Dexter: Original Sin Recap: Sins Of The Father
The contract killer named Mad Dog's been flattened by a car, so what's a serial killer in training to do? Some clean-up, and FAST. In Friday's Dexter: Original Sin, both Dex and Harry make huge mistakes that nearly cost them. But were any lessons learned? Let's break it all down.
Dexter calculates that he has about 15 minutes to clean things up before Miami Metro arrives on the scene. He uses a blacklight to check for blood and rolls up his plastic sheets, but the police are faster than usual to respond. Fortunately, Dex makes his escape without being seen or heard... or so he thinks.
When he gets home, Harry is listening on a police scanner and he's not happy. Dad says Dexter's not ready. If a victim wakes up too early and a half-naked man runs wild in the streets, that is a "f–k up." Then, Harry grounds him. (Grounded at 20. Rough.) Harry checks in with the morgue. The coroner says he doubts this case will go to homicide... unless there's a connection between Mad Dog and the driver. Phew!
In the '70s, Harry tells Laura that what happened between them can't happen again. But he closes the door as soon as he opens it, and they're back to mackin' it on the couch. In a later flashback, Harry tells Laura the truth about losing his first child. It's an admission that draws them closer. But when Harry eventually returns home after "working late," Doris has a surprise for him: She's pregnant with Debra!
Back in the present when he eventually returns to work, Dexter catches Tanya watching a horse race. After her horse suffers a fall and has to be put down, Tanya inadvertently teaches Dexter about a drug that's used to sedate the animals. Etorphine will keep horses down for four hours. "It's more powerful than morphine to the nth degree," she says. So Dexter does what any serial killer in the making would do: He goes to the race track, creates a diversion and steals the drug he needs. The missing piece of his puzzle.
Back at the station, Dexter fingerprints the driver who ran over Mad Dog. LaGuerta asks the guy if there was anyone else on the scene at the time of the accident. The man says no. Dexter may have gotten lucky.
At the Levi Reed trial, Harry is questioned by the prosecutor, who brings in a surprise witness. Harry says he's never seen her before, until he realizes that he did, in fact, speak to her. She was stoned and trying to alibi Reed, but Harry wrote her off as a lying druggie. Since Harry "willfully disregarded a good-faith alibi," the prosecution moves for the case to be dismissed. The judge agrees. Spencer is pissed at Harry's sloppy work and tells him to take the rest of the afternoon off. Reed walks out of the courtroom with a smarmy look on his face.
After agreeing to visit their mom's grave together as a family (it's the one-year anniversary of her death), Deb gets ghosted by her dad and brother, so she and her new boy-toy Gio head to the cemetery together. He buys flowers for the grave, which is oddly a nice touch for this "good bad boy." Deb breaks down in tears telling her mom that she's an outsider with her dad and Dex, and that she needs someone to listen. Harry arrives at the gravesite later, but his daughter is long gone.
Having now bungled the Reed cast and his promise to Deb, Harry hits his old haunt to drink his sorrows away. Spencer joins him, saying the mayor wants someone held responsible for the mistake. Harry puts his badge on the table. Spencer says he's the best detective he's got and that he saved his job, but — and it's a big "but" — Harry's off the Jimmy Powell case. He'll now have to work the bottom of the homicide barrel with LaGuerta until things cool down.
Meanwhile, Dexter rolls out some plastic and fills up a needle with etorphine. We assume that Dex is going after the newly freed Reed, but a hammered Harry gets there first. He whips out his pistol to shoot, but Dexter stabs him with the needle before anything drastic happens. When Harry wakes up, he's tied to Dexter's table and covered in plastic. Dex tells him to try and get free, but his dad can't budge. Dexter says he made a mistake with Mad Dog, but Harry made one too. And he would've made another had Dexter not swooped in. Dex explains the drug and how he configured the dosage for human consumption. "Dad, you can't stop this anymore," he says. Harry isn't the one who should've gone after Levi. Harry understands. After Dex frees Dad from the table, Harry gives Dexter the green light: "Take him out."
OTHER GORY DETAILS
* How great was the scene with Dexter and Debra stoned out of their minds together? Maybe all Dexter ever needed was a bit of pot and 10 slices of pizza?
* Now that Doris is pregnant, will that be the thing that pushes Harry away from Laura? And will the guilt from that be part of the reason why he decides to eventually adopt Dexter?
* Has Thomas Matthews' glaring absence in Original Sin left you scratching your head? If he's Miami Metro's captain when the original series kicks off, should we be worried for Patrick Dempsey's Aaron Spencer?
Now it's your turn! Thoughts on Episode 5? Drop 'em in the comments below!