What's The Song In The Dexter Season 9 Teaser Trailer?
Fans and critics alike agree that "Dexter," once loved for its deliciously gray morals, has one of the worst series finales in TV history. The end of Season 8 saw Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), the serial killer who kills other serial killers, fake his own death by driving his boat into a hurricane, then hide from both his problems and his family by picking up lumber-jacking in an Oregon forest.
Well, "Dexter" is officially coming back to hopefully repair its ruined reputation with a 10-episode ninth season. The show's new setting is a far cry from sunny Miami, where almost the entirety of "Dexter" took place, and is instead set in Upstate New York, in the fictional town of Iron Lake (via TVLine). Casting for the new season has already generated some buzz, with "Mandalorian" star Julia Jones playing the town's Chief of Police and Clancy Brown ("The Shawshank Redemption") portraying the unofficial mayor and antagonist.
A brief teaser trailer for "Dexter" Season 9 dropped today. A slow, poignant song plays over a wintery forest scene as Dexter stares out a window, with a tied-up person struggling behind him. Then, he turns to the camera, arches his eyebrows, and smiles. He's back to his old killing ways.
So, what's the song that plays in the teaser for the upcoming "Dexter" revival? Let's discuss.
Both Dexter and Showtime have good intentions
The song is "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by Nina Simone, first recorded in 1964 and then famously covered by The Animals. While Simone definitely wasn't singing about murdering people, the song's lyrics do hit home with Dexter.
Showtime's announcement tweet actually quotes one of the song's lines: "He's just a soul whose intentions are good." If Dexter is indeed back to killing, as he appears to be, the lyrics hint that he's doing it with his old code: kill only other serial killers, no one else. There's no denying that Dexter is still a serial killer, but he's convinced himself that his intentions are good since he's trying to rid the world of other monsters.
Beyond the chorus, "But I'm just a soul whose intentions are good / Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood," the other lyrics also fit right in thematically. The first verse — "Baby, you understand me now / If sometimes you see that I'm mad / Don't you know no one alive can always be an angel?" — touches on Dexter's dark side, his "dark passenger," as he calls it. The series has always been about Dexter's exploration of the monster within him and how it affects those in his life. Meanwhile, the line "Oh, baby I'm just human" parallels Dexter's struggle with defining himself as human versus something other.
"And then you're bound to see my other side" is analogous to how Dexter exists in two states: the friendly blood spatter analyst who gets along well enough with people at work and is a loving father, and the cold, unfeeling serial killer who has an undeniable urge to watch the life fade from someone's eyes. Most people see only the former, but Dexter always knew there was a possibility they would find out about the latter. Maybe, in Season 9, he'll be outed to everyone.
Just as Dexter is asking people to understand his good intentions, so too is Showtime asking fans to bear with the series that ended on a very sour note. The company and the show's creative team have good intentions to right the wrong of the "Dexter" Season 8 ending, so they're hoping what comes next isn't misunderstood.