WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Dexter: Original Sin season 1, episode 1!The premiere ofDexter: Original Sinrevealed thatDexter actually survivedNew Blood’s ending, which reverses the most tragic Morgan family twist from its finale. Arriving approximately eight years after theoriginalDextershow’s divisive finale, Showtime’s 202 limited revival seriesDexter: New Bloodbrought back the titular serial killer after he abandoned his son, faked his death, and vowed to stop killing. Of course,New Bloodsaw Dexter return to serial killing while under a new alias, which became all the more complicated once his estranged son Harrison, who has a Dark Passenger of his own, tracked him down.
InDexter: New Blood’s ending, Harrison finds out that Dexter has killed an innocent man outside the Code, making him exactly like all the “monsters” he kills.Harrison then points a gun at Dexter and, with his father’s permission, pulls the trigger. Dexter is seen dying in the snow as Harrison makes a getaway, with the showrunner even confirming that Dexter had died. However, the opening scene ofDexter: Original Sinconfirms that he miraculously survived his gunshot wound after being rushed to the hospital, which has major implications for the meaning and impact ofNew Blood’s shocking ending.
Dexter’s Survival Means Harrison Never Became A Killer In New Blood’s Ending
Harrison Never Truly Became Like His Father In New Blood’s Finale
Now thatDexter survivedNew Blood’s ending, the franchise has taken away thebiggest tragedy for the Morgan family, namely that Harrison became a killer, just like his father. Not only that, but the one time that Harrison became a killer in the vein of Dexter, he was killing his own father. That emotional resolution created a tragic bookend for Dexter’s life, with his Dark Passenger being born as he sat in his mother’s blood and his life coming to an end after passing on that same tragic urge to his son.
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Dexter paid the ultimate price for his sins: he not only died, but he turned his son into a killer. However, that impact is undermined by Dexter’s survival. It may have been a divisive way to conclude the series, but Harrison becoming a serial killer with a Dark Passenger had been set up ever sinceDexter’s season 4 finale, as Dexter found infant Harrison sitting in the pool of his mother’s blood when she was murdered by the Trinity Killer.Dexter always feared that Harrison would become like him after Rita’s death, and he wasn’t entirely wrong.
Dexter: Original Sin Better Highlights Dexter & Harrison’s Differences With Their Dark Passengers
Harrison’s Killing Urge Wasn’t As Strong As Dexter’s
Just asNew Blooddid by revealing that Harrison could better suppress his Dark Passenger and truly didn’t want to become like Dexter,Original Sin’s depiction of young Dexter emphasizes how different the son and father really are from one another. Dexter had always been a strange kid with a disconcerting fixation on blood, gore, and death, even when growing up in a loving home with Harry, Doris, and Deb. While he had a Dark Passenger connected toRita’s tragic death,Harrison’s angry desire for violence wasn’t the same uncontrollable urge – it was more rooted in being abandoned by Dexter.
How New Blood’s Finale Proves Dexter Was Wrong About Harrison
In Dexter: New Blood, Dexter becomes convinced that Harrison has a Dark Passenger, but the final moments of the season suggest that Dexter was wrong.
The firstepisode ofDexter: Original Sinexplains that there was no other option for Dexter – he knew the Code, and he wasn’t going to be satisfied unless he could use it. Meanwhile,New Bloodhighlighted thatHarrison could have lived without needing death and blood if it hadn’t been for Dexter abandoning him and teaching him the Code. Ultimately, Dexter likely would have been Harrison’s first and only kill afterNew Blood. Therefore, surviving inDexter: Original Sinand keeping Harrison from being a killer is arguably the greatest act Dexter ever did as a father.
New episodes ofDexter: Original Sinseason 1 release Fridays on Paramount+ with Showtime.
Dexter: Original Sin
Cast
Dexter: Original Sin explores Dexter Morgan’s early years in 1991 Miami as he transitions from student to avenging serial killer. Guided by his father, Harry, Dexter crafts a moral code and navigates a forensics internship at Miami Metro Police, all while controlling his darker impulses.
Dexter: New Blood
Set a decade after his disappearance, Dexter: New Blood follows Dexter Morgan living under a new identity in Iron Lake, New York. Despite his attempts to embrace a peaceful life, unforeseen events in the tight-knit community reignite his Dark Passenger, challenging his efforts to leave his past behind.
