Andrew Grevas
Dexter: Original Sin Episode 4 is now streaming on Paramount + (and will broadcast on Showtime Sunday evening). You know the drill: We’re going to get into heavy spoiler territory here. If you haven’t seen the episode and don’t want to be spoiled, bookmark this article, watch the episode & come back!
Dexter: Original Sin Episode 4 was written by Nick Zayas and directed by Monica Raymund.
This all new episode of the Dexter prequel had a little bit of everything. Teenage cocaine use? Check. Extramarital affairs? Check. Christian Slater in 1973 with killer sideburns? Check. Joey Pants (aka Joe Pantoliano of The Sopranos fame)? Check! While it was great to see the icon Mr. Pants grace our television screens again, this episode was absolutely a dreaded “setup episode,” albeit one with some memorable moments.
C’mon, He’s The Big Bad
I’ve hopefully made it pretty clear in my last two articles that I’m 100% all in on Patrick Dempsey being the “Big Bad” of the season. Captain Aaron Spencer is not a legacy character, is very impulsive at times and his mustache just screams “Bad Cop!”. Here in Dexter: Original Sin Episode 4, we see Captain Spencer’s ex-wife and son come to the police station. The good Captain makes a point of pointing out that it was his ex-wife who ruined the marriage by having an affair, and she points out that he’s never been to one of their son’s soccer games.
I’m going to begin to build my case here. Captain Spencer has obviously been obsessed with the cartel for over 20 years now. Could not being able to bring them down lead a cop who is married to the job/went through a messy divorce to commit a heinous crime to bring more heat on the cartel? Could we be looking at a scenario where we find out that the judge whose son was abducted perhaps let cartel members off easy or acquitted them, perhaps pushing Captain Spencer a little further into madness?
Which leads me to the abduction. We opened the episode with the abducted child’s body found dead, held high in the air for the world to see. We would later find out that the child’s missing finger was cauterized with a cigarette lighter from a car and the cause of death was an ice pick to the back of the skull. While the car lighter does point to the cartel (or cartel frame job), the ice pick to the back of the head feels like it could be pointing to the Ice Truck Killer himself, Dexter’s brother Brian.
Last week we saw a stranger approach Dexter in the 1991 timeline at a restaurant, asking if a seat was open at the booth Dexter was holding. Many people online speculated that could have been Brian. We’ll discuss him more later in this article when we get to the 1973 timeline, but here in ‘91, Brian certainly is being hinted at.
Could we be looking at a scenario where Captain Spencer recruits a young serial killer to abduct and kill a judge’s son to put pressure on the cartel? There was never any ransom note nor a phone call, which makes this a usual kidnapping.
Prediction: The season finale sees Dexter killing Captain Spencer. Brian gets away with Dexter having knowledge that someone else was involved but not figuring out that it was his brother. Harry however puts it all together, which leads to his fatal heart attack.
Deb Is Hurting
Deb’s downward spiral continues here in Dexter: Original Sin Episode 4. She’s struggling to fit in with her volleyball teammates, she feels left out by Dexter and Harry (her accusing them of being attached at the dick might have been her funniest line so far this season), and she’s buying large amounts of drugs from the guy at Blockbuster. No wonder they’re out of business in present day.
Deb and her BFF wind up at a club and are dressed to impress. Deb winds up drinking the $300-a-bottle champagne of a champion boxer and gets the number of an older man with a flashy car. It almost felt like the origin story for Deb’s broken picker. At this point the operative questions revolve around who this guy actually is and what kind of trouble she’ll get in as a result. It does feel like we’re destined for something to strengthen the relationship between Deb and Dexter, so it’s not much of a stretch of the imagination to think he’ll eventually get her out of whatever trouble she winds up in. How much stress she causes her father and his ailing heart remains to be seen.
Amateur Hour
Dexter was visibly upset by the discovery of the judge’s son dead. His trauma is starting to surface. He doesn’t know his origin story, but it seems inevitable that he will learn those details soon. For now, all he knows is that violence towards children bothers him in ways he doesn’t understand. After being consoled by a few police officer who gave him good advice that Dexter would warp, Dexter decides that he needs to feed his habit.
Enter Joey Pants aka Mad Dog. Mad Dog is said to have been a retired mafia hitman who legend says killed over 200 people. Harry warns Dexter that Mad Dog is too advanced for him this early in his “career” as a vigilante. As it turns out, Harry was right. Mad Dog fights off Dexter and runs down the street in his boxers with Dexter chasing him…until Mad Dog is hit by a car. It’s unclear whether or not he survived.
A lot to unpack here. Hopefully this was a lesson to Dexter that he’s sloppy as a killer. If Mad Dog survives, he can identify Dexter to the police or come after him himself. If he dies, Dexter could still be busted, as he has a kill room setup in this man’s house and the remnants of the broken Clapton guitar, showing that a fight happened here prior to Mad Dog’s death. Personally, I hope he lives so we get more Joey Pants.
Prediction: Mad Dog survives and torments Dexter for several episodes. When Dexter finally gets another chance to kill him, he uses his trademark tranquilizer for the first time.
The Ballad of Harry
Finally, in our 1973 timeline, we see Harry finally give into Laura Moser’s sexual advances after he spends the evening babysitting her kids. I really hope this story gets dragged out longer, as it’s been enjoyable learning about both Dexter and Brian as small children, as well as the dynamic between Harry and Laura.
Dexter: Original Sin Episode 4 absolutely makes the case that Brian was born a psycho and Dexter became one because of trauma. We are shown Brian killing lizards and Dexter trying to revive them. They are not the same. It’s fascinating to watch this distinction between the brothers being made.
Harry continues to become a more complex character. He’s not all good but he’s not all bad either. His mistakes seem to carry large consequences, but he’s broken at the end of the day because of these mistakes. When Laura eventually dies, the inner turmoil that lives inside Harry will move to the next level, making him almost a tragic character.
