'Dexter: New Blood': A Deep-Dive Examination of Two Great Characters

I've said it before, but it's worth repeating. Unlike most fans, I truly liked the season 8 finale of Dexter. For the entire season, and really for portions of the entire series to that point, Dexter always hinted at a desire for a normal life, without his Dark Passenger. As close as he came to shaking off his Dark Passenger and finally turning a corner, in the end, he regressed, much to the chagrin of a vast majority of the fanbase. Again, I thought it was quite sensical and far more fitting of the show's tone and themes than some fairy-tale ending.

Whether fans liked the previous series finale or not, though, Dexter: New Blood is completely redemptive and a worthy addition to the story of one of my favorite fictional characters of all time (more on that later).

The 10-episode binge had a lot of ground to cover. Dexter lives in a new setting (a small, rugged town that's all about the outdoors in upstate New York), he is surrounded by new characters (most of whom were fleshed out enough to care enough about them), and he must adapt to a new lifestyle that includes a routine to subdue his killing nature (at the beginning of the season, he was10 years "sober" since his last kill).

Despite the refreshing new feeling and tone with which the show starts, all of the familiar elements of a strong season of Dexter drove the plot forward. He does end up killing again, and he tries to hide it. Though he isn't working directly for them like he did for eight seasons in Miami, Dexter works with the police to both catch bad guy and reroute the police off his scent. Meanwhile, a mystery killer is preying on young women, and Dexter takes matters into his own hands (it was odd to see how rusty he was). New Blood certainly sprinkles in some great nostalgia plays to add to the familiar themes and story beats; I'm certain that, at some point, the writers convinced Jennifer Carpenter to return to the show by telling her she'd get to trash talk and cuss out Michael C. Hall (her ex-husband) the entire season.

The core of New Blood, however, was all about the return of one character in particular: Dexter's son, Harrison. Dexter last sees his son at age 4 when he gives him to Hannah McKay, his love interest in Season 8 who moves to Argentina and promises to raise Harrison. Dexter "loves" his son enough to fake his death to protect Harrison, because everyone else close to Dexter - including his sister Deb and his wife Rita - dies.

Now, though, we get to see Harrison's perspective of the situation. Without knowing the truth about his father, Harrison goes down a dark path of his own. He is very hurt that his father didn't love him enough to stick around, and he carries resentment and abandonment issues with him wherever he goes (as would any child). He doesn't give up hope, though, and in the opening episode of New Blood, Harrison shows up at Dexter's cabin.

And thus, Dexter's world is flipped on its ear. He now has new priorities, and the way they blend the old Dexter with the newly fatherly version was compelling, rounding his character with a light-hearted side we didn't really see before (even moreso than in his relationship with Deb). Dexter feels a new responsibility all parents feel; he will do anything to keep his son out of harm's way, and he doesn't want to see his son make his same mistakes.

Or does he? The season skyrockets in interest and quality when Dexter reveals his dark secret to Harrison...and when Harrison not only goes along with it, but wants to take part in it. How cute, right? A father and son duo unlike any other. Dexter goes through a full gambit of emotions. He's proud of his son for wanting to work in the family business (literally one of the episode titles). He's stern with his fatherly lectures. He's worried that Harrison will be trapped in this lifestyle forever. He's cautious about putting Harrison in harm's way, especially when confronting Kurt Caldwell, the big bad of the season (Dexter kills Caldwell's son, but Caldwell finds out, then decides to get revenge on Dexter by going after Harrison).

The best part of Harrison's character arc, though, is also hindered by the worst part of the season: the ending. What motivates Harrison turns out to be different than Dexter (read the next section for full analysis). In the end, Harrison realizes he can't follow in his father's footsteps, but he also can't let his father get away with the people he recklessly kills. To quickly backtrack and provide a bit of context, part of why I love the show is the constant tension of whether Dexter gets caught. Well, through a series of loose, yet somewhat earned, connections, the small-town police chief (who happens to be Dexter's girlfriend) discovers the truth about Dexter's past, including how he was the Bay Harbor Butcher and how he faked his own death. She catches him and has him locked up, but Dexter later escapes by killing the policeman keeping an eye on him at the station. This policeman also was Harrison's high school wrestling coach (small towns, right?), so Harrison was personally affected by his father's actions. Harrison realizes his father won't hesitate to kill innocent people as necessary to protect himself, so he decides to shoot Dexter square in the chest with a hunting rifle.

