And In The Beginning – As this episode of Dexter: Original Sin begins, a police car speeds down the road with Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) in the back. Dexter is rushed to the hospital after being shot. The staff manages to get his heart beating again. Dexter says it’s true that your life flashes before your eyes. In a flashback, Dexter is born. Laura Moser (Brittany Allen) says she’s going to name him Dexter. Dexter (Patrick Gibson) examines a dead body and tells others that he’s trying to experience death. Once he finishes, Dexter is told he’ll make an excellent surgeon one day. When Dexter says he didn’t feel anything, he’s told that’s what makes him special. Captain Aaron Spencer (Patrick Dempsey) catches up with Harry Morgan (Christian Slater) at a crime scene. Tanya Martin (Sarah Michelle Gellar) tells them to stop until forensics has finished with the crime scene.

She reminds them to use booties. Detective Bobby Watt (Reno Wilson) and Detective Angel Batista (James Martinez) say the intruder cut the screen door. The parents were shot at point blank. Harry Morgan is convinced that there was only one intruder. He believes the intruder turned off the television. Vince Masuka (Alex Shimizu) is asked to run the remote control for prints. Later, Dexter has dinner with Harry and Debra Morgan (Molly Brown). Dexter mentions a party and says he probably won’t go. Debra says she’ll represent and go. Harry says he’s okay with Debra going as long as she takes Dexter. Once she gets upset and storms off, Dexter tells Harry that Dr. Rivas said he did a good job. Harry reminds him to stick with the plan because this has to satisfy his urges. Dexter arrives at the University of Miami. He finds Masuka who has set up a booth to tell students about his work.

Dexter tells him that his father works for Miami Metro. Masuka tries to flirt with a girl passing by. He tells Dexter to leave. At the Miami Metro Police station, Captain Spencer complains about the recent crimes. He says they have three home invasion sites in three counties. There are eight fatalities including two children. Tanya Martin interrupts to say she has something. She says the partial they took from the VCR remote gave them four hits with the most likely being Levi Reed. Captain Spencer wants to arrest him now. Reed is taken into custody. Dexter says he spent a lot of time fantasizing about the deed before actually doing it. Debra catches him and tells him to come on. They arrive at the party. Sophia questions why Debra brought her brother. Debra asks Dexter to disappear for two hours and not to talk to her until they need a ride home. Debra immediately begins drinking. Dexter complains about the party being unsanitary.

Seconds later,  he’s told that Deb and Andy (Bryson Powers) were drinking and she blacked out. Dexter rushes upstairs to help Debra. He finds Andy with his sister who is unconscious. They begin fighting and rolling down the stairs. Dexter punched him a few times and contemplates grabbing a knife nearby. Debra stops him before he can. She accuses him of publicly humiliating her. Dexter tells her what he saw. Sophia comes down and finds out what happened. Dexter takes Debra home. He tells Harry that he made lots of friends. Harry says he can’t sleep unless he knows his kids are home safe and sound. In a flashback, Harry finds his son drowning in the pool outside. He rushes to save him but it’s too late. Doris is distraught when she returns and finds out what happened. Next, Dexter and Harry go hunting together. Dexter says his father knew he had specific needs and they tried to do everything they could to control them.

They find boar tracks. Dexter tells his dad that animals aren’t enough anymore. Harry warns him that killing a person is not that simple. Dexter confesses to his dad that he almost killed Andy at the party last night. Deb stopped him before he could kill Andy. Harry collapses. Dexter picks him up and takes him to the hospital. For the first time, the idea of death became excruciating for Dexter. In the lobby, Deb curses multiple times and tells Dexter she’s not okay. They soon learn that Harry had a heart attack. He’s currently stable. Moments later, the doctor tells Harry he’s going to need to undergo further testing. If all goes well, he could be home by the end of the week. Dexter believes he was the stress causing his father’s problems. At home, Dexter and Deb talk about the upcoming volleyball game. Dexter says he’ll come since they’re supposed to support each other. Deb gets upset because she believes her dad will continue doing self-destructive stuff when he gets out.

