Dexter: Resurrection Season 1 Episode 9 Review: Touched By An Angel Delivers Devastation & Breaks Our Hearts
I don’t even know where to start. My hands are shaking. My chest is tight. Mad World playing over the credits was almost too on the nose, because that’s exactly how I feel right now: shattered. The Dexter universe has become unmoored.
We lost Angel Batista. And not just lost him — we watched him go down in one of the most gut-wrenching, poetic, and cruel ways possible on Dexter: Resurrections Season 1 Episode 9.
After everything, after all these years of warmth and loyalty and friendship, Dexter’s last vital tie to Miami Metro is gone.
The setup was brutal. Prater, who is quickly climbing the ladder of “most disturbing villains in the franchise,” lured Dexter into a trap under the guise of camaraderie.
He wanted the Bay Harbor Butcher to be his crown jewel, the Medici to Dexter’s artistry. He even went so far as to strap Batista — Dexter’s once-friend, once-partner — to the kill table as Dexter’s “initiation fee.”
I screamed at the screen. I wanted Dexter to fight his way out, to find some loophole, to get Batista out alive. And for a moment, it looked like he might.
The knife raised above Batista wasn’t a kill stroke — it was a cut to free him. Dexter’s quiet thought, “We were partners once, maybe we can be partners again,” was full-on, gut-wrenching, “I want to be normal,” classic Dexter. That flicker of humanity was still there.
But Batista wasn’t about to forgive. How could he?
He’s chased Dexter across years, through lies, through the wreckage of Doakes and LaGuerta. He launched himself at Dexter, strangling him, spitting out the rage of two decades.
“This is for Doakes and for Maria! Your bullshit has to stop!”
Dexter thought that was it. And he kind of didn’t mind, musing, “So much for cooperation. There’s something poetic about dying at the hands of my lifelong friend.”
And then Prater pulled the trigger. Once, twice, again.
It wasn’t Dexter who killed Batista, which somehow makes it worse. Batista deserved more than to be a pawn in some billionaire sicko’s game.
His final words — “Dexter Morgan, fuck you” — clearly didn’t offer Dex the absolution he wanted, but condemnation.
Dexter swore he hadn’t killed Doakes or LaGuerta, and Batista reminded him that it was still his fault. Even in death, Batista refused to let him off the hook.
That’s what makes this loss so devastating. Batista wasn’t just a cop or a foil. For most of Dexter’s run, he was its heart.
He was the guy who grounded the madness, brought levity with his “love that show” asides, and balanced out the brutality with humanity. Losing him now feels like we just ripped out a piece of the original show and stomped on it.
And Dexter is unraveling faster than ever. “Touched By An Angel” made it painfully clear: his need to kill is outpacing his ability to control it.
Charley should have been a straightforward takedown, but Dexter’s hesitation, his confrontation with her humanity, and his realization that Prater is the true cancer — all of it left him exposed.
And then Prater flipped the script, gleefully pulling the strings like the twisted collector he is.
Meanwhile, Harrison is still caught in the middle, and I’m unsure how to feel about it. His excitement over Prater’s TED Talks was so painfully naïve. Watching him gush about this man while Dexter silently seethed was pure nightmare fuel.
And worse, Prater knows it. He’s already zeroed in on Harrison as Dexter’s weakness. Charley exploited it once, and Prater will do it again.
I’m clinging to one thing, though: Harrison is not Dexter 2.0. He’s more Deb or Harry, the conscience in this blood-soaked drama. But he’s vulnerable. The cracks are showing.
His apology for blowing Dexter’s cover, his awkward honesty with Charley, and his desperate need to believe his father will never abandon him again are not signs of a killer-in-waiting.
They’re signs of a boy who desperately wants stability. But Dexter keeps tearing that stability apart.
On the flip side, Gigi is still a wildcard who could pull the rug out from under Harrison and Dexter.
Her shift toward forensics, her fascination with blood spatter, her gallows humor — I can’t shake the feeling she might drift into a darker orbit. If Harrison is the conscience, Gigi might be the one to dance too close to Dexter’s shadow.
