Rita Bennett
Rita Ann Morgan is a fictional character created by Jeff Lindsay for his book series about a vigilante serial killer named Dexter Morgan. She also appeared in the television series Dexter, based on Lindsay's books. She was the girlfriend and later wife of Dexter in both media. Portrayed by Julie Benz, Rita was a series regular in the first four seasons. The character made her last television appearance in 2010; she was a special guest star in Dexter season five opener titled "My Bad". The character appeared in seven of the eight Dexter novels.
In the novels, Dexter initially considers Rita little more than part of his disguise as a normal human being, and the perfect cover for his secret life as a serial killer. He later admits to growing quite fond of Rita, whom he married in the third book, Dexter in the Dark. In the television series, Rita is portrayed as a loving and caring mother who is emotionally damaged due to physical abuse by her former husband, Paul Bennett. Rita is the mother of Astor Bennett and Cody Bennett, and later in the television series, gives birth to Dexter's son, Harrison. In the book series, she and Dexter have a daughter, Lily Anne.
Benz received positive reviews for her portrayal of Rita, winning a Satellite Award and Saturn Award, and receiving a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Her character was killed by Arthur Mitchell in the final episode of season four. Dexter executive producer and show runner Clyde Phillips claimed the staff did not know how Rita would leave until late in the fourth season, but that it began to feel inevitable as the story evolved. Benz was notified the day before the script was distributed to the cast and was disappointed, but found the scene revealing her departure to be "very poetic". The character's departure was considered controversial by some reviewers; E! writer Kristin Dos Santos said that it "might go down as one of the most shocking ever on television."
Appearances
Literature
Rita Bennett was a character in the Dexter series of novels written by author Jeff Lindsay. Rita first appears in the original novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter. In the book series, Dexter Morgan primarily considers her a part of his "disguise", but he does care for her in his own emotionless way.In Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the two are already together, but it is explained that Dexter started dating her solely to improve his "disguise" as a normal person. Because she was brutalized by her now-jailed ex-husband, Rita fears intimacy and does not expect much of Dexter; this suits the asexual Dexter perfectly. By the novel's climax, Dexter admits that he is fond of her children, Astor and Cody, the closest he can get to feeling love. By a humorous misunderstanding, the couple become engaged in Dearly Devoted Dexter and married at the end of Dexter in the Dark. In the books, Rita is scatter-brained and easily upset, prone to speaking in disjointed, rambling sentences that Dexter often finds incomprehensible. The only quality that Dexter truly appreciates about her is that she is an excellent cook. She is a physical fitness buff; she and Dexter regularly go for runs, long bike rides, and weightlifting sessions together. In the fifth book, Dexter is Delicious, she gives birth to Dexter's daughter Lily Anne. In Dearly Devoted Dexter, Dexter discovers that Cody and Astor are budding sociopaths and decides to provide them with the same "guidance" that his adoptive father Harry gave to him; namely, to teach them how to be careful, efficient killers of those who "deserve it". Rita is kept in the dark about the true nature of their relationship. She suspects that something is wrong with the children when she discovers them torturing a cat, but Dexter is able to reassure her that they didn't understand what they were doing. The television series is based on Darkly Dreaming Dexter. In Dexter's Final Cut, Dexter has an affair with TV star Jackie Forrest, and briefly considers leaving Rita. At the end of the novel, however, both Rita and Jackie are murdered by Robert Chase, a pedophile intent on kidnapping Astor.
Television
Rita Bennett appears in the premiere episode of Dexter, titled "Dexter" and is introduced as Dexter Morgan's girlfriend. It is revealed early on that Rita was physically and sexually abused by Paul Bennett, her ex-husband and the father of her children, Astor and Cody. Dexter's sister Debra Morgan answered a domestic violence call and saved her life. Rita, who is ignorant of Dexter's secret life as a serial killer, appears regularly throughout the first season as his main source of support. She plays a much larger role in the episode "Return to Sender", in which Paul is released from prison and demands to be at Astor's birthday party. Rita asks that he not come to the party. In "Circle of Friends", Rita tells Paul he can see his children only through supervised visits for six months before she will consider letting him have unsupervised visitation rights. She hands him divorce papers that include that clause, and Paul signs them. In "Father Knows Best", however, Paul begins threatening Rita again when she prevents him from seeing the children. He forces his way into her house, where she defends herself by hitting him over the head with a baseball bat. In "Seeing Red", Paul presses charges against Rita for assault. When Paul visits Rita's house, he threatens Dexter when they are alone in the kitchen; Dexter reacts by hitting him with a frying pan. After Paul loses consciousness, Dexter drives him back to his hotel and plants drugs on him. Dexter alerts the police and Paul is sent back to prison.File:Julie Benz.jpg|thumb|right|upright|"I think we all feel so lucky to be part of a show that attracts such high caliber talent. We had Jimmy Smits come on last season, and he was amazing as Miguel Prado, and now John Lithgow is joining our cast. It blows all of us away. I think it elevates the work that's on the show, and it's inspiring to everyone."
