Dexter: New Blood. A crushing disappointment, again. How not to write an ending twice.

 Oh dear, oh dear... They did it again.

Dexter fans have once again been let down by abysmal writing. This comes after years of waiting for the wrongs of 2013's Season 8 to be righted. Along with the fact that the showrunner, the lead star and producers all hyped up the new series' conclusion as being an appropriate send off for the popular character, serial killer Dexter Morgan. With the return of Clyde Phillips, the original showrunner, as well as Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter, things seemed promising. 

On a positive note, the series felt fresh with a new setting via the small town of Iron Lake in upstate New York, as well as being shot differently than the previous series. The small town setting felt cold, which was a good contrast to the warmth of Miami. I personally believe that the fresh look and setting were absolutely necessary as if for example, the series were to take place back in Miami then there would be far too many issues and questions raised regarding Dexter's sudden reappearance after faking his death. 

The show started off promising with the exception of the red herring, oil baron character. That was an obvious attempt at misdirection that failed miserably as everybody knew Clancy Brown was the main antagonist of the series and was already announced as such. The slow build was nice and the re-emergence of Dexter's Dark Passenger after having kept it at bay for 10 years was a great moment. However, the sloppy nature of Dexter's kills in this series is not believable for a second. I don't buy the fact that someone as smart as Dexter, even if he hadn't killed in 10 years would be stupid enough to leave a blood trail all the way to his cabin. Also, Harrison would have likely seen that same blood trail without question. People don't just become that stupid even after a long time. 

Speaking of Harrison, his relationship with Dexter was a tedious, dragged out chore. He spends most of the series on the verge of making a connection with the father that abandoned him, only to spoil it by throwing a temper tantrum and storming off. Although this came from an understandable place, this dragged the entire series down for me personally as it just got irritating after a few episodes. By the time father and son seem to bond and share an emotional moment, it's all but too late. Even the intriguing moments where it seems as though Harrison may harbour a Dark Passenger of his own can't salvage his unlikable nature as a character. 

One thing that was enjoyable was the character of Kurt Caldwell. He was a multi faceted character that was portrayed greatly by the under appreciated Clancy Brown. I can't help but feel like there was a missed opportunity with him though as the show could have shown more of his aggressive, flip out rage. Him punching one of his victim's corpses after she ruined his hunt was a fascinating watch, I wish we got more of that side of him. The reveal of his trophy room was amazing. I also appreciated the moments he spent being the father figure that Harrison was missing and so desperately sought. The cold blooded way he discarded that relationship as if it was nothing as he attempted to murder Harrison was brutal. Although, I would have loved to have seen him attempt to turn Harrison against his father completely. At least, his attempted murder of Harrison leads to the father and son bonding and Kurt's demise. One nit-pick I have is how easily accessible his bunker and in turn his trophy room is. That'd be a good way of getting yourself caught. 

Despite all of the good elements of the series, everything really came tumbling down when it came to Angela, Dexter's new police chief girlfriend unravelling the real identity of Dexter himself. Through some of the biggest contrivances in the history of Television, she discovers that Dexter may be the Bay Harbour Butcher. Firstly, she just happens to attend a convention that Angel Batista, a fan favourite character returning from the first series, also attends. Then, out of everybody there, these two strike up a conversation. Batista just happens to mention Dexter, the Bay Harbour Butcher case and that Dexter had a son named Harrison. There's no way that someone as close to Dexter as Batista was, would forget Harrison's name. I don't buy that for a second. Also, unforgivable is the sin that was the tease of a confrontation between Batista and Dexter in the finale that never came to be.

Naturally, after discovering that Dexter is not the person she thought he was makes Angela suspicious of him. However, she attempts to use the fact that he used Ketamine once to link him to the Bay Harbour Butcher case. The Bay Harbour Butcher used M99 thus, her attempted connection would fail in court. Attempting to retcon the use of M99 in the original series falls flat on it's face as Dexter fans all point it out instantly. Dexter should have calmly stayed within the jail as he would have gotten away scot-free due to a lack of real evidence. 

A more tangible and believable way for Angela to start suspecting Dexter would have been through the Podcast girl. She had episodes of her podcasts focused on the Bay Harbour Butcher and even had pictures of Rita, Dexter's ex wife. She could have recognised Dexter upon meeting him and thus alerting Angela's police alarms. But, this didn't happen and she didn't in the actual series recognise the former Miami Metro blood splatter analyst and expert. 

There's also the fact that Angela couldn't solve the missing girl's case she'd been adamant on investigating. She didn't suspect Kurt despite all of the missing girls passing through his diner and rejecting a job application. I digress. 

As for everybody's favourite serial killer himself, Dexter didn't have to panic and kill Logan, breaking Harry's code at all. That was completely out of character for the smart, usually calm and collected killer. He would have been smart enough to realise that he had no real danger of being charged or connected to the Bay Harbour Butcher case whatsoever. Alas, the writers of the show wrote him as being incredibly stupid and that's not an adjective that should be applied to Dexter. 

Dexter's whole out of character charade leads to him running into Harrison. The teenage son wanting to kill his father for murdering Logan, a man he barely really knew was also pretty contrived. Overall, the lead up to Dexter's demise felt like the writers knew the ending they wanted but not how to get there and so, forced it. It's just bad writing and I'm no expert by an means but, even someone like me can point out the flaws and inconsistencies.