Yep, Dexter dies by his own son's hand. And Dexter's story is nicely tied up with a bow. Everything is resolved in the season's arc, and the ending is a far more satisfactory conclusion for Dexter (though my wife has differing opinions; read her thoughts below!).

My problem with the ending? Harrison's story was left wide open. In theory, Harrison seemed to be free of his own Dark Passenger. The final scene shows Harrison driving out of town to start a new life once again. But for me, it's too presumptuous to think that Harrison will go on to live a normal life. Dexter tried that and failed, so why would it work for Harrison? Is it because they're actually different?

To fully grasp my argument, I need to set the stage first in the section below:

Like Father, Like Son?

Dexter might be the most complicated, in-depth television character I've ever watched.

On the surface, he seems pretty understandable. He operates the way a vigilante would. But he takes that concept a step further by killing them. He's a serial killer who kills serial killers; he gets a thrill when he lets his victims know they were not getting away with their secret crimes, especially because he knows the police and the justice system continue to fail giving these criminals what they deserve, thus protecting future victims. As vigilantes go, he's already far more intriguing than, say, a Batman-like character who is basically trying the help the police, even if they need to bend the rules a little bit.

But where the character of Dexter gets far more complex - and, by proxy, far more interesting to watch in a show - is when you look at his motivations. Dexter is not truly driven by justice. He isn't trying to flash a bat signal to let the bad guys know someone will come for them if they cross a line. Dexter does not want to get caught. That's the top rule of his code. He doesn't want anyone knowing someone is doing the cops a service. He carefully stages his plan to make it seem like there is no vigilante in the shadows at all.

The greatest irony about Dexter is what makes him so intriguing, and it feeds into the incredible dynamic with his son, Harrison: Dexter is motivated by his Dark Passenger. Whether it's because he saw his mother's dead body as a little child or because his adopted father Harry not only didn't curtail Dexter's urges, but rather provided tools to harness his Dark Passenger, Dexter has an innate desire to kill. Dexter merely kills serial killers because Harry taught him to do so; in order to keep this Dark Passenger from ruining his life (you know, by getting the death penalty for murder), he learned to select his victims carefully, and these victims must deserve death. That's why Dexter extensively researches his victims' lives. He makes sure these serial killers he finds are definitively guilty before taking them down; part of his killing ritual includes making his victims face the innocent lives they killed to ensure they know why they deserve to die.

I could go on about Dexter, but why all this is important to understand the ending of New Blood is to see how Harrison seemingly went down the same path, when in actuality, Harrison is a stark contrast to his father. Harrison is a killer of a different kind.

Harrison first starts showing signs of Dexter tendencies when he stands up for a student named Ethan getting bullied at school. But later, Harrison realizes that Ethan was planning his revenge on everyone who wronged him. Here's a chance for Harrison to stop something bad from happening to many people (and it doesn't hurt that he turns into a school hero). So Harrison plots a trap for Ethan and stabs him, almost fatally (Ethan ends up in a coma). In his mind, he was stopping a threat.

Flash forward a few episodes, and Harrison has made the wrestling team, one of the most intense sports there is. Harrison executes a great slam that leads to a takedown and a pin. But after the whistle blows, you can see in Harrison's eyes that he is not in control of himself. He proceeds to break the kid's arm well after the whistle, which understandingly starts a fight with the other team.

Was Harrison's inability to control himself a result of his Dark Passenger gaining more control of him? When Dexter first begins teaching his son the code, the biggest selling point for Harrison was the justice in stopping bad guys and the idea of saving innocent peoples' lives. But after breaking the kid's arm on the wrestling match, it's clear there's more anger in Harrison than he lets on.

