Harrison confronts his daddy issues as Dexter: New Blood fumbles forward
There are plenty of new characters in "Storm Of Fuck," but Dexter Morgan is missing in action.
TV Reviews Harrison
Dexter Morgan is not in Iron Lake, New York.
Not just in the sense that the character spent the past decade weaving himself into the social fabric of the town as Jim Lindsay, firearm salesman by day, boot-scootin’ boogier by night. The Iron Lake iteration has the same face and similar traits, like the inner-monologued Dad jokes, but it’s pretty amazing that Harrison so easily recognized this guy. I served with Dexter Morgan. I knew Dexter Morgan. Dexter Morgan was a friend of mine. Jim Lindsay is no Dexter Morgan.
Which makes “Storm Of Fuck” a pretty odd episode to watch as a long-time viewer. It’s clearly designed, as was the premiere, to shuttle the audience back into Dexter’s world as efficiently as possible even if that requires a dogpile of contrivances. And sure enough, by the time it’s over, most of the show’s basic infrastructure is back in place. Dexter has made one of his famous homicidal messes and has to clean it up while law enforcement is too close for comfort. He’s arguing with an externalized conscience and struggling to keep his private life from capsizing his public one. There’s even what appears to be a serial killer tormenting a captive girl. Seems the only thing missing from this version of Dexter is… well, Dexter.
That’s due in small part to Dexter’s rustiness. He’s fallen further out of practice than any other time in his life since maybe the immediate aftermath of Rita’s murder, when he had to be slightly more careful as an automatic person of interest in his wife’s gruesome death. Dexter has spent 10 quiet years as a homicidal 12-stepper, but now that he’s become impulsive and sloppy enough to kill someone and carry a blood trail back to his cabin, Dexter’s pink cloud has been replaced by the copulatory squall the episode is named for.
It’s bad enough that Dexter has to try to get rid of a blood trail as his until-recently estranged son sleeps inside. But then Angela arrives, unannounced and with an impressive calvary, to inform Dexter that Matt Caldwell has gone missing nearby and she assumes he won’t object to her setting up base camp outside his place. As if no time has passed, Dexter is left scrambling to clean up his mess by insinuating himself into a crime scene as a throng of people mill about and threaten to expose his involvement.
There’s still something irresistible about any scene in which Dexter gets to play an archetypal trickster, skulking around and using his considerable guile to shift suspicion away from himself. By the time Dexter had gotten to its sixth or so season, it was mostly frustrating to watch Dexter continue to escape accountability while surrounded by supposedly competent law enforcement professionals. With a new setting and a new police force, Dexter’s sleight-of-hand is much more satisfying. And the maneuvering is all the more impressive because it takes place right under Harrison’s nose as Dexter tries to ensure he can be a good father by what he believes to be an unfortunate but necessary tumble off the wagon.
Thanks to Dexter’s quick thinking and old instincts, Angela’s investigation into Matt Caldwell’s disapperance is brought to an early conclusion. The narrative, as Dexter describes his creation in the back-like-it-never-left voiceover, is that Matt panicked upon realizing he had shot a rare white buck on protected Seneca land. Then Matt, who previously killed five people in a game of bet-the-house bumper boats, was so afraid of facing a misdemeanor wildlife violation and nominal fine that he hitchhiked out of town and could be living as Jim Lindsay in rural Wyoming. Who knows, y’know? It all sounds plausible enough to police chief Angela, who Dexter makes a point to tell us in voiceover is actually really competent at her job. Seriously, stop laughing! She’s top-notch police!
Sure, it’s all kind of silly, but it’s silly in precisely the way Dexter is at its best. There’s still fun to be had in watching Dexter hide his crimes against the world’s worst people from the world’s worst detectives. And yes, this version of that is like macaroni and cheese from a microwaveable tray rather than from a glass baking tray, but it’s still pretty comforting in its own right. Too bad, then, that so little else of “Storm Of Fuck” works because I’m still so confused as to what Jim Lindsay’s whole deal is supposed to be.
