Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Patrick Gibson, Christian Slater, Molly Brown, Christina Milian, James Martinez, Alex Shimizu, Reno Wilson, Patrick Dempsey, Michael C. Hall, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Brittany Allen, Aaron Jennings, Raquel Justice, Sarah Kinsey, Eli Sherman, Jasper Lewis, Xander Mateo, London Thatcher, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Issac Gonzalez Rossi, Chandler Lovelle, Roberto Sanchez, Amanda Brooks, Carlo Mendez, Randy Gonzalez, Roby Attal, Brayden Gleave, Caryle Tamaren.
Serial killers rarely display or grasp the idea of empathy, and we the onlookers to their crimes are often surprised by the notion that they attract a huge fan base during their lifetime once they have been placed behind bars.
How often do we such base criminality bestowed and showered with gifts and promises of undying love; if Jack The Ripper were to have committed his sickening deeds in the aftermath of World War Two and the start of the news cycle using fawning techniques as they do, then how many men and women would be lining up outside of the prison with tales of love as they attempt to break the void of non-existent empathy within.
We rightly hold the cold and brutal killer with contempt, and yet there are some we regard, even in fiction, of having something about them that deserves insight, and as Dexter Morgan’s life is flashing before his eyes as the 2022 miniseries Dexter: New Blood, so the glee of blood splatter and guilty murderers receiving their comeuppance is renewed as the events of 15 years prior to his main introduction to the world unfold and see the Original Sin at its conception.
It may seem inconceivable to many how a tale of the life a fictional serial killer can keep being resurrected, and perhaps it could be a sign of the times that we inhabit that such a man is not seen as the devil, but as the angel avenging the wrongs of humanity whilst taking a slice of pleasure and relief as payment for his trouble. This is the exchange of empathy, we pay with our identification, we give service for the sympathy, and in return the pop idol gleans more of our own humanity.
What Dexter: Original Sin does well, indeed superbly so, is the attention to detail in the casting of characters so much younger than what the audience has engrained into their minds of being; each one fits so well that it is almost eerie, the mannerism, the sense of continuation could almost have been driven from the reverse, and in the main protagonist of the series, the bar is set incredibly high that it is an eye opening experience to witness Patrick Dempsey inhabit the role of the respected Captain Aaron Spencer, and when coupled with the origin of the Ice Truck Killer, the series becomes one of high drama, and demanding of the concentration.
With terrific performances from Patrick Gibson as the young intern to Miami Metro and flowering serial killer Dexter, Christian Slater as Harry Morgan, Molly Brown in impressive form as Debra Morgan, and Sarah Michelle Geller as the previously unmentioned head of the Forensics Lab, Tanya Martin, Dexter: Original Sin has captured the imagination of the audience and lit a fire under the preconception of what prequels are to the fan. Serial killers may lack empathy, but in this prelude to murder we gain the understanding of how such people gain attention and love in their notoriety.
Ian D. Hall