Dexter hones his murder protocols in a promising New Blood
"Smoke Signals" is the first sign of life from Showtime's Dexter revival.
TV Reviews Dexter
In one sense, Dexter: New Blood is a total no-brainer. As a once-beloved drama with a notoriously terrible ending, Dexter was practically pleading for a corrective. But righting Dexter’s wrongs is no small feat, as the first two episodes of New Blood have demonstrated. There’s a ton of expository effort required to place Dexter in a new identity and environment, and the decision to introduce a teenage Harrison doubles that workload.
But with an original ending so reviled, New Blood is on a short leash with its audience as much as if it was a brand new series. There’s little time to dilly-dally. So while it’s completely understandable that Winter Dexter needed time to warm up, it’s a shame that some people might not have made it through to “Smoke Signals,” this season’s most promising episode yet. It’s also the first episode to capture that sense of fun and mischief that saturated Dexter in its prime.
All that said, “Smoke Signals” is bound to be polarizing because it goes all-in on the mystery surrounding Harrison, which requires a higher-than-normal tolerance for adolescent stories in an adult show. And the subplot Harrison gets thrown into upon enrolling in his new high school is already pretty annoying. Apparently, despite being initially met with suspicion, Harrison is suddenly the big man on campus, hence his inclusion in a cruel catfishing prank on Ethan, the school’s punching bag.
Rather than join in on the torment, Harrison alerts Ethan to the scheme, and even physically stands up to Zack and the other bullies. That act of bravery destroys any chance Harrison had to integrate himself into his new school’s ruling class. But it does make Ethan trust him enough to reveal the must-have accessory for any aspiring school shooter: a notebook full of violent murder drawings that evokes Patrick Bateman during a manic flight. Making matters worse, Ethan’s drawings invariably depict Harrison’s new wrestling teammates as the victims of his fantasy dismemberments.
And listen, every bit of that is exhausting. But I’m willing to give anything related to Harrison the benefit of the doubt because he represents the season’s most intriguing mystery and Dexter’s biggest threat in ages, perhaps ever. Yes, the as-yet-unrevealed town serial killer is continuing apace and has now taken his first on-screen victim. But Dexter is great at outfoxing serial killers and eluding cops while fully surrounded by them. It’s hard to imagine Dexter struggling to eliminate another one, even now that his murder muscles have atrophied a bit.
Harrison is in a much greater position to destroy Dexter. He’s the only link to Jim Lindsay’s old life and crimes, and he’s carrying a lifetime of trauma and resentment that threatens to spill out at any moment. Take for example Dexter and Harrison’s meeting with the school principal about Harrison’s suspiciously impressive scores on a placement exam. Harrison takes the very first opportunity he’s given to needle his estranged father about his assumed identity, which should worry Dexter far more than it seems to.
Speaking of Harrison’s suspicious test scores, just about everything about Harrison is suspicious, and the more we learn about him, the more terrifying he becomes. “Where’d you learn to do that?” has become a common refrain in scenes with Harrison, whether he’s finessing a locked door or nearly crushing Zack’s windpipe. Add that to the test score, which according to the principal, places him around a 15th-grade level, and you’ve either got a kid that learned a lot from his tumultuous upbringing or something else entirely. Harrison is a towering threat whether or not he is who he claims to be.
Dexter has become a sentimental sap in his old age, an evolution that still doesn’t make a ton of sense. By the end of the episode, Harrison has called him Dad for the first time, and without a hint of sarcasm for once, says “Dad…my new favorite word.” Didn’t Harrison call him Dad as a kid? And what’s so potent about this new family unit he’s created for himself in Iron Lake that he didn’t have in Miami, back when Rita, Astor, and Cody were part of his cover? I haven’t the first clue as to how and why Dexter is so paternal all of a sudden, but the more vulnerable Dexter makes himself to Harrison, the more interesting the father-son story becomes.
Dexter’s fatherly aspirations also make him a more interesting character by forcing him to finally consider in earnest how his addiction impacts the people around him. Sure, the Dexter of old pretended to be introspective when it suited him and had the occasional tense conversation with Ghost Harry. But Dexter never chose to be a husband or a father, he merely chose to surround himself with people who made him seem less creepy and suspicious. Why he’s chosen to lean into fatherhood now is anyone’s guess, but because he’s actually choosing to be a father rather than to look like a family man, his choices carry more weight. His addiction has never been quite so inconvenient as now when he’s trying to turn over a frosty new leaf.
