WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Dexter: Original Sin season 1, episode 4!As Dexter: Original Sin season 1, episode 4 explores Harry Morgan’s early experiences with Dexter and his brother, Brian, some new disturbing layers are added to the Ice Truck Killer’s history. While Dexter: Original Sin’s timeline, being set in 1991, largely focuses on 20-year-old Dexter becoming a serial killer and starting his job at Miami Metro, the prequel also features the still-living Harry Morgan having frequent flashbacks to the events leading up to his adoption of 3-year-old Dexter, including Harry’s affair with Dexter’s biological mother, Laura Moser.
These flashbacks in Dexter: Original Sin season 1, episode 4 shed more light on how Harry formed a fatherly bond with Dexter before he adopted him, while also emphasizing the contrast in personalities between Laura’s sons. While Harry only adopted Dexter after Laura was brutally killed by Hector Estrada’s men, the original series reveals that Dexter’s brother Brian Moser also grew up to become a serial killer, receiving the nickname the Ice Truck Killer. Though Dexter season 1 already established that Brian was far more ruthless than Dexter, Original Sin makes the context of his Dark Passenger’s development even worse.
Dexter: Original Sin Reveals That Brian Moser Had Disturbing Habits Before Laura’s Death
Harry Was Unsettled By Brian’s Behavior While Laura Was Still Alive
Throughout Dexter season 1, the titular killer was being taunted by another serial killer who knew the truth about his kills and his dark, hidden past. The Ice Truck Killer continued to tempt Dexter with details surrounding Hector Estrada’s murdering Laura Moser, eventually leading Dexter to uncover his long-repressed memories about his biological mother’s tragic death, being found in a pool of her blood with his brother by Harry Morgan, and the origin of his Dark Passenger. Brian then reveals himself to Dexter as his brother, with both acting on their craving for blood and death after Laura’s murder.
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What Happens To Dexter’s Biological Brother, Brian Moser
Brian Moser, Dexter’s brother, appeared in Dexter: Original Sin, but the prequel show didn’t explain just how important Brian is to the Morgan family.
Since Dexter’s Dark Passenger was born in the shipping container where his mother was murdered, it was assumed that Brian’s urge to kill was founded at that moment as well. While that is still partially true, Dexter: Original Sin’s flashbacks of younger Dexter and Brian indicate that the elder brother had already exhibited signs of violence and a lack of remorse before Laura’s death. Harry was deeply unsettled by young Brian when Laura was still alive, yet Dexter was a more kind, friendly child who exhibited remorse and love.
Dexter ultimately kills Brian Moser in Dexter‘s season 1 finale, though reluctantly, as he fits the Code of Harry.
As such, Dexter: Original Sin appears to suggest that Dexter could have gone without a Dark Passenger his entire life had it not been for witnessing his mother’s mutilation, whereas Brian’s Dark Passenger had always been with him. Dexter season 1 made it clear that Brian was without morals or the potential to feel remorse like Dexter, but it’s even more upsetting that this was instilled in Brian before their mother’s death. Additionally, Brian’s behavior as a child was already worrying to Harry and was something he hoped wouldn’t be passed on to Dexter as he grew older.
Original Sin’s Flashbacks Explain More About Why Harry Didn’t Adopt Brian With Dexter
Harry Thought Brian Was Too Far Gone To Be Saved
By revealing Brian’s unsettling behavior as a young child, Dexter: Original Sin adds more intriguing context to the reason why Harry decided to only adopt Dexter rather than both of Laura’s sons. Brian himself revealed in Dexter season 1 that when Harry found him in the shipping container, he simply saw him as a “f***ed-up kid,” alongside the other authorities who examined him. It seemed in the original series that Harry made his assumption simply based on the aftermath of Laura’s murder, but Dexter: Original Sin explains that Harry had reservations about Brian before that traumatic event.
