Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

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George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.

Showing posts with label Dexter: Original Sin. Show all posts

Monday, November 3, 2025

A Political Hypothesis about Why Dexter Original Sin Was Unrenewed

I've been a devoted fan of Dexter since it debuted on Showtime in 2006. My very first review of a TV show on this blog in December 2006 was a rave review of the first season of Dexter 20 years ago on Showtime. The review is entitled First Place to Dexter.

I've reviewed in this blog every episode of every season of Dexter since then. And of course I reviewed every episode of Dexter: Original Sin last summer. I was sad when the original run of Dexter ended in 2013, thrilled when Dexter returned in New Blood in 2021, disappointed when Dexter Morgan apparently died at the end of that one season in 2022, delighted with the prequel Original Sin, glad that it was renewed earlier this year, and I think Dexter: Resurrection this year was masterful.

So you can imagine how stunned I was about the announcement that the renewal of Original Sin for a second season had been reversed, the prequel series cancelled, this past August. As Alisha Grauso pointed out in her Screen Rant article four days ago, Original Sin "immediately became Showtime's most-watched premiere ever, with 2.1 million viewers". She then says its about-face cancellation by Paramount four months after Original Sin had been renewed "was seemingly a casualty of the Skydance-Paramount merger," and goes on to explain that after the merger, Paramount reviewed all of its programming (ok, that makes sense) and she further suggests Paramount may have to decided to revoke its renewal because prequels are narratively difficult and even when successful often satisfy their viewing audience with just a single season. And that makes no sense to me at all. Even if that characteristic of prequels is true, there was no way Paramount would not go for a second season of Original Sin, given how successful -- immediately becoming "Showtime's most-watched premiere ever" -- Original Sin on Showtime was.

My wife, also an avid fan of Dexter on television, didn't get a chance to watch Original Sin until this past week. I was half-watching it with her and enjoying it immensely. And I starting wondering, again, why had Paramount reversed itself? Why cancel at a time when the Dexter franchise was taking the screen by the storm? Yes, that decision was indeed a result of the Skydance merger. And what else had happened with Paramount and CBS after that merger? Well, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert had been unceremoniously cancelled (effective May 2026) after Skydance got in the driver's seat. And why was that? The billionaire who owns and runs Skydance is a big Trump supporter, and Colbert's sarcastic comedy has been at its sharpest when it came to Trump.

But Dexter: Original Sin had no political comedy, right? Ok, but maybe one of its lead actors, or writers, or directors, had spoken out against Trump and the march towards fascism in America he's engendering and leading. I did a search on Christian Slater (who brilliantly plays Dexter's father Harry in Original Sin) and Trump. And bingo! Back in 2018, Slater called Trump an "asshole". Breitbart, a right-wing publication, was so upset about that, they devoted a whole article about it. Surely Trump, who keeps track of every insult, real and imagined, was bearing one of his myriad continuing grudges, and desire for revenge, against Christian Slater.

Of course, I have no proof of this. But I wanted to put this hypothesis out there. Was Christian Slater and thereby Original Sin another victim of Trump's rampage against free expression, abetted by the billionaires who support him, in this case, a billionaire whose company now in effect owns Paramount, and thereby has easy control over its programming? Maybe, given the damage Trump has already done to the arts and culture in this country, I'm being too quick to see him as the villain behind Paramount's illogical reversal on its renewal of Dexter: Original Sin. But the other explanations just don't add up, given Original Sin's enormous success, and I really can't think of a more convincing explanation of why it was cancelled after it had been renewed.

Reviews of Season 2: Dexter's Back: A Preview and Dexter Meets Heroes and 6. Dexter and De-Lila-h and 7. Best Line About Dexter - from Lila and 8. How Will Dexter Get Out of This? and The Plot Gets Tighter and Sharper and Dex, Doakes, and Harry and Deb's Belief Saves Dex and All's ... Well

See also about Season 1: First Place to Dexter

Friday, August 29, 2025

Dexter: Resurrection 1.9: And Then There Were Two

I said and discussed in my review of Dexter: Resurrection 1.8 last week that Dexter was facing three potent enemies (individual and groups) in New York, and Batista was the weakest. In tonight's Emmy-worthy episode, we see all three of them at work, and one of them eliminated.

[Spoilers ahead .... ]

And that indeed was Batista, who is not killed by Dexter, after Det. Wallace of the NYPD gives Batista his marching orders -- get out of our New York, or I'll arrest you tomorrow for impersonating a police officer -- but by Prater. In a brilliantly effective scene (one of many in this episode, and in this series), Dexter cuts not Batista's throat (or plunge the knife into him as Prater is requesting) but Batista's bonds that are holding him on the killing table. And Batista, still understandably fired with fury at Dexter for the killings of LaGuerta and Doakes, jumps Dexter, but is shot (presumably to death) by Prater before Batista can choke Dexter to death.

