Dexter: Resurrection season 2 premiere: is Dexter getting sloppy?

Dexter: Resurrection season 2 is here, and Dexter is making the same mistakes he made with Harrison in New Blood, the ones that ended with a bullet through his chest. Worst of all, he's becoming sloppy. The episode title points to risky business, and that's exactly where he is this time around. While Dexter is only in it for the hunt, Harrison is building an actual life.

The series stars Michael C. Hall as Dexter and Jack Alcott as Harrison. It's been three years since Leon Prater's downfall, and Dexter has had time to settle into New York. Routines have formed, Harrison has grown, and this second chance has had time to become something ordinary. But Dexter seems irritated by that lifestyle. It looks like his dark passenger doesn't want him on the path of anything ordinary.

Dexter's dream about Angel Batista shows what he wants

The premiere opens with Dexter and Angel Batista working together on a hunt for the New York Ripper. That was surprising. Even more surprising, Angel helps him prepare the kill and even hands Dexter the knife. Then the victim is revealed, and it's Angel himself. Dexter wakes up. It was all a dream playing in his head.

That makes me wonder whether he is dreaming of acceptance from Angel, wishing Angel saw him as the man saving lives instead of the murderer. That can't come true, because Angel is already dead. Throughout the episode, that's what Dexter longs for: someone to recognize and appreciate him. He wants it from everyone, including his friend. But that isn't part of the code, and Harry warns him about it.

Even in that dream, Angel still ends up under the knife. Things don't end well for people who even support Dexter. We've seen it again and again: everyone who gets close to him is destroyed in the end. Prater shot Batista last season after Dexter freed him, so Dexter didn't commit the stabbing we see in the dream. Still, no matter what he tries now, he can't get forgiveness from Angel. Harry tells him he can't blame himself for Angel's death. I think he can. Dexter is always seeking validation from the people inside his head, the dead people he talks to for ideas, and Angel may have just become one of them.

Dexter misses Harrison's academy graduation to hunt Al

I love how Harrison is doing well for himself. I like seeing him move toward a profession with responsibilities outside his father. I can't think of a better future Dexter could want for him, and the academy graduation is evidence of that. Yet Dexter doesn't show up, because he has to be somewhere doing what Dexter does. This time, that's pursuing Al.

Dexter has never been there for Harrison, and he can't go back and fix that. He could start by being there now: attend the graduation, sit down and make the boy proud. Imagine a big graduation like this, being asked where your father is and having to cover for him. Deep down, Harrison can't cover up the truth from himself. He knows what Dexter does, and he knows why Dexter didn't show up.

You might be tempted to say Harrison should know what to expect because Dexter is unreliable. That doesn't make the absence less painful. It still hurts, especially if Dexter promised he'd be there only to end up chasing ghosts. When you live with a person like that, you always pray this time will be different, and then the day comes and you're disappointed again.

Harrison's law enforcement career and Fiona put the Morgan secret at risk

The profession Harrison chose doesn't sit well with me at all. We know what law enforcement is for. If Harrison's own dark passenger doesn't get in his way, he'll have to cover for his dad every time, knowing what he does. That means Dexter has swallowed another part of his son's life.

Then there's Fiona, and that new chapter is a problem. Harrison deserves a chance at friends, at least, if he doesn't get a family. But if these people get too close, the way Angela was close to Dexter, we go through all of this again, because eventually they become threats to the Morgan family secret. How does he keep pretending? Does he get his act together and hope the secret doesn't ruin his chance at a normal life?

This isn't a secret you can spill to someone just because you trust them. "Nobody wants to live with a serial killer, regardless of what your motives are." Things like that make relationships very fragile.

Al Walker, the Rapunzel killer, nearly turns the tables on Dexter

Al Walker seems to be working things out well. He gets to be the family dad and still go hunting, and he's been doing it for years. "Kudos to him." He's the Rapunzel killer himself, and it would be wrong to underestimate him. He's in bad shape, but he's got some muscle.

Dexter tracks him to Pennsylvania, prepares his kill room and nearly loses control when Al turns the encounter against him. "It was out of sheer grace that Dexter managed to get himself out of this situation." Things didn't go to plan, and though he manages to kill Al, the exertion leaves him struggling.

