In JOEY QUINN the writers of Dexter have created a fascinating, multi-layered and deeply flawed character.

Remember, we’re analyzing Season 7 Episode 7.

Let’s take a look at Joey’s storyline.

Joey has fallen in love with Nadia, a sex-trafficked strip joint dancer under the power of Ukrainian mob the Koshka Brotherhood.

In order to earn Nadia’s freedom, Joey has put his career on the line, by doing a deal.

INT. GEORGE’S OFFICE – NIGHT

Joey enters.

JOEY

I did what you wanted. The evidence is gone. I want Nadia’s passport. She’s done with you and your whole fucking shitty organization… and so am I.

GEORGE

We’ve been working so well together. Why kill a good thing?

JOEY

Who do you think you’re fucking with? You think I’m some fucking asshole? One of your little fucking bad men? You know how badly I could fuck you up?

Calling the Koshka Brotherhood a ‘shitty organization’ isn’t very eloquent or smart. I get the feeling Joey doesn’t think  about what he’s going to say before he says it.  He’s not the type to go through his confrontations in front of the mirror beforehand. He’s rash, impulsive, all-guns-blazing. I would say his words here reveal him to be reckless.

‘You know how badly I could fuck you up?’ comes across as false bravado; he has no power to ‘fuck them up’ – if he did he wouldn’t have stolen evidence for them, risking his career and imprisonment. Therefore I would say that his macho talk here is masking a deep insecurity.

Yet, the fact he is prepared to put his neck on the line to save Nadia from her traffickers endears us to him. It’s a sign of his compassion.

To sum up then, I would say Joey’s dialogue reveals him to be reckless, insecure yet compassionate.

What do you think?