The episode is essentially bookended by the important conversations Dexter and Harrison need to have in order to get closure and determine a path forward for their relationship. And the more Harrison reveals, the more inscrutable this version of Dexter becomes. So first, to fill in the past decade for poor, poor Harrison. Harrison says he was doing well enough in Buenos Aires with Hannah, who he refers to as his stepmom, until she died from pancreatic cancer three years ago. He was then deported back to Miami, where he bounced around the foster care system before setting off to find Dexter, first using the return address from a letter Dexter sent from Oregon, then using social media to track him to Iron Lake.
The entirety of Harrison’s path from Argentina to Iron Lake is a logical sieve, but let’s say this all happened exactly as Harrison is describing it. That means the same person who spent the entire episode three steps ahead of the police force, a sizable chunk of the townsfolk, and the indigenous people of the region also mails check-in letters with a return address placing him in Lots-o-Logs, Oregon. That guy poses for photos that get circulated on Instagram along with a friend’s boasts about what a dynamite bowler he is. He’s a pillar of his community. He is decidedly on the grid.
But what’s the point of Jim Lindsay, exactly? The persona is no longer a means of holding himself accountable for years of bad behavior, which was supposed to be the point of the original ending everyone hates so much. Dexter was far removed from sun-soaked Miami, doing backbreaking forestry work in the cold without the social support system he had grown to rely on but couldn’t trust himself with. He might have escaped formal punishment, but he was trapped alone in a prison of his own design.
Well, he apparently got sick of that and relocated to Iron Lake for a more comfortable job and a life that is fuller and more robustly normal than Dexter Morgan’s ever was. He clearly has no fear of being discovered, or he wouldn’t be posing for the ‘Gram after rolling a 300. If we’re to believe that Harrison, an entire teenager, tracked Dexter to Iron Lake, it’s tough to also believe that Dexter was making even a modest effort to evade capture. (It’s possible that Debra was teaching a six-year-old Harrison the fundamentals of skip tracing prior to her death, but that’s not part of any canon I’ve seen.)
It’s no longer clear what purpose Jim Lindsay serves, if not to punish Dexter for his crimes or to help him evade capture. If he’s spent the last decade as a recovered addict and has rebuilt a normal life and routine around work, responsibilities, romance, friends, and hobbies, then that’s great for Jim Lindsay. The Dexter I know is a misanthropic weirdo who has practiced how to behave like a human in order to preserve his freedom but is ever the trickster. He’s fooling everyone around him with a performance of a person who doesn’t actually exist. Jim Lindsay seems to actually exist as if the performance has become real.
Whatever this current version of Dexter is, he’s the most prepared for parenthood than he’s ever been in his life. He’s gotten a cot for Harrison to sleep in and will be enrolling him in school alongside Angela’s adopted daughter Audrey. Rather than seeing Harrison as a terrifying burden and a ticking time bomb, he sees him as an opportunity to redeem Dexter Morgan rather than pretending to be Jim Lindsay. And he truly seems to crave fatherhood, which further contributes to the feeling that this Dexter is some kind of imposter. Without some deeper insights into how and why Dexter established this life and persona, New Blood is going to feel as hollow at its core as Dexter used to feel once upon a time.
Stray observations
- The ending gives the first glimpse of our primary villain, Kurt Caldwell, who successfully urges Angela to continue the search for the missing son gruesomely buried just beneath his feet.
- The young girl Angela helped with food and money in the premiere is not in great shape, having checked into a motel she’s unable to check out of. After being drugged and robbed of her phone, she realizes she’s being watched and finds a fun little message written around the lens.
- A piercing blue eye watches the girl struggle on a laptop screen, and the editing suggests it belongs to the local energy baron, but that eye looks like Clancy Brown’s to me.
- The full-time return of Dexter’s inner monologue isn’t entirely welcome: “We need to talk. Words you never want to hear from your doctor or your girlfriend.” I groaned aloud.
- “Stop acting like you’re such an evil person. I don’t remember a lot, but all my memories of you are good. […] The worst thing you ever did was leave me.” Oh Harrison, you poor, sweet boy.
