'Dexter' Is Too Old for This *$#$

Dexter: Resurrection slipped back onto Paramount+ this week, riding the momentum of an strong first season. For the uninitiated, the sequel series picks up after both the miniseries Dexter: New Blood and the now-canceled prequel. Season two jumps ahead three years: Dexter is still wracked with guilt over killing his friend Angel Batista (who has joined Harry as another voice riding shotgun in Dexter’s head), still driving an Uber, and still killing serial killers.

Meanwhile, his son Harrison has followed his father into law enforcement. He’s a cop now, he’s slept with a fellow young officer whose father (Bokeem Woodbine) runs the homicide unit, and it looks like Detectives Wallace and Oliva — who investigated Harrison and his father last season — may tap him to help them hunt the Five Borough Killer, a serial killer who taunts the police with phone calls announcing his plans to murder innocent people.

Oh, and Joey Quinn — yes, from the original Dexter — has trailed Angel to New York City, presumably to keep chasing the Bay Harbor Butcher, whom Angel (correctly) unmasked as Dexter Morgan, which is why Dexter had to kill his friend at the end of last season.

That’s the setup for season two: Harrison has a new job, there’s a new Big Bad (played by the always excellent Dan Stevens), and Dexter’s Miami past keeps nipping at his heels. The wrinkle is that Dexter is in the throes of a midlife crisis. He’s feeling his age, he can’t pull all-nighters like he used to, and he loses a step taking down the Rapunzel killer (Eric Stonestreet), one of the last surviving members of Leon Prater’s secret serial-killer supper club from last season. (Krysten Ritter’s Lady Vengeance is behind bars but is expected to resurface in some capacity.) It’s one of those cutesy themes Dexter loves to weave through its seasons, with mixed results — the other this season is that an aging Dexter now craves credit for the Bay Harbor Butcher’s body of work. The man wants his flowers!

Still, there’s no real reason to worry (yet) that season two will squander the goodwill of the first, if only because it’s still Dexter — a character who’s been with us for two decades — and because he’s got a formidable opp in the Five Borough Killer, who warns authorities before each murder and then blasts the video to every phone in the vicinity, because he’s arrogant enough to believe he’ll never get caught, which is what season finales are for.

Also, Brian Cox shows up this season, for some reason, as the New York Ripper, a retired serial killer who now taunts his victims’ families. The police know he’s the Ripper but have never scraped together enough evidence to convict, which makes him ideal prey for Dexter (wheelchair notwithstanding).

Is it a lot? Sure. Is it a little silly? Absolutely. But Dexter has always worked best when it leans into the pulp, and with Dan Stevens chewing scenery, Brian Cox doing whatever Brian Cox is doing, and our favorite serial killer suddenly experiencing lower back pain, Resurrection has the makings of another solid season.