The fourth season of “Dexter” kicked off Sunday night with “Living The Dream,” presenting the titular psychopath struggling with his new role as suburban father. New to the cast is Arthur Mitchell (John Lithgow, “Confessions of a Shopaholic”), a prolific murderer known as the Trinity Killer, who has escaped capture for nearly thirty years. Special Agent Frank Lundy returns, now retired, from season two to enlist Dexter’s help in tracking down Mitchell. This season we’ll see Dexter struggling with keeping his murderous compulsions satisfied while still managing to balance his family and professional lives.

With a new baby in the house, Dexter is in a constant state of sleep deprivation. After a restless night, Dexter finds that he’s brought the wrong notes to a court hearing for murderer Benny Gomez, leading to the killer’s release. After being chewed out for this mixup by Detective Quinn, Dexter chooses Gomez as his next target.

Meanwhile, the Trinity Killer, so named for his trend of killing in threes, has begun his new set of murders in Miami. Dexter and the Miami Homicide department are called in to investigate the scene of Mitchell’s most recent murder, where they find a woman dead in a bathtub of bloody water, her femoral artery slashed. While investigating the scene, Dexter notices how Mitchell has cleaned up after himself, and begins to wonder if there is anything he could learn from this successful killer.

Dexter begins to stalk Gomez, but in his sleep deprived state, he falls asleep while staking Gomez out at a bar. A police officer accuses him of being drunk, and he misses his opportunity.

We return to the police station where Dexter learns that a woman was murdered in 1979 in the same style as the recent murder in Miami. Lundy tells Dexter that the Trinity Killer was the “one that got away,” and now that he’s retired, he’ll need Dexter’s help.

On his second attempt, Dexter is successful at tracking down and capturing Gomez, who he brings to an abandoned boxing ring to kill. Midway through Dexter’s ritual, his wife Rita calls asking that he drive to the pharmacy to get medicine for his son, who has developed an ear infection. Dexter rushes his murderous ritual, and after falling asleep at the wheel, crashes his car with Gomez’ dismembered corpse in the trunk. This closes the episode, and leaves us wondering what will happen when police arrive on the scene.

The fourth season of “Dexter” has already left us with a cliffhanger like those that made the third season so engaging. With Dexter curious about what he can learn from the very serial killer he is hunting, and his new family life making it harder and harder to hide his secrets, we should be in for a suspenseful season.

Dexter Airs at 8PM on Showtime