The first two episodes of Dexter: Resurrection are now streaming on Paramount+. They will air on Showtime Sunday, July 13.

Dexter fans, we are so back. But also, we never really left. Sure, there was a sizable gap between the disastrous series finale of Dexter in 2013 and the debut of the sequel series, Dexter: New Blood, in 2021. Since then, however, Showtime has firmly reestablished itself as being in the Bay Harbor Butcher business, with the arrival of prequel series Dexter: Original Sin (a show you can read my recaps of on this very site) and now Dexter: Resurrection. It’s a lot to keep track of — so many titles with colons in them! — and that’s to say nothing of the Trinity Killer series currently in development. If it helps ease your confusion, consider that Resurrection is essentially a rebranded tenth season of the original show. While technically a new series, it starts with a “previously on” that sums up the entirety of New Blood, and the first episode is loaded with references to Dexter proper, including several familiar faces. With OG showrunner Clyde Phillips back in the driver’s seat, we’re in safe hands.

Of course, Phillips was also the showrunner of New Blood and Original Sin, two installments that started promising before devolving into hot-mess territory, much as Dexter did after its fourth season. But look, things are pretty terrible right now, and I am choosing optimism. If insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, call me crazy — I think this iteration of Dexter is going to be good. It helps that “A Beating Heart …” is blatant fan service, and I’m an easy mark. After being shot in the chest by his son, Harrison (Jack Alcott), Dexter (Michael C. Hall) has been miraculously brought back from the brink of death. As he recovers at Iron Lake’s Seneca Nation Clinic, he’s visited by a series of special guest-star ghosts. First, there’s Trinity Killer Arthur Mitchell (John Lithgow), who murdered Dexter’s wife, Rita (Julie Benz), and left baby Harrison in a pool of her blood, which maybe doomed Harrison to following in his dad’s serial-killer footsteps. Arthur insists that Harrison’s burgeoning psychopathy isn’t his fault — it’s Dexter’s for trying to balance a normal life with his Dark Passenger. The scene is clunky fanfic, but sue me, I loved seeing Trinity again. Lithgow does a nice job with lines like “Sometimes you have to go through hell to achieve resurrection,” a fitting distraction from the fact that Arthur seems to have aged two decades since he died.

The same could be said for Miguel Prado (Jimmy Smits), the assistant-district-attorney serial killer whom Dex dispatched in season three, who shows up to remind Dexter of all the innocent people who died because of him: Debra, Rita, Maria LaGuerta, and James Doakes. James Remar also looks notably older as Harry Morgan than he did on the original series, but I’ll take that over nightmarish de-aging effects (or recasting him with Christian Slater, who takes on the role in Original Sin). And hey, maybe ghosts age! We don’t know. Remar is a series regular on Resurrection, which is an upgrade from ghost Deb on New Blood — with apologies to Jennifer Carpenter, who always deserved better than what Dexter foisted on her. Harry urges Dexter to find Harrison so that he doesn’t turn out like Ice Truck Killer Brian Moser, who grew up without a father. Finally, Dex gets a visit from Doakes (Erik King) with a warmly nostalgic “surprise, motherfucker.” He tells Dexter that there’s a kernel of good buried deep down inside him, and he has to hold onto that for Harrison’s sake. There is no way in hell the real Doakes would ever say that, but since these are all figments of Dex’s imagination, I’ll let it slide. Besides, it really is nice to check in with old, long-dead friends.

You know who isn’t dead? Dexter Morgan, who wakes up after ten weeks in a coma feeling as confused as the rest of us when it comes to how he survived and why he’s not in handcuffs. The doctor answers the former, explaining that the cold weather and snow slowed his heart rate and lessened the blood loss. Good enough for me. He can’t tell Dexter what happened to Harrison, only that the younger Morgan left Iron Lake immediately after the shooting and hasn’t been heard from since. We get the rest of the exposition when New Blood’s Teddy Reed (David Magidoff), now acting sheriff, shows up with a letter from Dexter’s police chief/ex, Angela Bishop (Julia Jones). It’s an old photo of Angela with her friend Iris, a victim of serial killer Kurt Caldwell (Clancy Brown), with a note that reads, “We’re even. Now get the hell out of Iron Lake.” Apparently, Dexter solving Iris’ murder and killing Kurt was enough for Angela to recant her accusation that he was the Bay Harbor Butcher. Matt Caldwell’s death, meanwhile, has been pinned on Kurt. Angela left town after taking the blame for shooting Dexter — Teddy even asks if Dex wants to press charges — and it seems likely this is the last we’ll hear about the events of New Blood. Fine with me!

Angel Batista (David Zayas) isn’t as easy to shake, however. Dexter returns to his room from physical therapy to find his former Miami Metro colleague waiting for him there. “Please let this be another hallucination,” his voiceover pleads. But no, this is the real deal. “It’s like seeing a ghost,” Batista offers before immediately asking for an explanation as to why Dex stole Debra’s body from the hospital and faked his own death back in 2013. Oh, Angel. Trying to make sense of the Dexter series finale is the surest path to madness. Dexter says that grief led him to drive his boat into a hurricane and to start a new life as Jim Lindsay, which makes as much sense as anything else. (No mention of the whole lumberjack thing, thank God.) There’s just one thing Batista can’t move past — LaGuerta told him she was certain Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher, right before she was killed. Angela told Batista the same thing, then said she was mistaken the day after he arrived in Iron Lake. Doakes has long been identified as the Bay Harbor Butcher, but it sure is suspicious! After Batista shares the good news that Dexter Morgan has been legally resurrected, Dex thinks it’s likely Angel did that “because you can’t prosecute a dead man.” When he tells Dexter he’ll be back at the clinic for visiting hours the next day, it sounds an awful lot like a threat.

