Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Dexter: Resurrection Season 2, Episode 2

What does a midlife crisis look like for a serial killer? In Dexter: Resurrection Season 2, it means Dexter Morgan listening to self-help podcasts and questioning his life’s work because nobody appreciates the people he has killed. The second season finds Michael C. Hall’s antihero at a crossroads: he is getting older, his son is a cop, and even the ghost of his father, Harry Morgan (James Remar), thinks he has lost his way. Episode 2, “Young Blood,” highlights a growing problem: Dexter wants recognition.

In an interview with Collider, Hall says Dexter is beginning to question his legacy: “He’s really wondering what it’s all worth, if it’s his secret, and the fact of his secret dies with every victim.” That shift is dangerous for someone who has spent most of his life avoiding law enforcement’s attention. It becomes more apparent when Dexter encounters Don Framt, played by Brian Cox, the suspected New York Ripper, who seems to enjoy the attention he receives.

Cox explains that Don has few reservations about his reputation: “He basks in the glory that maybe he is a serial killer, even though he knows he is a serial killer, but he basks in that glory. So he gets off on that.” The contrast sets apart two killers who have evaded consequences for years: Don embraces notoriety, while Dexter questions the cost of secrecy.

Dexter also has to contend with Joey Quinn (Desmond Harrington), who is back and looking for answers about Angel Batista’s death (David Zayas). Speaking with Collider, Hall and Cox, along with Harrington, Remar and Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, discussed Dexter’s changing priorities and the people complicating his life. They also considered why his latest choices, including working with Charley, played by Uma Thurman, could create trouble as the season continues.

Why does Dexter find Charley’s dangerous offer so tempting?

Dexter’s need for recognition is becoming harder to ignore.

Dexter has spent much of his life alone, but Season 2, Episode 2 finds him reconsidering a business proposition from Charley. She offers to help him track down serial killers and provides access to a luxury apartment. His first target is Ray Ballard (Gabriel Luna), the Sleepy-Eyed Killer, who sneaks into homes, rearranges people’s belongings to torment them and eventually kills them. Dexter has conditions of his own, but Hall says Charley’s offer is difficult to resist.

“I think it’s practical, logistical reasons. She gives him access that he wouldn’t otherwise have. And on a level that maybe he can’t fully appreciate or cop to, she sees him for who he is, and as much as she can admires him for it, and he craves that,” Hall says. Dexter is also pushing back against advice from Harry. When his father questions his decisions, Dexter resists, even asking why he cannot “be happy for once.” Hall describes the character’s growing defiance as “a sort of free-floating defiance that he puts on his son, on his internalized father.”

That defiance makes Dexter’s encounter with Don Framt especially revealing. Dexter follows Don to a strip club and approaches the suspected New York Ripper while pretending to be an admirer. Unlike Dexter, Don does not seem concerned about being connected to his crimes. Cox says the killer’s confidence comes from his impulsive nature. “The thing about it is that he’s very ignorant, also, about certain things, and he doesn’t realize that he is walking on a tightrope sometimes,” Cox says. “He just gets on that tightrope, and he walks it. And I think that that’s to do with the sort of spontaneous nature of who he is.”

Cox also offers a colorful description of Don’s appetite for attention: “It’s like he’s a bit of a — excuse my bad language — self-fame fucker, if you can imagine that,” he laughs. “That’s really what he is.”

Cox sees a parallel between the two killers in the years they have spent avoiding consequences. “Because of the length of the show, which is interesting, the 20-year length of the show, there is that same kind of lens in the relationship of Framt getting away with it, and it’s so many, many years later. So there’s that parallel, that’s very clear in the story.” The comparison connects Don’s public confidence with Dexter’s doubts about secrecy, despite their different attitudes toward attention.

How could Dexter’s midlife crisis strain his closest relationships?

“It’s the beginning of a thorny relationship.”

Dexter’s partnership with Charley coincides with a difficult period in his relationship with his son, Harrison (Jack Alcott). Now working homicide alongside Detective Wallace (Kadia Saraf), Harrison wants his father to leave the New York Ripper alone. Dexter agrees outwardly but is not convinced, and Hall says the father-son dynamic helps explain why Dexter resists taking orders from his son.

“He wants it to have been his decision and his gift that he’s given Harrison, not his command that he’s following, which I think is something — it’s obviously a unique situation, but in a father-son dynamic, something that would happen. ‘I don’t want to believe I’m following your orders, but that I’m granting you a wish you might have,’” Hall says. He warns that the arrangement may not last: “It’s the beginning of a thorny relationship where they’re sort of negotiating who gets to have who and who gets to kill who. I think we’d be reasonable to suspect that that’s not a sustainable dynamic.”

For James Remar, who plays Dexter’s late father Harry and his conscience, Harry remains a source of support as Dexter navigates fatherhood and a personal crisis. “I serve as his anchor, and I serve as his safe harbor, because I’m the one person that knows everything about him. Even though I’m not there anymore, so to speak, I am the one person who knows everything about him.”

Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, who plays Dexter’s neighbor Blessing, suggests their friendship could also change. “Blessing brings blessings to Dexter. He also becomes a friend, and sometimes a friend needs to tell you harsh truths about yourself, challenge you to get out of your comfort zone, open new doors, be a sounding board,” Mwine says. “These and some other dark things might unfold this season for Blessing and Dexter.”

Joey Quinn, played by Desmond Harrington, is back in New York seeking answers about Angel Batista’s death. Harrington, who appeared in Seasons 3 to 8 of Dexter, jokes that Quinn could become another obstacle for the title character: “It could be that I’m in his way, or pain, or whatever.”

With several people pulling Dexter in different directions, Hall offers a warning about what may come: “More and more plates will continue to spin, and eventually all come crashing down.” The season’s conflicts center on Dexter’s choices, his strained relationships and the risk of his arrangements unraveling.

Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 streams every Friday on Paramount+ in the U.S.