A. The site of the cabin where Sgt. Doakes was killed.
Q.
Where is it supposed to be on the show?
A. Somewhere in the Everglades.
Q.
When did we see it on the show?
A. In Episode 10, of Season 7, "The Dark... Whatever".
LaGuerta has reopened the Bay Harbor Butcher case, and has brought former Chief Matthews into the investigation.
Intending to track down details about Doakes' last days, they return to the site of the cabin where Sgt. Doakes died in a fiery explosion.
The cabin itself is no longer there (it didn't survive the explosion), and in its place they find a large mobile home.
They speak with man who owned the cabin back then, and ask
him why he rented to Doakes.
The owner refers to Doakes as "the Bay Harbor
Butcher" (which makes LaGuerta wince), and says he didn't rent to him. He says he
originally rented it to a guy named Santos Jiminez.
Matthews thinks the name sounds familiar.
That's because Jiminez is the man who murdered Dexter's mother - and whom Dexter killed at that cabin.
Doakes
had been taken captive by Dexter in the cabin, after he stumbled across
Dexter's secret, and was later blown up by crazy Lila.
Q.
What is it actually in real life?
A. A park.
Q.
Where can I find it in real life?
A. We are back at El Dorado Park in Long Beach again, the same place where they filmed that Civil War reenactment scene with Dexter & Bosso.
The original Doakes cabin scene, back in Season 2, wasn't filmed here. It was filmed up at the South Coast Botanic Garden, in Rolling Hills Estates.
But I suppose it was easier for them to just shoot at El Dorado this time, since they needed a far less elaborate set.
For Season 2, they
originally had to build a fake cabin up at the Garden - not to mention
the pyrotechnics involved with blowing that cabin up.
But
this time
(since the cabin had gone up in flames), all they had to do was bring
in a mobile home, and drape a little moss on the trees to make the
surrounding area look swampy. The water & reeds come with the park.
In any event, they were up in the north section of El Dorado Park for this shoot, north of Wardlow Road, near the same lake where they've shot several previous scenes (such as Flamingo Park and the Lumen captivity scenes).
A. In the early seasons, I usually had to hunt down the locations after viewing the episodes,
using clues from the various scenes. By the now, though,
I've developed a small group of fans, spies & tipsters who kept an
eye out for Dexter filming in their neighborhoods, and would let me know
in advance when something was about to film there.
Between those reports, my own personal reconnaissance around town, and a
few new resources I discovered, by the time the first episode airs, I
already know most (but not all) of the filming locations, and only
need to watch the episodes and match up the scenes with the correct
locations.
This group of helpful fans includes Rick, Ellen, Elaine, Mia, Joel, Susan, Eric, Jeff, Kerry & others. My thanks to all of
them.
