I think it's a mistake to romanticize the relationship between Rita and Dexter too much. He really doesn't feel anything but rage. Part of the attraction to Lila is that he can express his rage sexually. He won't ever be able to do that with Rita. While it does seem that he's developing some kind of feelings for Rita and the kids, and they're playing that up (probably too much), the one thing Lila might accomplish, in what I expect to be her very short time on the show, is that he does start to have some feelings other than rage. They can't make it too syrupy, though, or they lose the realism of the character completely. And he'll have to make a lot of mistakes. You don't just get feelings all of a sudden and know what to do with them.

There's a very real problem that the writers should address, though, which is that Dexter took on his facade of normalcy because that's how Harry taught him to survive. Now that Harry is no longer the saint he once was in Dexter's eyes, his code is less likely to work as a method of sublimating his anger. Rita was just supposed to be part of the image, and he picked her because she was so damaged that he thought she'd never notice his problems. Where does he put his rage if he's not killing and not with Lila? What happens if Rita gets strong enough to demand more? He's going to have to go back to killing or he's a danger to everyone.

Is he going to be content with his lifestyle after he re-evaluates the code? What if he doesn't want or need to seem normal? What if he can't go back to the almost asexual relationship with Rita? What happens to Rita if she finds out the truth about him?

One good thing is that Lila might have put Rita off the idea of NA for Dexter for completely. She'll probably want to keep him to herself.

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