To that end, Dexter spends most of the episode cleaning up the Matt Caldwell mess, which requires coming up with a new modus operandi. Without the ocean currents to rely on, Dexter has to create a protocol for disposing of Matt’s body. Ghost Deb, who was a real pill in the first two episodes, has finally settled into a more traditional collaborator and sounding board for Dexter as he plots his next moves. Deb was almost always the best character in Dexter, which is partly why the eighth season was a disaster long before Dex took up forestry. Deb has been nearly unrecognizable for some time now, and it’s nice to see her back in fine form, even as a figment of Dexter’s imagination.
“Smoke Signals” is also a really handsome episode with lots of opportunities for visual flourishes that director Sanford Bookstaver takes full advantage of. The montage in which Dexter whips Matt’s jacket around in the woods to create a fake trail for the K-9 team is beautiful and unexpectedly moving. Granted, Leonard Cohen’s “Avalanche” does the heavy lifting, but it’s a great sequence that resembles a macabre rhythm gymnastics routine. There are also terrific shots of the incineration of Matt’s body, which ends up falling on Dexter and a drunken Kurt Caldwell, who is suddenly claiming to have seen his son alive and well.
Stray observations
- Angela redeems herself in this episode by wondering aloud why she would have made such a ridiculous initial conclusion in Matt’s case. She might be a good cop after all.
- It’s now confirmed that Iris was Angela’s sister, and we get to see more of Angela’s past and insight into why her job puts her in a precarious situation.
- The use of thermal photography is a bit much, but it makes for some great tension when Dexter is being questioned, first informally by Angela, and later formally by the keen Logan.
- Edward Olsen menaces Audrey when her car breaks down on the side of the road, and I can’t help but wonder if that character will serve a purpose beyond misdirection. The mystery killer is totally Kurt Caldwell.
- Speaking of the mystery killer, the death of the drifter girl was chilling. This killer seems especially sadistic in comparison to Dexter’s past foes, watching his victim wallow in despair, then killing her just as she thinks she’s escaped. Brutal stuff.
- Dexter almost got mauled by a bear, but that bear probably saved him from being captured.
- New Blood doesn’t have a fun opening credit sequence like old Dexter, but these new closing credits are really, really beautiful.
52 Comments
One of the strangest moments of this episode was when that guy rolls up in a giant gas-guzzling SUV and accuses Audrey of driving an old gas guzzling———–Dodge Neon.
Seriously, does anybody do any research on this show? Even if they didn’t know that the Neon was pretty darned fuel efficient, just the disparity in car sizes in that scene makes it look ridiculous when those words came out of his mouth.
Audrey is also a high school student, and daughter of the local sheriff. She’s clearly a “hypocrite” for not being able to afford a fucking Prius, right?
Did you fall asleep immediately after that line and before he then says he’s not calling her a hypocrite because he understands life is full of nuance?
That would only make sense if she was driving an actual gas guzzler. A Neon is pretty fuel efficient, even if its all she can afford.Now, if she was driving a beat up old half ton like Dexter (all she could afford), the scene would have made sense.It was just a badly written scene.
He basically implied that some people (like her) may think she’s a hypocrite for driving a “gas-guzzling” Neon.
Yeah, he was definitely doing that thing where you call someone a name without calling them a name. Actually, if I remember my high school Latin classes correctly, that rhetorical device is called litotes.
I think Both Sides is a strong human impulse, which some people are very adept at weaponizing.
But its not remotely the same thing—-he HAS the money to be driving around in an electric car or at the very least not a monstrous SUV.She almost certainly does not have that luxury, but despite that, she’s not driving a giant old truck (like say, Dexter himself) or anything even remotely resembling a “gas guzzler”.A Dodge Neon is many things but it was never considered a gas guzzler.Its just bad writing. Have her drive around in an old beat-up Bronco or something, then his “real life makes hypocrites of us all” theory would make a little sense.
