Dexter: Resurrection S1 E9

“Touched by an Angel”

Man, I love Dexter: Resurrection.

I stopped regularly watching Dexter after the Trinity Killer season and only saw some episodes after. I knew the finale of the show was universally despised and I knew that the show came back to try and get the finale right the second time. It had to be better than the first one. I comment on these as an outside observer having not watched any of these episodes.

I did watch Dexter: First Blood, and the prequel series was, at its best, inconsistent. The tone bounced around too much. It was watchable, but it made me question watching this new Dexter series.

I am so glad that I decided to give it a chance, because this season is fire!

One thing First Blood did do was introduce us to Angel Batista as a young cop. He felt like a great addition to the cast and it gave us even more background with the friendship between Dexter and Angel. A friendship that had been stretched by this season. A friendship that eventually snapped at the end of episode nine.

Seeing Batista’s death scene was tough, as he has been a character on Dexter since episode one, but this felt as if Angel Batista had taken things as far as he could take them. His obsession with proving that Dexter was the Bay Harbour Butcher had overtaken his life and led him to the final trap.

Leon Prater, as played by Peter Dinklage, is an absolutely spectacular villain for this season. His flunky Charlie, played by Uma Thurman, is unexpectedly deeper than she ever needed to be. Both of them are tremendous foils for Dexter and things really took off this last few episodes. Prater discovering that “Red” had a son, Charlie cornering and intimidating Harrison in a hotel room, Dexter responding by finding Charlie’s home and seeing her mother, Dexter’s confrontation with Charlie in the car, Batista’s spilling the beans about the truth behind Dexter Morgan to Prater and Charlie, and then the showdown inside the serial killer vault were all amazing moments moving the story along.

Then, with Batista’s final words to Dexter as he died from gunshot wounds inflicted on him by Prater being “F-you” showed, in no uncertain terms, that Batista knew how to hold a proper grudge. Poor Dexter, continues to lose people close to him. It’s why I really hope Blessing is not the New York Ripper as the rumor indicated.

This has been a great season and there is one more episode remaining in the season which will be released next Friday.

Dexter: Resurrection S1 E8

Spoilers

“The Kill Room Where it Happens”

Dexter is struggling with all of the outside forces coming into him.

  • Angel Batista’s obsession is making things difficult. Batista nearly caught Dexter in a kill room. Dexter found the ear pods Batista left behind in his car though.
  • Dexter failed to grab “Rapunzel” who did not like Hamilton. “Did you know they all rapped?” LOL.
  • Harrison asking for help with Elsa’s landlord.
  • Prater showed up at the site where Dexter was having dinner with Harrison. No good will come of that.
  • Blessing getting mad at Dexter when Dexter let it slip to Blessing’s daughter about her father’s past. Perhaps the rumors of Blessing being the New York Ripper, a twist that I would not be a fan of. However, his reaction to Dexter’s mistake made me think that there is more to Blessing than we thought.

However, it seemed as if Detective Wallace is filled with doubt about Batista and what he is doing. She did not respond to the story of the kill room very well, and she called down to Miami to ask about the Bay Harbor Butcher case only to find out that Batista was no longer an active police captain. Batista surely is looking shaky as his obsession with Dexter might be bringing him down.

Harrison had a night of sex with Gigi. I don’t know why but I just do not trust Gigi at this point. Maybe that is just the type of show Dexter is that I question anyone new, but I am just unsure about her at this point. I do hope she is not going to betray Harrison because I like seeing him happy for once.

I know now that there are two more episodes of Dexter: Resurrection remaining. Surely, there will be a confrontation between Dexter and Batista among those and I get a feeling that Blessing may have something in his past that we still need to face. I do hope that neither Batista or Angel wind up on Dexter’s table. Prater, however, I feel is destined for that table.

Dexter: Original Sin S1 E9

Spoilers

“Blood Drive”

I was more impressed with this episode of Dexter: Original Blood than I had been for a few episodes. Then Dexter did something so stupid that it defies explanation.

In the last few minutes, he captured Captain Spencer and wrapped him up on his table. He taunted him for awhile and then decided to let him escape. I understand he was doing it so he could follow Spencer to where he had the missing Nicky hidden away, but there are so many things that could go wrong with that idea that it is shocking. I mean, just off the top of my head, the police captain could decide to turn Dexter in and frame him for the death of the kids. I can’t believe that would be hard to do… especially since Dexter had already cut off Spencer’s little finger, something that everyone knows the killer had done.