Major Dexter Characters Who Return In Original Sin | ||
|---|---|---|
Character | Actor In Dexter | Actor In Original Sin |
Dexter Morgan | Michael C. Hall | Patrick Gibson |
Debra Morgan | Jennifer Carpenter | Molly Brown |
Harry Morgan | James Remar | Christian Slater |
Angel Batista | David Zayas | James Martinez |
Maria LaGuerta | Lauren Vélez | Christina Milian |
Vince Masuka | C. S. Lee | Alex Shimizu |
When Harry watches Brian and Dexter while Laura is working the case with Bobby, Harry disturbingly finds Brian killing lizards and pulling their tails off. However, Dexter is distraught when he’s unable to save one of the lizards from dying, proving that he didn’t have the same bloodlust as his brother at that age. Harry saw Dexter as a kid who had the potential to grow into a caring individual, but seemed to believe that Brian was too far gone even before Laura died.
Brian was made to believe that he couldn’t be helped when he was just a child, and that rejection further fueled his violence as the Ice Truck Killer.
Therefore, after Laura’s death, Harry agreed that it was best to place Brian in a psychiatric hospital and receive help from doctors rather than raise him. On the other hand, Harry thought he could “save” Dexter himself, hoping that witnessing his mother’s death wouldn’t give him the same violent inclinations as Brian. In the end, Dexter did develop a Dark Passenger, but with the Code of Harry, a loving family around him, and his existing nature as a kind and caring child, Harry was able to keep Dexter from becoming the same ruthless killer as Brian.
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Dexter: Original Sin Makes One Of Harry Morgan’s Biggest Mistakes Even Harder To Forgive
Dexter: Original Sin’s episode 4, “Fender Bender” reveals that one of Harry Morgan’s biggest mistakes – and secrets – is even harder to forgive.
Of course, there’s long been a debate over whether Harry is partially responsible for the development of the Ice Truck Killer and the Bay Harbor Butcher. It can be argued that Dexter might not have become a killer had Harry not separated the Moser brothers, hid Dexter’s past from him, and taught Dexter a killing code rather than help him work through his trauma with professional psychiatrists at a young age. Brian was made to believe that he couldn’t be helped when he was just a child, and that rejection further fueled his violence as the Ice Truck Killer.
Will Adult Brian Moser Appear In Dexter: Original Sin?
Some Fans Have Speculated That Brian Has Already Made A Cameo
So far, Brian Moser has only appeared in Harry’s flashbacks about Laura in Dexter: Original Sin, at which point he’s still a young child. However, with Dexter becoming the Bay Harbor Butcher, it wouldn’t be surprising if it was revealed that Brian Moser tried to contact his brother long before their official reunion in Dexter season 1. Brian would be in his early 20s during Dexter: Original Sin season 1’s episodes and already living under a new alias, as the original show revealed that he was released from the psychiatric hospital at age 21 in 1989.
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Why The Ice Truck Killer Murdered Dexter’s Father
The Ice Truck Killer takes Dexter’s biological father as one of his victims in season 1, which had a specific purpose in taunting the protagonist.
There’s also been widespread speculation from fans that an adult Brian has already subtly appeared in Dexter: Original Sin season 1, episode 2. One scene in that episode sees a young man with a striking resemblance to Brian asking Dexter to borrow a chair, leading some to believe that this was actually Brian trying to make Dexter remember him. It still hasn’t been confirmed whether that unnamed character was, in fact, Brian Moser, but it’s possible that he could make an appearance before Harry’s death in Dexter: Original Sin.
New episodes of Dexter: Original Sin season 1 release Fridays on Paramount+ with Showtime.
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.
Based on the character created by author Jeff Lindsay, Showtime’s Dexter follows Miami Metro Police Department’s most skilled blood spatter analyst, Dexter Morgan, as he attempts to satisfy his Dark Passenger’s need to kill by hunting down criminals who have escaped justice. However, using the rules his adoptive father taught him to remain undiscovered, Dexter must walk the fine line of seemingly blending into society while continuously feeding his dark urges. Dexter faces several serial killers as his facade slowly crumbles around him; with every problem solved by his Dark Passenger, another one arises for his suburban fatherly life. When Dexter takes things personally or feels that the law is failing, he takes matters into his own hands and even compromises the investigations of his co-workers. Dexter aired on Showtime for eight seasons before receiving a mini-sequel series called Dexter: New Blood, which picked up ten years after the show’s events. You can buy each season for just $9.99 for Prime Day.