But it's "understandable," right? I mean, Harrison grew up without a father, so clearly he has some anger issues. There were a few other minor moments throughout the season that indicate Harrison definitely is not adverse to holding a grudge. So which is it? Is Harrison turning into his father? Or is he just a misguided teenager?

The lack of clarity in the end was the most frustrating part of the entire New Blood season. But perhaps a clue or two in how he deals with his father gives more insight than the writers initially let on. See, Dexter escaped prison and wanted to skip town (since the cops knew his true identity), and he wanted Harrison to come. And Harrison starts out willing to give up his friends, girlfriend, and a new start in life to go with him. It's only after Harrison realizes that Dexter will continue to kill any innocent lives that get in his way of freedom when he decides to kill his dad. This suggests he's still motivated by justice, yet he's willing to kill one bad person to save many more innocent lives. Just like his dad.

Does killing his dad lift that burden off his shoulders once and for all? Probably not, but the show leaves it pretty open-ended, almost as if a spin-off show is needed to give some answers, huh? I tend to think Harrison might be a different version of what his dad was. He's emotionally driven (Dexter never showed emotions), the kind of guy that shoots first and asks questions later. There were times when Harrison didn't seem to have it in him (he was squeamish when his dad showed him the ritual), but at other times, it seems like Harrison loses control in a different way.

The greatest little twist of writing in this final scene was the moment when Dexter realized he was willing to lay down his life for the sake of his son, and he, maybe for the first time in his life, experienced true love. It just took a mad man of a son to bring it out of him.

WIFE'S TWO CENTS

I loved the season. It was very redemptive of how the series previously ended. My issue with most of the seasons of Dexter, including this new one, is how the writers end them. The final episode with Harrison killing his father was a dud.

We didn't find out how the podcast girl was killed. It seemed too ironic that this True Crime podcast girl who already thought Kurt was creepy, was willing to put herself in danger like that again. And we didn't even see how it happened.

I think it would've been more redeeming for Dexter to go to jail and face his penance. Even if he got the death penalty there, it would have fulfilled the theme that his sins will find him out. Him getting shot kind of felt like the easy way out.

The way Angela pieced together how Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher was clever. I like how they connected to the rest of the series when she found out about his past killings. It was fun when she found the connection in the ketamine and the needle marks on victims' necks, which established Dexter's pattern.

I liked the conversation Dexter and Harrison had about Dexter's killing of the cop. This opened my eyes and makes me think that, this whole time, Dexter was not really driven by a moral compass; he was driven by the code Harry taught him. For instance, his reason for killing the cop was to not get caught. He wanted to kill him to escape town. Harrison, on the other hand, is strictly driven by a moral compass. He had more of a true sense of justice, and he justified any of his wrongdoings by knowing that he was saving more innocent lives by stopping the bad guys. That even played into the final scene; Dexter fit into Harrison's own code.

Overall, I really enjoyed the season. It was fun to see the different dynamics with Dexter having to deal with his son. I didn't like that they ended Harrison's story open to the audience's interpretation. I think Dexter was a true psychopath, and while Harrison had his own version of a Dark Passenger, he has actual feelings. He had real friends. He liked his girlfriend. He connected with his coach. But I can still see two roads for Harrison. He either follows in his father's footsteps and kills other serial killers, but this time with an emotional driving force to bring justice; or his rage from growing up without a father and experiencing what he did (witnessing his mom die, growing up in foster care) all caused trauma that eventually will fade and not drive his actions the way they did when he attacked the kid in the school or broke his opponent's arm on the wrestling mat. Killing his father gave Harrison closure after he realized what the Dark Passenger did to his dad, and Harrison decided to not allow his own Dark Passenger to consume him the way it did Dexter. Harrison didn't seem too emotional when he killed his father, which makes me think he's more likely to go down a similar path that his father did, but unless they have another season/spinoff show, we'll never truly know.