Dexter New Blood: what to expect from the return of the serial killer?

Dexter New Blood : new looks for a new life

In September 2013, spectators left the Bay Harbor Butcher in a small room, very quiet and far from Miami, in the final episode of the eighth season of Dexter. Eight years later, the serial killer returns with Dexter: New Blood. And at first glance, things are not at all the way they used to be. The absence of the famous generic ironic on a bloody breakfast in favor of the short frosty appearance of the title immediately symbolizes this willingness to move on, while providing continuity to the initial plot.

Still embodied by the excellent Michael C. Hall, Dexter Morgan now bears the same surname as its creator, the writer Jeff Lindsay. His vocation for crime scenes, the antihero has traded it for a position of salesman of hunting and fishing equipment in a village, where he presents himself as the polite and discreet Jim. His proximity to the police, he has not completely abandoned it since he lives a romance with the chief of the police of Iron Lake, Angela Bishop (Julia Jones).

The Florida sun and humidity have given way to the freezing temperatures and pristine landscapes of New York State. If Dexter has done everything to start a new life since he faked his death, ghosts and bad habits of the past end up resurfacing. And it doesn’t take long for blood to splash the snowy expanses.

The return of the Black Passenger?

After reaching its climax in the fourth season, Dexter was out of breath before bidding the spectators farewell with a conclusion deemed laughable, sloppy and frustrating. Almost ten years later, ambiguous and even deeply detestable characters have followed one another in the television landscape, whether in Hannibal, Killing Eve, Barry or You.

An omnipresence which raises the question of the usefulness of the reappearance of the forensic expert on the small screen. The first episode reassures on this point, in particular thanks to its aesthetics and its dynamism. The image is more worked and the rhythm more sustained than those of the last seasons. But the most striking element remains the evolution of Dexter.

Far from the dehumanized image he emitted at the launch of the original series, the repentant killer now fully assumes his cracks and his emotions in voiceover, starting with his fear of seeing his Black Passenger resurface and plunge back in his addiction to murder. However, he does not give up his scathing humor.

Dexter has aged and when a key person in his life arrives without warning, the control of events escapes him. The surgical mastery he once demonstrated by respecting his code seems to be over. Which risks putting him in an uncomfortable situation …

Cold blood

While he seems to have integrated perfectly into the small community of Iron Lake, Dexter Morgan therefore continues to fight against his old demons. His tortured exchanges with his inner voice now take the form of eventful conversations with Debra (Jennifer Carpenter). Unlike his adoptive father Harry (James Remar), the killer’s late little sister is much less tender and does not hesitate to abuse him.

She is not the only one, since Dexter will have to face a formidable new adversary in New Blood. A hunter who, after having kidnapped young women, subjects them to a terrible murderous ritual to then collect their blood. An enemy against which the antihero could relapse for good. It remains to be seen whether this monster’s cruelty to the Bay Harbor Butcher will equal that of the Trinity Slayer (John Lithgow) …

With Dexter: New Blood, the showrunner Clyde Phillips (who had left this post on the initial series after the fourth season) intends to offer his protagonist a revival to make mistakes forget of its first ending. Dexter deserves it, like Michael C. Hall, a major asset of this great comeback. The frame at the crossroads of Fargo and Wind river as well as some enigmatic secondary characters and …