Dexter Resurrection Episode 10 Recap

 Dexter Resurrection Episode 10 Recap

Dexter: Resurrection’ Finale Recap: Who Is the New York Ripper?

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “And Justice for All…,” the Season 1 finale of “Dexter: Resurrection,” now streaming on Paramount+.

Longtime fans of “Dexter” should be pleased with the Season 1 finale of “Resurrection,” after missing the mark with the ending of the original series (and with the recent “New Blood”) — but this season-ender capped off the franchise’s return to form. With a finale that featured thumbprints, hallucinations in vaults and more father-son angst than a Shakespearean tragedy, it was solid enough to warrant more Dexter adventures in Manhattan.

Leave it to Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) to get trapped in a billionaire sociopath’s museum room for serial killers, alongside his former colleague and now-dead friend Angel Batista (David Zayas) lying on the floor. Quintessential hallucinatory conversations take place, as always, with Dexter’s dead father Harry (James Remar, who later delivers a funny “fucking kill him” line later in the episode), who reminds him of his code, and a surprise cameo by Brian Moser — the Ice Truck Killer (Christian Camargo), aka Dexter’s older brother whom he killed back in Season 1 .

In the episode, Peter Dinklage’s Leon Prater finally goes full Bond villain. With a mansion filled with files, cameras and an army of waitstaff, Prater reveals himself as not just a collector of killers, but an eager applicant to the Dexter School of Dark Passengers after he commits his first kill by murdering Batista. The plan by Prater and his resourceful sidekick Charley (Uma Thurman) is to leave Dexter in the vault for three days without food and water until he dies. Of course, he’s holding a gala to raise money for local police just downstairs.

One thing Prater and Charley didn’t count on was Batista still having his cellphone on him, which begins to ring with a call from his former partner Joey Quinn (Desmond Harrington), who leaves a voicemail saying he’s worried about him after the NYPD called and learned that Batista was retired and no longer a cop, and still pursuing the Bay Harbor Butcher case. Quinn has no idea that Batista is dead, but that will surely be a factor next season.

One thing Prater and Charley didn’t count on was Batista still having his cellphone on him, which begins to ring with a call from his former partner Joey Quinn (Desmond Harrington), who leaves a voicemail saying he’s worried about him after the NYPD called and learned that Batista was retired and no longer a cop, and still pursuing the Bay Harbor Butcher case. Quinn has no idea that Batista is dead, but that will surely be a factor next season.

Charley’s final conversations — with Dexter, and then Prater — are loaded with possible teases for more of her in future seasons (perhaps?). She escapes with her ailing mother and tells her they’re going back “home,” wherever that is.

Charley’s final conversations — with Dexter, and then Prater — are loaded with possible teases for more of her in future seasons (perhaps?). She escapes with her ailing mother and tells her they’re going back “home,” wherever that is.

Dexter sets up a kill room in the vault and delivers a closing narration on par with Season 4 when he killed the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow), which reframed Dexter’s arc. A very audibly whiny Prater is killed by one of the knives in the room. Dexter cleans up (so fast, by the way that my wife was impressed), sets the alarm off and goes off into the night with Prater’s bloody thumb so he can get out of the room, and to his boat to dump his body right in front of the Statue of Liberty (there have to be cameras there, though, right?). He leaves Batista in there for the cops to find, and the gun with Prater’s prints on it. They think he did it, which he did, but also, is no one going to check Angel’s phone logs and see he called Harrison Morgan after he died? Maybe that’s Quinn’s clue for his arc next season. Is everyone from Miami Metro about to come to NYC one at a time, and end up dying because of Dexter? Remember: Eric Stonestreet’s ponytail killer is still out there after bailing out of the intermission of “Hamilton.”

In a very fitting internal monologue as he gets rid of Prater’s chopped up body, Dexter puts the series back into focus. Once resigned to isolation, he now admits he needs Harrison — not just as a son, but as a confidant. “I’m exactly who I need to be. Exactly who you want me to be,” he tells the audience in voiceover.

But let’s get to the underwhelming part. For weeks, the New York Ripper case has lurked on the periphery of the series — a boogeyman that the show kept hinting was someone in Dexter’s life. We’ve learned the killer’s weapon of choice was a crowbar-like tool, that his spree ended eight years ago and that he now torments families with cruel late-night phone calls. One of his murder weapons was revealed among Prater’s grotesque collection. In the finale, the mystery became tangible when Dexter discovered a file in Prater’s homage room to serial killers. On it: a name. Are you ready? Don Framt.

Who? Exactly.

The reveal left more questions than it provided answers. Was Prater manipulating evidence? Is Framt a nobody, a red herring or someone we’ve already met under a different name? For now, Dexter left the Ripper file as a gift to Detective Claudette Wallace (Kadia Saraf), the “Stayin’ Alive”-loving cop whose instincts may prove vital in the story’s future. It’s less closure for the season, than a breadcrumb trail to Season 2.