- Speaking of Harrison, Jack Alcott is excellently cast and holds his own against Michael C. Hall.
- I’m enjoying watching Hall and Jennifer Carpenter acting together again, but I don’t understand Ghost Deb either. Watching Ghost Deb taunt Dexter so mercilessly is confusing considering the last time we saw her, she was using her final breaths to absolve Dexter of responsibility so he could go on to live the happy and guilt-free life he deserves.
- Do the kids still listen to Dinosaur Jr. these days? It’s fine by me, I’m just wondering.
64 Comments
In response to the author’s confusion about Ghost Deb, I like to imagine it as Jennifer Carpenter railing on Michael C. Hall over their breakup, many years ago. ;)As for the rest of the episode, it looks like Mr. Krabs will be Dexter’s #1 nemesis (besides that dude who has the girl locked in that room).
The Krugan will be a formidable opponent.The can only be one (season).
“Ack ack ack I like (special guest star ) money!!”
Best Clancy Brown, villain performance:The Kurgan from HighlanderorGuard captain Byron Hadley from The Shawshank Redemption?
Brother Justin in Carnivale.
Was hoping someone would make an Earth-2 reference, but I’ll take this.
I was VERY excited to see the great Clancy Brown. That alone may be enough to carry me through the season.
Hm, if they’re still pissed at each other after divorcing, why would Hall agree to have her back? The show needs him, not her. Was James Remar not available?
From all I’ve read, their divorce was mostly amicable, and it was actually during the show’s original run, so its been a while.I was just making a sad little joke.
Thanks. Good to know.
how did he cover up all his footprints the night he killed matt and why did he leave his footprints everywhere at the crime scene to frame matt’s story?i am very confused how harrison doesn’t know anything about dexter when he looked meticulously for him online. did he not read a single thing about dexter or himself which is information that certainly would’ve been in news articles about dexter.i like how deb is always dressed apropos to the environment whereas whenever dexter saw his dad, he was always in the same outfit.
I’m hoping this means you didn’t actually watch any of the previous seasons, because trust me, this level of plot sloppiness is nothing compared to what Dexter fans(?) are used to.
no i absolutely did lol. it’s what i was thinking during the episode, “so the show is still messy.”
I think the problem with Dexter at times has been it’s trying to be too many things. But it’s still well acted, quality, prestige television. Clever at times. Actually, I always wished MCH and the writers had played up the dark humor just a little bit more.
After watching shows like Madmen and Better call Saul, i don’t feel like Dexter is anything close to well-acted, quality, prestige TV. The former having ruined me for the latter – for the better.
I too was very concerned about the footprints. Just his footprints going directly to where the glove was found and back, nbd.
It’s disappointing when a perfect title like “Storm of Fuck” doesn’t live to hype.Then again, it’s Dexter. Disappointment is part of the journey.OK episode, up to par with the premier, and no worse or better than anything from S5 onwards. Kudos to the Jack Alcott casting, as the reviewer mention. Same with Clancy Brown, but that was expected.
“Storm of Fuck” sounds like the original title of The Thick Of It.
Man, this was boring. Just so boring. And that scene with Deb hysterically laughing at him in the woods? WTF was that? Ghost Deb is a very poorly constructed character. It’s like they thought “yeah we should have Deb in this series” and then didn’t take any time to figure out what to do with her or who she was.
another commenter mentioned that her vitriol in one of the scenes had to be Jennifer Carpenter unloading on Michael C. Hall for their failed ~1 year marriage and I gotta admit, the same thought occurred to me as well. She showed a lot of gusto when she pulled his mouth open and shoved a bullet in it LOL.
That part was insane! Did Ghost Harry ever touch Dexter? I’ll go ahead and take that explanation because it’s the only thing that makes sense. It was a lot of unhinged rage. lol
Ghost Deb is just angry she never got to bone Dex like Worlds Worst Psychologist said she should.
Omg, World’s. WORST.
‘Yes you should totally sleep with your adopted brother, the only person who you actually have an emotional connection with, that’s a perfectly reasonable idea!’Then again maybe it was just a prognostication about pornhub circa now…?