Spencer’s motive for kidnapping Nicky (and the kid before whom he killed) was fairly week too. I mean, just to get back at his ex-wife, he was going to torture and kill his own son? That felt so bizarre. I assume the other kid was taken and killed as a way to throw off the investigation, but that was so out there that I just do not accept that any of this made sense.

The flashbacks this episode were more engaging, which was not typical for this show. They featured the two traumatized brothers, Brian and Dexter, being adopted by Harry and Doris and having Brian be psychotic. It feels like it was a bit of a stretch from Brian and Dexter seeing everyone killed to Brian trying to suffocate baby Deb with a pillow to make her stop crying. The time frame seemed rushed.

I do think making the serial killer involved in this season Dexter’s separated brother is a good twist. I’m just not sure that this is done well either. Brian did not show much emotion about being separated from Dexter as a child, so having the separation be the driving force behind Brian’s murder spree did not feel right. Maybe it was just his excuse to unleash his own Dark Passenger, which makes more sense to me.

I believe there is only one more episode remaining for this season so we’ll see how things get wrapped up. The Brian storyline does not feel like it can be finished up in one episode, especially an episode where the Dexter-Spencer story is still a high priority. Still, we’ll see what happens.

Dexter: Original Sin S1 E7, E8

Spoilers

“The Big Bad Body Problem”

“Business and Pleasure”

I just am not sure how I feel about this show.

Dexter: Original Sin came back with some new episodes on Prime, but they seem to be inconsistent. There are some solid scenes with good tension while there are too many scenes that felt in was in the wrong show. The tone just does not work throughout.

Dexter figured out that Captain Spencer was the kid killer and had kidnapped his own son. He did a classic “Batman Leap” to figure it out, too. A “Batman Leap” was something that my friends and I dubbed when you make a leap in logic that comes out of nowhere, like Batman would do on the old TV show (Glu Glutton’s Glue Factory…). There is no real logical way Dexter would think the Captain was the culprit.

Of course, he was right and I assume that the Captain is going to end up on Dexter’s table before the end of the season.

Deb’s storyline is one of those that do not seem to work very well for me. They took Deb’s boyfriend Gio and made him a total jerk after seeing nothing of this from him during the entire time. They just decided to make this guy an ass for reasons.

The flashbacks are another part of this show that does not work for me either. They put Dexter, his brother and mother in jeopardy in a ridiculous situation that, I supposed, is meant to show you where the Dark Passenger came from.

Harry and LaGuerta went to Tampa looking for leads for their serial killer, and Harry found something in a file. I am not sure what it was, but the character’s name was Brian. I wondered if that is going to be Dexter’s brother.

Episode eight was a little better and more consistent than seven, but so much of the show is questionable that I think it could be so much better with some better writing.

Dexter: Original Sin S1 E6

Spoilers

“The Joy of Killing”

I have been disappointed with the new Dexter show since the first couple episodes. This new one, episode six, was the best one since the first two.

The show limited the amount of silly Dexter action, though there was some of that as he was getting his first blow job. Still, it was kept to a minimum and the cases were compelling.

The captain’s son was snatched much like the judge’s son earlier in the season. We met the captain’s son recently as he spoke with Dexter. That made this more powerful than just a kid who we had never met. The tension of the cop shop during this episode was at an all-time high.

I am not in love with the flashbacks, but these were fairly significant. We see the birth of Debra and Harry’s wife told him no more affair. Another awkward moment.

Dexter set himself up as a serial killer (officially killing his third victim). The alligator dumping was not going to work any longer as the police have discovered the arm floating in the swamp that we saw a few episodes ago. I figured that was coming back, and I am glad it made it.

Of course, Dexter is not going to be caught or even implicated because we know he does not get caught or implicated for years. The dangers of a prequel.

I hope the remainder of this season is able to match this quality more than it has been lately.

Dexter: Original Sin S1 E5

Spoilers

“F is for F*ck Up”

Okay, the last couple of episodes of Dexter have been a bit lacking for my tastes. This episode, Dexter gets stoned eating some of Deb’s pot brownies. That whole section of the episode felt like it came out of nowhere and did not mean anything to the story. Outside of trying to build some connection between Dexter and Debra, there was not much more for it to be included in this episode.

