WATCH THIS: Giving thanks for 'Dexter'

Can't wait for the Christmas episode! Oh, wait, Dexter already had one (or at least first-season action set at yuletide time. Remember the fake snow and squabbling elves?)

But now we get a real Thanksgiving episode, complete with turkey and all the trimmings, which in this case includes two serial killers sitting down to holiday dinner.

This Sunday, Nov. 22 at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime, Michael C. Hall's Dexter breaks bread and who-knows-what-else with the dysfunctional family of John Lithgow's lethal triple-kill specialist "Trinity."

I've had a sneak peek at the table scene, and let's just say you can't cut the tension as easily as the turkey.

The two slayers keep getting closer and closer, which is not at all what I expected when Lithgow was cast as this fourth season's nemesis. He hit the screen instantly brutal and bloody (and naked!), making Dexter all the more eager to off him. But then they got to know each other. And this time it's not opposites that attract, it's mirror images. They're both family men who've got their, um, reasons.

Dexter this season has nicely managed to up both the creep quotient and the emotional impact, not to mention the dramatic suspense. (Even the black humor, too!) Its mano-a-mano star faceoff has been so fine, we've been able to overlook those figuratively blood-draining subplots of an office romance (yawn) between two already lifeless squad characters (double yawn), and a where-is-this-going flirtation between an ambitious reporter and Dexter's dull new cop nemesis. (Could we please have the electric Erik King back? Maybe his dead detective could have a curious twin brother?)

Five more episodes left, with fourth-season action culminating Dec. 13. Find everything Dexter here (including the complete season opener).