True. But also not really bad writing, i don’t think. She’s a thoughtful young lady whose face in the moment seemed to read, “Damn, he’s right. Yeah, it’s a small car, but even when it was new it wasn’t as environmentally responsible as a similar-size new car today. Add to that its advanced age, and it’s surely even less so than it was back then.” (She has a very expressive face, i guess…)
That’s what i meant about people weaponizing Both Sides: when someone is trying to do good, an asshole can flummox them by pointing out the areas where they’re being less successful than they’d like.
Also entirely possible that the line was written with a larger vehicle in mind, more like all the other characters are shown driving… Then they picked that car for her to drive, and the script supervisor was too busy with the other plot holes to pick up on that one.
If anyone had noticed, they could’ve easily changed it to “this old polluting jalopy”.
Nah the strangest moment was when they establish that there are cameras in the woods and then ten minutes later he’s….in the woods, making a false scent trail. Where there are cameras. That he was just told about.
True, but I had to guess that he was careful enough to know where the blind spots were (it was mentioned to him earlier in the episode) and to take advantage of it.The car scene just didn’t make any sense whatsoever.
Aside from the fact there would be no reason to look at the cameras again they were thermal cameras so they don’t really show faces clearly. They only identified the man in the woods had the same type of gun. The camera doesn’t let them make out faces that’s why they asked ‘Jim’ if he recognized the gun.
Right, I was waiting for her to reply “I’m a high school student whose mom is a public servant, this is what we can afford,” but she just decided to stare dumbly at him even though she has an answer for anything anyone else throws at her. Bad scripting.
I assumed that was intended? He’s a billionaire trying to deflect blame and change the subject, he’s not making the remark in good faith.
I find it hard to believe that even the most oblivious billionaire would look at a Dodge Neon and call it a gas guzzler. Unless he pulled up in a Tesla.
Yeah he wasn’t seriously trying to debate – was just talking shit and trying to make her feel small.
You missed the point. He doesn’t care that either of them is driving a gas-guzzling vehicle. She pretends to care about gas-guzzling vehicles and yet drives one. If she’s going to open her virtue signaling mouth, she should back it up with her actions and expect someone like him to respond appropriately.
“. She pretends to care about gas-guzzling vehicles and yet drives one.”No, she doesn’t. A Dodge Neon, unless it is malfunctioning (say, blown head gasket), has never, ever been considered a gas guzzler. Even the 215-230hp SRT4 was never considered a gas guzzler. Her car is literally an *economy car*.Now, if your contention is that she should be driving a non-gas powered car, electrics continue to be a luxury that only decently well-off families can afford, and Iron Lake does not appear to have any of those, except for the rich part-seasoners. I understand the point of “real life makes hypocrites of us all” stance, but he literally rolled up in a far less fuel-efficient vehicle and accused her of driving a gas guzzler. Its dumb.For that scene to make any sense whatsoever, the writers should have had her driving an old beat up *actual* gas guzzler. Its a simple change which makes it even more flabbergasting that they screwed it up.
no he didn’t, he said people might accuse her of driving one, pay attention.
So the serial killer Dexter will be after is Kurt Caldwell right? i mean that was obviously Clancy Brown in the ski mask.
the billionaire seems more likely as the serial killer. if he were killed, they’d be killing 2 birds with 1 stone…? they kill the guy destroying earth and also a serial killer.-
He seems like a red herring to me i think more likely he;s Audrey’s bilogical father
that’s what i thought; his eyes are pretty distinctive.
I do hope they give Harrison and Ethan their own show as Dexter 2.0 or something like that. Harrison really seems to have his shit together and Dexter never does anymore.
I’m thinking Dexter would be the dark passenger in that show, but instead of gaslighting Harrison, the way Harry did to Dexter (in life and death), he’d be a better moral compass.
I’ve been wondering if this 9th season is setting up a show like that.
Fully agree with the grade! I was really skeptical of the season after the premiere, but having watched this episode I definitely see it possible that the season (and series? One dare not hope) might still recover itself. I’m still not convinced on Harrison entirely, he’s one of those characters the show has had trouble pulling off in the past and here too his presence doesn’t feel quite organic, but I can see it working out in the long run. But I loved that the episode took some great steps forward by dialing up the pressure on Dexter significantly, the weird forensics experts who immediately saw through Dexter’s ruse was a lot of fun to watch. I’m glad this show at least showed it can still be relevant in 2021 and have a place on the screen, despite it showing its age compared to other series imo.
