Life is good for Dexter. He managed to get rid of the man who could have brought him down (Doakes), got rid of the woman who could have brought him down (Lila) and processed the fact that his beloved step-father’s code may not have been all it was cracked up to be. With all these obstacles out of the way, Dexter was merrily going about his business – enjoying his time with Rita, going to Dad’s Day with Rita’s kids, enjoying his sister Debs’ new, short haircut… and killing people without compunction. Dexter, it’s good to have you back.

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Every time I see Dexter’s amazing opening titles start up (the close-up shaving, the cracked eggs, the splattering tomato ketchup, the squeezing of the blood orange, the teeth breaking down the bacon) I get a tingle of excitement. They’re just brilliant and set the scene so well. The sun-soaked credits also make me want to live in a place like Miami.

So we were into series three and it felt like nothing had changed. But some things had. Dexter and Rita were at it like rabbits in the early scenes, but Dexter was already, in the back of his mind, planning his next kill with extreme enthusiasm.

His latest subject was Freebo, a dealer who had also gotten away with the murders of several young girls. As ever Dexter meticulously planned his imminent righteous kill. He staked out Freebo’s place, prepared his killing room with photos of the victims and laid out his instruments of death, and even met Freebo, under the guise of a dealer. But during the deed itself something Dexter didn’t bargain for went down – an unknown man was already involved in a struggle with Freebo, and went for Dexter with a knife. Dexter, initially surprised and shocked that his planning had gone out of the window, had no other choice but to kill him in self defence.

Feeling a mixture of shock, guilt (yes, guilt… he had broke The Code) and exhilaration ( he had broken The Code!), his world soon came crashing down. The victim of Dexter’s unplanned kill was the younger brother of hotshot prosecutor Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits) who made it his personal mission to find the killer. If this didn’t spin Dexter out enough, Prado took a liking to Dexter and a surprising friendship was starting to develop.

This was obviously the big story arc for the series – Prado and Dexter’s relationship – and I thought it was an interesting spin on things. If last series saw Dexter become the hunted, series three looks as though it will see Dexter having to confront his killing. Becoming friends with Prado, being invited to the wake of the man he killed… this was all stuff he hadn’t had to do before.

Last night’s episode’s other big theme was family and, more specifically, fatherhood. At the start of the ep Dexter was living free and enjoying being rid of Harry’s code. But the anniversary of his death, Debs’ reaction to it, his reaction to it and his stint at Cody’s school’s Dad’s Day (where he saw how a young boy could move on after the loss of his father) all made him contemplate his own relationship with his father. At the end of this first episode, Dexter was told by Rita that she was pregnant and that he was soon to become a father himself. Yes, you read that right – Dexter was to become a father. Suddenly he had a whole new angle on fatherhood.

Other stuff that happened? A new recruit to the team was hitting on Debs, but she was, in turn, being hit up by Internal Affairs to investigate him, Angel was made Detective Sergeant and Masuka was very funny. In fact, there was a lot of dark humour in this first episode. And it was brilliant.