" still was solid and Michael C. Hall
's performance as Dexter continues to be a wonderful one, deftly portraying all of the aspects of this complicated (to say the least) man, who has some unbelievable darkness hiding underneath his friendly exterior. And kudos to the excellent opening credits sequence, which consists of shots of Dexter going about several mundane activities that are made unsettling due to our knowledge that he's a serial killer".
TVSquad gave it a very positive review and said that "Two episodes in and I really can't say anything bad about this show. It's wonderful. You shouldn't feel satisfied after watching a show about this subject matter, but you do and that's because it's done well." and also praised the opening sequence for being "slick".
The review from DenofGeek was considerably worse however, with Sarah Dobbs summing up the episode by saying "Dexter goes on a double date, eats some doughnuts, and, oh yeah, kills some more people. Meanwhile, the writers go batshit insane and rattle through a million and one ideas at once."
The writer, Clyde Phillips
was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Television Episode Teleplay, but lost to Matthew Graham
, writer of the first episode of the police drama Life on Mars
.
Dexter (season 1)
The first season of Dexter is an adaptation of Jeff Lindsay's first novel in the Dexter series, Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Subsequent seasons have featured original storylines. This season aired from October 1, 2006 to December 17, 2006, and follows Dexter's investigation of "The Ice Truck Killer"...
of Showtime TV series Dexter
Dexter (TV series)
Dexter is an American television drama series, which debuted on Showtime on October 1, 2006. The sixth season premiered on October 2, 2011. The series centers on Dexter Morgan , a bloodstain pattern analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a serial killer...
. The episode centers on the death of a cop, Ricky Simmons, and the Miami Metro Police Department's attempt at bringing in the killer, while Dexter
Dexter Morgan
Dexter Morgan is a fictional character in a series of novels by Jeff Lindsay, including Darkly Dreaming Dexter , Dearly Devoted Dexter , Dexter in the Dark , Dexter by Design , Dexter is Delicious and Double Dexter...
stalks another victim, Matt Chambers, a man who, drunkenly, kills people by running them over.
Plot
DexterDexter Morgan
Dexter Morgan is a fictional character in a series of novels by Jeff Lindsay, including Darkly Dreaming Dexter , Dearly Devoted Dexter , Dexter in the Dark , Dexter by Design , Dexter is Delicious and Double Dexter...
(Hall
Michael C. Hall
Michael Carlyle Hall is an American actor whose television roles include David Fisher on the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and Dexter Morgan on the Showtime series Dexter. In 2009, Hall won a Golden Globe award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his role in Dexter.-Early life:Hall was born in...
) has taken a little time off to take his boat out and relax. He watches some teenagers messing around and notes that playing comes easier to them than to him. He goes back to his apartment and Debra
Debra Morgan
Debra Morgan is a fictional character created by Jeff Lindsay for his Dexter book series. She also appears in the television series, based on Lindsay's books, portrayed by Jennifer Carpenter. In Lindsay's novels, she first appeared in Darkly Dreaming Dexter, and has featured in every novel...
(Carpenter
Jennifer Carpenter
Jennifer Leann Carpenter is an American actress, known for her portrayal of Emily Rose in The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Debra Morgan on Dexter, and the lead role in the 2008 horror movie Quarantine.-Early life:...
) brings him bagels and they talk about the Ice Truck Killer case. Dexter tells her that if she wants a promotion that she should look for the truck and suggests that she should look for the ice truck on her own time. After she leaves, Dexter looks over the doll parts that the Ice Truck Killer gave him and notices that the doll parts have differently painted fingernails. Dexter attends court to state a blood report against a criminal. While leaving he notices a crying family and sees what he describes as an "opportunity". He enters a court case where Matt Chambers (Sam Trammell
Sam Trammell
Sam Trammell is an American stage, film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Sam Merlotte in the HBO vampire series, True Blood, which saw him nominated for a 2009 Scream Award for "Breakout Performance - Male."...
