Dexter: Resurrection season 2 is airing now, only a couple episodes in so far, and as a big fan of a few seasons of the original 2006 Dexter series, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed catching up to its second sequel series, currently streaming on Paramount+. 

After the original series concluded with a famously bad ending and an overall underwhelming final season, the series was later revived in Dexter: New Blood (2021). Michael C. Hall returned as Dexter, and the show picks up a decade or so after the original series end. Dexter has found a new life in hiding when his son Harrison finds him. Harrison learns all about his father’s serial killing ways, which ultimately lead to Harrison shooting Dexter in the finale and leaving him for dead, or so it appeared. 

It was a fine revival attempt, with a reception more mixed than the original series’ ending, but leaning more towards positive from what I’ve seen. It did introduce a great new villain in Kurt Caldwell (Clancy Brown), which was definitely the highlight of New Blood for me. It unfortunately did keep up the trend of giving fans another controversial ending to wrap it up. I definitely leaned more towards the side of not loving this show, so I was tuned out of Dexter for a while, missing the prequel Dexter: Original Sin and season one of Resurrection. 

Recently however I delved into Resurrection as I heard season 2 was coming out and I discovered that it was very good – more in the company of the best Dexter seasons, like 1, 2, and 4. Does it surpass them? Not quite but certainly far from the poorer seasons and notably a much better revival than New Blood.

In Resurrection, Dexter recovers from being shot at the end of New Blood. One issue I do have with Resurrection is how it hand waves off the end of a few New Blood plots to get the new show rolling. While I wasn’t a fan of said plots, I still find this a rushed and weak move, but time moves on and so does Dexter. 

Fleeing from the pursuing Angel Batista (David Zayas), Dexter’s former coworker at Miami Metro that now wants answers himself, he ends up in New York pursuing his son Harrison (Jack Alcott). After Harrison believed him dead, he left to start a new life as a hotel staff member at a high-end hotel. During his attempt at normalcy, Harrison finds himself succumbing to violent urges and kills a would-be rapist to protect a woman he met earlier. But instead of reporting it to the police, Harrison uses the skills his father taught him in New Blood to cut up the body and cover up the kill. Unfortunately the body is discovered as Harrison’s inexperience is his undoing. While this puts him under suspicion of the police, it also signals to the watching Dexter that he needs help. 

So, Dexter quickly blends in and adopts a “normal” life in New York to protect his son. He takes a job as an UrCar driver (this world’s Uber equivalent) to use as an alibi. This leads Dexter into a world he wasn’t expecting: hearing about a dangerous serial killer preying on UrCar drivers from his new friend Blessing Kamara (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine). This killer goes by the moniker The Dark Passenger, the name Dexter has used since the original series to refer to his inner serial killer or the personification of his urges. 

Dexter takes this personally and chooses to go back to his old ways and take this killer down. He plays the victim to get the Dark Passenger to target him, easily outfoxing the amateur and killing him as he usually does. But before he is dispatched, the faux Dark Passenger revealed that he received a mysterious invitation and large sum of money from someone hosting a get together for serial killers. Unable to resist, Dexter assumes the identity of the Dark Passenger and infiltrates the gathering. 

Hosted by wealthy philanthropist and serial killer fanatic Leon Prater (Peter Dinklage), Dexter meets many fellow killers that make him feel strangely comfortable. These include Lady Vengeance (Krysten Ritter), who targets abusive men, the Gemini Killer (David Dastmalchian), who always kills in pairs, and The Tattoo Collector (Neil Patrick Harris), who targets victims with interesting tattoos to cut off and add to his collection. 

Dexter is torn between this new feeling of comradery and his mission to off the serial killers without drawing suspicion, all while maintaining his civilian identity and working around the police to protect his son’s identity.

Overall, this is a great show so far and I’m excited to see what season 2 has in store for Dexter. I can only hope that this time it breaks the show’s trend and gives fans a great final episode.