Dexter: Original Sin Episode 2 recap – Dexter finds his next target

In Dexter: Original Sin Episode 2, “Kid in a Candy Store”, Dexter attempts to settle into his new role as an intern at Miami Metro, but his murderous instincts make it a tricky task. (Warning: major spoilers ahead!)

Original Sin Episode 1 introduced us to the retro world of Dexter Morgan. At the end of the premiere episode, the awkward young teen finally found his calling, saving his father Harry by slaughtering a killer nurse who was out to make him her next victim.

It earned Dexter some confidence, and after getting an internship on the forensics team at Miami Metro, he started to come into his own.

But will his new distraction keep him from killing again? Who’s next on Dexter’s hit list? All this and more is explored in Dexter: Original Sin Episode 2.

Dexter settles into his new job in Original Sin Episode 2

We pick back up on Dexter during his first day at Miami Metro, still spinning in his chair. He’s feeling good, still high from his first kill, until Tanya comes in and gives him a stern warning: his good grades in school don’t mean anything here.

It’s a worthwhile lesson, because as Dexter is settling in, a young boy – the son of an important man, Judge Powell – elsewhere is being kidnapped and thrown into a dingy cell at an unknown location.

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Harry is also settling back into work after his heart attack. We get a flashback of him working on a drug ring case years earlier, and later, he shares his hopes with Dexter that working on murders in an investigative capacity will help him curb his killing desires.

Soon, Dexter gets to visit his first real crime scene. Naturally, he loves it. After being sent on a coffee run, he and Tanya start to go through the site. Because of his affinity for murder, he takes to forensics like a duck takes to water. (He still has a little trouble forming a normal, human connection to his new colleagues, however.)

Harry relives the past and tries to fix the present

In another flashback, Harry works on his drug ring case, and we learn that this is how he meets Dexter’s mother, Laura. (She’s arrested for associating with the same gang.)

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While preparing dinner that night, Harry seems naively relieved that Dexter is under control at last, but Dexter knows it can’t possibly be the end. That night, he relives the murder while examining Nurse Mary’s earrings.

The next morning, Harry tries to apologize to Deb for excluding her while he’s busy looking after Dexter, but she brushes him off, telling him she’s “used to it.” Harry also asks Angel to take Dexter under his wing at work, hoping a little guidance will help him adjust.

Dexter makes some friends

At work, Dexter finds a little support with Camilla, records supervisor for Miami Met. But Deb’s at home, saddened by the loss of their mother and determined to get some attention one way or another. She steals some of their videotapes to sell, but finds Mary’s earrings hidden in one of the cases.

Meanwhile, Harry is watching the court trial of Levi Reed, the man who they charged with being the serial killer terrorizing Miami, perhaps incorrectly. Another judge asks him if they have any leads on the kidnapping of Judge Powell’s son, and Harry implies he thinks the cartel is to blame.

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Later that night, Angel takes Dexter out for dinner and a drink. He tries to encourage him to dance and relax, and tells him the story of how the bar owner died by suicide after his mother was shot by a notorious gang leader, Ferrer. Dexter puts two and two together, realizing the killer is still out there.

Deb tries to sell the earrings at a pawn shop, but when she discovers they’re fake, she tells her mother’s necklace instead. Dexter has much more success at work when he brings doughnuts the next day.

In a strange turn of events, one of the fingers of Judge Powell’s son gets sent to Miami Metro. It affects Dexter deeply, who wants to find and kill the person responsible. He suspects Ferrer, the man who killed the bar owner and his mother. As he lies awake that night, he vows to kill again.

Dexter: Original Sin Episode 2 is available to stream on Paramount+ now.

For more, check out our guide on where else to watch Original Sin. You can also revisit some of the best TV shows of 2024, and take a look at the best serial killer documentaries around.