By George & Josh Bate
The following is a review of Dexter: Resurrection – Episodes 1-4
When Dexter originally aired on Showtime from 2006 to 2013, it quickly became a cultural phenomenon, thanks to Michael C. Hall’s haunting yet charismatic portrayal of Miami’s most moral blood-spatter analyst (who also happens to be a serial killer). Despite that early success, including Golden Globe awards for stars Hall and John Lithgow, the critical and fan reception for Dexter’s later seasons dipped considerably. This peaked (or plateaued) with the critically panned season 8 finale, which showed Dexter lose his sister in the most heartbreaking and tragic of fashion, only to then abandon his son and disappear into a self-imposed exile. 2021’s Dexter: New Blood was meant to fix that ending, and for the most part, it did. Dexter was in a completely new setting with a new cast of side characters, yet his emotional arc with the return of his son Harrison was central to the story. Everything was going well until the finale, in which writers made the bold decision to kill Dexter. That was originally planned as the end of the road for the anti-hero, but four years later, this has been reversed, and the release of the sequel series Dexter: Resurrection is here.
Dexter: Resurrection picks up ten weeks after the events of the New Blood finale, revealing that Hall’s hero has been in a coma after being shot in the heart by his son. He’s almost immediately greeted by his old friend (and now potential adversary) Angel Batista, who is finally aware of Dexter’s secret life as the Bay Harbor Butcher. Meanwhile, Harrison, still initially under the assumption that his father died that day in the woods, is in New York City trying to make a life for himself but is quickly drawn back into Dexter’s world after giving into his inner darkness in a moment of impulse. Dexter follows him to the city, partially to flee from Batista, and watches over Harrison. At the same time, Dexter becomes wrapped up in a serial killer murder club of sorts, where fellow murderers gather at the behest of a wealthy and mysterious benefactor played by Peter Dinklage.
The first four episodes of Resurrection are a worthy follow up to New Blood, but they don’t quite have the same punch or impact as the early episodes of its predecessor. Resurrection can’t particularly be blamed for that, as it’s a natural consequence of diminishing novelty – New Blood marked Dexter’s return after nearly a decade away, but now fans have seen him not only in New Blood, but earlier this year in the prequel series Original Sin. Instead, Resurrection lays the foundation a multi-season storyline following the character (meaning Hall’s Dexter is safe for now) rather than a one-and-done story, which makes it more of a slow burn than a big bang, and that’s a respectable tradeoff.
Jack Alcott’s performance as Harrison is once again a highlight in Resurrection. The son of Dexter got plenty of criticism during the New Blood era; the writers could have brushed him aside as a result of this reaction, but instead, the creative team doubled down. Harrison isn’t just a supporting character – he’s a co-lead alongside his father here, and they’re both at the emotional and narrative core of Resurrection. Dexter may be the draw for audiences, but it’s Harrison who largely drives the story forward. In the first episode, Dexter even admits that his will to wake up from the coma and go on with his life comes from a desire to make amends with his son. Alcott brings a mix of wounded vulnerability and repressed rage that mirrors Hall’s early Dexter seasons, while also standing out considerably in one crucial way. Harrison has more of a chance of a normal life than his father ever did, making him the perfect thematic successor. Without a strong performance from Alcott, this series simply wouldn’t work, so it’s a testament to his performance that Resurrection is as gripping as it is in its first four episodes.
Visually and tonally, Resurrection feels like a prestige drama, much like New Blood. There’s a cinematic quality to the storytelling, with crisp visuals and a brooding atmosphere simmering under the surface. That’s in stark contrast to Original Sin, which had a much more stylized and color-soaked flair, just as the original version of the show did. Having that divide between Resurrection and Original Sin, two shows that will continue to air alongside each other in years to come, feels like an incredibly smart move from the creative team, as it helps audiences see Resurrection as the serious, forward-looking chapter of the franchise, whereas Original Sin is the fan-service story exploring the flashier roots of the characters.
Plot-wise, the “Murder Club” set up by Leon Prater (Peter Dinklage) could’ve easily been a cliché designed to set up spinoff shows. However, this story ends up being far more compelling than expected. Thematically, it plays right into Dexter’s inner psyche; he’s in and around killers once again, but it’s his loneliness that eats away at him more than anything else. He wants to reconnect with his son and yet hasn’t made contact out of guilt and a fear of being rejected by Harrison once again. Occurring simultaneously is the slow-burn plotline of Batista hunting Dexter, which lingers in the background and builds in tension across the first four episodes. It’s a storyline reminiscent of Dexter’s best cat-and-mouse arcs from the earlier seasons of the original show, particularly with James Doakes hunting after him in Season 2. Now, Batista is in that role as the colleague-turned-investigator into Dexter, and having David Zayas back as Batista is a true delight. It’s a much more serious portrayal of the character, as he’s hardened by the years of grief after mourning the loss of so many loved ones, from ex-wife Maria LaGuerta to Debra Morgan (and even Dexter). Viewers can feel that Resurrection is slowly building to a payoff not only with Batista, but the entirety of Dexter’s original group of Miami Metro friends, too.
That being said, there are still some hang ups from the transition from New Blood to Resurrection. The writers have admitted that they never expected to make this new series, with New Blood intended as a true end for Dexter. In the New Blood finale, Dexter is painted as an antagonist, killing Logan, the Iron Lake police officer on duty, and showing an almost villainous bloodlust to kill again. In Resurrection, Dexter is portrayed once again as a hero; Logan shot at him first, so his killing was in self defense (which is technically true). Chief Bishop’s investigation into Dexter has been traded in for Batista’s, and the former is nowhere to be found in the new story. Her total absence feels somewhat jarring, and the in-universe explanation that she’s living off-grid and not pursuing Dexter anymore because he helped her uncover Kurt Caldwell feels a little lazy. None of these issues are story breaking as they’re just on the side of plausible for audiences to move past, however eyebrow-raising they may be. Clearly, the writers wanted to move past some of those bold choices they made with Dexter in the final moments of New Blood, although doing so opens the door to questionable story beats.
VERDICT: 8.5/10
Dexter: Resurrection breathes new life into television’s favorite serial killer with a polished, suspenseful, emotional, and (mostly) successful revival. Although not packing the punch or narrative weight that New Blood did, nor reinventing the wheel that is Dexter in any significant way, Resurrection serves as a worthy continuation of Dexter’s story that refines the tone deepens the character arcs, while getting back to the roots of some of the series’ earlier seasons. After two widely-criticized finales, Dexter is resurrected and given another chance to show the world why he continues to be one of television and film’s most iconic characters of all time. So far, after four episodes, Dexter’s resurrection is a welcomed one.