But honestly, all of that pales against the hole left by Batista.
This wasn’t just a shocking twist; it was the end of an era. Batista carried the history of Miami Metro on his shoulders.
He was our connection back to Doakes, LaGuerta, Deb, and Rita. With him gone, that tether is severed. Dexter isn’t just isolated — we’re isolated.
Maybe that’s the point. Maybe the show is saying, “This isn’t Miami anymore. This is something darker, lonelier, and far more dangerous.” But I’ll be damned if it doesn’t hurt like hell.
And speculation is running wild. Are we returning to Miami for Season 2? What will that look like without Batista? If Dexter is hard to fathom without Batista, returning to Miami without him and his love for the city makes it even more unfathomable.
Michael C. Hall deserves credit here, too. The look on Dexter’s face as he processed what was happening — the conflict, the grief, the self-loathing — was some of the best acting of the series.
For a fleeting second, Dexter wasn’t the predator or the passenger. He was just a man, watching the last piece of his past bleed out in front of him. Batista was as much of a friend as Dexter ever had. And that relationship ended in horror.
It all echoes the smaller, quieter moments we’ve seen lately. After Dexter outed Blessing on Dexter: Resurrections Season 1 Episode 8, here, his apology to Blessing was clumsy but real — a rare glimpse of him actually hurt by the idea that he’d damaged someone he cared about.
Yes, he also needed Blessing’s help for Harrison, but the remorse was genuine. And in a way, that’s what makes Batista’s death sting so much.
Batista told Claudette and Oliva that Dexter hides behind his “gee whiz” routine to keep people oblivious, but the truth is messier.
Dexter really did want Angel to see that other side of him, the side that didn’t kill Doakes or LaGuerta, the side that still craves kinship as much as he craves blood.
For the first time, it feels like Dexter is reaching for stability and sincere connection — and the person who knew him best died spitting rejection in his face.
And now the squeeze is tighter than ever. Prater knows exactly who Dexter is. Claudette is circling. Harrison is more exposed than ever. And Batista is gone.
I don’t know how Dexter comes back from this. Oh, the Dexter: Resurrection story will continue and we’ll enjoy it, but it’s a much different scenario than moving to a different city. Death is permanent, even in this fantastical world.
Batista’s death felt unthinkable — and yet here we are. But does the hunt for Dexter die with him? Or should another Miami detective step into his shoes?
We’ve seen Quinn circling the edges this season, but is he sharp enough to connect the dots? Or should the chase belong to someone else entirely?
Vote in the poll below and tell us who you’d hand the case to if Miami Metro refuses to let the Bay Harbor Butcher slip away again.
And I’ll be honest: this all stings even more now that Dexter: Original Sin has been cancelled. At least, if that had continued, Angel would have lived on. Should we riot?
Oh well. If you’re hungry for more cat-and-mouse storytelling, our Criminal Minds: Evolution coverage digs into killers who think they can outsmart everyone — until they don’t.
For now, I’ll be hanging my head low, wishing I had a good Cubano nearby to toast our dearly departed Angel Batista.
Watch Dexter-Resurrection Online
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Dexter Nearly Gets Caught in His Own Plastic Wrap on Resurrection Season 1 Episode 8
Dexter’s code cracks, Batista’s suspicions mount, and the tension hits new highs. Here’s our review of Dexter: Resurrection Season 1 Episode 8.
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Dexter: Resurrection Season 1 Episode 7 Plays Nice… for About Five Minutes
Dexter’s mask slips, Prater’s past comes into focus, and Batista closes in. In this tense hour, allies and enemies are harder than ever to tell apart.
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Dexter: Resurrection Season 1 Episode 6 Plays Cat & Mouse — But Who’s Hunting Who?
Dexter’s kill streak continues, but a haunting close call, a suspicious twin, and Batista’s pursuit prove the cat and mouse game is far from over.
The post Dexter: Resurrection Season 1 Episode 9 Review: Touched By An Angel Delivers Devastation & Breaks Our Hearts appeared first on TV Fanatic.
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