I have a good friend who is a psychologist and when this storyline was happening let me just tell you that she was appalled.
Holy crap I’m surprised her head didn’t totally explode, it was a hilarious storyline for my friends and I to make fun of though. By that point in the series it was basically us getting together for each episode to go all MST3k on it.
That reminds me for whatever reason- everyone, rightfully, zeroed in on how wrong it was for her to want to bang her brother but wasn’t she also his boss at the time? I know this was Pre-#MeToo but you’d still think the therapist (who worked for Miami Metro) might have some sort of objection to that. But I guess when you’re urging your patients to knock boots with their siblings, power differentials are a small thing. In for a penny and all that.
That’s not even the problem for me. It’s not for a therapist to take a moral position on their clients’ behaviors or thoughts either way. The problem was that in this case the therapist put the idea that Deb wanted to sleep with Dexter into Deb’s head in the first place. It came the fuck out of nowhere, Deb hadn’t said it, and the therapist suggested it, which is far beyond the pale of a therapist’s job, and a completely irresponsible thing to do for someone who is already in crisis, as Deb clearly was, to basically turn your client into an incest sexbot.
I try and be objective in most things, but Joshua. A few of my friends and I returning to AV noticed that you were (again) writing the Dexter: New Blood reviews, and our enthusiasm disappeared. As I recall you took over for Emily Todd VanDerWerff back when the reviews and the comment section were actually fun. But it was clear you never really liked this show or “got it,” even from your earlier reviews, used the finale with your F review as a springboard to try and make a trendy splash as an internet critic, and always mistakenly compared it to a critical darling, and one of your favorite shows Breaking Bad.But Dexter was a cleverly disguised “Noir and Detective” show / suspense, with a lot of dark satire about identity, modern life and family, mixed with some pulp and Grand Guignol elements. An odd, different type of show. Also, polarizing by it’s premise.In being objective and trying to push past those former prejudices, much of the first episode is obviously table setting. I noticed you didn’t talk much about the large symbol or three triggers of “Dexter Morgan” from the first episode: the White Stag, Harrison, and the narcissistic murderer who fits Harry’s Code. Nor did you seem to mention much about Michael C. Hall’s performance as a haunted man in conflict. A solid “B+” first episode, at the very least.And this new episode is still setting the season up, introducing the main crime plot, Clancy Brown’s character, and showing Jim Lindsay slowly evolving into Dexter Morgan again . I am interested to see if Clyde Phillips and his writers will use Dexter’s paternal relationship and love for his son as part of his “redemption” by the end, if they even choose to go that route. Another “B to B+” episode probably.And in answer to your query, “Ghost Deb” is not really a ghost. True, Dexter is haunted by Deb, but she seems to represent Dexter’s guilt and self doubt. Maybe even a coping mechanism for his loneliness. Clyde Phillips more or less already discussed the former after the first episode or in an interview, I think.
I like that some bits are trickling in as far as where the plot will go (Harrison picking locks seems indicative of something else going on in his background that hasn’t been disclosed)… but at the same time it really does feel like some feet dragging as they try to fill in a lot of the gaps.I’m also watching You and between it and Dexter I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s apparently a lot of dumb luck involved in being a serial murderer.
I’m also watching You and between it and Dexter I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s apparently a lot of dumb luck involved in being a serial murderer.Judging by the multiple true crime podcasts I listen to, this is in fact the case in real life as well.
is it dumb luck or the incompetence of the people trying to find the serial killer(s)? Because I keep thinking of guys like Dahmer and Gacy that killed dozens of people and occasionally (metaphorically) rubbed their bloody knives on the sleeves of the police and still got away with it much longer than they should have.
Listen to Small Town Murder and you’ll see just how incompetent small town police can be.
the first time I was really exposed to this was the anecdote in the last Malcolm Gladwell book about the spy working in the US govt who was caught red-handed on several occasions but her coworkers just couldn’t fathom that she could be a spy. One of the few times in my life I have re-read a chapter from the beginning just to be able to wrap my brain around it.
