We’ve rounded up a list of five Dexter episodes you should watch before watching the prequel series, Dexter: Original Sin. Dexter is one of the most popular shows of the last 20 years and despite its age, it might currently be at its most popular. Dexter ran for eight seasons on Showtime from 2006 – 2013, just as social media was really starting to take off. It concluded right after Breaking Bad‘s finale, a show that had an ending that was praised up and down. Dexter, however, did not enjoy the same fate. It was immediately trashed by fans and critics for being a let down after a rocky final season and for a long time, that was the show’s legacy: a great show with a disappointing ending.
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However, the show was revived in 2021 for Dexter: New Blood, a sequel series that reignited the hype for fans. While that ending was also controversial, it was at least a bit more sensical. The series was such a hit it resulted in Showtime greenlighting more Dexter shows, including a prequel series and another sequel series called Dexter: Resurrection, set to premiere in 2025. The prequel series, Dexter: Original Sin, premieres on Friday, December 13th and will be a nice little appetizer for fans. The trailer for Original Sin reveals it’s also partially a sequel series to Dexter, thanks to some scenes from the present day with Michael C. Hall. With all of that said, whether you’re new to Dexter or a longtime fan looking to jump back in, we’ve created a list of episodes that you should probably watch before Original Sin.
This list largely (but not exclusively) focuses on episodes that reveal essential information Dexter’s life via flashbacks, specifically ones that would be set before Original Sin. The new series is set after Dexter graduates college, so naturally, there’s a lot of stuff before Original Sin that we get to see in the original series. Without further ado, here’s five episodes of Dexter to watch before Dexter: Original Sin. Of course, some spoilers will be found below, if you’re new to the series, it’s best to watch the entire series, but the first two seasons will include most of the most crucial backstory. We also expect Original Sin to reiterate some of these story beats in some way too.
Dexter – Season One, Episode One
Dexter‘s first episode is essential viewing because it lays the entire foundation for the series. It sets the cheeky tone, introduces us to who Dexter is along with his friends and family, teaches us part of how he came to be, and more. Dexter Morgan tells us right up front who he believes he is, but as the season goes along, we see that maybe what he believes about himself isn’t fully true. He says in the first episode he can’t feel, he doesn’t have authentic relationships, but season one really scrutinizes that. He may be awkward, but by the end of the season, we see that he does hold love in his heart for a select few and is capable of heartbreak and connection, but it comes at a cost.
The episode also crucially establishes that Harry, Dexter’s adoptive father, is aware of his son’s desire to kill at a young age and tries to have honest conversations with him about it.
Popping Cherry – Season One, Episode Three
Popping Cherry is another episode with flashbacks with Harry where we see him training Dexter to hunt. However, Harry eventually falls ill and becomes hospitalized. It’s here Dexter learns a nurse is slowly poisoning his father and Harry gives his son permission to let Dexter kill his first human being. Trailers suggest we will actually get to see this scenario recreated in Original Sin, though to what extent is unclear. Nevertheless, seeing Dexter take his first blood and develop his insatiable craving for violence is yet another core moment of the character’s origin.
Seeing Red – Season One, Episode Ten
As Miami Metro begins to investigate Dexter’s first big bad of the original series, the Ice Truck Killer, they receive a key to a hotel room. When they go to said hotel, they find the room is flooded with blood from multiple bodies, though there are no bodies to be found. When Dexter enters the room to analyze the blood, he gets light headed and faints, splashing the blood all over himself. Given he’s in forensics and is a serial killer, he’s troubled by the fact that he was so shaken by the large amounts of blood.
As the episode progresses, Dexter is able to piece together what exactly created him and the terrible truth about his childhood. If you watch any episode beyond the pilot, this is probably one of the most crucial ones. It gives context as to why Dexter cuts up his victims the way he does, shines a light on who he was before the Morgan family adopted him, and gives him a superhero-like tragic origin that creates the so-called “Dark Passenger”.
Born Free – Season One, Episode Twelve
Born Free reveals the Ice Truck Killer’s connection to Dexter and questions whether he can be a hero and a killer at the same time. It analyzes the ethics of his vigilantism and also makes Dexter have to choose between someone who can truly understand him vs. someone he really does love, once again showing that maybe he’s more human than he realizes.
Dex, Lies, and Videotapes – Season Two, Episode Six
In season two, Dexter believes he knows the full truth about what created his Dark Passenger. However, there’s more twists to this story. He begins to realize there’s a greater connection between his adoptive father, Harry Morgan, and his biological mother, Laura Moser. There was a reason Harry specifically rescued Dexter from the shipping container where they found him and it wasn’t out of pure empathy.
There’s Something About Harry – Season Two, Episode Ten
As things heat up toward the season two finale, Dexter realizes that his father’s death may not have been of natural causes. Dexter has to begin reckoning with himself that he may not be truly carrying out the wishes of his father and maybe what he has become is of his own volition and has resulted in innocent people getting hurt.
Every Silver Lining… – Season Eight, Episode Two
While season eight is… pretty rough, it does reveal there’s more to Harry’s code than we previously thought. When Harry learned that his son was feeling dark urges, he turned to Doctor Vogel, a neuropsychiatrist who specializes in treating psychopaths. Fearing what could become of Dexter if not controlled, Vogel helped Harry create the “code” so that he would choose to kill criminals rather than innocent civilians. Whether or not this will actually come up in Original Sin is unclear as this came after Original Sin showrunner, Clyde Phillips, left Dexter and may not be part of his vision of the show.
