Critic’s Ranking: 5 / 5.0
5
Dexter: Unique Sin has formally entered the scene, and it’s already giving NCIS: Origins a run for its cash.
Whereas NCIS: Origins explores the backstory of our beloved Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Dexter: Unique Sin takes us again to the twisted beginnings of considered one of TV’s most iconic anti-heroes — Dexter Morgan.
On Dexter: Unique Sin Season 1, Episode 1, we’re transported to 1991, the place we witness the early formation of Dexter’s homicidal urges. And let me let you know — it doesn’t disappoint.
Michael C. Corridor is again, bringing his signature Dexter allure to the narration, reminding us why we fell in love with this character (and the OG sequence) within the first place.
And Patrick Gibson? He nails younger Dexter — capturing every thing from the eerie calm to the awkwardness that made the unique Dexter such a compelling character.
It’s not simply the younger Dexter who impresses, although. The Dexter: Unique Sin forged is filled with unbelievable performances.
From Molly Brown as Debra to Christian Slater as Harry, James Martinez as Angel, Christina Milian as Maria as Maria, and Alex Shimizu as Vince, they bring about the OG characters again to life with exceptional accuracy.
Even the newcomers — Sarah Michelle Gellar as Tanya Martin and Patrick Dempsey as Captain Aaron Spencer — add a contemporary dynamic to the present.
Now, let’s rewind a bit earlier than we dive into the sequence premiere.
The unique Dexter sequence ran from 2006 to 2013, spanning eight seasons of suspense, thrills, and lots of bloody enjoyable. However, as many followers will agree, the ultimate season left a nasty style in our mouths.
That’s when Showtime gave us Dexter: New Blood in 2021, delivering the ending Dexter deserved after that infamous finale: Dexter Season 8, Episode 12, “Keep in mind the Monsters?”. It was the redemption all of us wanted.
However now we’re going again — method again.
The premiere of Dexter: Unique Sin provides us a contemporary take a look at how Dexter’s darkish passenger was born, and from what we’ve seen to date, that is going to be a wild trip.
With a stellar forged and a few killer (pun supposed) performances, this sequence is shaping as much as be a present we didn’t know we wanted.
On this first hour, we meet Dexter as he’s being revived within the hospital after being shot by his son, Harrison
(The taking pictures occurred within the remaining episode of Dexter: New Blood and appears to be organising the premise for the sequel to that sequence — Dexter: Resurrection).
After flatlining for a couple of minutes, he’s resuscitated and, by means of narration, talks about how life flashes earlier than your eyes, and that is the place his story begins — kind of. We see his delivery after which flash ahead to life with Harry and his household.
I think about we’ll be delving into all the remainder of how he got here to be with Harry Morgan and his household in some unspecified time in the future, however this hour, we’re beginning with Dexter’s first kill.
Who would have thought Dexter’s first sufferer could be an “Angel of Loss of life” within the type of a nurse who believed she was serving to her sufferers by ending their struggling?
However her mistake was concentrating on Harry, who had a coronary heart assault and ended up within the hospital the place the nurse labored.
Dexter’s urge to kill was not possible to suppress, and Harry wasn’t blind to it. In a second of each understanding and maybe desperation, Harry gave Dexter the inexperienced mild to take out the nurse.
It wasn’t about Harry’s personal wants (although he actually wasn’t able to die) — it made sense in his thoughts to let Dexter launch his darkish urges on those that really deserved it.
Harry had been attempting every thing to divert Dexter’s urgings — from searching journeys to permitting him to mainly eat uncooked meat — however deep down, he will need to have identified he couldn’t include Dexter eternally.
This was a person who hid clippings of notorious serial killers like Ted Bundy, the Night time Stalker, and the Zodiac Killer inside his Playboy journal.
That was his turn-on –- not the bare ladies in these pages. He was nonetheless a virgin (and he wasn’t speaking within the sexual sense.)
He puzzled if he would ever make it into the newspapers, ought to he ever go full-throttle into serial killing. He additionally puzzled if he’d get a nickname if he have been ever caught. These killers have been his idols.
And despite the fact that Dexter knew this lady was killing sufferers, he nonetheless double-checked to verify his suspicions have been appropriate earlier than he even broached the topic with Harry.
So, Nurse Loss of life was really a blessing in disguise.
Harry isn’t a monster — he’s a person who needs to guard his household.
Letting Dexter act on his darkish urges is the very last thing he’d ever want for, but when Harry have been to die, who could be there to information Dexter and hold him from turning into a monster himself?
In a flashback, we see Harry distracted by a baseball recreation whereas his younger son, Junior, wandered into the yard and tragically drowned within the pool.
Although this episode doesn’t totally discover how Harry got here to undertake Dexter (a few of that was revealed within the unique sequence), it’s clear that this traumatic loss is what’s driving Harry to make choices he would possibly by no means have made as a cop.
What we’re witnessing is a father attempting to guard his son — his soon-to-be serial killer son — by permitting him to satisfy his urges in a method he believes is managed.
Harry’s want to remain alive is rooted in his need to guard his youngsters, which is why he finally gave Dexter the go-ahead to care for Nurse Loss of life.
Dexter by no means would have gone by means of with it had Harry not allowed it.
What’s fascinating is that Harry had no response to how Dexter disposed of the nurse’s physique.
Much more attention-grabbing is how open and trustworthy Dexter was with Harry — he was the one particular person Dexter may very well be really himself with, till later with Hannah and Debra.
Talking of Debra, the connection we noticed between these two siblings within the OG sequence, is on full show right here. It hasn’t modified. However what we do see is how Dexter has adopted his father’s protecting instincts.
This was evident when Dexter accompanied Debra to a school occasion the place she was nearly raped after passing out drunk on the mattress.
Dexter didn’t hesitate to take the man out, and had it not been for Debra, Dexter would possibly’ve really killed the man.
Debra didn’t even notice she wanted defending, however she was grateful that Dexter was there. Their bond, strengthened throughout their father’s hospital keep, showcased their awkward however unbreakable connection.
She even confirmed up at his pre-med commencement after he blew off her championship volleyball recreation as a result of he feeding Nurse Loss of life to the alligators.
Whereas the connection we noticed within the OG Dexter stays, this sequence provides us a deeper understanding of what really made it so robust.
To say Dexter: Unique Sin provides off OG Dexter vibes is an understatement. It’s phenomenal in each method, and every episode will seemingly warrant a rewatch, due to all of the intelligent callbacks to the unique sequence.
For instance, when Dexter performs an post-mortem in his pre-med class, he’s fascinated by the truth that the physique has no blood — a nod to Dexter Season 1, Episode 1 “Dexter.”
And that’s simply considered one of many callbacks (the opening, the mosquito, the haircut). Plus, the music is on level, with tracks from Naughty by Nature, Vanilla Ice, and Poison including to the nostalgia.
(And all these different particulars I didn’t element like what makes him glad? American Psycho).
And Sarah Michelle Gellar as Dexter’s forensics mentor at his new job at Miami Dade Metro? Positively the cherry on high.
All in all, it was a well-written, well-acted premiere, and I can’t wait to see the place the subsequent episode takes us.
Now, over to you, TV Fanatics — did you benefit from the premiere of Dexter: Unique Sin? Drop your ideas within the feedback!
Watch Dexter: Unique Sin On-line
