Dexter Relives Previously Unknown Kill in ‘New Blood’ Revival

Dexter fans got a big surprise in Episode 9 of the New Blood revival when Dexter (Michael C. Hall) relived a previously unknown kill from his former life in Miami. The new series finds Dexter living in the fictional upstate New York town of Iron Lake, changing his identity and trying to lay low. However, when his teenage son, Harrison, shows up on his doorstep, setting him in collision course with his past. Spoilers ahead for Episode 9 of Dexter: New Blood.

In the penultimate episode of Dexter: New Blood Season 1, Dexter reveals his past to Harrison and told him that he used to hurt bad people who had themselves hurt innocents. In explaining, Dexter recalled hunting a party clown named Mr. Wiggles, who ran a business akin to Chuck E. Cheese. Mr. Wiggles would use the business to lure in unsuspecting families and choose children to abduct. Dexter offered little info on what exactly Mr. Wiggles was doing to the children, but some photo evidence of his crimes showed that he would paint clown makeup on the children and kill them.

Those pictures were the evidence Dexter needed to prove Mr. Wiggles was a heinous criminal, and carried out his ritual of capturing the deranged man. Using Mr. Wiggles’ own playhouse, Dexter bound and killed him. He initially did not tell Harrison that he murdered the people he hunted, but eventually the teen figured it out on his own. 

This led to Harrison witnessing Dexter’s most recent kill: Kurt Caldwell (Clancy Brown) a wealthy businessman who’d been kidnapping and murdering young woman for decades. The father and son discovered Kurt’s secret bunker, where he’d been preserving and displaying the women he killed. Kurt figured out that Dexter had uncovered his secret and attempted to skip town. While he was packing his bags, Dexter and Harrison showed up, with Dexter tranquilizing him and knocking him out. Kurt then wakes up tied to a table in his “trophy” room, where Dexter carries out his ritual and kills Kurt.

In the same episode, it was also discovered that Kurt had murdered another character involved in the story: Molly Park (Jamie Chung), the true-crime podcaster who came to Iron Lake to investigate the case of the missing women for an episode of her podcast, Merry F—ing Kill. In the new episode, Dexter and Harrison discovered Molly’s body in Kurt’s morbid collection, revealing that he’d gotten to her, even after Dexter already saved her from Kurt once. Fans can see how the story plays out when the Dexter: New Blood season finale airs next Sunday, Jan. 9, only on Showtime.