SPOILER WARNING! The following contains MASSIVE SPOILERS for the finale episode of ‘Dexter: Original Sin’ titled ‘Code Blues’ - Proceed with caution.
The first season of Dexter: Original Sin has reached its highly anticipated conclusion and cemented itself as a welcomed addition to the long-running series. Over the course of the season, we have watched as a fresh young cast embodied familiar characters to great effect while the motivations of a mysterious villain revealed themselves gradually. While the season as a whole kept us on our toes with parallel storylines, intriguing flashbacks, and clever misdirection, it ultimately came down to a finale that played it surprisingly safe.
That’s not to say that the finale is disappointing; Quite the contrary actually. The effectiveness of the themes and the weight of the emotional moments despite the lack of many surprises is a testament to the writing team. They successfully tapped into the twisted soul of the original series in a way that has quite honestly, felt absent or otherwise altered since the end of season 4 way back in 2009. But despite that tremendous sense of familiarity that I ultimately felt, I can’t deny how moved I was in the end.
EPISODE RECAP
Before we jump into the analysis, let’s take a look at the most important story developments in the episode:
- Brian Moser talks to his psychologist about his life after leaving the Morgans and expresses his desire to get better so he can reunite with Dexter. When the doctor tells him that would be a mistake and threatens him with potential reincarceration, Brian devolves and then murders him in cold blood.
- LaGuerta alerts Harry to the discovery of a dismembered body on the roof of a building; Pulling him away from the hospital where he was watching over Bobby. Harry realizes the victim is the social worker who removed Brian from their home.
- Dexter follows Spencer to a decommissioned cargo ship where he discovers that Nicky was being kept less than a mile from Miami Metro.
- At the crime scene, Harry realizes that Brian is watching the investigation from a nearby rooftop and confronts him. Harry eventually convinces Brian that reuniting with Dexter would not be in Dexter’s best interest so he knocks Harry out and escapes.
- Back on the ship, Dexter gets the upperhand in a fight but is eventually forced to choose between saving Nicky and pursuing Spencer. Dexter chooses to save a life over taking one and uses some quick thinking to free Nicky from drowning.
- Dexter catches up with and subdues Spencer when he violently attacks his ex-wife in moment of desperation. When he comes to, Spencer is secured on the back of Camilla’s boat, “Slice of Pie."
- Dexter confronts Spencer for the final time and finally delivers the killing blow to Spencer. When it’s over, he cuts him up and dumps his body in the bay (Making Spencer the first body dumped in the bay).
- Dexter returns home and explains to Harry that he followed his instincts and took care of Spencer. Harry expresses pride in his son’s intuition but lies to him and reaffirms that Dexter was born disturbed.
- The Morgan’s celebrate Dexter's promotion at Miami Metro and Deb reveals she has decided to join the police academy. The three of them revel in their togetherness as Brian watches from outside.
"Meds for Moser"
Surprisingly, the episode’s most subversive moment arrives within seconds after the opening credits. As we are once again shown Harry ripping Dexter from his Brother’s arms in the shipping container, it’s Brian’s voice that we hear first, not Dexter’s. The scene that unfolds as he discusses the details of his past with his therapist gives us a deeper glimpse into Brian’s soul than ever before and lays the groundwork for the final mysteries involving the NHI murders to be solved.
As Brian recounts the abuse that he experienced while passing through the foster care system, it becomes clear that he is just as tragic a figure as his brother. He talks about not being accepted, being tormented by other children, and even the betrayal he experienced at the hands of a trusted hospital orderly. But what stuck out to me the most was how committed he was to earning his freedom through the proper channels; Efforts that were thwarted at almost every turn by people around him who were supposed to be helping him. At this point in the episode, I was already viewing him as a far more sympathetic character than the twisted monster we met in season one of the original series.
Of course, when his outpatient therapist eventually insists that he can never reunite with Dexter for fear of backpedaling on his treatment, Brian gives into his compulsions and we witness what I presume to be his first kill. It’s a brutal and compulsive act that appears to have zero effect on Brian as he calmly leaves the scene covered in blood, steals his car, and departs for Miami to find his brother.
Seeing all of this unfold at the top of the final episode starts to tie everything together and drives home just how pivotal Brian actually is to the series as a whole and to the character of Dexter. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it forever changes his legacy; Elevating him far beyond being just a seasonal villain from the original series. While his presence within the season was (mostly) hidden until episode eight, his impact feels every bit as substantial as Dexter’s. In fact, I find his integration into the story to be one of the most surprising and satisfying aspects of the finale (if not the entire season).
