****Spoilers below in the rest of the post if you hadn't seen it --- also mixed in with my (likely false) interpretations
My take: the episode was very good, probably the best of the season so far, and no doubt what a great way to end it. Many different ways to go with this one now, and plenty of episodes left for new twists and turns. I'm very pleased so far with this season. I got that same "oh snap" feelings from it like I did during some of those great season 1 episodes.
Dexter flipped Trinity's world upside down there for a brief second, when he pinned him down and told him he should have already killed him. Dexter really lost it there, letting his emotions get the best of him. An emotional Dexter has been increasingly coming out of his shell. He isn't just going through the motions of survival as disspassionately as he used to. His emotions are starting to occationally over come him, and put him into danger again.
For example, instead of just pulling off Trinity from choking his son and securing him or knocking him out, he drags him into the kitchen, shuts the door (not locked) with the family watching from the outside, gets the knife out like it's "play time Dexter" and has a heart to heart where he expresses his true feelings for Trinity in a moment of what seems like uncontrolled rage at another serial killer. I think what set it off is that we have seen another emotional bit from Dexter about how he actually really cares for his family, which we saw earlier this season. He sees what Trinity is doing to his own family, and Dexter cannot stand the thought so he lost it right there.
Another new dynamic is also Trinity's family. Between the daughter coming onto Trinity, the son smashing the ashes, etc, they are clearly not normal. While they are living in what looks like a silent world of hell under Trinty's thumb, they did rush to his rescue there in the kitchen. They also appear innocent (at least
so far, I'm not convinced the whole family isn't guilty to at least some small degree, especially after seeing the reporter bit at the end -- I can't help but think they - esp. the son and Trinity - have been playing with Dexter to some degree), and they saw Dexter in attack mode with a big knife with Trinity pinned down. So, the innocent part, if true, makes them hard to dispose of with the code and all.
So, Dexter needs a new angle and probably can't get rid of Trinity in his traditional "cut 'em up and dump 'em" way. If Trinity does ever "vanish off into the sea" I wonder what would keep the family from pointing to Dexter, the man who pinned him down and was holding a knife? Dexter probably will not want that type of focused attention. At the very least, the innocent part as Dexter sees them all will change up the way he deals with Trinity, at least until he might come to know otherwise. Something like the "suicide" of the ice truck killer comes to mind. He'll try and still kill him no doubt, but he'll have to make it look like something else actually happened.
Anyhow, I suppose that with Trinity coming to the reporter there, and with that relationship announced now at the end, that obviously some kind of new plan will be concocted what with the spin of character Dexter showed Trinity now. The reporters fascination with Deb might make things more complex as well. I could definately see a plan bringing Deb into mix here soon, as a way to get to Dexter. They've gone this route before with the ice trucker killer though, so I'm not sure how far they'll push that angle, but something at least along those same lines is there for the taking.
Anyhow, Trinity is free for the moment from Dexter's knife (thanks to the family he terrorizes). But, it isn't clear how much of Dexter's background is unknown to Trinity. For as smart as Trinity is, and as successful as he is, I can't help but think he's been suspicious of Dexter for some time now, always showing up, etc. The reporter supposedly shooting Lundy and Deb makes some more sense now. Lundy was on to her dad earlier this season, so she takes Lundy out -- Deb was there, so she had to be shot as an aside to the whole thing, so there is more there than just a head line story now, there's family. I could see one of the reasons Trinity has been so successful for all these years, if he has a daughter out there who he's trained to help protect him. Now, Dexter was very close to taking out Trinity, so we have a new potential target for the reporter.
Lastly, I can now easily see the reporter coming after Dexter. Last time there was some trouble of someone coming after Trinity who was getting close, supposing the reporter shot Lundy and Deb in some type of protection / news story angle for motivation, it would then make sense for the reporter to come after Dexter now as he's the new threat to Dad. That would explain why Trinity shows up at her place there at the end. The way Trinity values family so much, between a rough past and how he controls his current one, I suppose the reporter was also taught these values. Trinity has also spoken before about how they help him survive at one point to Dexter re-inforces that point as well -- maybe true in more ways than Dexter realized back then.
Deb in turn should be coming after the reporter now, to verify the how the hell do you know. So, you've got an interesting chained loop of different people potentially coming after each other. Deb coming after the reporter, the reporter & Trinity coming after Dexter, Dexter coming after Trinity, and once the chain breaks, it'll be interesting to see where the pieces all fall.
