Set in Miami, the series centers on Dexter Morgan, a forensic technician specializing in bloodstain pattern analysis for the fictional Miami Metro Police Department, who leads a secret parallel life as a vigilante serial killer, hunting down murderers who have not been adequately punished by the justice system due to corruption or legal technicalities.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 2.21 million household viewers and gained a 1.1 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.
Dexter (Michael C. Hall) suspects Zach (Sam Underwood) might be involved in Norma Rivera's murder, but he still lacks evidence to back it up.
He later finds that Vogel (Charlotte Rampling) has taken Zach as a patient, after Ed (John D'Aquino) express concern over his son's behavior.
After providing information to Masuka (C. S. Lee) about Niki (Dora Madison Burge), Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) is asked by Elway (Sean Patrick Flanery) to investigate his sister's boyfriend, Kevin Wyman (David Chisum), whom he suspects is unfaithful.
Kevin falls for the trick and tries to kiss her, until Elway punches him and orders him to call off his relationship with his sister, threatening to send her a vide of their encounter.
He sees that Cassie (Bethany Joy Lenz) is now hanging out with a man, Oliver Saxon (Darri Ingólfsson).
So more space was given now to the freakin' "sergeant promotion" storyline - which seems to mostly involve Batista peering out of his office window, shifting his eyes back and forth between Quinn and Miller.
Club gave the episode a "C+" grade and wrote, "The final season of Dexter is ambling, taking its sweet time to ratchet up the tension, and as much as I'd love the writers to pull off a spectacular ending to the show, at this point I'm starting not to care about where the show ends up, as much as I care how quickly it gets there.
"[7] James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "It was a somewhat sleepy episode (at least, until the very end when Hannah McKay did a pop-in), despite having my favorite Dexter director (John Dahl) at the helm.
"A Little Reflection" felt pretty familiar for the majority of its running time, but there were still elements that suggest the show is moving toward something, as opposed to stalling.
"[9] Andrea Reiher of Zap2it wrote, "this entirely lovely familial episode ends with flipping Hannah showing back up, having poisoned Dexter and Deb for whatever nefarious thing she's up to.
"[10] Alan Danzis of BuddyTV wrote, "It's an intriguing idea for the show Dexter to explore in its final season, but it also feels like ground we've covered before, not helped by the fact that Zach is played by a fairly benign, slightly boring actor.