Batista killed in Dexter Resurrection penultimate episode

In the penultimate episode of Dexter Resurrection, which aired Aug. 29, longtime franchise character Angel Batista was killed after confronting Dexter Morgan in New York City. The episode, titled "Touched by an Ángel," ends with Batista gunned down in the private kill room of billionaire Leon Prater, setting up a fraught season finale and deepening the series' central moral crisis.

Batista, played by David Zayas, had followed Dexter across series installments determined to prove that his old friend was the Bay Harbor Butcher. According to the episode, Batista is lured into Prater's macabre collection of serial-killer memorabilia and found strapped to Dexter's kill table when Dexter arrives. Prater, portrayed by Peter Dinklage, offers Dexter a patronage in exchange for Batista's murder. Dexter instead frees Batista, but Batista immediately attacks him. Prater and an associate then shoot Batista multiple times; as he dies, Batista tells Dexter, "Dexter Morgan, f you," a line delivered on-screen and widely reported by critics and outlets that covered the episode.

On-screen dialogue and subsequent reporting show Dexter attempting a last-minute confession, telling Batista he did not...