Dexter: Resurrection Season1 Episodes 1 - 2 Recap and Review

Dexter: Resurrection – Episodes 1 - 2 Recap and Review

Ghosts, Guilt, and Dark Passengers

Dexter Morgan’s story resumes where New Blood left us hanging, on a snowy field, a bullet in his gut, fired by his own son. At the time, it felt final. You know how I feel about remakes and sequels, but we will get into that in a bit.

Fast forward to Dexter in the hospital in a dreamlike state, Dexter is visited by a rotating cast of former foes and ghosts. To be honest, I knew that the ghosts of Dexter’s past would be just that, but I did not expect them all to appear in the first episode. Trinity is first, taunting him with the memory of Harrison’s “birth in blood.” Prado follows, ushering him through a graveyard of the people Dexter’s lost, reminding him that no matter how many masks he wears, the monster underneath is always alone. The show leans into the surreal, using these ghostly cameos not just for nostalgia but to reestablish the central theme, one that many grapple with: Dexter is, and always will be, a killer. It is something that his character has never been able to give up. A deep desire for blood that never leaves him. One that we wondered in New Blood was passed down to his son, Harrison.

Over in New York, Harrison seems to be doing what Dexter never could: living a normal life. He's working at the Empire Hotel, has just passed his GED, and agrees to babysit for the coworker who encouraged him to take the test. He even flirts with a tourist from Idaho, offering to show her the city beyond the tourist traps. On the surface, it all seems like a normal day for a young twenty-something, but then a flashback hits. Snow. Blood. A gun. A gunshot wound to the chest, the spread of blood, blood, a recurring theme in his and his father's lives. Trauma simmers under the surface. Then, there's that shot of him tying up trash bags, tight, precise. The camera zooms in, letting us know that this little factoid will be important later.

Back in the dream world, Harry appears. He’s bathed in light, encouraging Dexter to fight. But it's complicated, after all; Harry created the code that turned his son into the killer we have come to know. Light is a stark contrast to the darkness that Dexter and even Harry gave in to. Still, he’s the voice pushing Dexter toward life. Then comes Doakes, the eternal skeptic, with a cheeky “Surprise, muthafucka!”;  bittersweet, considering how he died. Framed, gaslit, and ultimately murdered for discovering Dexter’s truth. It is a preposterous choice to have this ghost of Dexter’s past, unlike Trinity and Prado, encourage Dexter, saying that there may be a kernel of good buried deep inside. He tells him to go to Harrison, or risk becoming just another “creep muthafucka.” It’s a rare moment of grace in Dexter’s by someone he doesn’t deserve it from.  

Finally, Dexter wakes up. Ten weeks in a coma, and it is revealed that it was the cold that saved him. The cold and snow slowed down his bleeding. If it were a hot summer day he would have bled out. Dexter has always been more ice than fire, more calculated and logical than feeling, so perhaps there is something poetic about that.

Harrison sees the woman he met earlier, now clearly drugged and being carried by one of the guests, a guy he'd been friendly with. After trying to challenge the man, hoping that he would let her go, Harrison tries to tell himself it's not his problem. He almost walked away. But then he hears her say no, and the need to protect kicks in. Hmm, Dexter had a need for justice, Harrison wants to protect...Maybe he will follow a different code. He beats the man until he’s unconscious. The man makes a fatal mistake; he had been accused before, and Harrison knows this. He utters, “plenty more where she came from,” sealing his fate. Harrison's story, like Dexter's before him, starts with an impulse, a lack of self control. The difference is, that Harrison does try to have some form of control.

Meanwhile, Dexter is recovering. But instead of facing consequences, he's facing plot armor. He wonders why he's not in a prison hospital. Why hasn’t Angela come forward? Then we see that everything is tied up in a neat little bow. Angela has covered for him. A new sheriff hands him an envelope. The envelope has a picture of Angela and her daughter. On the back it reads: “We’re even.” Apparently, she's claiming she shot him. The explanation? Thin. But the show needs Dexter free.

Remember in New Blood, Angela went to see Batista and she told him her suspicions so when Batista visits, it is odd that instead of a confrontation, we get a hug. It is like with this new series the reset button has been clicked and all is new. He tells Dexter that he is now legally 'resurrected' as he was the one who signed his death certificate. The metaphor becomes literal: Dexter Morgan is back, but are Batista’s motives pure?

