‘Stumptown’ Episode 17: Dex finds herself facing a life-changing crisis, is there still hope for her?

For someone as complex as Dex Parios (Cobie Smulders), it’s best when emotions are kept at bay. For a long time, she has tried everything to keep herself from revisiting unnerving memories from a devastating past, mostly concerning Benny (Lee McHale). 

In the previous episode, through one of her old clients, Dex learns that Benny’s death was foul play. In the latest episode titled ‘The Dex Files’, PI puts the skills she has acquired over the years to use, as she tries to unearth secrets of the Department of Defence. 

She goes to the extent of hacking the personal computer of a Military officer to get her hands on the confidential data from the 92nd Civil Affairs Battalion, only to convince herself that “Benny isn’t a bad guy”

For the first since its inception, ‘Stumptown’ in its latest episode introduces us to Benny and a young and jaunty Dex, who was head over heels in love with him. Although quite briefly, we explore what actually happened between these two, which turned Dex’s life upside down. 

She is seen going back and forth her memories to justify Benny’s actions when Grey McConnell (Jake Johnson) reminds her of Benny abandoning his family to join the Military and getting into a relationship with Dex while being married to someone else and even with a child. 

Although, Dex’s feelings for Benny couldn’t make one overlook the damage he done to his family, the flashbacks which show his relationship with Ansel Parios (Cole Sibus) bring a lump to your throat. When Dex sees herself questioning the relationship wit Benny, Ansels assures her that he could have never done anything wrong. On digging deep into the DOD files, Dex realizes that Benny was a whistleblower, who had called her moments before his tank got blown, to expose the inner workings of the armed forces. 

All along we saw Dex blame herself for Benny’s death, which was bad enough. And now, she has learned that the love of her life fell prey to dirty politics, which was kept a secret for all these years. It almost seems like there’s no end to Dex’s misery, despite finding answers to questions that left her hanging since she retired as a marine officer. 

The current season of ‘Stumptown’ is only an episode away from ending and the latest installment ended with a major cliffhanger, showing Dex at the forefront of a murder which she hasn’t committed. 

Will Dex’s story see a happy ending? We need to wait until next week to see what awaits our favorite PI. 

‘Stumptown’ airs on Wednesdays on ABC.