TV Recap & Review: ‘Dexter: New Blood’ S1, Ep. 7 “Skin of Her Teeth”

Dexter’s world is one built on lies and deception. The town of Iron Lake was just another lie, where he told himself he would be safe from releasing his Dark Passenger. After ten years, we watch that very personal lie come back to bite him, and hard. In Dexter: New Blood episode 7, “Skin of Her Teeth,“ Dexter (Michael C. Hall) once again juggles too many lies, but this time around he has a son to protect, from others and himself.

Angela (Julia Jones), after discovering her friend Iris’s body in the caves, calls Dexter to come to use his skills to see what he can discover. Shot in the back, buried while still alive, Iris (Jessica Perry) bit her assailant. A DNA match confirms it was indeed Kurt Caldwell (Clancy Brown), and he is arrested. But, we are only on episode 7, so there is no way it is going to be that neat and tidy. Sure enough, things begin to happen quickly, none of them especially helpful to Dexter.

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Kurt sees Dexter as a threat and shows him just how much power he has, even from jail. When Dexter confronts him, he realizes that Kurt is playing the long game; a game of chess where he is ahead of everyone else, including Dexter. Kurt shows his skills this week, including the dismantling and bleaching of his serial killer room, leaving Angela and Dexter with nothing.

Serial killers are experts at deception as a mode of self-preservation to keep their secrets hidden and stay alive. Kurt makes a statement and his lawyer, the DA, and the police watch as he throws his dad under the bus as the killer. This reduces the importance of the DNA evidence and Kurt walks free. It is a clinic on deception, one Dexter would probably admire if the man wasn’t a threat to his son, Angela, and even him.

Kurt showing Dexter how much of a threat he is left Dexter with little choice but to make plans to kill him, however, and only in Dexter’s world, this is not the only bit of stress on his plate. Harrison (Jack Alcott) continues to give in to his anger, and Angela and Molly Park (Jamie Chung) have a curious conversation about Dexter showing odd behavior, which is not something he wants these two curious and smart individuals looking into.

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Clancy Brown is brilliant this week as Kurt, showing his teeth and his survival instinct, not to mention his obvious intelligence. However, while he may know that Dexter killed his son, he doesn’t yet realize who he is really dealing with, making this a great cat-and-mouse game. Speaking of killers, we get a great flashback of the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow) as Harrison revealed to Dexter that he remembers everything from that day his mother was killed. Horrified, Dexter realizes he’s going to have to tell Harrison everything, but the episode ends with Dexter being jumped, perhaps by one of Kurt’s minions.

“Skin of Her Teeth” gave us a much-anticipated face-to-face between the two serial killers, and it did not disappoint. Dexter is now officially juggling too much so the question isn’t so much what will blow up in his face, but when will it happen. He’s a survivor, though. As things continue to get rough, it will be interesting to see him forced to officially come out of hiding.