Yeah, but with You it’s a plot point that Joe gets away with it because he’s a hetero white male (i.e. beneath suspicion) and even then there’s a plenty of instances which show that he’s not nearly as clever as he thinks he is. In Dexter, it’s just because…everyone suddenly forgets how to use critical thinking skills at the most convenient time.In episode 3.2 of You they have to dispose of You-Know-Who’s body (including removing her teeth and scattering her belongings) and come up with a fairly believable story. Compare that to here where, Homeboy literally leaves a blood trail to his house, leaves footprints around where he’s trying to leave evidence and buries the victim’s body under his house.
Yeah, but with You it’s a plot point that Joe gets away with it because he’s a hetero white male (i.e. beneath suspicion)
True, but while I don’t really disagree with the overall notion, the idea as applied feels a bit lazy. Like I at least get Dexter being a blindspot in that his connections to the victim aren’t immediately apparent and he’s close enough to the police to essentially be one of them… Whereas Joe has many connections to missing or dead people and it barely gets a closer look.I haven’t finished the new season though, so this may change, but even in the interim…
“Whereas Joe has many connections to missing or dead people and it barely gets a closer look.”It requires some suspension of disbelief but it helps that Joe does an adequate job with alibis/frame jobs and everytime there’s potential for the noose to start tightening around Joe, he hits the ejector seat and moves to ruin more people’s lives. Compare that to Dexter who…..does not do those things (or in the case of Season 2, requires in-universe suspension of disbelief that Sergeant fucking Doakes is capable of being a serial killer).
@PocketSander – Harrison didn’t pick the lock, he yanked the hasp loose from the door, lock still attached.
The first season of You was good; the other seasons, not so much.
You got no idea how correct you are. People like Zodiac and Jack the Ripper got away through dumb luck while people like BTK were caught because of dumb luck.
I’m I meant to believe that this adult guy with a deep voice and 5 o’clock shadow is a 15yo boy?
The only realistic thing about this show was the incompetent cops. Especially the Miami ones.
Do the kids still listen to Dinosaur Jr. these days? It’s fine by me, I’m just wondering.LOL I was wondering the SAME thing. The answer’s gotta be no. I assume someone our age or thereabouts was tasked with choosing a song to let the audience know these kids were about to make a few bad decisions. You gotta love when someone tries to use a song to hit the audience over the head with the point they’re trying to make and they mostly succeed but the song also makes you go “huh?”
Yeah pretty sure they don’t.
I felt the same way watching this show that I did about 3-4 episodes into the Will & Grace “revival” a few years ago—we’ve been over this ground before, it’s good and familiar but nothing new, please don’t extend this past this season, tell as good a story as you can then kill Dexter off (and please don’t make his kid a serial killer to extend the series).
We all know Harrison will actually be a serial killer. He blames Dexter for killing his mom. He killed Hannah bc she lied to him/hid everything. He might even save Dexter as part of the reveal that he kills too. But in the end he probably puts Dexter on his table. Hopefully I’m wrong, but it seems like the obvious direction.
that’s so obvious to me too that it would be extremely disappointing if that’s the best they could do with this revival. I feel like it would be better if somehow the kid was leaning towards being a serial killer but somehow Dexter dissuaded him from doing so (but still died). That way he could have a “redemption arc” while still paying for the murders he has committed. (honestly even that sounds so simplistic I hope that’s not how it turns out; I hope the writers can just surprise me plausibly.)
The part where he knew how to shimmy a lock made me raise my eyebrows but when he said that it was “kind of cool” (or some such) *watching a deer carcus get dragged* made me roll my eyes so hard I got whiplash. Gear yourself up for another GeLlAr’S bEeN dEaD tHe WhOlE tImE reveal people.
Its better then I thought it would be,but Dexter burying the body on his front lawn ???/ Is beyond laughable ,he neve kept the pieces on hand before ,what happens when an animal gets a wiff?