) is being trialed for manslaughter, for drunkenly running over 18-year-old Alexander Pryce with his car. The court is adjourned and Dexter travels to a crime scene just outside of Miami.
Dexter examines the body and tells LaGuerta
Maria LaGuerta
Captain María Esperanza del Alma LaGuerta , known in the books as Migdia LaGuerta, is a fictional character in the Showtime television series Dexter and the novels by Jeff Lindsay upon which it is based. She is portrayed by Lauren Vélez in the television series...
(Lauren Vélez
Lauren Vélez
Lauren Vélez is an American actress of Puerto Rican descent and the twin sister of actress Loraine Vélez. Her most notable roles are as María LaGuerta on Dexter, Detective Nina Moreno on Fox's New York Undercover, and Dr...
) that it originated from the Westbound Causeway, after which he notices that the victim has something in his mouth. After a death rattle spurts blood into his face, Dexter removes a piece of human flesh from the victim's mouth. Later, back at the station, Debra tells him about her new boyfriend, Sean, a mechanic and Dexter offers to meet them for lunch along with Rita, which Debra skeptically agrees to. After finding out that the man killed under the causeway was a police officer named Ricky Simmons, James Doakes
James Doakes
James Doakes is a fictional character in the Showtime television series Dexter and the novels by Jeff Lindsay upon which it is based. In the television series he is portrayed by Erik King. Doakes is a police detective with the rank of Sergeant serving as lead case investigator to Miami Police...
(Erik King
Erik King
Erik King is an American actor, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Sgt. Doakes on Showtime's television series Dexter.-Early life:King attended Morehouse College, where he won a varsity letter in track and field and graduated summa cum laude. For his honors thesis, he adapted the 1985 film...
) and Lt. LaGuerta go to make a next of kin notification when they find Kara Simmons gutshot in her home. The whole team gets to the house and Dexter takes snapshots of the scene, whereby he notices an inconsistency in the blood and finds a cell phone.
Dexter then goes around Rita's
Rita Bennett
Rita Bennett is a fictional character created by Jeff Lindsay for his book series about a vigilante serial killer named Dexter Morgan. She also appeared in the television series Dexter, based on Lindsay's books. She was the girlfriend and later, wife of Dexter in both media...
(Benz
Julie Benz
Julie M. Benz is an American actress, best known for her roles as Darla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and as Rita Bennett on Dexter, for which she won the 2006 Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television...
) house and tells her about his double date plan, telling her that it was Debra's idea. He goes home and is woken up when Debra phones and tells him that she has found the Ice Truck. She calls the team in on it and they find human fingertips inside an ice block in the back compartment. The truck is searched and found to be spotless. Later, back at the MMPD (Miami Metro Police Department), they melt the ice and find that the fingertips have differently coloured fingernails. The skin found in Ricky Simmons' mouth is found to be Norberto Cervantes and Doakes and his team apprehend Cervantes while he is meeting with Carlos Guerrero. The Matt Chambers case starts up again and he is put on the stand and tells them that he reported the car stolen hours before Alexander was hit by it and that he has been sober for several months. Meanwhile, Doakes and LaGuerta interrogate Cervantes who tells them that Ricky's wife Kara was sleeping with another man, which Doakes responds to by punching him. María takes a blood sample from his arm to confirm that it was him.
Batista and Dexter reconstruct the scene of Kara's shooting and they find a piece of blood far from the actual scene, which turns out to be a 100% match for Cervantes. María stops Doakes from doing anything about it and tells him that they should look at the big picture and try to get Guerrero. Dexter thinks back to the time that Harry Morgan, his father, lost his partner and is preparing to speak at his funeral. He tells Dexter that his world feels out of control because of his partners' death and he vows to catch the person who did it to him. Dexter stalks his potential victim Matt Chambers to a bar and speaks to him and finds out that he has moved around from place to place his entire life and takes a whisky glass to check prints. He lifts the fingerprint off the glass and runs it through a database to find that he has committed acts in Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
and South Boston under the aliases Matthew Brewster and Matt Rasmussen. Dexter then prepares his kill room.
