Watching Dexter: Original Sin has completely changed the way I see Dexter as a whole. For years, I bought into the idea that Harry Morgan was the wise and composed father figure who saved his adoptive son from becoming a mindless killer and gave him a purpose with the ‘Code.’
The original series painted his character as a man who, despite his questionable methods, genuinely cared for Dexter and did his best to raise him under a strict moral code. However, Original Sin flips the narrative, revealing a Harry we never expected, adding depth to Dexter’s character and his psychological conflicts.
The prequel spin-off Dexter: Original Sin reveals the real Harry Morgan
Given Harry Morgan died ten years before the events of the original series, we only ever saw him through Dexter’s (Michael C. Hall) memories – memories that, as it turns out were unreliable at best.
James Remar’s portrayal of the character was a calm, collected, and saint-like man, who guided Dexter and gave him a purpose. However, in Dexter: Original Sin, Christian Slater brings a completely different energy to the role.
This Harry is brash, impatient, and even aggressive. He’s not the cool and composed mentor Dextor remembers but rather a stressed-out cop trying to figure out ways to deal with his son’s darkness.
Showrunner Clyde Phillips pointed out that a moment in the first episode, where we learn that Harry lost his son due to his negligence, was crucial in shaping how the writers approached the character.
He told Cinemablend in an interview,
That swimming pool scene is really cathartic and just releases storytelling and motivation and understanding of the character. And it really gave us a good kick in the butt to get going on understanding who Harry is, and what his relationship is with his colleagues and what his relationship is, more importantly, with his children.
This insight reframes Harry’s character as more than just a wise mentor to Dexter. Instead, he is portrayed as a man haunted by his own mistakes, constantly trying (and often failing) to make things right.
Harry Morgan shaped Dexter into a ruthless serial killer
For so long, I assumed Dexter’s darkness was inevitable. After all, he was traumatized as a child, found in a pool of blood after his mother was brutally killed. Before Original Sin explored his early life with Harry, it was widely presumed that Dexter always had a natural tendency to become a serial killer.
But the prequel offers depth to why Dexter turned out the way he did, and the reason was Harry Morgan. Harry didn’t save Dexter from becoming a serial killer; he raised him into one. An ‘ethical’ one, sure, but a killer all the same.
He could have handled things differently, by seeking real psychological help for his son. But instead, he molded Dexter into something else: a serial killer with a ‘code,‘ by nurturing the “dark passenger” inside him. And it changes everything.
With the representation of a more flawed version of Harry, the series not only enriches the original storyline but also offers a poignant commentary on memory, influence, and the complexities inherent in familial bonds.
Original Sin proves Dexter was an unreliable narrator
The revelations about Harry Morgan in Original Sin had me surprised at how the original series continued to portray him in a positive light in relation to the titular character.
In the original series, we see Harry through Dexter’s eyes, a lens that may be tinted by hero worship and selective memory. A Reddit comment perfectly summed it up, as it described Dexter as an unreliable narrator.
Original Sin is supposed to show us the real Harry. The original series is a Harry we never saw, but the one Dexter had in his mind. Original Sin is how things actually happened; ‘Dexter’ is how Harry is remembered by Dexter.
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“He’s an unreliable narrator like how we all are when we tell a story, especially from the past,” the Reddit user further explained, emphasizing that Dexter only remembers Harry as an idolized figure.
The Harry Morgan from Original Sin adds a new layer to the story we thought we knew
I love it when a prequel actually adds something meaningful to the original, and Dexter: Original Sin does just that. It doesn’t just tell us more about Dexter’s early days but recontextualizes everything we thought we knew.
Before Original Sin, we perceived Dexter as this calculated, controlled antihero. But now I see him as a man raised by a deeply flawed man, clinging to a belief system that was never stable to begin with.
The original show had moments where we saw cracks in his logic, times when he killed out of personal anger rather than the ‘Code.’ But knowing Harry wasn’t the perfect mentor he made him out to be, it makes sense why Dexter was always struggling.
And now, every time I watch the original show, I won’t just see Dexter as an antihero, I’ll see him as a man still trying to convince himself that his father was right.
All the Dexter series are available to watch on Paramount+.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