Before we get to that, though, let’s check in on Harrison. He’s living and working across the street from Lincoln Center at the (very real!) Empire Hotel in New York, and he seems to be thriving. He’s got a flirtation going with coworker Elsa (Emilia Suárez), he’s passed his GED, and he only occasionally has icy flashbacks to shooting his dad. Unfortunately, Harrison can only hide from his own Dark Passenger — or whatever we want to call it — for so long. When he catches rich hotel regular Ryan (Bryan Lillis) trying to sexually assault a drugged out-of-towner named Shauna (McKaley Miller), he does the right thing and intervenes. Their scuffle ends with Ryan agreeing to let Shauna go, but also promising that “There’s plenty more where she came from.” Harrison flashes back to all of Kurt’s victims, and oops, suddenly he’s bashing Ryan’s head in with a toilet tank lid. While Ryan was clearly asking for it, a bloody Harrison realizes this probably wasn’t the ideal way to kill him. At least he’s got access to hotel cleaning supplies to tidy up.

He also has training from his serial-killer father, who taught Harrison how to dispose of a body when they were getting rid of Kurt. Down in the hotel kitchen, Harrison follows Dexter’s advice, stripping Ryan and hacking him into nine pieces while listening to the Strokes’ “Bad Decisions.” As with all its predecessors, Dexter: Resurrection is not shying away from gore. The body parts get stashed in trash bags that are hauled away on a garbage truck, and aside from throwing up a little, Harrison seems to be okay. Two problems, though. First, there’s a tiny blood spatter on the hotel-kitchen ceiling that is definitely going to be an issue. And second, he didn’t tie those bags tight enough, as the sanitation workers learn when a couple of leg parts spilled out at the dump. No-nonsense detective Claudette Wallace (Kadia Saraf) and her partner, Melvin Oliva (Dominic Fumusa), show up on the scene, and she’s easily able to find the rest of the corpse and identify him. (She does this while listening to “Stayin’ Alive.” I appreciate that all these characters realize music makes work go faster.) Soon enough, the cops are at the hotel, turning Ryan’s room into a crime scene. And Harrison is doing a terrible job of being chill.

Back in Iron Lake, Dexter’s physical therapist’s rant about how crazy the world is conveniently includes mention of a body found in New York that had been chopped up into nine pieces and stuffed in garbage bags. Dex recognizes his own M.O., and some quick research on Ryan reveals he was a serial sexual predator who had been repeatedly acquitted of assault. That fits the Code, Harry notes, also pointing out that New York would be the perfect place for Harrison to disappear in. If Harrison did kill Ryan — a wild assumption that just happens to be true — he needs Dexter’s help. Looks like Dex has gotten all the physical therapy he’s going to get. Right as Batista shows up for visiting hours, Dexter steals a dead man’s car (it’s not like he was going to use it) and makes his escape. Personally, I would have waited to talk to Batista and then fled. It might be suspicious either way, but doing it like this ensures he’s going to have Angel on his tail. That’s a later problem, though. For now, Dexter is in New York — it’s been waiting for him — and a quick drive past the hotel confirms his suspicions about Ryan’s murder when he spots Harrison outside. “My son, I could cry,” Dex says in a voice-over that made me laugh out loud. “Actually, I can’t cry. Damn it.” Again, we are so back.

Blood-Spatter Analysis

• Speaking of being back, I’m delighted to be recapping Dexter: Resurrection after covering Dexter: Original Sin. I hear there’s a title with a colon in it, I come running.

• The premiere includes a brief introduction of Uma Thurman’s character, Charley, who is instantly iconic thanks to her fuck-ass bob. She uses some fancy high-tech gadgets to break into the apartment of someone we can safely assume is a serial killer. After finding his trophies, a stash of IDs with bloody X’s on them, Charley leaves him an invitation. If you don’t want any spoilers, skip this trailer, which provides a little more context.

• Using Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand” in Charley’s scene feels like cheating. We all know that’s Ghostface’s anthem.

• Now that Dexter is out of his coma, are we done seeing ghosts who aren’t Harry? I wouldn’t mind a few more cameos.

• There’s also the living to consider. When Dexter creates a distraction by placing a call to the clinic, he pretends to be Detective Joey Quinn. It sounds like Quinn is still at Miami Metro, and while Desmond Harrington won’t confirm anything, he didn’t rule out a return when he appeared on the aftershow, Dexter: Final Cut.

• Despite complaining about the ghosts being older, my real age-related beef with this episode is that Dexter looks even more grown-up in the flashback to Harry rescuing him from the shipping container. Original Sin already retconned him into being a toddler, but I swear that kid is going to be a teenager by the time we wrap this all up.

 We are so back thanks to Dexter being miraculously brought back from the brink of death.