“Do the kids still listen to Dinosaur Jr. these days? It’s fine by me, I’m just wondering.”My wife was only half-watching while I watched the episode, but at this moment she perked up and said “There’s no fucking way those kids have ever heard of Dinosaur Jr.”
Lol. I thought the same thing. I actually bought that album in the mid 1990’s, probably for around $14.99. I don’t remember many other good songs on that album, and I can’t recall a single one for that matter.
I like most of this review outside of feeling like the author is missing some key elements of what Dexter is. The Jim Lindsay persona isn’t meant to be some deep untraceable new identity. It doesn’t have to be. Everyone thinks he is dead and have no real reason to search for him. Harrison does because he found the letter and knew what it meant. No one else who matters is going to be stumbling across his face on the bowling article because no one else has a reason to look. Ghost Deb has nothing to do with real Deb. Ghost Deb is whatever Dexter’s f’d up brain makes her. And right now it makes her a crazy lunatic who is super mad that he is being dumb with Harrison.. which shows us that he feels he is being super dumb with Harrison whether he admits it or not. Lastly, Dexter STARTED as a guy who was using a fake life with fake relationships to help him hide. That all changed with Rita, the kids, and Brian. The character obviously has feelings but was convinced by Harry that he doesn’t bc he couldn’t. One early glimpse is when he pulls the splinter from Astor’s finger and says if he had a heart it soukd be breaking… he does and it is.. he just doesn’t understand what that feeling is.. But by the end of S1 he is realizing what he is missing by not getting close to anyone.. He is devastated to lose the short connection he had with his brother. Almost every season revolves around him trying to connect with others and flesh his feelings out. By now, he knows he has them. He does want the relationships..he is just scared of them hurting the ppl he cares about because it happens over and over every time he got close to anyone (good or bad guys).
Much of your assessment of Dexter is spot on. In the original parameters of this tv show based on the first novel, Jeff Lindsay suggests that because he was in that shipping container it was almost an automatic he was going to be a psychopath or sociopath. But what I liked about the show was it evolved past the sensationalist novels, and became more of a detective story where the character of Dexter too evolves to become more human. It starting questioning nature / nurture, and whether or not Harry made Dexter into what he is, which is what I believe. From a psychological perspective, Dexter doesn’t really fit the realistic categories of a true psychopath or sociopath. He has an innate sense of justice, philosophical, and feels love and compassion and guilt for the people he does really care about. He is protective and longs for more human connection, which makes the character identifiable to viewers. But Dexter has trouble identifying with his own human traits. I think the show too each season had interesting, over arching themes like friendship, family, intimacy, religion, etc.My thought was in the last season, the Neuroscientist Vogel had notes suggesting Dexter was like Pinocchio believing he was a real boy. However, the subtext seems to suggest that Dexter is really more about a real boy who was raised to believe he was a Pinocchio.
I’m enjoying watching Hall and Jennifer Carpenter acting together again, but I don’t understand Ghost Deb either. Watching Ghost Deb taunt Dexter so mercilessly is confusing considering the last time we saw her, she was using her final breaths to absolve Dexter of responsibility so he could go on to live the happy and guilt-free life he deserves.She’s his NEW Dark Passenger. His real sister may absolves him of his guilts, but he couldn’t let her go and is using her memories to punish himself and keeping him sober so that he can lives a semblance of “normal” life.And I enjoyed this episode, even if it does feels like rehash of original series at times as you correctly pointed out. That’s the charm, I suppose, though it does showing its ages. At least we still getting some decent (yet slow) developments going on between characters before it all inevitably falls apart around Dexter. That’s what I am hoping for this series to resolve, so give it time.
Gee. It takes longer to get comment, “pending approval” at AVClub, than it does for a murderous Matt Caldwell to get approval for an assault rifle by the FBI. 🤷♂️🤷♂️😂😂😂
Any random user who is already ungreyed on AVClub’s kinja would need to “star” your post; it’s not a mod/author approval thing. Pending Approval is a misleading term.