—Julie Benz
In the second season premiere Rita takes Astor and Cody to see Paul in prison. He insists that Dexter dragged him out of Rita's house before drugging him and tipping off the police — and that if she could find his missing shoe it would prove his innocence. Rita tells him that there is no shoe, despite having found it more than a month previously. She later admits that she found the shoe, but refuses to acknowledge that Dexter is involved. That night she receives a call from the prison and learns that Paul was killed in an inmate altercation. In "Waiting to Exhale", after Paul's funeral, Rita confronts Dexter about his involvement in Paul's death, and he is forced to admit to having a heroin addiction in order to cover up his real secret. Rita threatens to leave Dexter if he does not commit to a program to deal with his "addiction". He starts attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings, where a mysterious woman named Lila Tournay volunteers to be his sponsor. In "See-Through" Rita's visiting mother, Gail, suspects that Dexter is hiding something from the family. In "Dex, Lies, and Videotape", Rita breaks up with Dexter after a phone call from Lila reveals he lied to her.
In "That Night, a Forest Grew," Rita stands up to her mother and insists that she move out of the house. Rita tells Dexter that he is no longer welcome to visit her house or her children. He apologizes, admitting that his affair with Lila was a mistake, but she is still hesitant to forgive him. When Dexter breaks up with Lila, she retaliates by pursuing his co-worker and friend, Angel Batista. In "There's Something About Harry," Rita and Dexter reconcile and visit the beach together. In the second-season finale, Dexter is forced to lie about running away with Lila, in front of Debra. Lila, feeling hurt, leaves with what she recognizes as Dexter's bag of murder equipment. She goes to Rita's house and drugs the babysitter in order to abduct the children. When Dexter realizes that Astor and Cody are missing, he goes to Lila's apartment. She starts a fire and locks the three of them inside. Rita calls Debra for help and Debra decides to skip her flight to Oregon, with her boyfriend Frank Lundy. Dexter manages to pass Astor and Cody through a small window to the outside, and escapes after breaking down a thin wall.
In the season three opener "Our Father," Rita realizes that she is pregnant with Dexter's child. In "All In The Family", after an unsuccessful marriage proposal, Dexter tries to convince Rita that he is looking for more than a convenient merger of finances and parenthood. In "Turning Biminese," Rita is hospitalized after a medical emergency and Dexter cannot be found. Dexter is hesitant when Rita suggests that they buy a house and move in together. Rita becomes angry at Dexter's refusal to help organize their wedding. In the third-season finale, "Do You Take Dexter Morgan?", Rita and Dexter get married.
In the fourth season opener, Rita and Dexter are living happily together in a suburban neighborhood with Astor, Cody, and new baby Harrison. In "Remains to be Seen" Dexter is in a terrible car accident, and Rita demands that he give her his keys so that she can drive him. In "If I Had a Hammer," friction begins to develop in the couple's relationship, and Dexter seeks guidance from Arthur Mitchell, a family man who appears to balance his responsibilities with his secret life as the "Trinity Killer". In "Hungry Man," Rita works hard to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. She shares a kiss with the next door neighbor, Elliot Larson, when she asks if she can use his stove. Dexter arrives for an appointment with Rita for marriage counseling, but gets called to a crime scene as soon as he arrives. Soon after, Rita confesses that she and Elliot kissed, although Dexter tries to brush it off. Rita later admits that she felt hurt that he did not seem to care about her indiscretion. Dexter then punches Elliot and warns him to stay away from Rita, which reassures her that Dexter loves her. In the fourth season finale, Dexter asks her to go out of town so they can have a belated honeymoon; in reality, Dexter wants to keep her safe from Mitchell, who has learned his real identity and threatened to kill him and his family. After killing Mitchell, Dexter returns home and finds a message from Rita that she returned to pick up her identification for the flight. Dexter finds her dead in the bathtub — Mitchell's last victim. In the fifth season premiere "My Bad", Dexter realizes, much to his own surprise, that he genuinely loved Rita and is devastated by her death. Julie Benz reprised her role as Rita as a special guest star in a flashback to her and Dexter's first date, and as a corpse.