Levi Reed Is Wrong About Dexter In Original Sin – He’s Actually More Like This Serial Killer

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Dexter: Original Sin season 1, episode 6.Levi Reed (Jeff Daniel Phillips) tried to convince Dexter Morgan (Patrick Gibson) that they were the same in Dexter: Original Sin, but there’s another serial killer who is much more similar to Dexter. There have been plenty of serial killers in Dexter history who drew parallels between themselves and Dexter, and Original Sin just added another to the list. At the end of Original Sin episode 6, Levi Reed tried to convince Dexter that they were the same, and he actually had a point. What Reed didn’t realize, however, is that Dexter is much more similar to a different character in Original Sin.

While he was on Dexter’s kill table, Levi Reed said that they both love the act of killing, but Dexter asserted that they were different because he only targeted people who deserved to die, not innocent people and children. Despite Dexter’s rebuttal, he was still thinking about Reed’s comparison as he drove to drop the body off in the Everglades, and he even wondered if the Code of Harry was all that kept him from being a monster. Dexter likely won’t find an answer to that question, though he may have to reckon with it soon thanks to a completely different murderer.

Dexter & Levi Reed Have Some Similarities, But He’s Much More Similar To The NHI Killer

Levi Reed & Dexter Both Have A “Need” To Kill, But Dexter Picks Victims Who Won’t Be Missed, Just Like The NHI Killer

Levi Reed was certainly a monster, but he also had a point. Both he and Dexter enjoyed killing, and for all of Dexter’s notions of “taking out the trash of Miami,” he was still a killer. However, Dexter also had a point: his choice of victims compared to Levi Reed, who targeted innocent families and children, put a wide gulf between them. While there are definitely some similarities between Levi Reed and Dexter, there’s a third serial killer in Original Sin who is a much better parallel to him: the NHI Killer.

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Earlier in the episode, Dexter discovered a new serial killer who was targeting NHIs – an acronym for “no humans involved” that refers to victims who were homeless, gay, or addicted to drugs. Maria LaGuerta (Christina Milian) hypothesized that the NHI Killer was targeting NHIs because no one would notice if they had gone missing, which would let them continue killing without being caught. That’s essentially the same premise Dexter operates on: he kills criminals because he knows the police won’t spend much time looking into their disappearance. If Dexter is similar to anyone in Original Sin, he’s like the NHI Killer, not Levi Reed.

Original Sin’s NHI Killer Is The Perfect Parallel To Dexter’s Killing Methods

The NHI Killer Is Essentially Dexter Without Harry’s Moral Code

The NHI Killer also works as a much better parallel for Dexter in Original Sin than Levi Reed ever could. Even throughout the original eight seasons of Dexter, the entire franchise has been trying to figure out if Dexter is actually trying to punish bad people, or if he’s just using them as an excuse to kill without being caught. The NHI Killer is essentially a version of Dexter who chose his victims only to minimize his risk of being caught. Original Sin is showing fans exactly the type of killer Dexter would be if he didn’t have a moral compass.

The NHI Killer serves as a stark reality check for Dexter too. Seeing a new killer take essentially the same approach to killing that Dexter does but switching the victims to the most oppressed and downtrodden people in society paints Dexter in a new light. Even though he’s killing other murderers, Dexter is killing people who he believes “deserve” to die, and so is the NHI Killer. Dexter walks an extremely thin line between vigilante and monster, and the NHI Killer shows that he would have easily fallen on the other side of that line if it hadn’t been for Harry Morgan (Christian Slater).

Harry Morgan Really Might Be The Only Thing Keeping Dexter From Being A Monster

Without Harry’s Code, Dexter Would Kill Whoever He Wanted To

The NHI Killer doesn’t just serve as a great storytelling device for Dexter, they also shine a light on Harry. If Dexter really is that similar to the NHI Killer, and he’s just targeting criminals so he won’t be caught, then Harry was absolutely right to give Dexter the Code. Harry correctly assumed that Dexter was going to become a serial killer, and he knew that he would probably target the same types of people the NHI Killer was targeting. If Harry hadn’t granted Dexter a moral compass and made him kill criminals, Dexter would slay any innocent person he wanted to.

There are, however, several layers of ambiguity to Dexter’s victims. When he killed Levi Reed, Dexter clearly found Reed’s decision to kill innocent children repulsive, and he seemed personally offended by the comparison he made. It’s just as likely that Dexter really is killing criminals out of his own personal sense of justice, rather than simply as a way to evade the police. There’s no telling how much of Dexter’s conscience is his own, and how much of it he internalized from Harry’s code. Either way, Dexter: Original Sin has quite a bit to chew on with regard to Dexter’s morality.

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Dexter: Original Sin explores the origins of Dexter Morgan as he transitions from student to serial killer in 1991 Miami. Guided by his father, Dexter channels his dark urges through a moral code while starting a forensics internship at the Miami Metro Police Department.

Release Date

December 15, 2024

Network

Paramount+ with Showtime

Character(s)

Harry Morgan
, Dexter Morgan
, Debra Morgan
, Maria LaGuerta
, Vince Masuka
, Bobby Watt
, Angel Batista
, Aaron Spencer
, The Inner Voice of Dexter (voice)
, CSI Chief Tanya Martin

Producers

Clyde Phillips
, Michael C. Hall
, Robert Lloyd Lewis
, Mary Leah Sutton
, Tony Hernandez
, Lilly Burns

Seasons

1

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