Tonight’s the night. Dexter: Resurrection Episode 9 is now streaming on Paramount + and will air Sunday evening on Showtime. If you haven’t already watched “Touched by an Angel” which was directed by Marcos Siega (teleplay by Scott Reynolds, story by Matt Venne), proceed with caution. This article will be filled with spoilers.
Adios, Hermano
Angel Batista is dead. I think we’ve all seen this coming. I know that I’ve written about it, the feeling that this legacy character who was once Dexter’s closest friend would perish before the end of the season. But being able to draw this narrative conclusion doesn’t take away from the emotional impact. Dexter: Resurrection Episode 9 was a solid farewell for this beloved character and, ultimately, that’s the most you can ask for.
“Touched by an Angel” was the fastest paced episode of the season. While its run time was relatively short at 47 minutes long, the episode moved frantically, weaving from one beat to the next with no time for the audience to catch its breath. Insane penultimate episodes are a trademark of this franchise, setting the stage for the finales to be action centric and often emotionally challenging. The tried and true formula appears to the game plan here as well.
Dexter: Resurrection Episode 9 effectively tied all of the various story beats together, bringing Dexter, Prater, Charley, Angel and Harrison all narratively together. The episode picked up exactly where last week left off, with Prater interrupting Dexter and Harrison’s meal together. Prater and Charley becoming aware that Dexter has a son raises the level of tension. Angel is outside watching and taking photos, using Prater’s public ambush as means to tie him and Dexter together.
Angel’s arc in this episode saw him range from being (still) a good cop to displaying how angry and out of character he’s acting to tragic, before repeating the cycle in that exact order again. Watching him take photos of Dexter and Prater was a bigger scoop than he realized at the time. He followed Dexter and Harrison to the subway and when Dexter was able to escape, Angel cursed in front of a child, angering the child’s mother. For Angel to not apologize or even acknowledge this woman showed that he’s not himself right now. That’s the Dexter Morgan effect, where Dexter doesn’t have to kill a person to ruin their lives.
Seeing Angel at the police station was hard to watch. This amazing career police officer was talked down to and made out to be a crazy person by the detectives. Watching them tell Angel to leave town and that they had to take his badge before he left was tough. Angel deserved to go out a hero after decades of being a good cop. Instead, he turned his badge over with his head down, still not ready to give up the case that’s defined his life.
The dots were all connected and secrets revealed when Angel went to see Prater. It was here where he revealed who Dexter really was and set the wheels in motion for the high stakes ending to not only this episode, but also next week’s season finale. Angel Batista would never leave Prater’s property, with the last hour of his life serving to complicate Dexter’s life more and perhaps also foreshadow more people being indirectly hurt by Dexter.
A Brief Detour
I need to stop and talk about Prater and Charley for a moment. Dexter: Resurrection Episode 9 gave us a lot more insight as to who they are. Prater firmly cemented himself as the “Big Bad” of the season this week. He sent Charley to “vet” Harrison early in the episode, which consisted of intimidating him, prying for information and lifting a glass so she could get his fingerprints. This obviously sent Dexter into a rage and he first went to Charley’s house, where he discovered not only her dying mother, but also that she and her mother are both former military.
Uma Thurman gave her best performance of the season, particularly in the scene where Dexter forced her to drive while he held a saw to her neck (a la the real Red). We could see that her character does not enjoy any of this but she’s good at following orders and she’s completely motivated by keeping her mother alive, which is what Prater holds over her head.
Prater is the true psychopath. We watched him experience true glee over Charley’s wounds on her throat courtesy of Dexter. We watched him be practically giddy at the realization that Dexter was actually the Bay Harbor Butcher. He feels like a strange commentary on our true crime obsessed society/the dangers of the wealthy having too much power. Which is scary to think about.
Another Detour
Harrison remains the heart and soul of this new series. We got to see him be terrified when talking to Charley, smitten while with GG, and vulnerable when talking to his father. There’s much needed levity in scenes where Dexter is trying to be a father to his son, such as offering him condoms, but as Harrison reminded us this week, he still feels like his dad could abandon him again at any moment.
Dexter sending Harrison and GG to GG’s apartment for the night allowed him to confront Prater, who he is now locked in on killing. With our detours now out of the way, let’s get back to where we were, which was the death of Captain Angel Batista.
What About Angel?
The conclusion to Dexter: Resurrection Episode 9 came when Charley apprehended Angel, and Dexter showed up to talk to Prater, with the intention of killing him. Prater took Dexter back to his vault full of serial killer memorabilia, and this is where he let him know that he knew that he was really Dexter Morgan. He knew that he was the Bay Harbor Butcher. It was then revealed that Angel was strapped to a kill table.
Prater offered to be Dexter’s benefactor, on the condition that he kill Angel right now, in front of him. Prater was jubilant at the fact that Dexter was truly a much more prominent serial killer than Red. Dexter’s decision to not kill Angel, but rather free him from the kill table, would be a costly one: Angel went straight for Dexter’s throat. Even though Dexter refused to kill him (and freed him) Angel’s purpose was still very much to end the reign of terror from the Butcher. This led to Prater shooting Angel and then locking Dexter in the vault with a dying Angel.
I appreciated Dexter trying to talk to Angel as he bled out, confirming that he was the Butcher but claiming innocence over the deaths of Doakes and Maria. Angel’s response was perfect, still blaming Dexter and not absolving him at all. His last words were “Dexter Morgan, fuck you” before slumping over. A fitting ending, going out tough and true to his beliefs as a cop. Dexter might not have killed Maria, Doakes or even Angel, but he was responsible for all three deaths.
Final Thoughts
Next week’s season finale will likely be the end of both Prater and Charley, most likely at the hands of Dexter. Harrison is clearly getting involved, most likely to save his dad. I just really hope that he doesn’t kill anyone and can continue on his path of healing. See you next week for the season finale.