Angel Batista
Angelo "Angel" Juan Marcos Batista is a fictional character in the Showtime television series Dexter and the novels by Jeff Lindsay upon which it is based. He is portrayed in the television series by David Zayas, and as the younger version of Batista by James Martinez. Batista spends much of the original series as a sergeant before being promoted to lieutenant in the final season.
Character biography
Angelo "Angel" Juan Marcos Batista is a detective in Miami Metro Police Department's Homicide Division. He works closely with Dexter Morgan during cases, often teaming up with him for his expert advice on serial killers. He also functions as friend and mentor to Detective Debra Morgan, Dexter's foster sister.Angel is portrayed as a friendly and good-natured man who brings a sense of humanity and compassion to the show. Despite his tendency to act impulsively and make decisions based on emotions, Angel does not hold grudges, even when faced with difficult circumstances. Rather, he is depicted as having a deep sense of care for his social environment, particularly his colleagues. Angel is also notable for his signature trilby hat, which he is rarely seen without. Being a divorced and lonely police officer, he views himself as a cliché.
Season one
When Angel arrives on the scene of a foot chase called in by James Doakes, he finds the suspect dead. When first questioned by Internal Affairs, Batista lies for Doakes, saying the other man shot first. However, he later tells the truth, saying that he made a promise to his father that he would always be an honest man. When Batista cheats on his wife, he tells his wife about the indiscretion, which leads to their separation.One night at a club, Batista sees a woman with a prosthetic hand, the nails painted in the same manner as the victims of the Ice Truck Killer, a serial killer who preys on prostitutes. He investigates and finds out that the woman had a customer with an amputee fetish. In an attempt to chase the lead, he talks with prosthetic technician Rudy Cooper about patients he may have that have the same fetish. Cooper, who is none other than the Ice Truck Killer, then stabs Batista. While recovering, Batista agrees to a divorce with his wife. He also helps to uncover Cooper's true identity by asking for Cooper's prints to be compared to mental institution files.
After three months of being on his own, Batista turns to spiritual enlightenment to lessen his pain. He claims to be Dexter's best friend, much to Dexter's confusion, as he has never given Batista any reason to think so. However, Dexter eventually admits that Batista is the closest thing he has ever had to a real friend.
Season two
In season two, Batista and the rest of the department try their best to alleviate the grief from families of the Bay Harbor Butcher victims. He becomes especially involved in one case of a suspected murderer named Oscar Sota. When he talks to Sota's widow in his office, he ends up having a heated and frustrating argument with her about what her husband was actually doing to be targeted by the Butcher. Feeling guilty, he goes to her house and offers her a sincere apology. She begins to trust Batista, and offers him more details on the case.He eventually takes an interest in Dexter's on-off lover Lila Tournay, and asks her out after she and Dexter break up. Unbeknownst to Batista, however, Lila is only using him to get close to Dexter. To that end, she takes Rohypnol after having rough sex with Batista, and then accuses him of date rape. Batista is terrified of being convicted, as it will ruin his career and his life. After Dexter kills Lila, the charges are dropped, much to Batista's relief. During an awkward but heartfelt conversation, Dexter tells Batista that if he were "normal," he would want to be a man like him.
Season three
Batista is promoted to Sergeant. After Dexter kills Oscar Prado in self-defense, Batista puts Debra on the case, the police suspecting Frederick “Freebo” Bowman of committing the crime. After Debra badmouths Oscar in front of his brother Miguel, LaGuerta urges Batista to remove her from the case, and he reluctantly agrees. Batista and Quinn visit Zack Adelman for information on Freebo, and bust him for doing drugs. Batista congratulates Dexter on Rita’s pregnancy. After another victim is found, Batista suspects Freebo of being the perpetrator and instructs Debra to mend fences with confidential informant Anton Briggs. Batista risks his career to get a hooker who turns out to be an undercover cop. When the officer, Barbara Gianna, confronts him, she is convinced to not reveal his indiscretion after he truthfully tells her of the toll being a divorced cop has been having on him. Batista tracks down Barbara to ask her out, and she tells him she does not normally date. He secretly authorizes Debra to follow Ramon Prado on her suspicion that he is the Skinner, and turns down a hooker that Barbara planted, leading her to agree to go on a date with him.Barbara initially does not want to form a relationship with Batista, who relents and tells her that he just wants to spend time with her. She then kisses him to signify her interest in him. Joey Quinn warns Batista that Barbara will have expectations of him now that they are involved, and Batista begins acting irrationally, leaving her a long-winded message begging forgiveness for having to cancel dinner because of work. However, Barbara finds this funny, brings him a take-out dinner, and their relationship appears strong. Batista, Masuka, and Dexter go to a cemetery where they find the body of Ellen Wolf, and Batista attempts to prevent LaGuerta from seeing it. Batista chasties Masuka for making a big deal out of Dexter’s bachelor party while two investigations are going on. Batista goes to visit Barbara after she is attacked, and he enlists Dexter to test one of her keys. Before giving the results to Batista, Dexter warns him against getting violent with the man who hurt her, and Batista takes his advice by just arresting him. Batista attends Dexter’s bachelor party and helps Masuka uncover the past of the woman he slept with. He attends Dexter's wedding with Barbara as his date.
