Dexter’s Boss Knew Who The Serial Killer Was All Along

One possible hint that Matthews knows what Dexter does during his personal time comes in Season 2’s “There’s Something About Harry.” Learning there were things he didn’t know about his adoptive father’s death, Dexter confronts Matthews, who admits both that Harry committed suicide and that he covered up Harry’s cause of death.

Matthews also says that before his suicide, Harry called Matthews and made him promise to take care of Dexter and Deb. Hiding the fact that their father committed suicide is Matthews’ first way of keeping his promise to Harry.

This brings up the question of whether or not Harry revealed everything about Dexter to Matthews before his death. If he trusted Matthews to take care of his children, then it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

One might even ask how Harry could possibly expect Matthews to take care of Dexter if he didn’t know about the boy’s deadly hobbies.

If Harry told Matthews about Dexter’s Dark Passenger, then it’s safe to assume the future deputy chief wanted Dexter to keep up with his bloody work on those Miami criminals who slipped through the cracks. After all, why would he allow him to join the Miami PD as a blood spatter analysis otherwise?

It’s possible that once Dexter was working for the Miami PD, Matthews continued to protect him.

One fan on Reddit pointed out that it’s Matthews, for example, who convinces Special Agent Frank Lundy in Season 2 to make Dexter first in chain of custody for the Bay Harbor Butcher slides–suggesting Matthews knew Morgan was the real Butcher and wanted to give him the chance to cover his tracks.

In Season 7, Maria LaGuerta (Luna Lauren Velez) becomes convinced it was Dexter, not Sgt. Doakes (Erik King), who was the real Bay Harbor Butcher. She questions Matthews who is uncooperative at first, but later he offers to help her investigation in return for reinstatement (she forces him into retirement because of a scandal the previous season).

During their investigation, Matthews insists on being the one to question Dexter and while doing so he tells the serial killer that LaGuerta is after him. It’s this conversation that gives Morgan the warning he needs to plant evidence that further confirms that Doakes was the true Butcher.

Here, there’s no argument–Matthews does protect Dexter from being exposed. The only question is whether or not Matthews was doing it while knowing that Dexter was guilty.

There are a few weaknesses to this theory, and one of them is that from the beginning of Dexter to the end, it’s clear that Matthews is, first and foremost, a political animal.

Matthews cares about status, rank, and public perception. Moving up the ladder seems to be his first priority, his last priority, and everything in between.

So why would someone like Matthews risk everything by supporting a vigilante serial killer from behind the scenes?

On the other hand, it wouldn’t be the only time he risked his career. Matthews is temporarily forced into retirement because of his connection to a dead prostitute.

Another potential weakness to the Matthews theory is the fact that Season 2 of Dexter ends with the world convinced that the late Sgt. James Doakes–not Dexter Morgan–was the real Bay Harbor Butcher.

If we assume the Matthews theory is correct, then that would mean simply by keeping his mouth shut about the identity of the true Bay Harbor Butcher, Matthews co-signed Doakes’ guilt.

It’s one thing to suggest Matthews covered for Dexter–it’s quite another to say he’ll knowingly let an innocent cop’s name be ruined for Dexter’s crimes.

On the other hand, Matthews is ruthless. If Dexter were exposed–and if Matthews had been covering for him–then Matthews would likely also be exposed as an accomplice. He might very well be willing to throw Doakes under the bus in that situation.

While it is ultimately Matthews’ conversation with Dexter in Season 7 that gives the killer what he needs to strengthen his frame job on Doakes, it’s far from clear that this is intentional.

In “The Dark… Whatever,” Matthews starts off insisting that investigating Dexter is a waste of time. But after he finds out the man–Santos Jimenez–who was renting the land that Doakes died on was one of the people who murdered Dexter’s biological mother, he gives LaGuerta a lot more info on Morgan than she previously had access to.

In a single conversation with Matthews, LaGuerta learns about Dexter’s connection with Jimenez, that Dexter saw his mother chopped up in a cargo container when he was a toddler, and that the Ice Truck Killer was his biological brother.

If we assume Matthews knew Dexter was a killer, then he might’ve done this because he assumed LaGuerta would eventually find all of it out anyway. It could be that in a mastermind move, Matthews gave LaGuerta all this information to earn her trust, thereby giving him the chance to “interrogate” Dexter and subtly warn him about LaGuerta.

I’m open to the possibility that Matthews knew Dexter was a killer, but put the proverbial gun to my head? No. I don’t think so.

The Season 7 investigation is probably one of the chief reasons I’m not sold. Matthews is ruthless and smart, but I don’t know that I buy he was faking an actual investigation the entire time just to trick LaGuerta. There’s also the fact that Dexter genuinely believes Matthews is interrogating him when their conversation happens.

But maybe the biggest reason I don’t think it’s true is Harry. If Harry would actually trust Matthews with the truth about Dexter, then…well, then Harry wasn’t a great judge of character. I wouldn’t trust Matthews to walk a dog without kicking it much less with the future of my only son.

Source: Reddit