Dexter: Resurrection mirrors original tragedy: Is Harrison repeating his father's mistakes?

Dexter: Resurrection Season 1 debuted on July 11, 2025, on Paramount+ Showtime with two episodes titled A Beating Heart and Camera Shy. The third chapter, Backseat Driver, was released on July 18, 2025. All three episodes hint at a very shady truth: Harrison, Dexter’s son, is on track to repeat his father’s mistakes. Previously, we saw how Harrison shot his father to escape to New York. The reason? Harrison did not want to learn the code; he was not ready to kill anybody.

In Dexter: Resurrection, Harrison is seen working at a high-end hotel, trying his best to outrun his past. However, the more he tries to escape, the more he drifts toward the exact steps that pushed his father, Dexter Morgan, into darkness.

Dexter: Resurrection: Patterns written in blood

Harrison’s life is echoing his father’s in unsettling ways. Where Dexter tried to return to normalcy by dating Rita, a single mother with two kids, Harrison is now growing close to Elsa Rivera—a single mother with a young son.

At first glance, it’s innocent. They work together. He helps babysit and even brings the kid comic books. But longtime fans of the franchise know nothing is ever simple in Dexter’s world. Emotional ties have consequences—often deadly ones.

The relationship between Elsa and Harrison may not yet be romantic, but it’s quite emotionally charged. Just as Rita once believed Dexter’s secrets were tied to addiction, Elsa sees Harrison’s condition as something she can help heal. That belief could cost her everything, as it did for Rita.

Is Harrison repeating Dexter's mistakes?

What makes Harrison’s situation more tragic is that it’s not as cold as Dexter’s. He feels things deeply. However, those emotions haven’t stopped him from killing. In the series premiere, he takes a life. He kills a hotel guest, Ryan, who was trying to take advantage of a young woman named Shauna. He covers it up using the same methods his father taught him. He cleans the crime scene with bleach, replaces the murder weapon (toilet tank), carries Ryan’s dead body to a closed kitchen, cuts it into nine pieces, and puts them in garbage bags.

The justification? The victim was a criminal/abuser. Sounds quite similar to Dexter Morgan’s patterns, doesn’t it? But he isn’t as precise as Dexter; he makes a small mistake, which later leads to his interrogation in Episode 3. However, Elsa’s statement—and of course, Dexter’s precise cleanup—saves him from getting arrested.

This blend of morality and murder is the most dangerous trait Harrison has inherited. It suggests that while he may reject the code on the surface, he still operates under its influence. Killing becomes a solution—not a last resort, but a fallback. That mindset didn’t rescue Dexter, and it won’t save Harrison either.

Dexter, now just an observer, sees his son with Elsa and chooses not to approach. Why? Because Harrison finally looks happy. But happiness in Dexter’s world is always short-lived—and often fatal.

Will Harrison break the cycle or repeat it in Dexter: Resurrection?

Harrison’s greatest challenge isn’t dodging detectives or surviving his inner turmoil. It’s choosing whether or not to drag someone else into his orbit. Rita never knew she married a serial killer. She paid with her life. Elsa may be on a similar path—unless Harrison puts an end to it.

The last scene in Episode 3, when Harrison stares into the mirror and it transitions smoothly to Dexter’s mirror, hints that Harrison is already on Dexter’s deadly path.

Elsa’s kindness mirrors Rita’s trust. Her son mirrors Dexter’s bonds with Rita’s kids. The question Dexter: Resurrection silently asks isn’t just whether Harrison will kill again. It’s whether he can protect the people he cares about—or whether history is doomed to repeat itself most brutally.

Dexter: Resurrection is available to watch on Paramount+ Showtime.

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Also read: “Things get more complicated” – Dexter: Resurrection stars tease some thrilling moments in the upcoming episodes of the Showtime series

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