Dexter Prequel's Remake Of A Huge Original Show Episode Scene Adds A New Twist

By Sean Morrison

Published Dec 16, 2024

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The new Dexter prequel series, retconning Dexter's trophies in the original series, Original Sin hasn't been afraid to carve a new path for Dexter's story. Most of those changes have been for the better, including one remake of an iconic moment in Dexter's first season.

Dexter's backstory was scattered throughout six kills Original Sin will likely depict, will be redone for the prequel series. One of those scenes was Dexter's first victim, Nurse Mary, and Harry Morgan's hospitalization. Original Sin changed Nurse Mary's death in a surprising way, but it only made Dexter's first kill even better.

Dexter: Original Sin Redoing Nurse Mary's Death Actually Reveals Her Victims & Serial Killing

Original Sin Explored The Victims Mary Killed & How She Got Away With Her Poisonings

In the original series, Dexter killed Nurse Mary rather easily. Harry discovered that she was poisoning him in the hospital, told Dexter about it, and Dexter snuck into Mary's house to kill her. Dexter spread Nurse Mary's death across a few flashbacks, so it didn't dive too deeply into her backstory or previous victims before Harry. Original Sin also stayed almost entirely faithful to Dexter's depiction of Nurse Mary's death, down to including some of the exact same dialog from the original show.

Dexter: Original Sin Cast & Returning Character Guide

Dexter: Original Sin features a slate of new actors playing familiar characters from the original Dexter series and the return of Michael C. Hall.

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Original Sin, however, also differed from the original show. It depicted much more of Nurse Mary, from the trophies of her previous victims to the method she used to kill them. When Dexter flipped through her file of obituaries, he revealed that Mary had killed at least three of her patients, and likely many more. Original Sin also showed Dexter's first independent investigation into a serial killer, and it even explained that she used potassium nitrate to avoid suspicion. Dexter even got to interrogate Mary's reasoning for killing: she believed she was punishing people who didn't value their lives enough to stay healthy.

Dexter: Original Sin Makes Nurse Mary's Death Even Darker

Original Sin Showed That Dexter Brutally Fed Mary's Corpse To Hungry Alligators

The biggest changes Original Sin made to Nurse Mary's death, however, were after Dexter actually did the deed. Since he didn't have his boat at the time, Dexter took Mary's body to the Everglades and fed her corpse to hungry alligators. The way Dexter disposed of Mary's body made his first kill even darker. It's hard to get darker than the image of alligators tearing a woman's naked body to shreds. After all the morbidity the original series was known for, it's surprising that Original Sin was able to make Dexter's first kill even more disturbing.

The entire sequence of Dexter investigating and killing Nurse Mary was basically a miniature version of what a prequel should strive to do: honor the original while expanding upon the source material.

The way Original Sin handled Nurse Mary's death is a excellent sign for the future of the prequel series. The entire sequence of Dexter investigating and killing her was basically a miniature version of what a prequel should strive to do: honor the original while expanding upon the source material. Original Sin clearly has a lot of love for Dexter, but it also clearly understands the character enough to add to what viewers have already seen in a meaningful way. If the rest of Dexter: Original Sin is anything like Nurse Mary's death, it should be very good.