It's not easy to justify the existence of a prequel series and that is especially true for Showtime's long-running Dexter universe about the titular avenging serial killer played by Michael C. Hall. Dexter: Original Sin has the arduous task of going through story beats that we saw depicted in the main series, since the drama series often depicted flashbacks to an era when Dexter was young and under the tutelage of his stepfather (anyone else nostalgic for Hall playing a teen Dexter in the awkward wig?). But Dexter: Original Sin gets off to a decent start.
The series premiere focuses on Dexter's first human kill. I had expected the show to take more time leading to the build-up, maybe ending the episode with the infamous "Kill Room," but no, we dive in headfirst. It's a bold choice since Dexter refers to things Harry previously taught him, which is incongruent with the Harry we meet (played by Christian Slater), who is still trying to figure out a normal way for Dexter to express his urges. Like through medical school to become a surgeon.
Part of me wonders why we didn't see those "teaching" scenes with Harry and Dexter, but then I remembered we saw many of them in the OG series, so I understand why the writers wanted to dive in with material that would be fresh to viewers both new and old (though we saw him kill Nurse Mary already too, but I digress). Perhaps later we'll revisit some of those other moments, like when Harry tutors Dexter on the many uses of saran wrap.
Another plus side to the prequel series is the casting. It might be weird to see new faces playing the characters we grew to love in the original Showtime series, but I'm impressed by the casting so far. Molly Brown and Patrick Gibson, in particular, are pitch-perfect as Debra and Dexter Morgan. Alex Shimizu already has Masuka's laugh down pat, and James Martinez certainly has Batista's signature look right.
The premiere episode begins with a peek at modern, adult Dexter, played by Hall, who has somehow survived his dramatic ending in the finale episode of Dexter: New Blood. After being rushed to the hospital, the doctors manage to find a pulse and in his moments wavering between life and death, Dexter says he really is "seeing his life flash before his eyes," and thus the prequel series set-up is established. We also now know where Dexter: Resurrection, which Showtime announced for next summer, might pick up from.
Returning to the past and a young adult Dexter, we're privy to how Dexter's urges began. Harry is already aware of them and wants to find a "safe" way for Dexter to express them. But dissecting already-dead bodies isn't cutting it for him.
Then there's Debra Morgan, who we know as Dexter's angsty, foul-mouthed sister. She's the more grounded and familiar aspect of the show, in that Deb mostly just wants to be a normal teenage girl but she's living with a decidedly not-normal brother and a cop father.
One night, Harry convinces Deb to take Dexter with her to a house party and the night quickly spirals out of control. Deb gets super drunk, to the point of blacking out, and a guy tries to take advantage of her, leading to Dexter playing the part of protector. He throws the would-be assailant down a flight of steps and beats him to a pulp. Eying a nearby knife, Dexter considers taking things a step further and is only stopped by Deb knocking him off the guy. She's kinder to her brother when she realizes what he was saving her from, but spends the rest of the night puking.
Next day, Dexter has to tell Harry what came close to happening at the party, and the poor guy has a heart attack. That's where things get interesting. In the hospital, Harry gets assigned to a killer Nurse Ratched type, Nurse Mary. A woman who keeps a photo book of the many patients she's euthanized by secretly dosing them with potassium nitrate over an extended period of time. Her own trophy collection, one in which Dexter takes inspiration. She's picked Harry as her next victim, and he grows increasingly sick under her watch.
Original Dexter fans will recall that this is what happens in there, too. Back in the show's debut season, we saw Hall's version of Dexter murdering the nurse after making Harry sick.
When Dexter informs Harry about what this woman is doing, Harry sics his serial killer son on her, essentially granting Dexter permission to become the man we know he's evolving into. I mean they could easily have used the tainted syringes to prove what she was doing and get her arrested, but then we wouldn't have a story, right?
Dexter sets up his first kill room (rather clumsily) in the nurse's home. She ultimately becomes his first real victim, and it does feel fitting that that person would be someone who was a threat to Harry, specifically. Her motive? She can't stand people who "drink and smoke" themselves to death and believes killing them is a way to save them from their worst compulsions. Dexter disposes of her body on the side of an interstate fittingly called "Alligator Alley."
Dexter is even inspired to take his own trophies, in the form of her earrings, a decision that narrator-Dexter (who is, as always, voiced by Hall), warns will come back to bite him in the ass later.
Riding the high of his first hands-on human murder, Dexter is immediately shocked when he gets home and discovers the whole police force at his front door. That's where we're introduced to the next big part of Dexter's life, which is, as we know, the Miamo Metro PD. Masuka, Batista, and newcomers like Sarah Michelle Gellar's character, forensic analyst Tanya Martin, and Patrick Dempsey's Captain Aaron Spencer arrive to give Debra and Dexter some food while their father recovers. Since taking care of that nurse, Harry has had a marked improvement.
At one point earlier in the episode, Dexter passes Masuka's booth during a career fair and makes an astute observation connecting two killers. His ability to pick up on this so quickly piques Tanya's interest and she offers him a paid internship at the forensics lab. The episode ends with Dexter arriving at work alongside a fully rejuvenated Harry for his first day in the office. And the rest, as they say, is history (well, the remainder of the season).
There's another important scene that plays out in this episode that I think indicates some of the interesting directions the prequel series could take. We see Slater as Harry breaking down into tears behind closed doors at the very end, now fully aware of what his son is becoming. We didn't get to see a lot of the interior life or emotion from Harry in the original series since it was mostly Dexter-focused. The prequel could differentiate itself by looking into more ways of bringing some of the side characters to the forefront and allowing us to see something different from them, not entirely from Dexter's perspective. Knowing what will happen to Harry someday, that small scene goes a long way.
New episodes of Dexter: Original Sin stream Fridays on Paramount+ with Showtime and air linearly Sunday nights on Showtime.