"What kind of monster are you?"
The two engage in a harrowing fight in the bowels of the cargo ship but Spencer manages to secure a small window of time to devise his escape plan. Unfortunately for Nicky, that plan involves filling his cell with water and forcing Dexter to choose between saving one life and taking another. Of course, he lets Spencer flee while he goes to great lengths to save Nicky from drowning. It’s a wildly effective scenario because it draws a stark contrast between Dexter and the people that he kills. It’s a contrast that the show has always leaned on to appeal to the audience but I feel it has never been done quite this clearly.
For me, Dexter has always been a bonafide anti-hero. In many ways, he’s a villain who - especially in his later years - feels like a slave to his darkest compulsions. At this point in his life, he’s maybe as pure as he has ever been. He’s not twisted by years of misfortune, violence, and cynicism; Instead, he’s just a young man trying to make his dad proud by using his condition to do something good in the world. I was so satisfied to see this illustrated via a defining moment for the character. In some ways, it feels like a missing puzzle piece has finally been found and I can’t wait to see how this new knowledge influences the way I view the character in future rewatches or even as we enter the next era with Resurrection.
"Two things can be true at the same time."
For me, this meant finding a newfound swell of empathy for both characters. Up until Original Sin, I considered Harry and Brian to both be rather despicable; Harry felt like an unconventional child abuser and perhaps the guiltiest character in the series and Brian appeared to be a fully transformed psychopath. I don’t necessarily think these observations are inaccurate now but the circumstances that shaped these characters in Original Sin paint them in a new light.
When the two finally meet, I felt like Harry was compelled to do right by his adopted son by any means necessary; A drive most certainly shaped by his own perceived failures as a father to Junior. On the flipside, Brian felt less driven by an unrestrained need to kill and more by the circumstances of his lifelong sense of abuse and abandonment and his yearning for connection with his brother. His actions are certainly wrong and misguided but the season managed to convey that it was a bit more complicated than festering trauma from the shipping container.
In the end, this showdown ultimately endeared both of these characters to me in a way that I didn’t see coming. Harry feels remorse for what befell Brian and Brian acknowledges that despite hating Harry for what he represents, he is probably Dexter’s best shot at living a normal life. What stood out to me most when the dust had settled was that they never confirmed one way or another whether Brian knew that Dexter was a killer yet. So with that in mind, the question now becomes: What eventually persuades Brian to reconsider his decision and reconnect with Dexter as the Ice Truck Killer? Could it be the moment he discovers that Dexter is also a killer? This is just one question I would love to see them explore in additional seasons.
"Some people are worth the wait."
After rescuing Nicky, Dexter tracks Spencer back to his actual target: his ex-wife. In a final, desperate attempt to exact his revenge for the affair, Spencer flies off the handle and tries to viciously attack her in her home. She locks herself in the bathroom as Spencer screams at her about her ultimate betrayal; Confirming what we already suspected: That Nicky is not his son at all. This blind rage leads him to let his guard down, allowing Dexter to calmly inject him with M99 while he is distracted and then whisk him away for the kill.
And what a kill it is. Dexter’s maiden voyage using the ocean as his dumping ground feels appropriately nostalgic thanks to the classic blood theme and the bright moonlight that sets the mood. The filmmakers do inject some new tricks into the mix though. A flash of brilliant cinematography is used to create an instant parallel between killer and victim by showing Dexter’s eyes reflected back at us while he forces Spencer to stare into his own reflection in the blade of a very large knife. The two have a spirited conversation where Dexter reveals that he successfully foiled his plot and Spencer tries his best to sow doubt in Dexter’s mind by bringing up Harry’s failures as a father.
While Spencer’s attempt at leveraging a weakness fails, I can’t help but wonder if this was included as a thread for the writers to pull on if the series is renewed for a second season. We know that Dexter doesn’t discover the (assumed) truth about Harry for many years but this taunt felt very calculated by way of the writers. Could this be the first tiny step towards setting the stage for Harry’s eventual demise or was it merely to remind the audience that the bond between Harry and Dexter is much stronger at this point in his life? Either way, I found it to be a compelling line of dialogue to include.