I didn’t think Angela and Iris were sisters in the literal sense. My impression was that they were best friends and the woman Angela talked to on the reservation was Iris’s mother. My best friends and I all call each other ‘brother’ all the time. My other thoughts on that were that Iris is possibly Audrey’s birth mother and a victim of the serial killer. Or Iris and Audrey’s birth mother are different women but both victims of the serial killer. The Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women shit is sort of a Chekhov’s gun in that regard.
So Harrison isn’t Harrison right? You know who scores “the highest ever”on high-school placement exams? College educated adults. I mean that would make more sense than adding Hannah to the list of women Dexter has fridged over the years.
I think the new killer will end up being Caldwell working for Olsen. It’s definitely Clancy Brown behind the mask (though kudos for at least getting an actor with similar eyes to play Olsen but Lehne’s eyes still don’t match up let alone the build) doing the kill and maybe the pre-kill torture. I suspect Olsen is then taking ‘ownership’ of the girls post-embalming….. (I *think* it’s Brown doing the embalming as well, they’re pretty big hands, but it *might* be Lehne)
Also willing to wager that Olsen is Audrey’s biological father by one of the missing women – possibly Iris herself. I’d normally think that’s too on the nose but, yeah, this is Dexter.
The “finesse” of opening the lock was to break it, I didnt see Harrison as much as a genius to do that.
What was with the bizarre musical cue when the podcaster lady showed up? It was so out of place for so many different reasons.
I don’t get this review’s incredulousness about Dexter’s reaction to Harrison. Back in Miami, he was super-invested in the kid, especially after Rita’s murder. Lotsa VOs about how being a single dad was his big connection to humanity or some such. And i could swear there was a hastily-penned VO in that last awful episode about his anguish at sending the boy away for his safety.
And then the kid shows up… what is it, a decade later? Dexter’s been “abstaining”, he’s a new man, and now he has a new chance at fatherhood. His reaction is entirely expected. The ways he’s staying ahead of the law are incredibly contrived, of course, as is Harrison’s characterization as The Boy Who Can Do Anything, but Dexter’s paternal impulses are what i’d expect even if we hadn’t seen the original series.
Agree, over these last 10 years he’s realized that while he does miss killing, he can live without it, and he’s invested all that time in it–it makes sense that he wouldn’t throw it all away after one slip up.
The ending where Dexter decides to burn the body at the public furnace(?) that he apprantly always knew about but just didn’t think to use reminds me of that season 2 episode where he spends the entire episode fretting about captured footage of him doing serial killer stuff and then……just pulls a fire alarm and erases the footage in the ensuing chaos. Dude is so extra he avoids the easiest solution.
Gosh, a B? I left this episode thinking I might have to give up on this reboot altogether. A lot of it was so stupid. The CSI savant able to accurately recreate the entire crime from a single puddle of mostly deer blood in the snow? No footprints, nothing? It’s lame how they use good and bad police work for convenience. When the story needs the police to be smart, they’re smart. When it needs them to be dumb, they’re hell of dumb.And there’s conveniently a giant incinerator in town that’s available for public use with no security or anything (if to keep kids out of it, if nothing else)? Come on.Ghost Deb was as stupid and annoying as ever. And I don’t think there’s much mystery surrounding Harrison. He’s a smart kid who learned how to be a bit of a badass who doesn’t care about authority (certainly not fake authority from high school boys) in foster care. Fair enough. Obviously there’s more to it than that, and maybe he’s a psychopath like Dexter too, but that doesn’t seem mysterious either. Like father like son. I do kinda like this actor, though, so I take by my complaints about his casting (though I do stand by his not looking at all like little Harrison or like a child Dexter and Rita would be capable of producing).Sherriff’s daughter is annoying. That whole pushy/precocious thing they often do with teenage girl characters is weak. Girls have more gears than mean/bitchy and obnoxiously idealistic. It also doesn’t make sense that someone so obnoxiously idealistic would be friends with the school bullies and stand idly by while they tormented a weaker kid (who is going to murder them all). I know it’s a small town but she would have grown up with all those kids—why pick those douchebags to fill out her circle?Anyway, that’s enough ranting. I’ll give this episode that it had more momentum than the previous, but that’s all I’m willing to give it.
