TV Recap & Review: ‘Dexter: New Blood’ S1, Ep. 10 “Sins of the Father”

January 9, 2022

*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*

I will admit, I had no idea what to expect with Dexter: New Blood. After the first episode, I was unimpressed, not sure how the show was going to work. However, the series won me over and the last few episodes were especially strong. When I finished watching the finale, “Sins of the Father,“ I found myself thinking it over from start to finish and realized that while the final outcome was not surprising, how they got there was. I sit here a bit perplexed, annoyed, and need to discuss what I just watched.

Let’s talk.

It seems that killing Kurt Caldwell (Clancy Brown) did not tie everything up like Dexter (Michael C. Hall) thought it would. Kurt got his revenge before he died at Dexter’s hand, first by mailing that letter to Police Chief Angela Bishop (Julia Jones) then burning his house down. The revenger-after-death scenario is similar to that of The Trinity Killer (John Lithgow) when Dexter comes after killing Trinity to find his wife dead and son Harrison sitting in a pool of her blood. Both of these are crucial, and while sifting through the burnt-out ruins of Dexter’s place, Angela finds a titanium screw, previously in the leg of Kurt’s son before Dexter killed him. It’s enough for her to drag Dexter into custody for a little chat.

These are moments when Dexter usually shines. Angela realizes there is not enough to convict, however, Angela is not letting this go. She makes a call to Angel Batista (David Zayas) who sees proof that Dexter is alive and promises to be there in the morning. He brings information on the Bay Harbour Butcher, and Angela lets Dexter know that not only will he be charged in those crimes, but he will be having a little reunion with Angel in the morning. The slightest of cracks shows on Dexter’s calm face. He’s now cornered, and cornered animals are always the most dangerous.

He tells Angela about Kurt’s reign of terror and where to find the bodies, and while she puts Dexter in lockup to investigate, he puts an escape plan in action. However, he ends up killing Officer Logan (Alano Miller), yet another crack in his already crumbling, or already non-existent code. He calls Harrison to meet him as it’s time to go, but upon meeting up in the woods, Harrison finds out Dexter had killed Logan and it is here Harrison makes a stand, against Dexter, his past, and current actions.

Dexter is forced to confront his past by Harrison and all those innocent people who have died from his actions or more simply, just being around him, a part of his life. Dexter sees the truth in Harrison’s accusations and seeing no other way, asks Harrison to shoot him. Harrison does, and with one shot to the chest, it’s all over. Angela arrives on the scene and lets Harrison go, and we are left with him driving out of Iron Lake to yet another uncertain future.

The final scenes between Michael C. Hall and Jack Alcott as father and son are terrific. Both men come to a crossroads in their lives, ironic in some ways as they have seen a few of those already. Dexter is called out on his so-called code and, really, Harrison is right. Dexter realizes his code has not protected the innocent people and many have died who didn’t need to. Realizing this, and having an epiphany in terms of what it is to feel emotion, to feel love, it’s all very powerful and the two actors do a great job with it. Even more so when you consider the scene was done in the first month of a six-month shoot for this series, so hats off to everyone, especially Alcott.

Check out all Dexter: New Blood recaps here!

However, the path leading to this moment was a bit uneven, to say the least. So many scenes felt rushed and not in a good character-driven way. It was sloppy at times, moving in unexpected directions that left us with many unanswered questions. The death of Molly Parker (Jamie Chung) was handled in a strange way, especially for a character who has some important scenes in the show. The tease of Batista coming to Iron Lake and then never meeting Dexter was bizarre. Sure, that might have been the catalyst to push Dexter to escape, kill, and be killed, but what a missed opportunity. A meeting between those two would have been great to see.

Now here we are, at the end of Dexter….again. His death was always planned, right from the beginning, so now we are left with Harrison on the run, left alone again to deal with his Dark Passenger. Will he contain it? Maybe, given proper therapy, but I guess we will never know. Dexter: New Blood was a pleasant surprise that got better and better and while I don’t feel cheated like I did when the original series ended, I am still left with a feeling that the show is incomplete, even with Dexter’s death. Perhaps that is the best way to look at it, that this circle of death will never be closed and Dexter’s actions will forever haunt those he cared about.

RIP Dexter…to the character and the show.