When the moment of truth arrives, Dexter delivers the killing blow with confidence; Nearly decapitating Spencer with one well placed hack of his blade (YIKES). Truth-be-told, I have been a little disappointed in how they relied on the same camera angle to effectively shield us from viewing the kills this season. In a show like this, it feels important to remind the audience that the reality of what Dexter is doing is far from humane. Luckily, they finally cut away long enough to truly highlight the brutality of the violence.
Between the blood pouring from Spencer’s kill wound and the awful mess made during the actual dismemberment, Camilla’s boat is a thing of nightmares. With that said, Dexter presents as someone full of confidence and pride as he officially dumps his first victim into the bay and then turns his attention to hosing down the deck. While Michael C. Hall’s iconic narration confirms that he was nearing his “final form," it also felt like a cheeky reminder to the audience that there are more stories worth telling. Either way, the culmination of Spencer’s arc felt like a perfect cap to the season.
"I was born this way."
While Harry stews in the disappointment he feels for underestimating Dexter and being blind to Spencer’s guilt, Dexter expresses his gratitude for everything his father taught him. There’s acknowledgement and appreciation for the fact that without Harry, Dexter would have probably ended up no different than his victims. But in the ultimate irony, Dexter ends up describing himself while describing Spencer’s darkness to Harry:
"That person you once knew, who we all knew, he was good. Spencer wasn’t born a monster. He became one. But me… I was born this way."
In this moment, the heft of Dexter’s words weighs heavily on Harry. He remembers the sweet young boy that Dexter was prior to his mother’s untimely death and for perhaps the first time all season, the guilt and shame he feels for his role in his fate feels real and intense. If you ask me, the choice that Harry makes next is the “original sin" referenced in the show’s subtitle. Rather than reveal the truth about Dexter’s childhood, his brother, and the trauma that made him into a killer… he upholds the deception and lets Dexter continue to see himself as a monster.
Harry’s decision to withhold the truth shapes Dexter’s self-image for the rest of his life and I can’t but wonder if they will find a way to reckon with that in Resurrection; Maybe even challenge it. All I know for certain is that despite the epic confrontations, heroic acts, and violent deaths in this episode, it is this conversation between father and son that feels like the true climax of the episode (and the season).
"It’s your code now."
The episode wraps up with a rapid-fire succession of smaller story resolutions and important character developments that could serve multiple purposes. Tanya offers Dexter a full-time position at Miami Metro (which he happily accepts), Deb reveals her intention to join the police academy (with her dad and brother’s full support), and Harry conveys to Dexter that the code now belongs to him. While the Dexter we know from the original series never stopped crediting Harry for developing the code, this symbolic gesture clearly resonates with Dexter in this moment.
While I am confident that there is plenty of story left to tell, the sense of closure that this final scene provides feels designed to serve two purposes. It could open the door for any number of exciting stories that enrich the Dexter universe (BRING ON SEASON 2!) or it could simply bridge the gap with the original series rather neatly. Even with Brian watching solemnly from outside the restaurant, there is an undeniable sense of closure to the season and that is quite honestly the best way they could have chosen to end the season.
Is the decision to avert risk and double-down on a proven Dexter formula reason to find fault in this highly anticipated finale? I think the answer is unequivocally no. After the incredibly divisive endings of season 8 and New Blood, playing it safe might have been the best thing they could have done to secure the future of this new series. ‘Code Blues’ is an episode that focuses on Dexter being his unapologetic self while delivering some poetic insights into his worldview that I believe will resonate with new and longtime fans alike.
Like the series that preceded it, the finale of ‘Original Sin’ delivers the forbidden, cathartic justice that most people connect with. It revels in the opportunity to say something undeniably human but from the perspective of someone who feels like they operate on the fringe of humanity. But perhaps most importantly, the events of this finale successfully push Dexter further into a moral gray area and help to justify the fascination that fans have had with this antihero for almost two decades. If you ask me, it preps the modern audience appropriately and sets the stage beautifully for future stories within the universe; Regardless of which end of the timeline they may land on.
Score:
All that considered, I am pleased to say that ‘Dexter: Original Sin,’ regardless of whether it continues or not, has more than earned its place within the Dexter pantheon. Whether you view it as the beginning of a new era of Dexter or simply a quick detour to provide wider context to the series, I think it succeeds in almost every sense of the word. With that said, it is my sincerest hope that Showtime / Paramount decide to move forward with additional seasons. Only time will tell. In the meantime, brace yourselves for ‘Dexter: Resurrection’ which is expected to premiere this summer!