Dexter S9, Ep. 1 - A Redemptive Ending, A Fitting Beginning

The return of Dexter in the long-awaited Season 9, titled Dexter: New Blood, was the perfect bridge for fans, the majority of whom felt burned by the way Season 8 ended. I emphatically am not one of those fans; the original series ending was great to me, but the opening episode of Season 9 should please all fans.

Season 8 ended with Dexter moving away from Miami to some snow-covered woodsy small town out in the country and start fresh. In theory, he had completed his evolution to gain control of his dark passenger, and he is no longer the vigilante serial killer we watched for nine seasons. But the stinger to close out the show back then suggested that the killer in him survived, that Dexter would kill once again, which diminished the progress he made in Season 8.

But the opening episode of Season 9 was a perfect transition to subdue those fears while simultaneously painting Dexter in a different light. A total of 10 years have passed since the events that concluded Season 8, 10 years since he has killed anyone, 10 years since he has heard anything about his son Harrison. Dexter is a different person now, or at least he's trying to be. Watching Dexter walk down the street of a small town and make light conversation with a pastor, some youth kids and the town butcher is so comical, almost feeling too ironic. The trolling of the audience doesn't help when Dexter panics after seeing a ton of blood spilling on the butcher's floor, or when he holds knives in his hunting store, as if we're waiting for some gimmicky moment to send him off the edge and back to the dark side (though I argue that these moments are actually part of the build-up for what happens later in the story). When a cop pulls over Dexter for no reason at the start of opening episode, I'm thinking to myself "Oh no, this cop is going to die." Turns out Dexter (oh sorry, it's Jimmy, now) likes when officer Angela, his girlfriend, pulls him over for a "private investigation."

No, Dexter's biggest concerns nowadays seem to be advocating for stop signs and not letting Esther and Alex show up Angela and him on the line-dancing floor in the local pub. There's purposefully a lot of silence in the mundane - Dexter isn't hearing from his dark passenger anymore, another sign that he has left that life behind. That voice in his head has no power anymore.

We do, however, see who the new voice in his head is: his late sister Deb! At the end of the eighth season all those years ago, Deb was shot and died at sea, so I wondered if they'd find a way to bring back Jennifer Carpenter, a criminally underrated actress. This is a brilliant way to do so, especially since Dexter seemingly changed during the last season and left the voice of his adoptive father Harry behind. Now, Deb is trying to keep Dexter on the right path. She encourages him to stick to his routine, which apparently helps keep him on his new path.

But do people ever truly change? Does regressing mean he didn't change in the first place? To the audience familiar with his story, he definitely is a different person while with the people of this small town. He follows a routine that keep his habits at bay, like a smoker who uses a patch. While the internal struggle is still there, it isn't a struggle to overcome it anymore (I know, that sounds like an oxi-moron). Still, seeing Dexter in this state is quite jarring. He seems vulnerable, as if he's about to snap unwillingly at any given moment. Whether it's a suspicious passenger that jumps out of a haunting semi truck or a spoiled rich kid who's criminal record gets flagged while trying to buy a $9,000 automatic, it seemed like it was just a matter of time before Dexter justifies going on his special kinds of hunts again. Admittedly, the heavy-handed nostalgia plays mostly cheapened the true moments of struggle for Dexter.

While out on a hunt (for animals) one morning, that moment finally comes. While in the woods, Dexter had been trying to find this beautiful (possibly rare) deer with all-white fur. He stops to admire and appreciate its beauty, but out of nowhere, another hunter shoots it dead (without realizing Dexter was right beside it, petting it). Turns out that this other hunter is the local spoiled rich kid who bought the gun from Dexter at his shop (the irony of a serial killer running a weapons shop is not lost on me). Earlier in the episode, Dexter learned that this kid was responsible for the death of five people in a speedboat accident, but he got off in court because his friend was willing to lie under oath.

As the kid approaches his kill, Dexter grabs his gun and bashes the kid in the face with it. And then, with incredible subtle acting from Michael C. Hall in the episode's key moment, you can just see the transition.

As he stands over his unconscious victim, a voice in his head says, "It's been a long time."

It was such a natural, realistic moment for Dexter. It wasn't contrived. I didn't feel like we were just hustling to get to this moment just so we could move forward with the rest of the season. It was an intimate, completely believable moment, and I'm hopeful the rest of the season plays with this continual struggle in Dexter's head.

One other character made a surprise return. At one point, Dexter comes home for the day only to discover someone has broken into his house. It's none other than Harrison! His son is grown up, probably 16 or 17 years old, and he's looking for his father. But with the voice of Deb pleading him not let Harrison back into his life for fear of him getting hurt (you know, the same way everyone else who ever got close to Dexter did), Dexter does something I did not expect. He lies and says he isn't the guy Harrison is looking for.

But after Dexter's transitional moment in the woods, he realizes that his son needs him in the same way Harry protected Dexter. So he tracks down his son and brings him back to his cabin. It'll be fun to see if Dexter decides to "pass the torch" or if he is strong enough to protect his son from what he is.

The Wife's Two Cents:

The opening episode definitely redeems the Season 8 finale for me. Most of the time when they bring back shows after such a long time, they are gimmicky and just trying to make money and play off nostalgia of fans. But this is actually a good continuation of the story, a good new season in Dexter's life. They definitely trolled the fans a lot in the beginning, but that was meant to be a more fun, light-hearted nod to Dexter's past.

Editor's note: I just gained access to Showtime (Amazon Prime members can subscribe to Showtime for 99 cents per month for two months, but that deal ends Jan. 3!). I wanted to write a blog on this episode in particular, but I will write a season review after the finale launches next week.