Dexter: Original Sin – Season 1 Episode 5 Recap & Review

F Is For Fuck Up

Episode 5 of Dexter: Original Sin begins with Dexter realizing there’s a big problem after Mad Dog has been hit by a car. He knows he has about 15 minutes to do a clean up at the house before the cops show, and he needs to get rid of everything so there’s no evidence of foul play. He has a lot of tools to get the job done, but it’s definitely touch and go for a while.

Dexter is forced to hide out when the cops show and look about, but it would appear that he’s managed to get away. However, Harry is at home waiting for him.

Harry is not happy about Dexter’s name showing up on the police radio. Dexter shrugs it off as no big deal but Harry is not happy. He knows how close Dexter has come to losing control and decides to ground Dexter and prevent him from killing anyone else. As he alludes to, it’s “training exercises” only for the foreseeable future.

At home, Dexter causes more drama between him and Deb when he ends up single-handedly eating all the brownies baked specifically for the Volleyball team. When Deb returns home, she’s initially not happy until she sees her brother cut loose and stoned. She laughs when she finds out he’s had pot brownies, and as Dex starts to freak out, she decides to hang about. The pair connect and Deb talks about their family. They never talk about their mother, and they’re coming up to her anniversary death.

They’re both not sure if she’d be proud of them, but Deb does bring up in the middle of this that Dexter is Harry’s golden boy and can do no wrong. Dexter almost confesses to the murders but manages to keep it together despite his intoxicated state.

The following day, Harry preps for the court case surrounding Levi Reed. He’s put through the ringer by the other detectives and he seems to have everything together. Deb though wants to do something for their mum, so they agree to meet at 5pm. Furthermore, Dex is also allowed back at work again.

However, it turns out this is all a big ploy to see if the driver recognizes Dexter. He shows up to fingerprint the man while he’s questioned, and notices the man’s very normal, and panicked, reaction to killing someone. More importantly though, he doesn’t recognize Dexter.

At the court case, there’s a big twist that catches Harry off-guard. A witness is brought in that showed at the station a while back. She claims to have an alibi for Levi Reed, something which Harry dismissed given the woman was under the influence of drugs at the time. Unfortunately, as this constitutes as suppression of evidence, the defence moves to dismiss the case.

After the previous mishap with Mad Dog, Dexter is not taking any chances, and he breaks in to steal some powerful horse tranquilizer. However, as he does, and with Harry spiralling over work, Deb is left all on her own at home, way past the time they’re supposed to go and visit their mother’s grave.

It’s hard not to feel sorry for her, and Deb eventually decides to ring Gio, who brings her to the graveyard, along with a bouquet of flowers too. She’s already gone when Harry shows, after spilling her heart about how alone she feels. She knows that Harry and Dexter are a unit, but she’s pretty torn up over how they don’t see her, bemoaning that she’s basically invisible.

Further flashbacks reveal more about this bond. We know that Harry lost his son when he was young and that loss and grief materialized into a fatherly instinct toward Dexter. He’s been looking out for the kid ever since he started this sordid affair with Laura and he blames himself for his own son’s death.

However, there’s a bigger twist here when Harry heads home and finds out his wife is actually pregnant. And that, of course, is how Deb comes into the picture.

Back in the present, Harry drowns his sorrows in alcohol until Captain Spence shows up to stop him. After the big mess-up with Levi Reed, the Mayor needs a fall-guy. Harry’s not losing his job, thankfully, but he is off the Jimmy Powell case. It’s too high profile so he needs to go back to the bottom of the barrel homicide cases and keep his head down.

Under the influence and angry, Harry contemplates whether to kill Levi Reed. He shows up at his house with a gun but Dexter manages to save him. He tranqs his father, eventually tying him up and reprimanding the man. Dexter explains that he’s done all of this to prove a point and show that he can think things through. In fact, he’s been following Harry all night.

Dexter decides he should be the blunt instrument here to go after Levi Reed, and having seen enough, Harry allows him to kill Levi. In the wake of this, Deb ends up getting closer to Gio and she ends up sleeping with him.

As the episode comes to an end, Dexter shows up at his mum’s grave and admits he misses someone looking at him and seeing a chance at being good. He knows there’s no going back now, and says goodbye, ready to fully embrace the killer that he is.

The Episode Review

Sometimes the pressure can get to the best of us, and this episode really exemplifies that through Harry and the Levi Reed case. It’s clear that he’s had a lot on his plate and missing one crucial piece of evidence like that is a rookie mistake that’s come back to bite him.

However, this chapter does allow us to see more of the ties between the family, which is really the core asset of this whole show. The much-needed chat between Deb and Dexter is a nice touch, while the tensions Harry feels toward his kids, and the almost-nonchalant reaction toward his daughter, is shown in all its ugly glory through the flashbacks.

This episode really marks the turning point for Dexter though, as Harry has decided to let his son off the chain and essentially go to town on getting rid of low-life criminals. The fact that Harry is also going to be working on lower-homicide cases means there’s more chance of the pair working together and putting a stop to those who “slip through the cracks”.

As far as prequel series go, Dexter: Original Sin has been a solid watch so far and it’ll be interesting to see where the second half of this one goes from here.