Took a few days off from the movies to check out the 10-episode Dexter: Original Sin, which just wrapped on Paramount+.
In case you don't know, it's a prequel, taking place 15 years before the first season of the classic Dexter series with flashbacks to another 15 years or so before that. It all serves to flesh out Dexter's backstory -- how he ended up in that blood-soaked storage container as an infant and how he honed his craft as a vigilante serial killer.
I was pleasantly surprised by it. It was much better than I thought it was going to be. Original Sin, with Michael C. Hall's voiceover narration, does a fantastic job of bringing back the feeling and atmosphere of those first three or four great seasons of classic Dexter -- before the original series lost its way.
Irish actor Patrick Gibson is the new, young onscreen Dexter. He looks enough like Hall physically and is able to easily pull us in without too much distraction, with a big assist from Hall's familiar voiceover work.
Christian Slater is here as Dexter's father, Harry, in corporeal form. Harry is as much the lead character here as Dexter. Slater has a much different take on Harry than we were used to with James Remar's ghostly presence. But it's easy to get past that once the ball starts rolling on this story.
What I could not get used to was Molly Brown's take on Dexter's sister, Debra. Jennifer Carpenter is such a force of nature in classic Dexter, and Brown just could not bring it. She was the weak link here.
Maria LaGuerta, Angel Batista and Vince Masuka are all here. All three new actors do pretty good impressions of their older counterparts.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is here as the chief of forensics, Dexter's direct boss, at Miami Metro PD. It was great to see her, she was in all 10 episodes. But she really wasn't very consequential. Seemed like kind of a waste. I don't know if plans are for her to have a bigger part in the next season, if there is one. But with plans in motion for her Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot, it seems questionable that she would be available for another Dexter season.
If you were a fan at least of those first few seasons of classic Dexter, this one is definitely worth checking out. Even if you soured completely on the back end and weren't impressed by the New Blood followup, Original Sin will bring you back into the fold. It's not earth-shattering, doesn't break any new ground really. It's mostly a fun nostalgia trip, enough to restore faith that there might still yet be life in this franchise.
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