‘Dexter: New Blood’ S1, Ep. 2 “Storm of F**K” TV Recap & Review

After a lackluster premiere that left me wondering why Dexter was brought back from the dead with Dexter: New Blood, “Storm of F**k” made some steps in the right direction. The second episode mixes the old and the new together in a fun, tense, and enjoyable way, save a few moments where you just need to sit back and enjoy without thinking too much.

Dexter’s son Harrison (Jack Alcott) shows up at the end of the first episode, and after initially denying he is his father, Dexter (Michael C. Hall) changes his mind and invites Harrison into his home. This immediately causes issues for Dexter/Jim on multiple fronts, first and foremost being how to explain to his son why he left him and then to discover if he can be a good father and if he has passed on his darkness. His new moral compass, Deb (Jennifer Carpenter), also reminds him what a bad idea this is and how everyone around him dies. She has a point, but Dexter ignores her, which I’m sure will return to bite him later this season.

Speaking of issues, the killing of Matt Caldwell (Steve M. Robertson) immediately comes back to haunt Dexter. The local police, led by the chief of police/girlfriend Angela (Julia Jones), roll onto his property and ask to use it for a base camp to search for Matt. Of course, her finding out Jim has a son is another level of stress Dexter will have to deal with. Dexter, easily abandoning the Jim persona and slipping into his old self, spends the rest of the episode dancing, avoiding, and redirecting the investigation, just like old times, which normally works fine except his girlfriend happens to be an excellent police officer, so things don’t go as smooth as he would have liked.

A side plot, which will be fleshed out into a bigger storyline soon, sees the woman from the bar for who Angela bought a burger in the last episode locked away in a room somewhere, constantly being watched. This could be the man responsible for all the missing Indigenous women around the Iron Lake area. But for now, we are left guessing, not only about the man’s identity behind the abduction but if he will become a threat and/or target for Dexter.

RELATED: Interview: Daniel Roebuck Talks Starring in Rob Zombie’s ‘The Munsters’

Jack Alcott does a solid job as Harrison, playing him more like a kid in shock, trying to absorb everything he sees and feels. Dexter’s guilt about leaving him hits an all-time high when he discovers what happened to him and Hannah and how he ended up looking for him at all. How he found a picture of Dexter on Instagram seems sloppy, both in storytelling and by Dexter himself, but it works well enough to get the story where it needs to go.

The show’s dark tone continues in tone and atmosphere, but this episode has more of that humor from the old show that was missing in the premiere. Deb continues to be intrigued by how she plays the role of his mentor/conscience and how the writers will continue using the character. Also, seeing Clancy Brown appear as Matt’s father was a thrill, and I’m interested in how his role will evolve.

At this point, it’s hard to gauge what the end game of Dexter: New Blood is and what it’s trying to achieve, as all signs point to it returning to some familiar territory. This could be a good or bad thing. That being said, “Storm of F**k” was a big improvement over the premiere, and I’m now intrigued by where they intend to take the show over the next eight episodes.