Episode 9 of Dexter: Resurrection sets us up for one hell of a season finale centered on the showdown we’ve all been waiting for: Leon Prater vs. Dexter Morgan.
Showrunner: Clyde Phillips
Genre: Crime Drama, Mystery
No. of Season 1 episodes: 10
Episode 9 Release Date: August 29, 2025 on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME
Dexter: Resurrection Episode 9 is one hell of a penultimate episode. It’s full of tension and thrills that will have you on pins and needles, ready for next week’s season finale and long-awaited showdown between the billionaire and The Bay Harbor Butcher.
Episode 8 ended with Prater exposing Dexter as Red to Harrison (Jack Alcott) when he approached their table at a restaurant. No matter how hard Dexter works to keep his two lives separate, they always end up colliding, and episode 9 sees them in a full-on collision sport as Dexter’s true identity is exposed, the truth sets Angel free, and Prater lures both The Bay Harbor Butcher into a sick, twisted trap.
Read on for a full recap and review of Dexter: Resurrection Episode 9, “Touched by an Angel”.
Dexter enlightens Harrison
After Prater infringes on their father-son lunch and creates so much tension, Dexter—i.e., Red—pulls him outside and warns him to stay away from his son. To see Dexter react like this, so protectively, has been a fascinating observation of the union between his humanity and Dark Passenger.
Prater assures Red he means no harm, that all this was based on Charley’s (Uma Thurman) suspicion that Red was an infiltrating imposter. Red convinces Prater she’s wrong: “If I wanted to f**k with your gathering, you’d never see me coming.”
Oh, the irony … I love this show.
Prater tells Red that, since he exposed his past at last week’s show-and-tell, it’s Red’s turn. Prater wants to know everything about Ronald Schmidt. Dexter agrees under one condition: Harrison is off-limits. They’ll meet the following morning at Prater’s penthouse. After Prater leaves, Dexter rushes Harrison out through the back of the restaurant and enlightens him on what’s going on, who Prater really is. He also confesses that he killed The Dark Passenger and assumed his identity to infiltrate Prater’s group, then went on to kill The Tattoo Collector and The Gemini Killer.
Charley gets close to Harrison
Under Prater’s orders, Charley creates further tension when she checks into the hotel where Harrison works and requests his bellboy services for the day. When he delivers food to her room, she seizes the opportunity to draw him in and question him on why his last name is Morgan, not Schmidt. Harrison is quick to cover, saying he took his mom’s name after she died. It’s enough to sway Charley … for now.
Harrison then calls Dexter and tells him what happened. Dexter is livid, his Dark Passenger enraged. He knows she took something Harrison touched to run fingerprints, and now that she knows Harrison’s last name is Morgan, that puts her one step away from finding out who Dexter really is. Little does she know, though, she doesn’t have to work much harder, because the truth is headed right to her.
The Dark Passenger issues a bloody warning
Throughout this whole season, we’ve seen moments of Charley visiting her sick, bed-ridden mother but have known nothing more. Episode 9 changes that.
After the run-in at the restaurant with Prater and Harrison’s vetting incident, Dexter wastes no time breaking into Charley’s apartment, where he finds her weakness: She’s taking care of her sick mother. This is why she needs Prater’s money. Now that he knows this, he can effectively issue his warning and know it’s being heard.
Dexter—as Red, The Dark Passenger—waits for Charley in the back seat of her car and, when she gets in, pins her to the headrest with his gigli saw. It’s a tense moment full of fear and anger: Dexter is pissed she got close to his son, and Charley is threatened Red knows about her mother, fearing he may hurt her.
Red wants to know how a decorated veteran wound up committing crimes for a twisted billionaire, so Charley gets vulnerable. She fell into security work in the private sector, which is where she met Prater. When her mother got sick, he stepped in and provided her medical care. In return, Charley “had to hunt down serial killers to join his sick-f**k club. That’s what he does: He exploits peoples’ weaknesses.”
At this moment, Dexter realizes it was Prater who broke the promise and is the one who needs to be taken out, not Charley. He issues a bloody warning to leave Harrison alone, or he’ll pay her mother another visit, then releases her from the saw’s grip and exits the car.
Prater is mesmerized at what Charley recounts to him and is entranced by the evidence around her neck. He lusts to see the bloody mark Red left on her neck and practically salivates with pleasure upon doing so.
