Dexter: Original Sin Recap: Miami Metro Gets Another Shocking Update to Its Abducted Child Case

Nick Caruso

27 December 2024 at 7:30 pm·4-min read

In Friday’s episode of Dexter: Original Sin, our titular killer with a code experiences some normal, non-murdery feelings when a child — Judge Powell’s abducted son Jimmy — is sadly found dead, his body strung from a bridge.

Dexter has a panicked, sickened feeling after seeing his first dead kid, and the whole experience shakes him to his core. Harry assures his son that it’s a good thing that Dexter feels so spun by the sight of a dead child. So while Miami Metro deals with the Powell case, Harry sends Dexter to another scene dealing with a dead prostitute. At that crime scene, Dex notices the victim was strangled from the front. LaGuerta gets testy when he calls it an “educated guess,” but she’s not too happy in general since Captain Spencer sidelined her to “prostitute park.”

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Back at HQ, Harry checks with the records room to make sure Dexter’s name has been scrubbed from his mother Laura’s file. As far as Camilla’s concerned, Dexter was never in that shipping container. Shortly after, Dexter’s in the records room rifling through files. He’s haunted by the dead boy, telling Harry that whoever killed the child deserves to be dead. Dexter shows his dad a file he swiped. There’s a guy known as “Mad Dog” (played by The Sopranos’ Joe Pantoliano) who has been a person of interest for decades. He was a contract killer for the mob, with some saying he was responsible for over two dozen mob-related murders in the ’70s alone. The gun-for-hire eventually made his way to Miami, but Miami Metro hasn’t been able to pin anything on him. Dexter says his body count may be as high as 200. Harry isn’t convinced and wants solid proof. He eventually relents, though, as long as Dexter can prove that Mad Dog is the man they think he is.

Dexter puts on a fake persona and introduces himself to Mad Dog who’s now running fishing charters in the city. Mad Dog is booked up, but he does give Dexter a card with his address on it. Dexter wastes no time breaking into the guy’s house, where he finds a huge collection of guitars and a shredded photo of what could possibly be the killer’s next vic.

Tanya reveals that the Powell boy was killed by an ice pick to the back of the head, 8-12 hours before his body was strung up. There’s not much they can deduce from the severed finger, but the nub where the finger used to be was cauterized with a car’s cigarette lighter. Brutal.

After Dexter pieces together (literally) the shredded photo he found, he learns the man photoed is Omar Reyes, an accessory to money laundering who is a state’s witness set to testify in court. Reyes isn’t Mad Dog’s last hit… he is the next one. Dexter tells Harry that Reyes is a witness about to snitch on the mob. So Dex’s plan is simple: He charters the contract killer’s boat and takes him out before he can get to Reyes. Harry nods his approval. Only what Dexter doesn’t realize is that Mad Dog’s charter is a shared one. A professional killer right there on the ocean with him, only Dexter can’t touch him… yet.

So Dexter follows him home that night and knocks him out with a guitar. He preps a new kill room, only his victim isn’t as “out” as Dexter thought. Mad Dog wakes up and immediately, there’s a struggle. Mad Dog escapes the house nearly naked. After he trips in the street, a car barrels right into him as the credits begin to roll. But is he dead and what kinds of problems is this going to create for Dexter?

OTHER GORY DETAILS

* Deb meets a guy named Gio while out clubbing with Sofia. The guy is significantly older, and is a little shady (OK, a lot shady) about what he actually does for work. He’s got a fancy car, a five-disc CD changer and a car phone (baller!), so clearly the teen is impressed. He’s not too bothered when she leaves a voicemail for her dad and mentions school, which feels all sorts of gross. Is Deb heading down a dark and possibly dangerous path?

* The episode treats us to a flashback that’s clearly meant to show us how emotionally connected Harry becomes with Laura and her two boys, Dexter and Brian. In these scenes, Harry agrees to watch the kids while Laura goes off with Bobby to meet with their contact Alfredo. When she returns, she’s impressed by how great Harry is with children. There’s an obvious spark between the two which Harry has been trying to resist, but long story short, the two get hot and heavy on the couch anyway.

* How grossly underused has Sarah Michelle Gellar been in these last two episodes? Am I the only one clamoring for some more Tanya?

Have any new or burning Dexter: Original Sin thoughts? Drop them in the comments below!

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