I’m actually liking the show so far, but I have to agree about that CSI blood spatter guy, and all the cops in general.Guys – it’s SNOW. It leaves footprints. That alone seems like it would have been Dexter’s undoing by now.
Same. They didn’t even mention footprints once even though his were leading directly to where he dropped the glove off at the highway. He could explain his footprints leading to the buck’s body since he was allegedly a part of the search then (not that anyone even asked about footprints for him to explain, you know, like real cops would), but how would he have explained his footprints leading directly to the glove?
I’m with you on this one. This episode was slightly better than the previous two but that’s not saying much. I’m watching it now as a comedy and it kind of works better that way. Audrey is just insufferable, to the point I’m rooting for Harrison to go full Bundy and keep her head in his bedroom. In fact the whole teens in college stuff is insufferable, it’s like watching some lame 80’s teen horror movie when the show switches to that stuff.
Is Audrey not the worst? That whole “then why didn’t you DO anything about it” when her mom said she agreed about the buck at the dinner table? WTF? Because the buck was evidence in a goddamn murder investigation so she couldn’t necessarily release it right away? How dense are you, Audrey? The Seneca didn’t DO anything about it either, did you notice? They knew it was there and hadn’t asked for it back, Audrey.
no she is not “the worst” at all troll.
Wow you clearly have deep seated issues with women, you one of those incel types?
The giant incinerator REALLY confused me — like, at least show him disabling some cameras (learning his lesson from earlier) and climbing a fence……
but having the incinerator doors unlocked and then the heat controls openly available was the aspect that crossed the line of believeability for me
And who did the incinerator belong to? What was the purpose of this giant, apparently public, incinerator? They could have introduced it at some point prior so that it didn’t look so completely convenient and fake. Very slapdash writing.
10000% — couldn’t agree more. Foreshadowing is a foundational writing element!
Now I’m distractingly curious about this free-for-all incinerator; it could have it’s own TV show associated with it. Do the local teens adore messing with it? Is it the main disposal method for the other serial killer(s) roaming about? Who owns it and why are they making this free for the public? Do they offer other free heat-related activities, such as kilns or pizza ovens?
Honestly there have to have been literally hundreds of bodies disposed of in that incinerator over the years. lol But those bones give the pizzas a nice umami flavor!
The first 10-15 minutes of this one were pretty bad – really dumb crime investigation with the cameras and bloodsplatter guy. And I hate the shit where they do the ‘oh man are they gonna bust me when I walk into this room of cops acting serious/ominous’ and obviously they won’t because it’s only ep 3.
It picked up after that though. It’s classic Dexter in that it’s insane that nobody caught him before now, and there’s plenty of over the top silly characterizations and cliches – the cop girlfriend and her daughter both seem overly broadly written and not compelling so far, and the billionaire dude I’m waiting to see if he has a point.
But I do think it’s exciting. The last bit where Caldwell says he spoke to his son was one of the old ‘WTF’ twists that the old show was good at here and there. And overall it’s a fun ride.
So infrared animal tracking cameras… Followed by Dexter doing his scent spreading dance and stuff at the exact site where the buck was killed. Are the cameras off all of a sudden? Are there more cameras that caught him doing his dance? C’mon! WTF?!How many seasons are planned? Will it turn out that Hanna is still alive and looking for Harrison by the season finale?
harrison is giving me school shooter with a heart of gold vibes
I’m really glad that I can come here again, after all these years, to soak up the negativity of people who seem to only watch this show to complain about it. (Not including Mr. Alston, who is actually giving this a fair shot.) Is there some kind of twisted joy in nitpicking other people’s work? Does it make you feel better than them? Better than those who enjoy it? Which, for the record, I do. And if I wouldn’t, I would just stop watching.
Watching these first few episodes reminds me how horrible the series became towards the end. Could it be any more predicatable? They even make ZERO effort in picking out the sound track. Using Iggy pop’s “the passenger” (Because “dark passenger – GET IT???) now using “Runaway” (because he opens the door and she RUNS AWAY -get it???) . oof!