Want to hear more from the actors and creators of your favorite shows and films? Subscribe to The Cinema Spot on YouTube for all of our upcoming interviews!
Lead Critic for the site, as well as serving as an editor when needed.
Dexter: New Blood‘s tenth and final episode, properly titled “Sins of the Father,” is directed by Marcos Siega. Its story is written by Clyde Phillips, Alexandra Franklin & Marc Muszynski, while Phillips serves as the writer of the teleplay. In the season finale, Harrison (Jack Alcott) pushes Dexter (Michael C. Hall) to finally answer for his sins, while Angela (Julia Jones) receives the answers she was looking for.
Spoilers to follow.
Plot Summary
As suspected, the words “new blood” were completely filled with blood this week; it’s a foreshadowing of the eventual end that was coming for Dexter. Nearly immediately, the action kicks off and Dexter is arrested by Angela about ten minutes in, so the writers did a great job at balancing when the truth was revealed and how long it took the characters to react. They did well at setting the tone of the finale early and the proceeding events were greatly paced, with a few hiccups here and there.
Apprehension
Upon Dexter’s arrest, he almost attempts to go for a knife to seemingly deal with Angela but Logan (Alano Miller) bursts through the back door and they finally restrain Dexter. A few observations here: Dexter isn’t going to go quietly, refusing to be locked in a cage. He will escape and run because now that’s all he can do, and when given the opportune moment, makes the decision. Angela also isn’t going to let him get away with everything, plus she’s got Logan as backup.
After Dexter manages to reveal the real intentions of Kurt’s (Clancy Brown) cabin, he attempts to subdue Logan. Unfortunately, Dexter turns into just another cold-blooded killer when Logan “refuses to listen” and kills him in order to break out. You almost want to root for Dexter right up until this moment. Everything takes a b-line from here, and after discovering what he’s done, Harrison begins to question it all.
Dexter’s hero/god complex takes center stage again at times, with Dexter even declaring to Harrison that “the world needs [them]”. This drives his decisions and ultimately brings him face to face with Harrison and all of his choices in a split-second moment.
Performances
The rest of the cast did a fantastic job this week as well.
It was great to see characters like Teddy (David Magidoff) take a bigger role than last week’s. Meanwhile, Audrey Bishop (Johnny Sequoyah) and Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) had their plotlines finished out very nicely. Their characters were fantastic throughout the season.
It will also be interesting to see what roles Sequoyah, Alcott, and Oscar Wahlberg can get after this. The whole cast was terrific. David Zayas makes another guest appearance as Captain Batista this week as well, which was welcoming. However, his plotline was oddly never returned to after he tells Angela he’s on his way to Iron Lake after she reveals the truth of Dexter’s presumed death in Hurricane Laura.
Some Character Developments
The character development in this last episode was some of the best in series history.
Dexter finally comes to terms with all he’s done. It seems that some of Deb’s advice throughout this season was taken hard by Dexter, more than anything Harry had given him in the original run.
Harrison seems to have finally figured out, partly, where much of his anger comes from: Dexter and his leaving. It seems that Harrison has some sort of duality within his Dark Passenger. He’s angry and disgusted with the world, but his dad faked his own death and left him with a glorified step-mom. So he has a right to be mad at the world, but at the same time, Dexter could’ve faked his death and met up with Harrison and Hannah in Europe instead of going to Oregon than New York. However, during Kurt’s killing, he displayed a high affinity of a remorse-esque mood when he saw the blood pooling, which made him flashback to Rita’s death. So it’s only fair to say that he’s got some combination of both, right? Then there’s the final scene between Dexter and Harrison.
Dexter and Harrison
The final scene is so powerful and proves that Dexter: New Blood is some of the best TV right now. There’s a moment where Dexter finally realizes his impact on those around him. It’s perhaps the most somber moment in the character’s history. He was running for ten years and he was prepared to run for more but Harrison really enjoys Iron Lake.
When Dexter realizes Harrison won’t be running with him, he finally comes to terms with who he really is. Harrison remarks that the Dark Passenger “is driving and [he loves] it.” To hear it out loud is astounding to Dexter, and after Harrison confronts him he contemplates nearly every death he’s in some way responsible for. Upon hearing this, Dexter reaches the conclusion he needed all along: he is the monster. While you always seemingly want Dexter to win, he needs to truly lose if he intends to take any real responsibility for what he’s done.
Indeed, “Sins of the Father” gave the audience that in one of the best scenes in TV history.
Elements of the Finale
Further, the other elements of the show remained fantastic in the series closer.
The cinematography kept you on edge intertwined with the editing, which was very smooth. There is a tremendous overhead shot of Hall and Alcott immediately after the final scene that is worth pointing out, you won’t miss it.
The writing was fantastic and gave, perhaps, the best ending for the character. However, only the choice of weapon felt a little cliché for the character, but otherwise, it was poetic and in a way, a synecdoche for the show.
Final Thoughts
Dexter is one of the most complex characters in media history. Creator Jeff Lindsay originated him in a series of novels. The first season was based on the first novel, while the rest of the show evolved from their own ideas and Lindsay continued to put out Dexter novels. The show became a massive hit and elevated Hall to star power. The revival was nothing short of terrific and delivered the ending Dexter needed. It would be great to see Harrison in a continuation of Dexter: New Blood. Anything is possible.
5/5 stars for the whole season.
Do you think there are fans who dislike this ending? Have any thoughts on a possible season two of Dexter: New Blood? For more film and TV reviews, stay here with The Cinema Spot!
Lead Critic for the site, as well as serving as an editor when needed.
12 Comments on “‘Dexter: New Blood’ Season Finale Spoiler Review – “Sins of the Father””