Critics at Den of Geek called the episode a "fantastic piece of TV" that provides fascinating new insights into Arthur’s personality, particularly his apparent "squeamishness". However, other reviewers felt the "Model Killer" plot served as a stopgap to prevent the season's primary Trinity storyline from resolving too quickly. Community Opinions

“I've come to the conclusion that watching a TV show is much like a blossoming relationship... Slack Tide is such a fantastic piece of TV... as the parts mesh like a Swiss watch.” Den of Geek · 16 years ago

“Slack tide... is the tide that is neither going in nor coming out, just kind of sitting there and waiting for things to happen. And for roughly 90% of this episode's running time, it seems like the perfect sort of metaphor for what's going on here.” AV Club

“Dexter is usually almost completely dumb-stuff free, so I wonder why it seemed to have so many holes... shame on the writers for that. Don't mess with the code.” Den of Geek · 16 years ago Notable Continuity Slip