Dexter Original Sin: Is Sunnysmiles a Real Lunch Box Brand?

In Paramount+ with Showtime’s crime drama series ‘Dexter: Original Sin,’ Sunnysmiles is a lunch box brand that is featured in multiple episodes. The children’s charcuterie is initially given to Jimmy Powell by his abductor to ensure his survival. After the young boy’s murder, the criminal gives the same to Nicky after he is abducted. In the show, the lunch box plays a vital role in establishing the antagonist and linking him to the two crimes that shake Miami PD immensely. Even though it appears to be a real product, we won’t be able to buy it from actual stores! SPOILERS AHEAD.

Sunnysmiles is a Fictional Lunch Box Brand

Sunnysmiles does not have an exact real-life counterpart. The writers and the production department of ‘Dexter: Original Sin’ created the lunch box exclusively for the crime drama series. While it does not exist in reality, it is not any different from the ready-to-eat meal kits or lunch boxes available in the market today. Its colorful packaging and contents remind us of Lunchables, one of the most popular brands when it comes to meal boxes. The Kraft Heinz product has been widely known across the country for over three decades. Good & Gather’s meal kits are also not drastically different from Sunnysmiles.

The significance of Sunnysmiles lies in the part it plays in establishing Aaron Spencer, Dexter Morgan’s boss and the captain of the homicide division at Miami PD, as the primary antagonist of the first season of the crime drama. When Jimmy and Nicky are abducted, the only major clue the show offers viewers to identify the criminal is his reliance on Sunnysmiles to feed his targets. The seventh episode of the series uses this element to introduce Aaron as the abductor by showing him buying the same lunch box. This scene effectively keeps him under suspicion before the final revelation.

The Sunnysmiles lunch box appears once again in the ninth episode of the show, as Dexter comes across the same while conducting a search in Aaron’s bachelor pad. The bag in which the police captain carries the meal kit is also what he eventually uses to give Nicky’s bloodied t-shirt to be planted in a stash house belonging to the Los Tigres cartel. Even though these connections may appear minor, they collectively contribute to presenting Aaron as a vicious antagonist, justifying the creation of Sunnysmiles. Since it does not exist in reality, the ardent admirers of the crime drama may need to satisfy themselves with Lunchables or one among its several alternatives!