The episode was titled ” Remember the Monsters? And yes, the majority of fans of Dexter remember it. After an eighth and final season that piled up problems, the icing on the cake – its finale – was bitter.
The death of Debra (Jennifer Carpenter), the forensic expert / psychopath’s beloved sister. Little Harrison, son of the serial killer, entrusted to Hannah the poisoner (Yvonne Strahovski). And Dexter (Michael C. Hall) who, in voiceover, drops his own condemnation (“I destroy all those I love. I must protect them from me.”) Before rushing off, aboard the Slice of Life, in the eye of the hurricane Laura. Apparent suicide. Followed by an immediate “resurrection”. As a lumberjack. Ouch.
It was eight years ago, a little more in fictional time since a decade has passed since Dexter Morgan changed his life, we discover in Dexter: New Blood, a first (or ninth?) season consisting of ten episodes. After viewing four of them, let’s say all hopes are high.
Dexter, therefore, is based in Iron Lake, New York. A complete change of scenery: the Florida sun and the bustling life of Miami have given way to a small town that can be discovered in the middle of winter. The tone is set from the start, in an evocative scene where Dexter runs, on snowshoes, in the snow, sniper rifle on his back, to the rhythm of The Passenger from Iggy Pop.
The specialist in blood trace analysis is now called Jim Lindsay and he works in a hunting and fishing shop. Oh, and he managed to muzzle his dark passenger, his need to kill. Jim / Dexter is therefore, in this respect at least, sober.
Which does not mean that the temptation is no longer there. To talk about it and listen to it, he replaced the ghost of Harry – adoptive father who framed his violent impulses by forging a moral (a) code – with that of Deb. Return oh how much desired Jennifer Carpenter in the credits, in a role of conscience, but not in the angelic sense of the term: we are in her company in the dark, the rage and, the time of short surrealist scenes, the total fantasy.
In short, everything is beautiful. Until everything started to fall apart. Otherwise, why a new series?
Blood relationship
First, the idyllic little town lets glimpse its gray areas. The split between the better off and the less well off. Tensions between the villagers and the inhabitants of the neighboring reserve. And somewhere, in a house, somebody is sequestering young girls. One remembers then how much, at the police station, is loaded the table where the faces of the disappeared persons are pinned.
And then, the past jumps in Dexter’s face… in the form of Harrison, the son he abandoned 10 years earlier. Portrayed by Jack Alcott, the boy, now a teenager, discovered his father was alive. He comes to confront him. Or settle down with him. Or both.
Recall that the father and son, by a brutal stroke of fate, both witnessed the murder of their respective mothers and bathed for hours in maternal blood. the dark passenger de Dexter was born out of this trauma. Does Harrison have one too? If good blood can’t lie, what about the bad?
A kind of complicity / mistrust sets in between the two. It will be interesting to follow the evolution of this Dexter / Harrison relationship compared to the Harrison / Dexter bond exploited in the original series.
Of course, Michael C. Hall does wonders on screen. He perfectly found the Dexter in him. For example, you have to see how, at the time of the first murder (because he will get back to it … otherwise, once again, why a new series?), His face betrays the irrepressible desire of the alcoholic who is about to prepare. to take a first sip of alcohol after controlling the beast for years.
This return to the actor’s past was surely facilitated by the fact that he finds Clyde Phillips here, showrunnerfrom seasons 1 to 4 of Dexter (the best, available like the others on Crave).
Thus, the character’s very dark humor (“You look at the guy where the secrets are going to die”) arises in his monologues. The way he tries to cover his tracks after the fact is also fun … especially since he keeps playing with fire, if only because his girlfriend, Angela (Julia Jones), is the boss. city police station.
It should be noted that Dexter: New Blood is also familiar in the way that music is used to accompany the action or to serve as a counterpoint (the use made of Runaway by Del Shannon is as tragic as it is formidable).
Finally, if we can regret that the peripheral characters are quite one-dimensional, it is for the moment (after four episodes) not too disturbing, as the pleasure is great to find this infernal trinity. The father, the son and the not holy spirit (of the sister).