skill. Gail Brandon JoBeth Williams Gail Brandon is Rita's mother, Astor, Cody and Harrison's grandmother and Dexter's mother-in-law. Gail is a former public-school teacher who was fired by the school board due to "philosophical disagreements" (she disapproved of what she saw as the gradual acceptance of mediocrity in the way schools treated children and made her feelings well-known). She has extremely high standards, making her judgmental of her daughter and her grandchildren. After she arrives, she becomes suspicious of Dexter, claiming that he is hiding something. She distrusts Dexter, and believes him to be a drug addict, and believes Rita is repeating her mistake with Paul by getting involved with another addict. Near the end of Season 2, her attitude causes Rita to break off her ties with her mother and force her to leave her home and return to Michigan, not wanting her children to be exposed to her the way she was. In Season 3, Gail refused to attend Dexter and Rita's wedding, claiming that because she had started teaching again she was too busy. She did, however, send a scathing card expressing her hope that Rita's third marriage would be "the charm", though Rita is hiding that fact in stating that her mother means the third child (it is also revealed that her surname, and therefore Rita's maiden name, is "Brandon"). Paul Bennett Mark Pellegrino Paul Bennett is Rita's abusive and manipulative ex-husband and the father of Astor and Cody. After his release from prison, to which he was sentenced for nearly beating Rita to death, he tries to rekindle a relationship with his children, though he still harbors disdain for Rita. Paul (correctly) suspects Dexter of framing him for the drug charge that sent him to his latest stint in jail. After a short while in a federal prison, he loses hope after failing to convince Rita of Dexter's plan to frame him. Rita later tells Dexter that he provoked a fight shortly thereafter with another inmate, who beat him to death with a pipe. In the book series, Rita's ex-husband is mentioned but never makes an appearance (or is named) since he is dead before the events of the books. In the TV series, by contrast, Paul appears in the second half of the first season and in the first episode of the second season, and his interactions with Dexter lead to a key plot