“You survived an honest-to-God encounter with a serial killer! That’s amazing!” He exclaims. He knows that Red is sending him a message. “The real message is that I’m still in charge. The Dark Passenger is mine.”
The truth sets Angel free
Poor Angel. He’s trying so hard to convince anyone who’ll listen that Dexter is the Bay Harbor Butcher. He really has the best intentions, and he’s right. Unfortunately, the odds are not in his favor, and Det. Wallace (Kadia Sarif) informs him that he must leave the state of New York for breaking the law and impersonating a police officer.
On his way out of the police station after surrendering his badge, Angel notices an ad for Prater’s gala and recognizes him. See, at the beginning of episode 9, when Red and Prater exit the restaurant to talk, we see they’re being watched. Someone is taking photos of them together. Turns out, it’s Angel tracking Dexter.
Now that Angel knows Prater’s identity, he goes to visit the billionaire in hopes of a Hail Mary. If he can expose Dexter to the right person, the truth will set him free. So, Angel tells Prater and Charley who Red really is, and Prater couldn’t be more stupefied, or utterly pleased.
The truth sets Angel free alright, just not in the way he was hoping.
Prater lures The Bay Harbor Butcher into a twisted trap
It’s a moment full of thrills when Dexter arrives at Prater’s penthouse. He thinks he’s there to kill the billionaire, but he doesn’t know what we do.
Prater leads him down to his private vault of memorabilia where, before going in, Prater lets Dexter know that he knows his true identity. He’s been exposed, and Prater couldn’t be more pleased to have The Bay Harbor Butcher standing before him.
What? You didn’t actually think Prater was going to be mad about finding out he had one of the nation’s most prolific serial killers, who was presumed dead, right in his grasp, did you? Don’t be silly. Prater loves it. In fact, he’s so happy about it, he’s set up a twisted trap for Dexter.
Inside the vault strapped to a table, awaiting Dexter’s blade, is Angel. Oh, Dexter is tempted, believe me. He’s so tempted. The catch? Prater wants to watch. He wants to see The BHB in action. He even takes it a step further and offers to be Dexter’s benefactor.
“I’ll be the Medici to your Bay Harbor Butcher,” Prater says. “I have extensive files of serial killers across the globe. I could invite them for a week of festivities and then you could … do what you do.”
It’s sick and twisted but for Dexter’s Dark Passenger, it must sound like heaven. Dexter takes the knife from Prater and moves closer to Angel. He raises the blade, ready to plunge it deep into his former friend’s chest; then, at the last second, he frees him, hoping they can be partners again. No dice: Angel attacks Dexter, strangling him as they fall to the floor—Prater entranced at what’s playing out before him.
He can’t let his prize pet die, though, and as gunshots erupt, Angel falls to the ground, and Charley and Prater run out of the vault, locking Dexter in there with his dying former Lieutenant. Dexter confesses to Angel that he never killed Sgt. Doakes or Maria (from the original series), but to Angel, it doesn’t matter; it’s still all Dexter’s fault. He refuses Dexter’s apology, then sadly dies.
Dexter is left alone, locked in Prater’s celebratory vault of death, with his enraged Dark Passenger, whose sights are now set on one thing: killing Leon Prater.
Dexter: Resurrection Episode 9 Review
I told you this was one hell of a penultimate episode! It’s twisted, but for Dexter’s Dark Passenger, you know Prater’s proposition was tempting, even if momentarily. You’re forgetting one thing, though: Dexter’s Passenger has exhibited moral growth and evolution this season. No way he’d go for that, not now.
As I look back at everyone’s efforts this season, from Dexter, Harrison, and Angel right on up to Leon Prater, they’ve all been fueled by desperation. It doesn’t matter which kind. When you’re desperate, you’re desperate, and that leads to anything.
For Harrison, it led to murder. For Dexter, it led to, well, being Prater’s living trophy. For Angel, it led to his own death, and for Prater, it led to the biggest infiltration of his private life.
So, what can you expect from the Dexter: Resurrection season finale? Expect the showdown of showdowns to happen—the one we’ve been waiting all season to see: Leon Prater vs. The Bay Harbor Butcher.
Episode 8 of Dexter: Resurrection is currently streaming on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME. Tune in for the season finale next week on Friday, September 5, 2025.