Thanks. I figured it was a system thing. I used the old Disqus, but I had to create a new account. So we just need kinja regulars to star up a post? I was having trouble with kinja on my laptop, so I just re-registered via avclub somehow. But you have to admit, my off-the- cuff analogy was pretty amusing. 😛
I totally agree with the assessment that JL is not a performance, it seems to just be who Dex has become. He’s a persona born out of guilt that finally overwhelmed Dex at the of s8, and i think he’s meant to essentially be an authentic personality.Which, as you point, is a lot less fun. Weirdo sneaky lizard brain Dexter fooling everyone all the time by pretending to be normal was what made the first few seasons great. However, that formula ran out of gas as the show went on, and I think they’re really just going with the idea that Dexter really has just grown into someone else.And as for the Dark Passenger still being around, the show went out of its way to give Dex every reason to kill that guy. Hell, I was ready to kill that guy. Killing doesn’t seem to so much of a compulsion anymore but rather a response to multiple provocations. I think they’re not gonna do the “kill of the week” model with this show, but instead actually make Dexter deal with some real consequences for once.
Its Clancy! The bad guy is Clancy!
AKA Viking Lofgren who got his ass kicked by Sean Penn/Mick in the 1983 Bad Boys. I’ve hated him ever since.
How is anyone not understanding the Dark Passenger taking the form of Deb when we had 8 seasons of it as Harry along with one episode of it assuming Brian Moser’s form?It’s… legitimately not that big a leap at all.
I found it incredibly annoying that Dexter half-assedly covered up SOME of the blood, but there was clearly a huge blood pool behind him, in frame, and it’s just ignored. They’re treating the audience pretty poorly this season. Beyond that I agree with him just leaving tracks all over the place being completely stupid.
In regards to the author, is Dexter trying to “evade capture”? At the end of the original run he is assumed dead, and his identity as a serial killer was never revealed. I don’t think he is “wanted” in any legal sense of the word.
Smartphones and drones didn’t exist back when Dexter was Dexter, so he’s gotta adapt and improvise? But yep, slow episode, after a good pilot.
“The Dexter I know is a misanthropic weirdo who has practiced how to behave like a human in order to preserve his freedom but is ever the trickster. He’s fooling everyone around him with a performance of a person who doesn’t actually exist.” I think you’re misunderstanding the point of the show. Dexter created his persona to blend in and get away with murder, sure, but the whole show is about how that persona becomes real/was always kind of real as he forms connections and creates a life. I’m not sure how you endured 8 seasons believing he was just fooling everyone so he could kill people – that sounds like a boring show. Dexter is a nuanced, complex human being just like anyone – who also has a personality disorder. If you’re seeing this as an addiction show – I’m terrified to learn your opinion on addicts. Dexter felt hollow because he was alone – not because he was /actually/ hollow inside. Just because a character says he’s empty, says he feels nothing – have you considered he didn’t know how to understand himself /because/ he was alone and without anyone who truly understood him? Or that perhaps the serial killer is a bit of an unreliable narrator? And were you not watching the 8 years of him learning and growing? Forming connections, clearly experiencing emotions? Perhaps not in a the exact way you, the viewer, does – but that’s the point. This show is interesting because it’s about someone who experiences the world differently that you, the viewer. Ghost Deb… is not a ghost, dude. She’s not real. That’s not really Deb. She’s a metaphor for Dexter’s guilt and a thinking tool the way Harry was a metaphor for Dexter’s control and a thinking tool. Did you think Harry was a ghost haunting Dexter? As for the logistical aspects – are you watching this show, or any kind of show that calls for a bit of suspension of disbelief, for a realistic plot? This show where we are POV: serial killer? Why? It’s not interesting how Harrison and Dexter reconnect – it’s interesting that they DO. Who cares how we get there? The relationship between them has been waiting for us to explore since we found out Rita was pregnant. If you must be concerned with the logistics, Harrison is half Dexter, a serial killer who’s evaded capture (however ridiculous, in this universe, he has) and was raised by Hannah, another serial killer that’s evaded capture. You think he can’t track his father down with one big clue handed to him in a letter? But more importantly, WHO CARES? That’s not what this show is about. This is very surface level way to watch television for a television reviewer.