She begins throwing away stuff in the fridge. Dexter says the next few days of Harry’s hospitalization were odd. His condition didn’t improve and Dexter realizes that grief is like an ocean. Sometimes, you can only swim but Dexter planned to do much more. A woman died in the hospital and Nurse Mary cuts out her obituary in the newspaper. Dexter says he realized that Nurse Mary may be a fellow traveler. He confronts her and asks why his dad is getting worse. Dexter tries to find out what she’s been giving him. Mary claims Harry made a lifetime of bad choices so they can only give him medicine to help him come out on the other side. She claims this will pass. Dexter decided it would be Mary who was going to pass. He briefly speaks to her in her office before she leaves. Dexter breaks into her desk and finds pictures of the police she has killed.

Then, he gets into the needle disposal box. Dexter tells Dr. Rivas he needs to use the ion mobility spectrometer. Once he uses it, he finds out that the chemical is potassium nitrate. Rivas says it would be harmless at these levels. If it’s administered over a few days, it could be deadly. Rivas goes on to say it would be nearly undetectable in forensic medical examinations. Dexter knows Harry wouldn’t let him take Mary as his first kill. The kill had to be his idea. Dexter tries to whisper to his father that Mary’s shots are killing him. Harry tells Dexter not to let her. When Mary approaches with a syringe, Dexter grabs her hand and says Harry doesn’t want the shot. Mary says the doctor is not going to be happy. In private, Harry tells Dexter to stop her. Dexter prepares Mary’s house so he can kill Mary. Harry tells Deb to go win the game and he’ll be at the next one. When Mary returns home, Dexter begins fighting with her before knocking her out.

While Dexter takes care of Mary, Deb plays volleyball. Nurse Mary claims she takes away people’s pain. She complains about people drinking and smoking until their hearts give out. Dexter says that was the first time he ever felt someone else’s fear and he liked it. Deb’s team wins and she realizes that Dexter isn’t around. He’s too busy killing Nurse Mary. Dexter disposes of her body in a swamp. He kept her earrings as his first trophies. Dexter admits keeping them would be a mistake. Later, he finds the police at his house. Bobby and Aaron Spencer greet him. Vince Masuka and Tanya Martin arrive with food as well. They know about him picking out the similarities to the photos at the job fair and Rivas says he’s the most talented student he’s ever had. They offer him a paid internship. A bit later, Deb returns home and says she was Sophia’s. She reminds him that he didn’t come to the game.

Deb begins throwing out the stuff that Harry’s work friends brought over. Dexter graduates. Deb arrives there and reminds him that they’re family. At the hospital, Harry tells Dexter that he did it. Harry leaves in a wheelchair. At home, Harry and Dexter talk about the nurse and her murder. Dexter insists she’ll never be found. He says it felt right. When Harry is alone, he begins crying because change is never easy for him. Dexter goes to work him with to accept the internship. Vince tells him he has a lot to learn.

 

Dexter: Original Sin Review

The opening episode of Dexter: Original Sin certainly wasn’t as strong as it could’ve been, especially considering how the original became a cult classic. The episode really felt like it was trying way too hard at times and only a few scenes toward the end were compelling. For starters, this didn’t match the time period at all besides the overdone soundtrack.

This could’ve been set in modern times and no one would’ve been able to tell the difference. Patrick Gibson is a bit too old to be playing a young Dexter since he’s nearly 30. Packing on ten pounds of makeup definitely made him look young, but it comes across as a bit odd with the constant smirk.

That character has potential compared to some of the others though. Vince Masuka is over-the-top annoying with the corniest lines in the entire episode. It’s like the writers didn’t even bother trying to take the story seriously. Debra Morgan certainly wasn’t compelling either. Debra and even Dexter feel too high-schoolish even though Dexter graduates near the end of the episode.

The problem here may be the dialogue more than anything because it’s trying too hard to be humorous. Dexter is definitely not portrayed as authentically as possible. A bigger issue was how lackluster his first kill actually was. The episode just breezed through it and made it a bit too easy. Heck, viewers really don’t even get the gist of why Dexter has the urge to kill because it was done out of necessity instead of obsession and internal drive.

A serial killer like Dexter would savor those moments and develop a lust to kill again. Instead, this felt pretty rushed with more time being dedicated to Deb throwing away unhealthy foods than Dexter experiencing his first kill and the experience being strong enough to impact the rest of his life.

Although the opening episode was just mediocre, the series may improve as Dexter works alongside Tanya Martin and continues his spree. The opening episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Dexter: Original Sin can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion here.