Dexter: Original Sin Episode 6 includes a cheeky reference to original show’s hated ending

Dexter: Original Sin puts a ’90s spin on the Bay Harbor Butcher’s origins, but the latest episode also contains an unavoidable reference to the original show’s most disastrous moment.

Dexter is busy trying to track down his latest kill in Original Sin Episode 6, but before he can progress, he’s talked into going on a double date with his sister, Deb.

With someone as awkward as Dexter, the date starts out bumpy. But he soon finds his confidence thanks to some observations of his next victim, plus some prep work from Deb. However, those who remember the original show’s highly-criticized ending might have caught a dig hidden in a scene between the two siblings.

And if you’d forgotten all about a certain lumberjack, Original Sin just forced you to remember. (Warning: spoilers ahead!)

Original Sin references lumberjack Dexter

In Original Sin Episode 6, Deb has signed Dexter up for a double date with Gio, her new boyfriend, and Sofia, her best friend who has a crush on Dexter. In the morning before he goes to work, she rifles through his wardrobe, trying to find something she deems “cool” enough for Gio.

She finds a plaid shirt, and as he tries it on she tells him Sofia loves men in plaid, adding how it’s “some kind of weird lumberjack fetish she has going on.”

Paramount

Clearly, this is a reference to “Lumberjack Dexter”, who first became a phenomenon after the original show’s ending in 2013. In the final episode, Dexter jumps from a boat into a hurricane instead of going to meet Hannah and Harrison, who are waiting for him elsewhere.

However, the epilogue shows that Dexter is in fact alive, and is spending the rest of his days in isolation as a lumberjack. (Thick beard and all.) This ending was widely mocked by fans, with many openly preferring Dexter to have died instead.

Showtime

Even Showtime entertainment president Gary Levine later recalled, “Dexter is a jewel in the crown of Showtime and we didn’t do it justice in the end, and that has always been a burr under my saddle.”

When the sequel series New Blood followed in 2021, the ex-Bay Harbor Butcher was no longer a lumberjack, but rather a clerk at a hunting goods store in Iron Lake, New York.

Retrospect has been kinder to the Dexter finale, but it still remains a polarizing episode. With Debra’s remark in Original Sin, it appears as though the franchise isn’t above poking fun at its own history.

Original Sin Episode 6 is available to stream on Paramount+ now.

For more, check out our Original Sin Episode 1 recap, and find out where to watch the entire series. You can also keep up with all the other top TV shows you need to see in 2025.