Spoilers below for the penultimate episode of Dexter: Original Sin Season 1, so be warned if you haven’t yet watched on Showtime or with a Paramount+ subscription.
We’re just one episode away from Dexter: Original Sin wrapping its run on the 2025 TV schedule, and we'll soon say farewell to the hyperviolent Muppet Babies take on the serial killer hunter. And while the bulk of the first season has been a largely predictable exploration of the Morgan family’s past — including an anachronistic reference to Tyler, the Creator — the last few episodes confirmed that the first season’s serial killer twist ties back to Brian Moser, Dexter’s biological brother and eventual antagonist.
After the show teased both the notorious ice truck and Brian's past psychological issues, he second-to-last episode, “Blood Drive,” also delivers a fairly shocking reveal for Brian’s backstory that may inspire fans to recontextualize these characters’ relationships. Oh yeah, and it also spotlights Brian’s original intention for trying to kill Debra, which inspired a few half-guilty chuckles while watching.
Harry And Doris Apparently Did Have Temporary Custody Of Brian
While it's certainly possible that at least one line of dialogue from the Dexter franchise had already made things clear, I've spent years firmly believing that after Dexter and Brian were found in the storage container with Laura Moser's chopped-up body, the younger brother was taken in by Harry and Doris, while Brian was quickly shipped off for a troubling existence in the state's care. I feel like a lot of judgment has flowed in Harry's direction because of that, too, with Brian obviously turning out more erratically violent than his code-following sibling.
But Dexter: Original Sin revealed that wasn't actually the case at all. It appears the brothers were initially paired up for fostering purposes, as evidenced by the woman who told this to Harry and Doris:
The state would prefer not to separate siblings. Is there any way you could foster them as a pair? Brian has been remarkably resilient considering what they've been through.
What the what? All this time, I've been largely led to believe that Brian came out of that traumatic experience with monstrous tendencies that immediately put him down a bad path. But if this state official was telling the truth, he apparently had at least a minimal shot at mentally balanced normalcy, for lack of a better word. And so Harry and Doris did indeed take them both in, despite the latter's reluctancy, given their mother was Harry's mistress.
And just in case it wasn't fully clear, after Brian got in trouble for trying to hurt Debra (which we'll discuss just below) and defiantly declared Harry wasn't his father, Christian Slater's character responded with:
Uh, I know I'm not. Doris and I, we're both here to take care of you and your brother.
While perhaps not the most groundbreaking reveal, it certainly added a new layer to the family's complicated history, and inspires at least one or two percentage points of sympathy for Harry. I mean, they sent Brian back into the system, which likely fucked him up even more than he'd have been if Harry and Debra hadn't shown any love or interest. But still.
Brian's Reason For Trying To Smother Debra In The Crib Is More Amusing Than It Should Be
By all means, I'm not saying Harry and Debra were wrong for shipping Brian out the first chance they got. He didn't seem to be in their home for very long before he attempted to smother infant Debra with a pillow, while an already stressed-out Doris carried Dexter around.
Now, normally there's nothing funny at all about a child's reasoning for wanting to harm another child. However, when we're talking about Dexter's legacy characters, I couldn't help but laugh over young Brian's brief explanation for why he brought the pillow down on Deb's face.
Too noisy.
A horrifying and scary answer in the majority of situations, but when we're talking about Debra Morgan, long recognized to be a major loudmouth at any given age, it takes on a slightly more amusing tone. Obviously not funny to Harry or anyone else in the fam, but that's only because they don't know yet just how much they'll want Debra to shut the hell up later in life. Many times later in life.
I can't recall right offhand if Rudy/Brian commented harshly about Debra talking a lot in Season 1 of Dexter, but it seems like it happened at least once. And if he's actually stalking Dexter as he appears to be, he probably knows just how much of a potty-mouthed troublemaker Debra is as a teenager as well. Maybe that's why he chose to stay away from her during this killing cycle.
Now I can't wait to see if the first season of the upcoming spinoff Dexter: Resurrection also manages to work either Brian or a completely different Ice Truck Killer into the mix. At this point, it's almost an expectation. But first we'll need to get through Original Sin's Season 1 finale, which will hit Paramount+ on Friday, February 14 ahead of its linear airing on Showtime on Sunday, February 16.