RECAP: ‘Dexter: Resurrection’ Season 2 Episode 2 – “Fallen”

After a season premiere that was promising in some areas and a letdown in others, Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 Episode 2, entitled “Fallen”, has the same strengths and weaknesses. Directed by Marcos Siega and written by Scott Buck, Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 Episode 2 certainly has bountiful moments of intrigue, yet feels so firmly stuck in setting up the season mode that it’s difficult to get as truly invested as one would like.

Right off the bat, the Harrison and overall NYPD plotline continues to be a bit of a drag. When Harrison (Jack Alcott) shows up for his first day of work, he finds that he’s promoted to Homicide, a huge feat for a recruit straight out of police academy. There’s a catch, though- his training officer is Fiona (Nona Parker Johnson), the woman he had slept with the night before. Worse yet, Fiona is the daughter of Captain Mixon (Bokeem Woodbine), the head of the Homicide Unit.

This development is a dramatic contrivance that audiences can see coming from a mile away, made lamer by the clear point that Harrison was only put in this division so that detectives Wallace (Kadia Saraf) and Oliva (Dominic Fumusa) are able to keep an eye on him. For Wallace and Oliva’s part, the investigation into the Five Borough Killer (Dan Stevens) is moving at a glacial pace, with them only having the killer’s estimated height to go by and a phone call stating that his next killing will be on Broadway. More on that later.

The storyline surrounding the Five Borough Killer is going nowhere so far.

On Dexter’s end, things get a little more interesting. Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 Episode 2 gives so many different storylines to its titular character, portrayed by Michael C. Hall, that it becomes overwhelming, so let’s go through them one by one. 

The first is Dexter’s reunion with Joseph Quinn (Desmond Harrington). Quinn shows up at Dexter’s doorstep, asking to go for a drink. Dexter reluctantly tags along, where Quinn reveals he’s retired from Miami Metro and is now a Private Investigator, looking for Leon Prater, whom we know Dexter dispatched in Season One, so that he can hopefully get information on the serial killers in his club and get justice for the families of their victims. After a bit of reminiscing on their shared past, Dexter slyly offers to help Quinn with whatever he needs.

This scene is like catnip for classic Dexter fans. Not only is it such a joy to see the chemistry between Desmond Harrington and Michael C. Hall again, but it also feels like a return to the original formula of Dexter offering “help” to those in law enforcement as a means of staying one step ahead and covering his tracks. For a moment, it felt like we never left the original run of the show. 

Brian Cox is having a ball in Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 Episode 2.

For our next Dexter Morgan storyline, while out and about listening to self-help tapes, the heavily teased “mid-life crisis” storyline feels painfully undercooked after last episode’s ending- Dexter spots Don Framt (Brian Cox), the suspected New York Ripper, being approached on the street by a young “fan” who’s presumably sexually attracted to him. Dexter follows Framt into a strip club, where he pretends to be a fan. After some prodding, Dexter gets Framt to admit to being the Ripper, yet refuses to admit enjoying the notoriety. 

With this scene, Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 Episode 2 comes to life. It’s always fun to see Dexter go undercover in a “disguise” like this, and I love the idea that I can’t really tell what Framt’s deal is. Brian Cox certainly plays him as a delightfully lecherous individual, which opens up the possibility that maybe he isn’t the Ripper and instead saw an opportunity to enjoy some notoriety.

However, the way he continually harps on not being able to walk has made me revise that theory into thinking maybe he could be faking his disabled nature and is more spry than we’re being led to believe. Only time will tell. 

Unfortunately, the New York Ripper storyline does hit a sharp, sour note when Dexter is asked by Harrison not to pursue killing the Ripper, as Wallace herself is trying to solve the case. There’s no two ways about it. At this point in time, it feels like Framt is being taken off the board to save his big moments for later. Fair? Sure. Transparent? Absolutely. 

The return of Charley Brown is a welcome one.

The main thrust of Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 Episode 2 involves the return of one of the first season’s most interesting characters. At a dinner with Harrison, none other than Charley Brown (Uma Thurman), Prater’s former head of security, approaches Dexter.

Once Dexter dismisses Harrison from the table, Charley explains that she feels disgusted with her part in Prater’s club. She offers Dexter a deal. She wants to facilitate Dexter taking care of the three remaining members of Prater’s club: the Jaw Splitter, The Sleepy-Eyed Stranger, and, of course, The New York Ripper. She will provide information and resources to do so. 

Working alone, Dexter has trouble accepting this deal. Eventually, with some advice from conscience in the form of his deceased father, Harry Morgan (James Remar), Dexter decides to agree to Charley’s help. She sets him up with a private brownstone, which she will invite the remaining killers to, which includes a basement that serves as the perfect kill room. She gets him a boat to dispose of bodies in the Hudson River named “Slice of Life Too”, a perfect throwback to his original method of disposal. 

The prospect of a new romance for Dexter is exciting.

The first target to be dispatched is The Sleepy Eyed Stranger, also known as Ray Ballard (Gabriel Luna). Charley explains that Ray is notable for killing victims in their sleep. First, though, he psychologically tortures them by going into their home and rearranging items for a long period of time, making them paranoid that someone’s invaded their home.

In a standout sequence of Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 Episode 2, set to the Nine Inch Nails song “The Day the World Went Away”, we see Ballard do this. This sequence has such a scuzzy, unsettling energy that feels like the introduction of a potential new iconic member of Dexter’s rogues’ gallery, helped by Gabriel Luna’s complete dead-eyed intensity. He receives the invitation from Charley and plans to head to New York. Knowing the way Dexter: Resurrection goes, he’s not likely to last long, which would be a shame because this is a hell of an intro. 

The final scene of Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 Episode 2 shows Dexter and Charley meeting up to discuss how to take out Ballard. They agree to act as a couple so they have a cover story for their public meeting. Now this is really fascinating, as Dexter has lacked a romance in some time.

Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 Episode 2 ultimately does too much and feels disjointed.

Given Charley fully seeing him for who he is, this could blossom into something real. Not that there’s much time for romance, as a body falls onto a nearby bus stop. Dexter realizes they’re on Broadway and spots the Five Borough Killer on the rooftop, vowing to take care of him that night. 

Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 Episode 2 is full of great sequences for the title character. Outside of the Harrison plotline and Wallace/Oliva’s pursuit of The New York Ripper not progressing, nearly all of the scenes are incredibly enjoyable. The problem is that, as a whole, “Fallen” is not a very cohesive episode. Yes, Dexter gets a lot of potential incredible paths to embark on – pursuing The New York Ripper, staying ahead of Quinn, working with Charley – yet that’s the problem: there are too many avenues to go down. 

Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 Episode 2 is throwing everything at the wall for our protagonist when it needs to pick a lane. As a fan of the franchise, I’m thrilled to have so much to theorize about, but this is the second episode, and the season’s throughline still hasn’t made itself clear. Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 has the right ideas. In the weeks ahead, it needs to tighten up and bring these threads together; otherwise, that potential won’t be realized. 

Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 Episode 2 is now available to stream on Paramount+.

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