Harry’s arc through the episode was inconsistent too. I am not sure I enjoyed either the flashbacks with Harry or his incompetence at the trial of Dexter’s soon to be next victim.

Having Harry end up on Dexter’s table, wrapped in plastic, did not convince me that the cop would accept this as a possibility from his step-son.

Dexter trapped with the horse was another silly moment in the episode, as was him tucking the horse’s hair behind its ear.

The best part of the episode continues to be Debra, and her attempts to have some relationship with her father and brother. After letting her down again, Deb went to her mother’s gravesite on her own, with a ride from her new boyfriend. They have sex in his car later in the episode as he seems very kind and loving toward her. I have a feeling that won’t stay that way very long. I hope I am wrong about that, but it feels like the cliched manner in which this story will go.

I have not been a fan of this show as much as I thought I would after the first couple of episodes. I hope it starts to improve soon.

Dexter: Original Sin E4

Spoilers

“Fender Bender”

The next episode of the Dexter flashback series, Dexter: Original Sin found Dex on the trail of a hired assassin who had “retired” to the Miami area. “Mad Dog,” played by Joe Pantoliano turned out to be a little more tricky than this 20-year old expected.

Dexter was on scene when they discovered the body of the judge’s kid, who had been kidnapped and had his finger sent to his parents. This story feels like the throughline for the season, while these side quests like “Mad Dog” are just to fill episodes.

When Dexter saw the kid’s dead body, he was shaken. So much so that Harry sent him off to another body instead. I’m not sure how the cantaloupes were helpful in recreating the crime. That whole thing felt odd.

We also get a flashback to when Harry had to babysit for Laura’s kids Dexter and Brian as she had to go do her undercover stuff. Laura and Harry had sparks between them, and ended up hot and heavy on the couch. I guess I did not know that Dexter had a blood brother. I do not know if the series had brought this character up before or if this is new with this series.

I really dislike this Debra version. She is such a spoiled rotten child with a lot of selfish behavior. To be fair, she does get overlooked by Harry and Dexter, but she acts out in ways that are only going to cause trouble.

This was an okay episode of the show, but felt like there was a lot of filler material in it.

Dexter: Original Sin E1-3

Spoilers

“And in the Beginning…”

“Kid in a Candy Store”

“Miami Vice”

I watched Dexter on and off when it was one. The season with John Lithgow was one of the best seasons of TV ever. But I did not watch much of the last few years of the show nor did I watch the return series from a few years ago. I liked Dexter, but I did not go out of my way for him.

When I spotted this new series, Dexter: Original Sin, on Prime, I was interested. Telling the story of how things started off with Dexter and his Dark Passenger seemed like a great story, and the use of Michael C. Hall as the narrator worked in a lot of different ways.

Of course, the casting of Dexter and Debra would be key to any series and I think this new show got them right with Dexter being played by Patrick Gibson and Debra was played by Molly Brown. Both seem to fit these characters without being just an imitation of the originals.

We have a living Harry Morgan here as well with the one and only Christian Slater taking that role of Dexter’s adoptive father. He is on the force, but we know that Dexter’s murders would eventually take their toll on Harry. Harry’s rules are a major part in the character of Dexter’s life and code, no matter how bizarre it was.

Sarah Michelle Geller is on this show too as Tanya Martin, Dexter’s first boss at the Miami Metro and is the CSI chief. It’s cool to see Buffy once again, but she is just listed as a “special guest star” so I do not know what that means.

Dexter is an excellent character, a heroic one who would feed his darker impulses by killing people who were bad. Yes, there is all kinds of morally grey area in here. Yes, Dexter is not really a hero. Yet, he does seem to be more than just another serial killer. The influence of Harry is clearly the reason for that.

At this point, Dexter has been dumping his two kills in a swampy area with some alligators. Thing is … at the end of E3, an arm was left floating. Obviously, Dexter will develop a better manner of body disposal that he takes into the future with him. We will see how he avoids the trouble with the arm (because obviously he is getting away with it).

I liked these first three episodes. It did take a little while to remember about the characters from the original series and how they are used here, but it was fun getting through it. I will continue to watch this series and may even give a chance to the new Dexter series called Dexter: Resurrections coming in 2025.