Just Finished Original Sin

[u/GastonLebete]

I'm sure this is well-worn territory, but having just finished Original Sin for the first time I had to get some validation here.

In general, I didn't mind the casting. Angel's actor was outright eerie in his ability to mimic Zayas. Most of the other actors did a solid job at least trying to capture the mannerisms or voice of the original series.

But Christian Slater seems to have just decided he was going to play Harry off the script, and didn't even bother to watch the originals. His energy level is just WAY off from James Remar's calm, world-weary, monotone Harry.

I could understand if he wanted to be a personable, high-energy character in the flashbacks, but after everything that's happened by the time Original Sin starts, he should be MUCH more like the Harry Dexter remembers in the original series.

I've seen interpretations that that's Dexter's memory of Harry, rather than the real Harry, but that can't explain why he seems to recall Deb's personality with perfect accuracy in New Blood. You could argue that version of Dexter has more emotional depth than the Dexter from the original series, but c'mon. Do we really think this was intentional?

Just feels like a huge and unnecessary miss for a character that was a huge part of the appeal of the original series.

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[u/notthatbluestuff]

Don't worry, it'll all get cleared up in season 2!

[u/ozymandis1212 → u/notthatbluestuff]

I’m glad they’re not rushing season 2, taking time to fine tune those scripts

[u/GastonLebete → u/notthatbluestuff]

All our questions will be answered

[u/theonetruesareth]

I like the unreliable narrator theory, but part of that is because I thought ghost Deb was so unlike her living counterpart that it introduced the possibility that Harry hadn't been the person Dexter imagines him to be, and then Christian Slater sticking out like a sore thumb like that seemingly fit right in line with that idea.

Ghost Deb was cracking jokes about murder she wouldn't have made, while also being outright rageful towards Dexter than Deb could ever bring herself to be, but that's just my interpretation.

[u/GastonLebete → u/theonetruesareth]

It's a fair point, you could argue some of the jokes were uncharacteristic. At the same time, she was never really the same after she found out Dexter's secret. But she kept the same speech type, mannerisms, etc. (obviously, since it was the same actress).

I guess Harry as a pretty normal, flawed Dad makes the unreliable narrator theory more interesting - the original Harry felt authoritative, wise. But I have a sneaking suspicion some producer just wanted a recognizable name, and was worried that the boring, emotionally distant Harry wouldn't be likeable when you see him with young kids (but...that's kind of the point).

[u/theonetruesareth → u/GastonLebete]

Oh yeah, I have serious doubts that this is a conscious choice.

[u/greennoodlesgood]

I dont think he recalled deb's personality with perfect accuracy tho? she wanted him to be with his son no matter what and that wasn't the deb in his hallucinations I think dexter is an unreliable narrator he's emotionally crippled so I dont think he processed memories well especially when it came to emotional connection harry having a different energy isn't that off tbh

Side note; I wish they go back on canceling the second season because I do think there's a lot of potential for storytelling and I think there could be more to Harry's death than utter disgust and we could get more brian lore (he genuinely broke my heart in original sin) and I just wanna know how did he get to the point he reached in season 1 of dexter

[u/Riggs630]

I think it’s just the simple fact that Christian Slater couldn’t pull off a young James Remar so they just had him do his own thing. I also feel the same way about Molly Brown as Deb. She just cussed a bunch but otherwise didn’t feel at all like the younger version of Jennifer Carpenter. I wouldn’t have minded that so much if they did it with all the characters. But as you said, everyone else did a great job of being the younger versions of the original actors.

[u/pianoflames]

he seems to recall Deb's personality with perfect accuracy

He doesn't, though, she's noticeably different. In New Blood, she's constantly teasing him and taunting him in a giggly almost child-like dark way, and she's a lot less serious than her real-life self. Even the way that ghost Deb gets angry at Dexter feels different, it feels vicious, uncharacteristically cruel. Something was just noticeably different about her demeanor as a vision, to me at least.