In the episode, Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) hunts down Jorge Castillo (José Zúñiga), a human trafficker and murderer.

Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter), attempts to extract information from a security guard whose limbs were amputated by the "Ice Truck Killer".

"Love American Style" received generally positive reviews from critics and was watched by 6.7 million people when it was broadcast by CBS eighteen months after its Showtime premiere.

Rita comforts her upset co-worker, Yelina (Monique Curnen), and learns that her fiancé, an illegal immigrant from Cuba, is missing.

After doing so, he dumps their bodies in the ocean and frees their Cuban prisoners, not noticing the person watching him from the trunk of a car in the yard.

In flashbacks, a teenage Dexter (Devon Graye) learns from Harry (James Remar) how to fake joy in a romantic date with a girl.

[10] IGN's Eric Goldman felt that the episode's juggling of multiple storylines was "satisfying", and that the scene in which Dexter prepares to kill Castillo was "terrific".

[11] She was pleased with Debra's character development and the "downright stylish" cinematography, but thought that Jorge and Valerie's final, passionate words to each other were "too much for me".