‘Dexter: New Blood’ Finds Michael C. Hall Taking a Stab at Closure With Evolved Tone (Review)

Dexter Morgan, America’s favorite vigilante serial killer, is taking another stab at what it means to give audiences closure with the new revival series, Dexter: New Blood, premiering tonight on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET The highly-anticipated revival starring Michael C. Hall comes eight years after a contentious series finale that saw the part-remorseful, half-self-righteous killer living by himself in a cabin after having lost everything that ever mattered to him, namely his sister Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter). Faking his death and living in the woods while sporting a rugged beard felt like a cop-out for fans who knew Dexter, played immaculately by Hall, as one of the more defined and well-constructed, fleshed-out characters on TV. 

But the former forensic blood spatter analyst by day for the Miami P.D. and rogue vigilante by night had a moral code he lived by — one that audiences admired and considered a redeeming enough quality to make things right again and thanks to the writers, tonight’s the night, and it’s going to happen again and again — well, at least for 10 weeks. With the show kicking off the first of 10 episodes this season, audiences find the beloved antihero living a quiet, secluded life in the snowy upstate town of Iron Lake, New York, under the guise of Jim Lindsay, one of the friendliest and most personable clerks at Fred’s Fish & Game. In these moments, we see Dexter is soberer and living life with much more Zen. He buys Swiss rolls for his boss, engages in friendly banter with the town butcher, knows the pastor, high school kids, and even participates in events with his community, like line-dancing at the local bar. He has a routine that finds him satiating his need for a hunt by chasing a beautiful, sacred white buck in the nearby Seneca reservation, but never killing it. Instead, he thrives off the build-up of his hunt and recognizes it as an innocent, a moment that grounds Dexter. He also has a girlfriend in Iron Lake’s Chief of Police, Angela Bishop, played by Julia Jones, a tough cop who wants her town safe and single-mom of one daughter, Audrey (Johnny Sequoyah). Dexter and his girlfriend, Angela, even get intimate in the first few minutes of the show’s premiere, showing us that he is a different person, occupying himself with things other than killing, and even enjoying a little role play with his girlfriend in the back of her police car. 

While the affection between Dexter and Angela appears genuine, we learn Dexter’s faithful companion is his dead sister, Debra (Carpenter), an immediate reminder of his violent past ready to criticize or encourage when an opportunity arises. Thanks to her moral guidance, Dexter has been kill-free for nearly a decade, thanks to her support in being a better person. However, such a charming, idyllic lifestyle serving as his salvation can’t stay this way for long as Dexter comes face to face with his Dark Passenger when he meets an infuriating customer (Steve Robertson), who forces his hand most violently with fantasies sprinkled throughout the episode of how he could do it. But as the tension is a slow burn acting as foreplay for audiences leading to his first kill, it’s an aspect that is appreciated and not at all silly or overdone. In fact, there is a lot more of the old Dexter we see when he is constraining himself from the hunger of a kill, particularly when he hears of all the terrible things the customer — the son of a wealthy town businessman — had committed outside Iron Lake. 

With a superb performance from Hall, who manages to nail the anger and beast within through his expressions in a robust, stylish direction, we see Dexter has never really left Jim Lindsay. Instead, he’s been caged and suppressed in this purgatory of a lifestyle, and Hall gives another raw, immaculate performance slipping right back into the angst of his complicated, beloved character. Complicating matters any further, Dexter’s son Harrison (Jack Alcott) has marked his mysterious return after learning his father didn’t actually die in a boating accident in Miami all those years ago. While Debra tries her hardest to steer Dexter away from Harrison with the names of all the innocents who died in his path of violent tendencies, he gives in after the kill with the hope of making things right again for his son.

Dexter: New Blood much like its original series is a dark comedy with shades of grey thanks to Hall and clever writing that finds his character’s ever-present voice-over narration and strained expressions an absolute charm. The show also has a lot of fun planting Dexter in a place you never would have imagined he’d settle into. It’s almost as if he’s torturing himself, moving to a small town with rarely any violence where everyone knows him and knows each other’s business. But he’s still careful and guarded as seen with some of his interactions outside Angela. Paired with deadpan expressions and a feeling of being dead inside, Hall’s Dexter has always been the heart of the original series, and he manages to reel us back into it all, very slowly and immersively while we root for him, as odd as that might sound. Meanwhile, Alcott, best known for his role in The Good Lord Bird, brings a dispirited allure to his role as a teenager angry with his father for abandoning him, but also wanting a relationship with the person he loved most. While the teen drama might feel like more Riverdale than Dexter, Alcott brings a nice balance to the show’s tone. Carpenter also brings great nuance to the series with a sharp, substantial role that adds an appreciated weight to Dexter and our antihero’s conscience.

With the show kicking off the first of 10 episodes this season, Dexter: New Blood might not be the same show as Dexter during its initial run from 2006 to 2013, but that’s okay because it’s not supposed to be. This is a different person, someone who is building new habits, trying his hardest to shy from violence and like everyone, has evolved due in part to environmental circumstances while acknowledging he was more than just toxic. The slow to build tension, particularly in the premiere compared to the three other episodes made available for review, build plots that add to a good, solid direction that gives audiences hope of a better ending this time around. Blended with Dexter’s son’s strange, eyebrow-raising return and a mystery entailing a number of missing women in the area (spoiler alert, Dexter isn’t the only serial killer around), the show with a psychologically different note, is well on its way to reviving much of the allure previously lost by the show’s divisive series finale for some serious closure this time around. Not to mention, it’s really fun seeing Dexter again as the show effectively pulls audiences in episode by episode, even if he’s sometimes bordering that serial killer meets dad jokes kind of personality. The show is tonally in line with everything you knew from the original and definitely gets under your skin.

Dexter: New Blood airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime. For more on Dexter Morgan, Michael C. Hall and everything you need to know about the show, keep it locked to PopCulture.com for the latest.