"Dress Code" is the seventh episode of the eighth season of the American crime drama television series Dexter.
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 1.90 million household viewers and gained a 0.9 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.
Dexter is forced to leave Hannah when he is called to a crime scene in his building; Cassie has been bludgeoned in the same fashion as Norma Rivera.
Matt Fowler of IGN gave the episode a "great" 8.6 out of 10, and wrote, ""Dress Code" may have rushed itself at the end, but ultimately I was happy to have Hannah back and more than willing to let go of the Dexter/Zach tutelage.
Unlike the silly episodes that preceded it, it began to hint at how the Miami Metro threads might start to weave together and where the characters could be headed.
And while I'm not terribly confident in what that something will be, I'm so tired of watching these characters spin their wheels with so little time left to tell this story that any kind of forward motion feels like an improvement.
"[5] Richard Rys of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "In the end, Dexter has two bodies to deal with, and it's a toss-up as to which one is more troublesome in the long run — his fugitive ex-girlfriend’s millionaire husband or the neighbor who was killed by his protégé?
After all, as much as we like seeing the new side to Dexter in imparting killer fatherly advice to Zach Hamilton, the character seems too cartoonish a sneering villain to ascribe any sympathy to.
"[7] James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "This cliffhanger included the return of a major character successfully capturing our heroes.
What was so interesting about the good doctor in the season's early episodes has been stripped away so that the show can offer up In Treatment minisodes with Vogel and Deb, and that's just a poor use of the character and Charlotte Rampling.
Meanwhile, Hannah's new and now-dead husband won't be an issue going forward, but "Dress Code" had to spend a whole lot of time describing their relationship, only to kill him off.
"[9] Andrea Reiher of Zap2it wrote, "For Deb, she's starting to maybe warm up to the idea of Elway being into he, but he's also just a touch menacing when he snaps at her, which puts him right back into our red-flag zone.
"[11] Nick Harley of Den of Geek gave the episode a 2 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Just like last season, Hannah McKay has popped up at the halfway point to slow everything down.
"[13] Alex Moaba of HuffPost wrote, "Both storylines seemed to drive home the message that Dexter is ultimately destined to live and die alone.