I thought this was one of the most memorable scenes in the entire constellation of Dexter series. Dexter tells Batista that he (Dexter) wasn't the one who killed LaGuerta and Doakes. Batista says that doesn't matter, Dexter was still responsible for their deaths, as he will soon be for Batista's, lying there bleeding from numerous bullets. I say he's "presumably" dead, however, because I've long had a principle in TV viewing and reviewing: if you don't see a character literally blown to bits, or at least their head blown off, they could still be alive (see what happened from time to time in 24). After all, Dexter: Resurrection is based on that very principle, seeing as how it sure seemed that Harrison had shot Dexter to death at end of Dexter: New Blood.

There were many other prime scenes in this superb episode. It was great seeing Dexter get the drop on Charley, and great seeing Harrison talk his way through Charley attempting to find out more about Dexter.

Just one more episode of this debut season of Dexter: Resurrection left , and I'm looking forward to seeing which of his enemies is left standing.

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Dexter: Resurrection 1.8: The Enemies, an Evaluation

Checking in with a late (5 days after its streaming) review of Dexter: Resurrection 1.8. For me, the episode indicated two things:

1. Dexter has three people or groups of people out to get him.

2. It's not clear, at this point in the season -- with just two episodes left -- which of these enemies if any will succeed.

It looked, at the end of episode 1.7, that Batista had a pretty good shot. I thought, then, that Dexter would see he had no choice but to kill his former colleague from Florida. But Dexter does a pretty good job of confusing and eluding Batista in 1.8, which leads me to think that Dexter may not need to do the worst to survive this danger. Good news for people like me who enjoy even when Cuban food is just talked about.

That leaves Leon Prater (played by Peter Dinklage) and Charley his deadly sidekick (played by Uma Thurman). In addition to being played by top-notch power-exuding actors, and even though they clearly don't agree on everything, the two are beginning to close in on what Dexter is and what he has done to Prater's precious club. Charley is already telling Prater about her suspicion of Dexter, and judging by the closing scene, Prater is beginning to act on this. And--

There's a third group: NYPD Detective Wallace and her associate Detective Oliva. Their wheels grind more slowly than Prater's and Batista's, who have personal grievances against Dexter (to say the least) and have no need to respect the law in New York City. If I was forced to choose, I'd say this last group is mostly likely to succeed, or come closest to succeeding.

Dexter dying seems out of the question, first because it happened already and he survived, and second, Paramount surely wouldn't want to cancel such a superb series. On the other hand, looked what just happened to Dexter: Origin Sin, which I'm still hoping will find a life elsewhere.

Friday, July 18, 2025

Dexter: Resurrection 1.3: Killers and Prey

Whew, a powerhouse Dexter: Resurrection 1.3, with at least three things that I really loved:

[Spoilers ahead]

1. Harrison getting out of that murder rap (for now) with that clever Detective Wallace boxing him in with that no sign of him leaving the hotel. He had the perfect answer to her -- that he's sleeping in the hotel, not paying for a room, and he didn't tell Wallace that sooner because he was protecting Elsa, the woman who is letting him stay in the hotel. Nice piece of work, Harrison! Your father (and grandfather) would be proud of you.

2. Dexter not falling prey to his prey -- the other Dark Passenger -- by wearing that metal collar around his neck. Dexter hasn't lost his edge. He always knew how to protect himself even when he was first starting out -- well, not always, but in Dexter: Original Sin he was quickly learning how -- and getting the jump on Red as Red was trying to do the same to him was also a fine piece of work in the Dexter corpus.

3. But of course my favorite was Batista retiring and Masuka and Quinn saying goodbye to him. The last two were in great shape, and so is Batista, as I mentioned in my review of the first two episodes of Resurrection last week.

So, Harrison is free (for now), Dexter has taken care of Red, but he's set to get involved with the serial killers club, because how could he not, it's a perfect hunting ground for him. But Batista is no doubt on his way to New York to nab Dexter as the Bay Harbor Butcher, so in that important way Dexter is still someone's prey.

And let me also say: excellent directing by Monica Raymund, whom we know from her acting in Chicago Fire and Hightown! See you back here next week.

"challenging fun"
- Entertainment Weekly

e-mail received from a reader:
Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren's fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchildren. Thanks! Tom

I of course happily replied...

42 reviews of The Plot to Save Socrates!