Detective Bobby Watt is a character in the Showtime series Dexter: Original Sin.
He is a Detective within Miami Metro Homicide and the partner of Sergeant Harry Morgan, sharing a friendship that earned him the title of "godfather" to his daughter Debra Morgan. He originally served alongside Harry in Vice during the Estrada Case and transferred to Homicide following its conclusion.
Background[]
Estrada Case[]
During the 1970’s he served alongside Detective Harry Morgan in Miami Metro Vice under Lieutenant Aaron Spencer. Both he and Harry were assigned to the Estrada Case where they were to find someone they could use as an informant in an effort to bring down Hector Estrada. Ultimately Harry decided on using Laura Moser after he busted her and her boyfriend []Joe Driscoll]]. He is privy to the entire operation - where Laura, with funding and contacts from the police, sells drugs to higher end clientele with the goal of moving up in the ranks. After Laura catches the interest of Diego Lopez, he rides on a limo out to the drop off to one of her clients. When she gets on Harry and Bobby can be seen in a nearby car watching everything go down - Bobby follows them, staying there far lengths behind as they make their way out to the Shipping Yard. While following them there a vehicle pulls in front of them and causes them to lose her - with her wire cutting out as distance carry’s on.
Bobby is later seen talking with Harry on their way to Laura’s house as she has secured a meeting with Zenny Hernandez. Bobby tells Harry to remember - she’s his informant, cautioning him to get too close. The two of them arrive at her house where Harry agrees to watch her sons Dexter and Brian Moser - indicating that he knew both of Laura’s sons just like Harry did. Bobby gives him a look as he agrees to watch Laura during this meeting and leaves Harry to babysit.
Later on when Harry’s wife Doris Morgan became pregnant and was close to delivery - Bobby can be seen in a surveillance van with Harry while Laura meets with Santos Jimenez at a warehouse. He asks how Harry‘s doing with the baby on the way any day now, hopes that he gets his boy he’s hoping for. With Laura being wired they listen in as Santos cuts the finger off Alfredo Ruiz in front of her - this worries Harry, arming up ready to bust in to save her when suddenly Santos speaks up saying she has earned a promotion. Bobby stops Harry from leaving as this means the case is progressing ever further to Estrada.
At some point following DebraMs birth Bobby became her godfather, showing the bond that he and Harry had over the years. He would continue to visit the kids as they were growing up treating Dexter like Harry’s boy regardless of realizing that he was adopted from a tragedy.
After Miami Vice[]
At some point following the Estrada Case…Lieutenant Spencer, Harry Morgan and Bobby Watt all transferred to Miami Metro Homicide. It’s possible that the brutal murders of the Shipping Yard Massacre changed all of them - leading to their career and personal goals later in their lives.Bobby would become a Homicide Detective, working alongside Harry who received a promotion during his career to a Sergeant-Detective. Spencer would be promoted to Captain of Homicide and the three of them would take up and coming Forensic Intern Tanya Martin into the next decade leading to 1991.
At some point Bobby would marry Missy Watt and have two children, Ben Watt and Ana Watt (the later of which was "conceived" when Bobby and Missy snuck off to the Florida Keys leaving Ben with Bobby's mother). The Watts would continue to be close with the Morgans, being considered family.
Summary[]
Bobby had been with Harry for decades now and served as an energetic, supportive partner throughout their grim line of business.
Dexter: Original Sin[]
Bobby is among the detectives present at the Shapiro Family Home where a the Shapiros were found murdered - two parents and one girl shot dead. When Captain Aaron Spencer arrives he asks for a report on the scene - Bobby informs him that the killer broke in through the back door and also details how due to the killer wearing “booties” over shoes there were no tread marks to trace. When Harry discovered a fingerprint during the investigation he is among the raid to arrest Levi Reed, watching as Harry and Spencer haul him out of the house.
Bobby later appears alongside Spencer and Detective Angel Batista/Original Sin at Harry Morgan’s House go provide the family with some food during Harry’s stint at the hospital following a heart attack. He came with a couple of pizzas half and half pepperoni, feeling it was “heart conscious”. He’s later at the office on the first day Harry returns alongside Dexter preparing for his own first day as a Forensics Intern. After Angel gives Harry a hug, Bobby is among several welcoming him back to the family and they greet Dexter as well.
As Harry settles in Bobby, Batista and Spencer surround his desk while giving Harry a hard time over his heart attack - Bobby feeling he should have been the one given his health. After awhile Batista mentions the disappearance of Jimmy Powell feeling that it is probably a kidnapping. After Dexter comes out of the forensics office Bobby greets him warmly, saying how he remembers this boy from way back in the day watching Scooby Doo in his Jammie’s. After a bit Spencer tells them that they have a drug related homicide in Overtown, declaring it an “N.H.I”. He assigns Harry, Bobby and Batista - as well as Dexter to the scene.
Bobby can be seen at the scene surrounding the body of Raul Martinez wanting a coffee like several others in the area. Once Dexter fetches them for everyone, he looks over the corpse and comes to a determination on how the killer took out the victim. He first gives a visual display, moving across the scene to Tanya Martin and the again to Batista followed by Bobby, Vince Masuka and Captain Spencer. On the last demonstration Bobby remarks sarcastically they would never have been able to find that out - if not for the burn marks on the victims forehead showing he was shit point blank (Dexter had looked at it from a blood spatter analysis standpoint vs the more obvious signs). Everyone busts out with a laugh, which Harry tells Defter it just means Gallows humor - helps with dealing with this dark stuff every day.
