As a huge fan of the original series I was ecstatic to learn that everyone’s favorite TV serial killer was coming back for another season this many years later. For anyone not in the know the original series followed a Forensics specialist who also happened to be a serial killer, the catch being that he only targeted criminals that got away with their crimes. For some the original finale left a bad taste in their mouths as most people that loved the show had expected at some point Dexter would get caught and we’d get to see the shock from all the people on the show that didn’t know the truth…but instead we got an ending where he faked his death and went off to be a lumberjack in some wintery wonderland somewhere.
New Blood picks up about 10 years later with Dexter living a relatively normal life, even dating the town sheriff and participating as a normal member of the community who through a chain of unexpected events ends up killing the town asshole in the woods and so the Dexter cat and mouse game starts all over again. As if getting away with murder and hiding bodies isn’t tough enough he also has his son Harrison show up in town after 10 years of doing everything he could to stay out of his son’s life, So of course this complicates things even further.
Rather then explaining what happens the whole season I’d rather talk about the aspects I liked and the ones I didn’t at all. Let’s start with Dexter…He was a ridiculously meticulous killer in the original series who very rarely made mistakes or left evidence, part of why the show was so good was how great he was at outwitting his fellow police officers…But in New Blood he is pretty damn sloppy about things and seems to just constantly screw up somehow, I get that it’s been 10 years and he’s rusty but it just rubbed me the wrong way.
The decision to bring his son back into the show was not only a good one but probably absolutely needed to close out the story arc for good. Right off the bat they kind of hint that his son Harrison has violent tendencies the same way Dexter has his whole life and they spend a couple episodes really making you want Dexter and his son to be honest with each other about both of their “Dark Passengers” and although we do eventually get to see him and his son not only talk about it but kill a local serial killer together…I gotta say after that episode I went through all kinds of directions they could take the show in my mind and how great it could be…little did I realize they were planning on finishing the show off in a couple episodes.
I do like that the show had a concrete ending to it but also feel like there were a few missed opportunities…For one I was excited to see Dexter and Angel come face to face after so many years and will never get to see that and also felt that maybe if Dexter’s girlfriend was thankful enough to him for finding her friend’s killer and knew Dexter only targeted bad people that she might look the other way the same way Deb did in the original series.
Regardless of the missed opportunities I did appreciate the finale much more than the original’s and was happy it had a real end to it…There is no more story to tell for Dexter…maybe we’ll see a spinoff with Harrison but I kind of doubt it…Overall I loved the show and enjoyed getting to follow one of my favorite TV characters of all time through one last season, I highly recommend it for any Dexter fans and if you’ve never watched the original go back and watch that first because you’re missing out
The Listerzine 
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