Dexter: Original Sin 1.1: Activation of the Code

The Dexter series is back with a prequel -- Dexter: Original Sin on Paramount+Showtime -- and here's a review with plenty of spoilers:

The debut episode starts off right where Dexter: New Blood ended, with Dexter killed.  Except, turns out he survived, and the ensuing Dexter: Original Sin is described by the recovering Dexter as "seeing your life flash by your eyes," as you're lying, almost dead, on your nearly death bed.  Now, this was a great beginning, but Dexter's survival didn't come as a surprise to me.  I already knew Dexter survived his son's bullet because I'd seen all the announcement of Dexter coming back in the flesh, not only with Michael C. Hall's voice, but Michael C. Hall on the screen, this coming summer.  Advice to Paramount+Showtime:  you should have kept your announcement that Dexter was coming back not only as his younger self but himself per se under wraps until this first episode of Original Sin had already aired/streamed.

And it was an excellent episode.  Patrick Gibson was right on as young Dexter, Molly Brown as young Debra, and you can't go wrong with Christian Slater as the Dexters' famous (in Dexter-lore) father Harry, who taught his son the code: you can give vent to your urge to kill by killing killers who deserved to die.  In this case, it's a nurse in a hospital where Harry goes to have his heart condition treated but instead is being slowly poisoned to death by the nurse. The nurse is no newbee, and her age gives young Dexter material for one of his fine patented wisecracks said to himself: my first was an older woman.

Significantly, Harry not only gives his son permission to kill Harry's would-be killer, but explicitly tells Dexter to do just that.  Thus, Harry is clearly as responsible for Dexter going on this deadly course as is Dexter, and we see Harry brought to tears with this realization.  Harry not only seeks and sought to protect his son, but he activated his son on his deadly way of life.  Harry did this to save own his life, which is understandable, but he knows that now he'll have to live with the results.

It was also fun in this first episode to see younger versions of Batista and Masuka, looking in Batista's case and acting in Masuka's case just like their older counterparts whom we've come to love.  Some new characters are also sprinkled in, and, all in all, Dexter: Original Sin looks to be one really enjoyable addition to the Dexter library on television.

And I'll see you back here next week with my review of the next episode.

See also Dexter: New Blood 1.1: Back with a Vengeance ... Dexter: New Blood 1.2: Dark Tendencies ... Dexter: New Blood 1.3: Fathers and Sons ... Dexter: New Blood 1.4: Harrison and Kurt ... Dexter New Blood: 1.5: No Satisfaction for Serial Killers ... Dexter: New Blood 1.6: Breaks and Arm Breaks ... Dexter: New Blood: 1.7: Dexter vs. Kurt ...Dexter: New Blood 1.8: The Hug in the Car ... Dexter: New Blood 1.9 One Down, One To Go ... Dexter: New Blood Finale: Superb, and I Didn't Like It All
And see also Dexter Season 8 Premiere: Mercury in Retrograde, Dexter Incandescent ... Dexter 8.2: The Gift ... Dexter 8.3: The Question and the Confession ... Dexter 8.4: The "Lab Rat" and Harry's Daughter ... Dexter 8.5: Just Like Family ... Dexter 8.6: The Protege ... Dexter 8.7: Two Different Codes? ... Dexter 8.8: "A Great Future" ... Dexter 8.9: The Psycho Son ... Dexter 8.10: Watch Out, Buenos Aires ... Dexter 8.11: "Not the Old Dexter" ... Dexter Series Finale: Solitude, Style, and a Modicum of Hope


And see also Dexter Season 7.1-3: Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 7.4: The Lesson in Speltzer's Smoke ... Dexter 7.5: Terminator Isaac ... Dexter 7.6: "Breaking and Entering" ... Dexter 7.7: Shakespearean Serial Killer Story ... Dexter 7.8: Love and Its Demands ... Dexter 7.9: Two Memorable Scenes and the Ascension of Isaac ... Dexter 7.11: The "Accident" ... Dexter Season 7 Finale: The Surviving Triangle

And see also Dexter Season 6 Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 6.4: Two Numbers and Two Killers Equals? ... Dexter 6.5 and 6.6: Decisive Sam ... Dexter 6.7: The State of Nebraska ... Dexter 6.8: Is Gellar Really Real? .... Dexter 6.9: And Geller Is ... ... Dexter's Take on Videogames in 6.10 ...Dexter and Debra:  Dexter 6.11 ... Dexter Season 6 Finale: Through the Eyes of a Different Love

And see also Dexter Season Five Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 5.4: Dexter's Conscience ...Dexter 5.8 and Lumen ... Dexter 5.9: He's Getting Healthier ... Dexter 5.10: Monsters -Worse and Better ... Dexter 5.11: Sneak Preview with Spoilers  ... Dexter Season 5 Finale: Behind the Curtain

And see also Dexter Season 4: Sneak Preview Review ... The Family Man on Dexter 4.5 ...Dexter on the Couch in 4.6 ... Dexter 4.7: 'He Can't Kill Bambi' ... Dexter 4.8: Great Mistakes ...4.9: Trinity's Surprising Daughter ... 4.10: More than Trinity ... 4.11: The "Soulless, Anti-Family Schmuck" ... 4.12: Revenges and Recapitulations

And see also reviews of Season 3: Season's Happy Endings? ... Double Surprise ... Psychotic Law vs. Sociopath Science ... The Bright, Elusive Butterfly of Dexter ... The True Nature of Miguel ...Si Se Puede on Dexter ... and Dexter 3: Sneak Preview Review

Reviews of Season 2: Dexter's Back: A Preview and Dexter Meets Heroes and 6. Dexter and De-Lila-h and 7. Best Line About Dexter - from Lila and 8. How Will Dexter Get Out of This? and The Plot Gets Tighter and Sharper and Dex, Doakes, and Harry and Deb's Belief Saves Dex and All's ... Well

See also about Season 1: First Place to Dexter 

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