Doakes visits Kara Simmons in hospital and María notices that he is being overly caring. Dexter then attends the double date with Rita, Debra and Sean. When Rita notices the fluidity of Debra and Sean's relationship she starts to feel insecure and Dexter notes that he is lost for words to comfort her with. Norberto Cervantes is killed in jail by a man impersonating a police officer. Later, Rita starts to kiss Dexter but pulls away from him when it starts getting too sexual, Dexter tells her that he is fine with them not having sex until the time is right for them and she tells him that he is a truly decent man. Dexter examines the dead fingertips and discovers that they were removed post-mortem, Debra tells him that the prostitutes' name was Cheri Taylor. Debra, at the command of Captain Matthews goes to see her lieutenant and Matthews and is told by LaGuerta that she is being promoted to Homicide. Later, María goes to Doakes and tells him that Kara Simmons died of a heart failure and voices her suspicions that he was sleeping with her, he confirms it and he tells her that she was going to ask Ricky for a divorce. As a personal favour to him she refrains from taking him off the case because he tells her that no one is more motivated than he is to get justice.
While stalking Matt Chambers, Dexter gets a text message from Debra to celebrate her promotion and she tells him that she dumped Sean because he was in fact married. Dexter thinks back to the time Harry was late picking him up because he was angry at the decision to let the man who killed his partner walk. He sees Guerrero going to the toilet and he contemplates killing him but decides against it. In the final scenes, Dexter has kidnapped Matt Chambers and gets him to confess to killing Alexander Pryce. He then kills him by stabbing him in the heart, he empties the man's remains into trash bags and returns home after throwing the body parts into the ocean. He finds the doll head back on his fridge again and opens his freezer to discover that the doll parts are missing and that the Ice Truck Killer has broken into his apartment for a second time.
Reception
"Crocodile" received mixed to positive reviews with much appraisal going to the opening sequence, which was first aired in this episode. IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave it a "Good" rating of 7.8, and stated that it was "...not as tightly constructed as the pilot, "Crocodile" still was solid and Michael C. Hall
Michael C. Hall
Michael Carlyle Hall is an American actor whose television roles include David Fisher on the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and Dexter Morgan on the Showtime series Dexter. In 2009, Hall won a Golden Globe award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his role in Dexter.-Early life:Hall was born in...
's performance as Dexter continues to be a wonderful one, deftly portraying all of the aspects of this complicated (to say the least) man, who has some unbelievable darkness hiding underneath his friendly exterior. And kudos to the excellent opening credits sequence, which consists of shots of Dexter going about several mundane activities that are made unsettling due to our knowledge that he's a serial killer".
TVSquad gave it a very positive review and said that "Two episodes in and I really can't say anything bad about this show. It's wonderful. You shouldn't feel satisfied after watching a show about this subject matter, but you do and that's because it's done well." and also praised the opening sequence for being "slick".
The review from DenofGeek was considerably worse however, with Sarah Dobbs summing up the episode by saying "Dexter goes on a double date, eats some doughnuts, and, oh yeah, kills some more people. Meanwhile, the writers go batshit insane and rattle through a million and one ideas at once."
The writer, Clyde Phillips
Clyde Phillips
Clyde B. Phillips is a writer and producer for television and film. He has written for the shows Dexter, Shout About Movies, Suddenly Susan, Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Midas Valley, and Trapper John, M.D....
was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Television Episode Teleplay, but lost to Matthew Graham
Matthew Graham
Matthew Graham is a British television writer, and the co-creator of the BBC/Kudos Film and Television science fiction series Life on Mars, which debuted in 2006 on BBC One and has received international critical acclaim....
, writer of the first episode of the police drama Life on Mars
Life on Mars (TV series)
Life on Mars is a British television series broadcast on BBC One between January 2006 and April 2007. The series combines elements of science fiction and police procedural....
.