Dexter: Original Sin – Season 1 Episode 3 Recap & Review

Miami Vice

Episode 3 of Dexter: Original Sin begins with news of Judge Powell’s son’s, Jimmy, being abducted breaking across the media. Dexter is out for blood, but Harry is worried that this case could bring up some old childhood trauma for him.

Those in the PD try to work out exactly who may be responsible, but given he’s a judge that’s a long list of people with a chip on their shoulder. With no ransom note or much evidence to go on, they’re pretty much in the dark.

The next morning, Detective Maria LaGuerta shows up for work. She’s a hotshot and here to clean things up, given the PD have bad press in the Miami Herald. The Captain is not particularly happy about this, and tasks Harry with keeping an eye on her moving forward.

While he has his eyes on Maria, Dexter starts to scout out Ferrer, working out how to kill the guy. He breaks into his house and roots through his stuff, where he finds a notebook with all the different killings he’s been responsible for. Or, as he writes out, their “payments paid in full”.

There’s extra drama in the middle of this though back home. Dex is shocked when he finds Deb’s friend, Sofia, wearing the nurse’s earrings. As a result, he strikes a deal with Deb – in exchange for scoring her coke for her party that weekend, he’ll get the earrings back.

When Harry finds out that Dexter took a memento from the Nurse, he’s shocked and reprimands his son outside. Harry demands he get rid of the earrings, as it’s way too risky. While this is going on, Dexter prepares to head out and confront Ferrer.

It doesn’t take long for him to get in, with the name “Patrick Bateman” on his fake ID. He gets $500 as a loan payment from Ferrer, and uses the cash to buy Sofia some new earrings. Jen is all onboard with the idea of her brother and bestie getting close, but Dexter, of course, has other things on his mind.

Dexter also decides to cut his own brand of coke for her, using some pills and household items to make it seem like the real thing. After, Dexter intentionally loses some money at a seedy bar in order to encourage Ferrer to think he’s a lowlife and unable to pay. However, the real play here comes from getting him to pull the trigger.

Dexter examines the bullet, which ends up wedged inside a tree. It’s an exact match to the one for the Carballo’s.

Harry warns Dex though, pointing out that this is dangerous and he needs to go through him first before doing any sort of investigative work. However, he does succumb to Dexter’s whims and his son explains that this is just who he is, and he’s “got this”.

In the past, we see more of Laura and Harry’s ties, as Laura works undercover and starts to rise up through the ranks. With Harry’s guidance, she starts to become a big deal. Harry keeps an eye on her though, but unfortunately she walks right into a trap.

Harry and his partner follow, but Laura manage to hold her own in Diego’s limousine. Laura manages to bag a meeting with Zenny, and also goes it alone and more than holds his own. The thing is, his social awkwardness also extends out to Laura too, who clearly wants more but he knows it’s crossing a line and decides not to get involved.

Deb’s party goes ahead, and while the girls have their coke, Dexter finds himself unwittingly thrown into a romance angle when Sofia heads out and kisses him. Dex is socially awkward, but of course his mind is elsewhere.

While Dexter deals with Ferrer, killing him and dumping the body in Alligator Alley, Harry tries to keep his mind on work. 

As the episode closes out, it would appear that Deb and Dex are back on the same page again, but for how long?

The Episode Review

So Dexter returns with another procedural episode, one that sees Dex kill his second victim and work his way into the social hierarchy of the station. He obviously has a knack for this work but it’ll be interesting to see if anyone cottons on to what he’s doing. Regardless, this episode does help to show more of Dexter’s social awkwardness, as Sofia tries her luck at romancing Dexter, which goes down as well as a sledgehammer to the face.

The flashbacks around this are certainly welcome, and help to flesh out more of Harry and Laura’s ties before Dexter comes into the picture. I’m guessing this is going to be a recurring theme throughout the season, but it does work reasonably well here, all things considered.

Either way though, the ending leaves the door wide open for where this one may go next.