Dexter Resurrection

Last week, we talked about most of the content from the serial killer franchise Dexter. We discussed the books, the original series, and the two mini series that have been released so far. But one show was left out of this lineup.

That was, of course, the first season of the new series, Dexter Resurrection. Because I hadn’t watched it yet. I have since marathoned the entire first season over the course of a weekend with my cat and a bottle of red wine.

So, tonight’s the night. Let’s discuss Dexter Resurrection.

Launching in July of 2025, Dexter Resurrection picks up the story of everyone’s favorite darkly devoted Dexter after he wakes up from a ten-week coma. He is alive and, at least for the moment, a free man.

His recovery has to be cut short, though, when his old friend Angel Batista arrives from Miami. Much to everyone’s dismay, he’s not there to check in on his old friend and rejoice that he’s alive. Instead, he’s there to find proof that Dexter is, in fact, the Bay Harbor Butcher. This is reason enough for Dexter to make another quick escape. But he has another motivation to leave town in a hurry.

Harrison.

Harrison, meanwhile, has no idea that his dear dad isn’t dead. He is in New York, working at a fancy hotel and squatting in empty rooms at night. He seems to be doing his best to get his life together. He’s completed his GED, he’s working, and he has friends.

Then, he loses his temper and kills a guy.

When Dexter arrives in New York, he finds even more reasons to stick around. Besides Harrison, New York has a serial killer attacking ride-share drivers. And the name the media has given this person gets under Dexter’s skin. The Dark Passenger. And in the process of hunting this killer down, Dexter stumbles into an invitation to a dinner party for serial killers.

This first season of Dexter was really everything a long-time fan would hope it would be. Let’s start with Harrison.

Harrison is such a good person. Maybe the first Morgan man in three generations to be a good person. He’s kind. He cares about people. He wants to be a better man than his father. There are so many people in his past who would be so proud of him.

We’ve watched this child grow up through the course of the show. We saw the moment Rita and Dexter realized they were pregnant. We saw him grow from an infant to a toddler. We saw him shipped off safely with Hannah. We’re invested in this character, and he’d better have a happy ending.

I also appreciated that every one of the Dexter shows was referenced in one way or another. We saw familiar faces from the original series. We woke up in Iron Lake and tied up all the loose ends there. We even got some references to Original Sin, which I found surprising.

If you look at all the timelines, Original Sin doesn’t quite fit in. So, referencing the time a younger Dex almost killed a guy at a frat house and showing clips including Patrick Gibson was an attempt to retcon the series a bit. (I consider this better than trying to make Michael C. Hall look like a twenty-year-old, which they’ve done before. Since Original Sin got cancelled, maybe they can bring Gibson back for some more flashback scenes.)

Another fun thing about this season was the sheer number of guest stars. We had Uma Thurman as the terrifying Charley. David Dastmalchian, who played the main character in Late Night With the Devil, plays Gareth. Eric Stonestreet played the adorably horrifying Al. Neil Patrick Harris played the irritating Lowell. And, of course, Peter Dinklage playing the perfect villain Leon Prater.

(By the way, did Neil Patrick Harris reference American Horror Story on purpose or was that just a coincidence? If you know what I’m referring to, leave a note in the comments.)

Let’s talk for a moment about Prater. He was the perfect villain for this time. An obscenely rich man who thinks his money can buy him literally anything. That feels more real than it should, doesn’t it? Can’t you just see some people I won’t name for fear of being sued, financing a serial killer just for the joy of hearing about their work?

Finally, as always, Dexter manages to be both dark and funny. Yes, there are some emotionally difficult moments. Yes, I did tear up a bit at some scenes. But there were laugh-out-loud moments too. Watching how irritated Dexter gets when someone steals his name. His initial inability to be successful in ride sharing. And of course, the scene in the last episode with Detective Wallace. I won’t ruin it for you, but once you’ve seen it, you’ll know what I mean.

The only complaint I have about this season is that there were moments when Dexter told us things we didn’t really need to be told. It felt a bit condescending. Yes, we understood already that Harrison is Dexter’s moral north star. Yes, we understand that Dex is going to keep on killing people who need to be killed.

There is one scene in particular that really laid it on thick. And unfortunately, it was the last scene of the show. Dexter basically lays out the whole premise for the new series and what we can expect.

We didn’t need that. Dexter Resurrection is not for new fans of the franchise. It’s for people who have been long-time fans. We aren’t slow; the writers don’t have to dumb everything down for us.

That irritation aside, the first season of Dexter Resurrection was great fun to watch. The next season is filming now and is set to release on October 31st.