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 2.19 million household viewers and gained a 1.1 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.
It turns out that it was all a part of his plan to trap two specific paramedics who have been letting patients die so that their organs can be harvested and sold for huge profits on the local black market.
Masuka (C. S. Lee) has taken up the responsibility of teaching a group of forensic science students, eventually hiring Ryan Chambers (Brea Grant) as his intern.
After obtaining the quarterback's blood and finding a perfect DNA match from the wife's murder scene records (from underneath her fingernails), Dexter realizes his instincts were right all along.
This episode introduces the season's primary antagonists, Travis Marshall (Colin Hanks) and Professor Gellar (Edward James Olmos), two serial killers who base their murders on passages from the Book of Revelation; they believe they have been chosen by God to bring about the apocalypse.
For everyone who's come in and out of Dexter's life, and whose somewhat disposable characters were supposed to "play a role in his evolution," the Bay Harbor butcher still seems mostly un-evolved.
Still, it's always a good thing when Dexter Morgan pops back up in our lives and every new season comes scented with a lovely hint of macabre merriment.
"[6] Richard Rys of Vulture wrote, "Between the Christ Killers and Dexter's efforts to enroll Harrison at a Catholic preschool, matters of faith are the threads that will tie this season together.
"[9] Billy Grifter of Den of Geek wrote, "Dexter always starts the season slow, and then builds, and from that perspective, "Those Kinds of Things" showed enough potential without cutting to the chase or providing a predictable direction that we're destined to follow.
"[10] Matt Richenthal of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 3.7 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "though it's way too early to know what they are up to or how they fit in to the grand narrative, Colin Hanks and Edward James Olmos definitely made a creepy first impression.