Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Dexter: Resurrection
TheDexterfranchise is filled with death. The show is about a serial killer, after all, but it’s not just Dexter Morgan’s (Michael C. Hall) victims that we’re talking about here. Villains come and go, but it’s the deaths of those close to Dexter that are impossible for both him and the audience to forget. The death of his wife, Rita (Julie Benz), in Season 4 of the original seriesis one of the most shocking demises in TV history. Say what you want about its original series finale, but Deb’s (Jennifer Carpenter) death was heartbreaking, as Dexter had to say goodbye to his sister — the only person who truly loved him.
The antihero’s dark hobby has led to several people, from co-workers to friends and family, getting killed, and while that hasn’t happened inDexter: Resurrectionso far, the latest episode hints at what would be the most brutal farewell yet. In “Murder Horny,” Dexter reunites with his son, Harrison (Jack Alcott), and,tapping into his new emotional side, tells his child how much he needs him.That amount of vulnerability is setting up for something absolutely awful.
Dexter Was Scared That Harrison Would Reject Him
Dexter: Resurrectionhas received very positive reviewsdue to its bold but necessary choice to switch things up. The usual seasons of an unemotional Dexter chasing a singular big bad villain had been done to death. The new series shakes it up by doing something new and clever by showing how vulnerable Dexter is — and not just physically. Yes, he’s recovering from his son shooting him in the chest inNew Blood, andage is starting to catch up with him, butit’s his emotional change that has madeResurrectionso fascinating.
After Harrison, who has fled to New York City,kills a man who was assaulting a woman, his dad hears the news about the unsolved murder and immediately goes to his son. Well, sort of. Dexter is afraid to reveal himself to the child who shot him and now thinks he’s dead. He says he’s doing it to protect Harrison, but several times he confesses to Harry (James Remar), the dead father living in his subconscious, that he’s afraid. The very moment that he sees Harrison from afar, he wishes that he could cry because it hits him so hard.More than once, he wonders what he would do if Harrison rejected him and wished he were dead.
In the fourth episode,in his most vulnerable confession ever, he tells Harry, “I don’t get scared, but that scares the shit out of me.” These feelings would normally be a good thing, but it’s not so great when your career is being a serial killer who hunts down the worst of the worst.
Dexter and Harrison Admit That Each Other Is All They Have
Dexter: Resurrectiondid a great job of keeping father and son apart for as long as possible, building up the tension without taking it too far. In the fifth episode, as Harrison is about to walk into the police station and reveal himself, Dexter can’t stay in the shadows any longer and finally steps forward to stop his son. Harrison is, of course, shocked to see his old man alive, but he doesn’t fight it when his dad takes him back to his apartment to explain how he’s alive and not in jail.
What’s important about this is not that Dexter stopped Harrison from confessing (although you can argue that a good father would let his son take responsibility for his actions)or that he later pins the killing on Mia (Krysten Ritter), but in howDexter opens up completely to someone he has hurt so badly. “I care about you,” he says with no hesitation, the first time they speak.
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Talk about killer instincts.
Later, they speak again, and Dexter admits that his actions got Harrison’s mother and others killed, breaking him in the process. “Finally, the truth,” Harrison says. All he’s ever wanted is for his dad to be honest about who he is and the harm he’s caused. Dexter goes so far as to genuinely apologize and to say that he was wrong for wanting to encourage his son’s darkness.
Instead, he wants to encourage the goodness in him and hopes that who Harrison is can help heal him as well. In a character-changing breakthrough, Dexter tells his son that he needs him. “You’re my reason to live.“Father and child share that they’re all the other has. For a moment, you could forget that this scene is happening in a show about a serial killer, but because it is, the emotion shouldn’t be trusted. This isn’t a happy moment. Instead, it could be the beginning of the end.
The Ultimate Loss Would Push Dexter Into a Darker Place
For Dexter to admit how much he needs Harrison means that it would destroy him to lose his son. Saying that you’re all I have in a show likeDexter: Resurrectionautomatically brings up the scenario of who Dexter would be if Harrison were to die. The series keeps returning to the fact that Dexter has caused so many good people to be hurt.Is it all foreshadowing for it to happen again?
It has been fascinating to watch Dexter Morgan’s emotional growth, but as great as that would be for a person in reality, it could be boring for a show about a guy who kills bad people in his free time. Are we going to see a happy father slaughtering people? That wouldn’t make sense, andDexter said himself that he hopes fatherhood could change him for the better. That’s bad news for a Dark Passenger that needs to stay alive and active for future episodes to exist. Dexter is changing and growing up in his middle age, but as with all TV dramas, something will happen to push him to the brink. ForDexter: Resurrection, the only way to do that is more death. Will the series be bold enough to give us the most heartbreaking demise yet and kill off Harrison?
Over and over, Harry, who is the better part of Dexter, has been telling him to be there for Harrison. Now he is, so what’s next? We’re only five episodes in, which means many more twists and turns are out there. Mia knows way too much about him. What happens if she gets out of jail and comes looking for the guy she thinks is someone else? What will Leon Prater (Peter Dinklage) do if he finds out that Dexter is the oneresponsible for taking out two members of his dinner party? These are very dangerous people who might retaliate by going after Dexter’s son.
In “Murder Horny,” he talks about howgetting too close to the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow)got Rita killed. He has gotten way too close to Prater and Mia, which means that tragedy could strike again, leaving the son dead just like the mother. If that happens,we will get a new version of Dexter full of emotional rage, way more terrifying than any Dark Passenger. He’d have nothing left to lose because his love for Harrison was all that remained.
Dexter: Resurrectionstreams every Friday on Paramount+ with Showtime in the U.S., and airs Sundays at 9 p.m. EST on Showtime.
