Dexter: Resurrection

Is rooting for one serial killer OK if it means the downfall of many? It’s a utilitarian take that would make the likes of John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham proud, and it’s what makes “Dexter: Resurrection” relevant to the world 19 years after the original series’ debut.

My favorite performance of the genre is Michael C. Hall’s dark, brooding, droll, and brilliant work in the “Dexter” universe, which continues with the blood-spattered and wildly entertaining (if occasionally bat-bleep bonkers) “Dexter: Resurrection.”

The writing is sharper, the characters are much more layered, and the moral dilemmas hit harder than ever. Sure, there’s still room to grow, but for now, Dexter: Resurrection is the gripping and fun revival of a story we thought was finished.

The first four episodes crackle with old Dexter fun, delivering a smorgasbord of fresh killers, cops, and crucibles for the former Bay Harbor Butcher to navigate (all while Harrison's fledging butchering is in dire need of some patience and finesse.)

For the many, many viewers burned by the original series who weren't motivated to tune in to New Blood, this won't be a must-watch. But there's a lightness and a familiar dark humor in this iteration that brought me back to the old days of watching the show, before everything got so heavy.

Resurrection is at its best when it lets Dexter be Dexter. When he gets a glimpse at Prater’s happy club of lunatics, there’s a spark that the show didn’t even have in its last few Showtime seasons.

Parental considerations initiated last time out are foregrounded and more complex this time, as is an extra dimension of furtiveness. .... Character-driven with well-placed humor too; “Resurrection’s” running Bee Gees gags and vegan cracks earn more smiles than they should, while the macabre stuff gets pretty wild.

The new setting, the old humor, the new killers (who are just goofy enough to evoke the excellent killers of old) — are enough of a hook to reward anyone still eager to engage with their favorite aughts era mass murderer. It may not be enough to sustain an ongoing series, but Dexter’s new lease on life may actually be worth waking the dead.

There’s still a dark thrill to watching Dexter work, accompanied by Hall’s sardonic inner monologue, and the series has a knack for throwing unexpected problems in his path and finding clever ways for him to solve them. .... With all the excitement Dexter encounters in New York, it’s easy to forget why he went there in the first place: to find Harrison. In truth, this part of the series is actually better forgotten.

In the four episodes available at the time of writing, it has made a strong start for what could be a great series – but if it doesn’t learn to rein itself in, I could see it hitting the slab just as quickly.

The viewer must wade through tedious stock characters, some alarmingly hammy acting and a script that assumes we are all staring at our phones as we watch. Do that, however, and you’re rewarded with Dexter’s trademark breezy, jet-black wit and a crime procedural all of its own. It’s like CSI: Patrick Bateman.

Moving the action to (another) new location helps Resurrection feel a bit fresher, but even with its plot-filled premiere, the show’s first three episodes tread familiar and predictable territory. .... It feels like Phillips and his writers are just saving their efforts for episode 4, when the season gets going in earnest — courtesy of a gleefully macabre development in Dexter’s social life, and a delightful gaggle of guest stars.

“Dexter: Resurrection” proves most interesting when Dexter meets an elite collective of serial killers who convene at the home of a wealthy admirer (Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones”) and his henchwoman/enforcer (Uma Thurman). It’s the only element of this season that feels like new, semi-unexplored terrain.

All of the grounding and clarity of purpose that carried Dexter: New Blood is gone, but if the version of Dexter that you enjoy was already borderline cartoonish — and the show is, and always has been, a dark comedy at heart — there’s entertainment to be found here.

We don’t think even Dexter loyalists will get why Dexter: Resurrection exists, and the first episode doesn’t give us any indication that the season’s story will be at all interesting.