Season four
By the start of season four, it appears that Batista and Barbara have amicably split, and he is now romantically involved with his Lieutenant, Maria LaGuerta. Neither wishes for their relationship to become public, in fear of losing their jobs and "defining something indefinable". He looks to Dexter for advice, and he then becomes an involuntary counselor between the two. After Lundy is killed and Debra is shot, Batista orders Dexter to leave for his own sake and leaks a story to reporter Christine Hill that Vacation Murder suspect Johnny Rose has STD with the intent of luring Nikki out. Matthews disapproves of Batista and LaGuerta's relationship as he believes it will cause conflicts on trials and is willing to promote Batista provided that he is transferred out of the Homicide unit. After LaGuerta tries getting transferred in Batista's place, the pair tell Matthews that they have ended their relationship, and he warns them they will lose their careers if they are found to have lied.Batista takes over the Lundy shooting case, pledging to Debra that he is going to find her shooter.
During Thanksgiving, Batista and LaGuerta visit a comatose widower after DNA testing catches his wife's killer ten years after the murder. Batista, admitting to being fearful of either dying or being put in a comatose state, tells LaGuerta that he loves her. She reluctantly acknowledges feeling the same way about him. Debra, suspecting Christine of having shot her, gets Batista to watch their interview and he notices she struggles to look at images of Lundy's crime scene. After a DNA test confirms Christine's relation to Trinity, Batista, Quinn, and Debra take her into custody. Batista interrogates Christine. Through a recording of Batista and LaGuerta kissing, Matthews discovers the pair lied under oath and tells them they will face legal consequences. Batista and LaGuerta secretly get married with Dexter as witness, and use their new marriage to dissuade Matthews from going after them in front of the Board of Review. After Christine commits suicide in front of Debra, Batista orders her to take a personal day. He agrees to move in to LaGuerta's home.
Season five
Batista supports investigating Rita's murder, but is overruled by LaGuerta. She opens up to Batista at the funeral, and he consoles her. Batista discovers that LaGuerta has over $200,000 in a savings account, and tries getting advice from Quinn and Debra on how to handle the situation, to undesired results. Batista and Masuka go for drinks and a drunk Batista assaults a drunk police officer after he makes sexual remarks about LaGuerta. Batista initially tries to play down the altercation, but after Masuka makes a comment, he admits to LaGuerta what happened, and LaGuerta learns from Jim McCourt that Batista is being investigated by Internal Affairs. Batista apologizes to the officer he assaulted during the latter's hospitalization, and goes with a unit to find the primary suspect in the Santa Muerte cult murders, Carlos Fuentes. LaGuerta teams up with McCourt, but that prompts Batista to be even more jealous; he starts checking her cell phone for suspicious messages and finds a rendezvous appointment in a hotel room. Outraged, he walks in on them, only to find out that it was intended to be a sting operation to apprehend a corrupt narcotics cop, in which LaGuerta agreed to participate to bail Batista out of the investigation. Batista and LaGuerta argue over whether she helped to get the charges dropped against him because she was looking out for herself and not him. Batista and Debra stake out the Club Mayan while trying to find the Fuentes brothers, Batista noticing a woman, Yasmin Aragon, and bringing her over to help them target the Fuentes brothers in exchange for dropping her drug charges. Batista and LaGuerta apologize to each other.Miami Metro investigates a truck accident where five barrels with dead women inside are discovered. Batista interrogates the truck’s owner, motivational speaker Jordan Chase and his security guard, Cole Harmon. The Club Mayan operation results in Yasmin’s death as well as one of the Fuentes brothers and another civilian. Batista tries to console LaGuerta, but she refuses to take responsibility in spite of everyone following her orders. Batista is undecided on how to proceed. LaGuerta pins the blame on Debra, and Batista confronts her privately, telling her that he will back her no matter what because she is flesh and blood to him. After Debra finds new evidence in the Barrel Girls case, Batista mentions to LaGuerta that they should reopen the case and disagrees with her when she claims Debra is using the case to get back at her. After LaGuerta decides to reopen the case, and urges Batista to stop sleeping on the couch, Batista admits the pair have a ways to go to rebuilding their relationship. Ever since, Batista's approach towards LaGuerta's bossiness has drastically changed, as he has been "cutting her off" every time she seems to try to overpower his decision. However, in the season finale they seem to have set their relationship back on track.