Paramount+There’s so much Dexter (and so much bad Dexter) that it can be hard to trust anyone who recommends it. However, Resurrection, the show’s second revival — its third if you count the short-lived prequel Original Sin — stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the series’ peak. That trend appears to continue with its second season, which finds vigilante serial killer Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) in the emotional blast radius of recent events, while also dealing with a bitingly funny mid-life crisis.For those in the know: this is the best the show has been since Season 4, i.e. “the Trinity season,” where John Lithgow’s controlling family man made for an uncomfortable mirror to our anti-hero as he tried to fit in. The first season of Resurrection traded the rural sprawl of New Blood for a concrete jungle, as Dexter followed his now-adult son Harrison (Jack Alcott) to the Big Apple and stumbled upon a secret society of serial killers, giving him a brand new mission. That story ended with Dexter having to take out his former coworker and friend, retired Miami detective Angel Batista (David Zayas), whose ghostly presence opens Season 2 in a heightened dream sequence that finds the former colleagues hunting down killers side by side.It’s a fantasy of optimum function, asking the question: “What if Dexter could openly be who he truly is?” Only the nature of that question quickly shifts over the course of the first two episodes, which were made available to critics. Dexter has always wanted to blend in, but that equation starts to change when his life as a rideshare driver stagnates, and a couple of other New York serial killers start receiving all the glory. What if the Bay Harbor Butcher — Dexter’s alter ego — got the recognition he deserved?That’s the fun of Resurrection Season 2. With his son now a police officer under the watchful eyes of detectives Wallace (Kadia Saraf) and Oliva (Dominic Fumusa), Dexter is forced to skirt closely around the law as usual, but with a slightly tilt-shifted goal. It’s the same old Dexter on a brand new path, the good old serial killer trash we love, beating with an exciting emotional authenticity that keeps things fresh.The eerie music is familiar, but re-arranged just enough to set the stage for the unexpected, which seems to be the guiding principle this season. The show’s classic opening sequence returns as well, re-shot ever so slightly (replacing the spatter of a blood orange with the crumbs of an Everything Bagel), just as Dexter’s simultaneous admiration and revulsion for his biggest targets takes center stage once more, à la Trinity.This time, he looks to not only a killer or two left over from Prater’s collection — Eric Stonestreet makes a welcome return as family man “Rapunzel” — but to the New York Ripper, the famed serial killer yet to be caught. Prater’s files finally revealed his identity to the obsessive Wallace, but the NYPD has little evidence, making for a fun inversion of the show’s usual cat-and-mouse dynamic. They know their culprit is a man named Don Framt (Brian Cox), a sloppy, delightfully obnoxious man who rides around in an electric wheelchair. They just can’t prove it yet, but this hasn’t stopped him from soaking up the acclaim. That Framt is still under active investigation precludes him from Dexter’s “code,” but he remains an object of curiosity nonetheless.Brian Cox’s Don Framt becomes a person of interest in this season of Dexter: Resurrection. | Paramount+The code becomes immediately relevant, both because Harrison starts to have a say as a member of law enforcement, and because the ghostly presence of Dexter’s late father Harry (James Remar) isn’t so much a conscience this time as he is a manifestation of Dexter’s worst impulses. He tells him what he wants to hear at any given moment. It’s a welcome change, challenging the show’s stasis in the latter half of its original run while introducing a brand new spiritual presence to taunt him, in the form of none other than Batista.As we know by now, Dexter can appear level-headed, but he doesn’t respond rationally when challenged. So, this additional voice on his shoulder — funnily, a man named Angel as his second devil — dovetails nicely into the overarching plot, where a new serial murderer announces himself in the public eye. The self-proclaimed Five Borough Killer (Dan Stevens) uses new technology like Meta glasses and Air Drops to give the NYPD the run around, forcing Dexter to accept some help from an unexpected source.Dexter is older now. His joints hurt. His eyesight isn’t what it used to be. And he’s increasingly spread thin between his day job, his night-stalking, and his fatherly responsibilities. Add to this the unfamiliar territory of New York City, and a kindly, overeager landlord (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine’s Blessing) breathing down his neck, and baby, you’ve got a stew going — in a pressure cooker, no less.Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 brings the show back to the pulpy heights of the original series. | Paramount+It’s only a matter of time before things fall apart again. Perhaps it’ll be because another one of Dexter’s former colleagues pays him a visit. Perhaps it’ll be because Harrison finds himself romantically involved with a senior officer, Fiona (Nona Parker Johnson), whose father (Bokeem Woodbine) just so happens to be the Captain of Homicide. Or perhaps we’ll be able to trace it to Dexter’s new self-destructive streak as he chases the spotlight, which is about the dumbest thing he could possibly do. And yet, it’s exactly the kind of tongue-in-cheek decision keeping Resurrection entertaining.The original series just so happened to coincide with the rise of “prestige TV” — Mad Men, Breaking Bad and the likes — but it was always lurid pulp, a promise this latest season appears to live up to when things kick off. When Dexter says, in his signature voiceover, that he should be “thankful [he] made it this far” when he should be dead, he calls this new chapter an opportunity to re-asses his life and learn from his mistakes. It can’t help but read like the series’ own mission statement, courtesy of showrunner Clyde Phillips, who also helmed the original until Season 4. It’s a promise of that reliable Dexter feeling, a nostalgia trip without the wheel-spinning of later entries, but while keeping the show moving forward in strange and kooky new directions, as Dexter deals with #DadShit and a world where serial killers seem to lurk around every corner.Dexter: Resurrection Season 2 premieres on Paramount+ on October 30. New episodes release Fridays.