Later that day Bobby goes with Batista, Masuka and Dexter to Angel’s cousin’s restaurants. Dexter grabs their table and Bobby ends up sitting across from Dexter as everyone gets their food. They play a prank on him - removing the meat from the bread and mock his earlier analysis at the crime scene with a laugh. Dexter, wanting to join in on the humor, cracks a joke about Bobby essentially having a heart attack (but in the technical words used for Harry’s heart attack). The joke falls flat and comes off a bit dark…so the next time Dexter sees him he’s brought a veggie tray to break the ice. Dexter tells him he didn’t really mean he would die of a something something infarction and offers him a vegetable. Bobby looks at it and scoffs, saying that he sleeps like a vegetable. Following the miss with the veggie tray Dexter returns in another day with a doughnut box which is an immediate hit. Bobby takes a brisk jog around his desk to grab a doughnut with Dexter joking that this is the fastest he’s ever seen Bobby move.
Following the appearance of Jimmy Powell’s finger the previous day, Spencer holds a press conference alongside Judge Powell and his wife - where he calls out the kidnapper and addresses the Cartel connection theory to the public. Bobby watches the press conference from the briefing room along with everyone else in Homicide.
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Description[]
Bobby is a middle aged African-American man with a bald head and a bright smile. He is often seen wearing suits, much like his partner Harry often leaning towards grey colors. When he served in Miami Vice he had a small Afro as well as floral patterned button up shirts and khakis, reminiscent of the 1970’s style.
Personality[]
Bobby has an upbeat demeanor, often providing wise cracks at crime scenes or a smile when greeting someone. He handles scenes with professionalism, often bouncing ideas off his colleagues when investigating a case. In the 1970’s he had Harry’s back at every instance, even taking over when Harry had to watch Laura’s kids.
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Relationships[]
Harry Morgan[]
Bobby’s best friend and partner since their time in Miami Vice, he worked with Harry during the Estrada Case from start to finish. He had his back through both his professional and personal life, being close enough to earn the title of Godfather to Harry’s daughter Debra. He has also displayed loyalty in keeping secrets as he is well aware of Dexter, Brian and the brutal death of their mother. Throughout all of Dexter’s childhood he kept this secret and acts somewhat like an uncle would - like a brother to their father would.
Dexter Morgan[]
Bobby recounts that he remembers back to when Dexter watched Scooby Doo in his Jammies. Despite being aware of his true past, he never reveals it to Dexter out of respect for his father. When Dexter turns 20 and joins Miami Metro as a forensics intern he immediately takes to palling with him. He isn’t above seeing his awkward peculiarities though and reacts with a bit of unease to a joke Dexter made about a heart attack. That said he’ll take opportunities to crack a joke if Dexter goes too far into an explanation on something.
Debra Morgan[]
While it hasn’t been seen yet it’s likely the same type of relationship he has with Dexter - being something of an uncle to both of them. He does refer to her as his goddaughter often though.
Aaron Spencer[]
Bobby served under Spencer back in Miami Vice and always balanced well with the team of detectives he’s worked with - being assigned leadership roles alongside Harry. It’s Unknown what happened to change Spencer into what he became later in life but it would seem like Harry that Bobby remains unaware. Aaron respects Bobby, both in the 70’s and in homicide especially when it came to bringing about a Cartel lead connecting it to Nicki Spencer’s disappearance. He was also the one to bring Nicky’s finger back to the department, having requested to be at Becca’s house in case anything might be sent there. He is also the one to hold back Aaron during his dramatic episodes, first delivering the news about the kidnapping them to stop the fight with Nelson and when Aaron pretended to be panicked over the finger.
Notes[]
- Bobby Watt is a new character that was introduced in Dexter: Original Sin. He serves as Harry Morgan's long time partner back from his days in Vice and into their time in Miami Metro Homicide.
- In the original series Bobby is not mentioned nor is his family, instead Harry's partner was said to be a man named Davey Sanchez who was only mentioned in Episode 102: Crocodile as having been killed in the line of duty. Davey's killer walked due to a faulty warrant, being deemed an unrighteous bust. As Original Sin serves as the revised canon of the original series, Davey may have been retconned and turned into Bobby Watt though Bobby is still alive passed Davey's death (Davey died while Dexter was still a teenager, given the flashbacks).
- It could also be that Harry was partnered with Davey while Bobby was handling other cases. An example of shifting partnerships exists all throughout the franchise between detectives, with Debra partnering with Quinn, Batista and Mike Anderson while Harry himself was partnered with Maria LaGuerta after she joined the Homicide department (following his bungling of the Levi Reed case). It's still possible for the character to exist despite Bobby's relevance to the story and that Harry partnered with him sometime in the 80's.
- Bobby is aware of Dexter's true origins as he was present around the Moser household during the Estrada Case. He also knows about Brian and was the one who brought Brian out of the bloody shipping container, which was not established in the original series (we are never shown who retrieves Brian just that Harry told officers outside the container to "get in there!" which is when he would have been found and rescued).
- Bobby may also be aware of adult Brian Moser being the "N.H.I Serial Killer" as Harry told him this truth while he was in a coma. He sought his advice, needing to know what to do and Bobby weakly tells him "Save...Dexter...". Whether he remembers the conversation or now after his recovery has not been established yet. This means the only other character other than Harry to be aware of Brian would be Bobby, as LaGuerta's suspicion of Brian Moser likely faded following the dismissal of the N.H.I. Serial Killer Case.
- It's unlikely that Bobby is aware of Dexter's urges, the Code of Harry or that Dexter is a Serial Killer just that he suffered a traumatic experience witnessing his mother's murder. This makes him one of several characters aware of Dexter's trauma including Camilla Figg, Thomas Matthews, Aaron Spencer, Doris Morgan, Barb Plimpton, Paul Petrie, Evelyn Vogel and any officers that knew Harry at the time when Dexter was found in the container. As time went on and the public record of the events was altered to exclude Dexter from the file, only those who found it through investigation or those he told about the incident know about his past.