Dexter's method depends on an enormous amount going right before that final knife stroke. If his body can't reliably do what his plan assumes, confidence becomes a liability. He has the experience, but the sedative won't work every time. He's always confident his method will work because it has worked for him for so many years.

Dexter was right about Al. He fits the code: he's guilty and deserves to be taken down. Al had already eyed his next victim before Dexter lured him in under the pretense of having a talk. But attacking him at that moment was reckless, and the preparation was insufficient. Maybe what drove Dexter into it was his own urge. Now he's considering hitting the gym to get fitter. Good luck to him.

Dexter leaves Al's body on display because he wants to be noticed

Dexter changes his usual routine with Al. Instead of cutting him up and making him disappear, he leaves Al hanging from the chain with his hair trophies right there for investigators to discover and connect him to the Rapunzel murders.

He also keeps checking online to see whether the body has been found. He wants people to discover it and know this killer is gone. That tells me he's bored, and now he wants some acknowledgement that what he does matters. He obviously can't claim the credit openly, but he's still waiting for the world to notice. Al is the dead proof that anything can happen.

The knife guy reaches for an axe and a chain

I thought Dexter was the knife guy. In this premiere, he tells us he took an axe to the Midnight Mangler up in Seattle. Then he chokes Al with a chain. Dexter hates guns because they're loud, but I was left asking whether this is really Dexter.

Still, it's high time he got a plan B, and maybe even a plan C, because things won't always work out the way he wants. Dexter is over 50. Getting older isn't a bad thing in itself, but age weakens your muscles, and that is a bad thing.

Wallace struggles to build a case against the New York Ripper

The New York Ripper is still active, tormenting the victims' families. Because the police have done a bad job on his case, Wallace is struggling to secure a case against him. The evidence from Prater's material gives investigators a direction, but they need more to make it stick. That's the justice system: you need proof beyond reasonable doubt even when you're staring the killer in the face.

You could say this is where Dexter shines, and you'd be right. This is Dexter's job, the guy who gives the police nothing to do. The Ripper thinks he's beyond reach, and maybe Dexter should take him. But Wallace has put so much work into this case that it shouldn't just be thrown away, or the police become useless. So I don't think we should pray Dexter takes him on. He has killed people and needs to be stopped as soon as possible, and I have no argument with that.

What is even wrong with this Ripper? What entertainment does he still want from the victims' families? Years have passed and he still won't let them rest. He's a miserable man. The premiere shows him as an older adversary whose menace survives his reduced mobility. Though he's stuck in his chair, he's somehow having fun with all of this.

The Five Borough Killer turns his murders into a show

Then there's the Five Borough Killer, who announces a murder at a baseball game, then shoots a woman in a parking lot even though rain cancels the game. That's someone with real guts. Law enforcement knew about the attack and prepared for it, and he still accomplished his mission without anyone close by hearing a thing. He used the rain, the noise and an umbrella as cover.

That doesn't make him the smartest killer. His killings are random, and he enjoys them. He threatens innocent people, follows through, then calls to taunt the police. It's as if he's creating a show out of his killings and then looking on as they fail to catch him. In the park, he shared his recent killing just to taunt people and make them panic. Perhaps he simply wants to make headlines and have people talk about him.

That's dangerous for Dexter. If Dexter learns of this, I bet he'll take on the challenge, and it won't be about saving people. It will be about proving his own relevance. He can justify it with the code for all I care.

Quinn arrives in New York with a history of knowing Dexter

Before the episode ends, Quinn arrives. He's another familiar face now within reach of the New York investigation. He brings a history of knowing Dexter, and with that he could learn even more about him, which isn't good news for Dexter at all.

Quinn hasn't solved everything, not yet. He may have a lead, but he needs more than a lead to put the pieces together.

Why Dexter is slipping: a serial killer who feels underappreciated

The reason I say Dexter is slipping is that he's restless. He keeps his killings hidden, and the idea of his legacy is pressing on him. He's a serial killer who feels underappreciated. But what exactly does he want to be appreciated for, and what would that look like? He has already imagined Angel's acceptance. If people start praising his supposed purpose, who's to say that won't lead him somewhere dangerous?

Dead Harry isn't happy with the way Dexter wants to run things now. Dexter is rewriting the code, and that may not be good for him at all. Al is still hanging there, and Dexter wants people to see him, because when they start talking, that would make him feel good.