As Dexter: New Blood had progressed through the first seven episodes, all roads seemed to lead to Dexter facing hard choices as many eyes are now on him for different reasons. In “Unfair Game” we see just that, two main storylines involving his newest challenge and the excellent Kurt and Harrison arc, all while Angela continues to dig deeper into who Dexter really is. While the Kurt/Harrison storyline is very well done, Dexter in survival mode is full of eye-rolling moments that are almost cringe-worthy at times, taking the wind out of what should have been a much better episode.
At the end of the last episode Dexter is jumped by someone and at the start of this episode, wakes from a rather disturbing dream to find himself tied up in the back of a car, being taken to Kurt by one of his lackeys. Overhearing a conversation between the two that involves Harrison kickstarts Dexter into action, jumping the driver which leads to the car crashing and a new hunt is on, this time with Dexter as the prey.
After a drawn-out ‘hunt’, Dexter gets the jump on him at the now-closed summer camp and kills him, stabbing him with a knife. I know he’s in a rush to get to his son, which I get, and I can understand him leaving the body there and simply covering it up. However, he leaves the knife in the man’s chest, and he wasn’t wearing any gloves at the time, either. Perhaps this is a plot point to be explored later but it seemed to be lazy writing and sloppy work by Dexter, making it feel very unbelievable.
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It is very possible Angela will find the body and the knife (let alone a large amount of blood Dexter has left behind) as she has continued to dig deeper into circumstances that seem to involve Dexter in some way, none of them good. She’s a good cop and you can see by her face she is working things out, and not liking where they are leading.
Meanwhile, Kurt takes some time with Harrison, feeling him out, seeing his vulnerabilities, exploiting them like a true predator. Some batting practice at the school (after ‘breaking in’ using Kurt’s old keys) leads to some food and drinks at his serial killer cabin. During this whole interaction, Kurt uses different methods to weave into Harrison’s subconscious (Clancy Brown is terrific this week) and get information, which seemed to show Kurt’s usual MO of playing the long game.
But here, the only endgame is apparently Harrison’s death. After a brief change of clothes into his hunting gear, Kurt sends Harrison running, intent on shooting him. Dexter shows up and drives the car of the man he killed at Kurt, who evades it and runs off into the forest, swallowed up by the darkness.
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As they drive off, Dexter begins to tell Harrison some of the truth, hinting that he is ready to tell him everything. But will he? This was a strange episode in parts, with the hunt storyline a possible setup for Dexter’s admission to Harrison and being found out by Angela. But Dexter, the king of lies and cleaning up messes, especially his own, might have something to say about that. It’s hard to tell, and not in a good way as there were too many moments that pushed the boundaries of the eye-rolling moments that sometimes pop out in the world of Dexter.
There are some great moments with Kurt and Harrison, and watching Harrison struggle mentally, especially being pulled in seemingly two different directions by Kurt and Dexter, was really fun to watch. It helped overcome some of the ridiculous events involving Dexter running for his life, but couldn’t hide them all, unfortunately.
With Kurt still at large as well, and a man with apparently many resources, the loose ends seem too big for even Dexter to tie up. With two episodes remaining, I guess we’ll find out.