Episode Two: A New Table, A New Target

After hearing about a murder in NYC, very similar to the way Dexter told Harrison how to dispose of a body, Dexter avoids Batista and heads to NYC. There, he soon finds Harrison, and instead of approaching him, he stalks and watches. Harry urges him to stop hiding in the shadows and actually talk to his son. Dexter, of course, is wrestling with his own guilt. He thinks Harrison is better off without him. After all, he does think that he is dead and that he killed him.

We waste no time diving back into vigilante justice. A new killer has surfaced, and this one is a xenophobic creep with a superiority complex and a list of hate crimes to match. He's textbook Dexter bait. It also looks like there is a network of serial killers led by Uma Thurman's character. We know very little about it yet; it is all very cloak-and-dagger. As for the xenophobic creep who disguises his face with a camera filter built into his hood, he doesn't end up on the table, but in true Dexter fashion, the table is being set. Spoilers are revealed throughout the rest of this review.

Resurrection: Father, Son, and the Code Rewritten

So, where is this all headed? These are my predictions based on the first two episodes.

The show clearly sets up a deep dive into duality. Dexter vs. Harrison, old code vs. new code. Dexter is no longer hiding. Harrison is no longer innocent. Now that Dexter's watching from the shadows, we have to ask if this is a redemption or a recruitment?

After Harrison kills the rapist, he remembers what Dexter taught him. The kill is nearly perfect… except for one thing. He sets the body out with the trash. Rookie mistake. But Dexter's is on the scene, another convenient plot point. He quickly finds the hotel where Harrison works, too quickly, and begins to clean up the mistakes that only a trained eye could see. Which begs the question…will he be Harrison's savior, or further his descent into corruption?

Will Harrison reject the father he thought he killed? Or will he write his own Code? So far, his violence stems from emotion, not structure. He’s angry. He’s raw. He doesn’t yet know how far he’ll go. But if Dexter doesn’t step in, or worse, if he steps in the wrong way, Harrison could become something darker than his father ever was.

Dexter, on the other hand, could see that darkness evolve in Harrison making him face the monster in himself. Would that lead to redemption to save his son? A sacrifice that lands him in jail and shakes Harrison setting him back on a better path? Maybe the sacrifice will be for nothing, and Harrison will have taken the torch, lighting his own path, his way. We can't forget about Angela. She knows too much and I question her motives. Was it Harrison that prompted her to take the blame after learning the truth about Rita? Is she tracking him to see if he goes back to his old ways? Could she possibly return to take him down or use a brand of justice that he is all too familiar with.

Now that you have been warned, it is safe to say that Batista will play the role of the one person outside of Angela who knows Dexter’s true face. He just needs to prove it, he has his own vendetta. Dexter is on to him, as he draws nearer to New York, the question becomes does it lead to him being on the table or suffering a fate similar to La Guerta.

Dexter Resurrection isn’t just about his revival; it is about legacy.

Final Thought

The season begins slowly with visits from the ghosts of Dexter's past. It is the shift to NYC that catapults it into the drama we are used to. The acting and cinematography are all good, it is the believability that isn’t. Having watched the original, it is hard to believe that Dexter would have yet another lease on life. New Blood, fine, he faked his death, cool. Resurrection? The events that culminated in the ending of New Blood were wrapped up too neatly in a little bow, making it seem more preposterous than believable. Also, the fact that Dexter has become more engrossed in the hunt than relieving his son of some of the guilt he carries with killing him speaks a lot to the fact that it being Harrison who took the shot, had no emotional impact on him. I have to ask myself, is he still the vigilante worth rooting for? The answer is no. Like Joe Goldberg, at some point, it has to end, and Dexter has gone on for too long, killing with impunity.

We currently have two ongoing spin-offs, following the disappointment of New Blood. Original Sin is excellent, Resurrection is good for nostalgia's sake, and to learn what is happening with Harrison, it is the duality between father and son that saves the series for me. You can't just keep having Dexter get away with murder and find nonsensical ways to explain why he got off yet again. If Batista weren't on to him, I'd probably give Episodes 1 and 2 a 5. However, with enough mystery, good performances, and the duality angle intensifying, I’ll bump it to a 7/10. It's definitely better than New Blood…for now.

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