Series / Dexter: New Blood

"I might still be a monster, but I'm an evolving monster."

— Dexter Morgan

Dexter: New Blood is a Sequel Series to the popular Showtime series Dexter, that premiered on November 7th, 2021. Clyde Phillips returns as the showrunner, having helmed the first four seasons of the parent show.

10 years after faking his death, Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) has settled into a new life in a quaint Upstate New York Town as Jim Lindsay, with his new love Angela (Julia Jones). However, old habits die hard and the past always comes for you.

Warning: New Blood is serialized and each episode directly follows from the one before. Beware of spoilers that may be unmarked.

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Dexter: New Blood contains examples of:

• Abandoned Mine: A potential dumping ground for a corpse.
• The Ace: Harrison; he scores so highly on the school's placement exam the staff assume he cheated, he's bilingual, and he's a skilled wrestler.
• Addiction Displacement: In the first episode, Dexter uses non-lethal deer hunting as a morning routine to deep his urges at bay. It's implied that he never kills the deer because it would just tempt him to kill people again. In a way, this can be compared to how meditation is useful for addiction recovery. Notably, as soon as he witnessed the deer getting shot (not by him), he completely snaps.
• Alone with the Psycho:
  • Kurt takes Molly to his cabin clearly to kill her, but Dexter intervenes at the right time making sure Kurt is unable to kill her. Molly herself was already highly suspicious of the whole situation, and was reaching for a can of pepper spray when Dexter arrived. Interestingly, this makes Molly present in one place with TWO psychos!
  • Not long after, Harrison winds up in the exact same position. In this case, Kurt's fatherly act is so convincing that Harrison doesn't suspect anything is amiss until Kurt attempts to hunt and kill him.
• An Ass-Kicking Christmas: Dexter and Kurt have their final confrontation on Christmas Day.
• Animal Lover: Dexter has become one, shown in how he owns several farm animals at his home and how he emotionally connects with a deer. Matt killing the deer is what triggers Dexter to kill him. Pretty ironic, considering how Dexter used to say that animals hated him. Dogs still do.
• Artistic License – Medicine: Intramuscular injections do not leave wheal marks. The wheal marks Dexter left behind that connect him to the Bay Harbor Butcher case should not exist.
• Artistic License – Physics: Kurt finds the titanium screws from Matt's injuries among his ashes. Cremating a body does not reduce the skeleton to ash. That comes after the cremation, as the remaining bones are crushed or ground down into what are called "ashes".
• As You Know: When Dexter uses Deb to "test" the blood spatter of Harrison's school altercation, she reminds him that the whole experiment is in his head, just in case audience members were starting to get confused.
• Assassin Outclassin': Dexter manages to escape Kurt's hired muscle Elric and turn the tables on him.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Matt Caldwell from his first moment on screen makes it clear that he's going to become Dexter's first victim in nearly a decade. He's rude, obnoxious, and has a serious case of Screw the Rules, I Have Money!; this is all in the first five minutes of meeting him and before we learn he's gotten away with the deaths of five people thanks to bribery and perjury.
  • Jasper, the drug dealer who laced pills with fentanyl, takes the time to mock Dexter's son and his parenting skills while on the kill table.
• Auto Erotica: The pilot sees Dexter having sex with Angela in her police cruiser. This appears to be a standard thing for them, after their roleplay where she pulls him over on a pretext.
• Back for the Finale: Angel Batista returns in the latter half of the series.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Dexter has concerns that Molly Park may reveal his true identity. Not to worry - Kurt Caldwell takes care of her for him.
• Bears Are Bad News: Dexter appreciates the calm of a local cave… until a bear appears.
• Big Bad: The Runaway Killer, Kurt Caldwell.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: In addition to the Morgans, we now have the Caldwells. Grandpa abuses prostitutes, dad is a Serial Killer, and the son is Lethally Stupid.
• Bittersweet Ending: Dexter kills Logan to escape from the police station, and Harrison kills Dexter when he learns of Logan's murder. Harrison is then forced to flee the town to avoid association with Dexter's death, meaning he abandons Audrey and his new life. However, Dexter's death is a Mercy Kill and he dies knowing Harrison will be able to move on and make a fresh start. Furthermore, it's implied that Dexter will be revealed to the world as the Bay Harbor Butcher, posthumously clearing Doakes's name after nearly two decades of being falsely accused. Kurt is also dead with his reign as the Runaway Killer not only being put to an end, but fully exposed as well.
• Blatant Lies: Dexter is clearly withholding information during therapy, from both the therapist and his son. Harrison calls him out on it.
• Bully Hunter: Harrison cultivates this reputation by befriending a loner and then protecting him from the school bullies, but it's just a performance.
• Bunker Woman: The modus operandi of the Runaway Killer involves taking runaway girls to a remote cabin with the offer of free lodging. Once the girls are inside, they can't leave, since the door can only be opened from the outside. He then watches them for several days through a security camera before opening the door so he can shoot them with a sniper rifle as they attempt to flee.
• But Now I Must Go: Harrison leaves Iron Lake — and Audrey — behind after killing Dexter and being coaxed to flee by Angela while she hides his involvement.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Downplayed with Audrey. For the most part, she is Happily Adopted, but she and Angela still clash at times.
• Brutal Honesty: Deb’s “ghost”, is way more aggressive than Harry was, constantly berating him when he fucks up but also alternatively suggesting ridiculous ideas for disposing of bodies, implying even the dark passenger is not as rational as before.
• Bus Crash: According to Harrison, Hannah died of pancreatic cancer three years before New Blood, and he's been bouncing around foster homes ever since.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Harrison calls out Dexter for hiding the truth during therapy.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Dexter passes up many opportunities to explain his own dark urges to Harrison, leading Harrison to trust Kurt instead and nearly getting them both killed.
• Character Signature Song: "Runaway" for the Runaway Killer.
• Chewing the Scenery: As Dexter tries to decide what to do with the body of his new murder victim, one of the options has Deb gleefully throw body parts into a wood chipper, which goes on to spray some high school children walking past with blood and gore.
• Christmas Episode: "The Family Business".
• Cluster F-Bomb: Deb swears at Dexter a lot when she's chewing him out.
• Cold Snap: After eight years in sunny Miami, this season takes place in frigid Iron Lake.
• Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: Dexter is a Recovered Addict at the start of the season, but Matt Caldwell comes to town and is basically begging to be killed.
• Commander Contrarian: As a manifestation of Dexter's guilt and self-doubt, Deb has no consistent point of view. Once Dexter starts killing and becomes conflicted, she alternates between castigating his murderous tendencies and urging him to kill again. Whatever stance Dexter is currently taking, she takes the opposite.
• Contrived Coincidence: Dexter's first kill in a decade is Asshole Victim Matt Caldwell. Matt's father just so happens to be one of the most prolific serial killers Dexter has ever faced.
• Cop and Scientist: Angela and Dexter, investigating Iris's body.
• Creepy Basement: Kurt has two. One is a bedroom where he holds his victims, and another contains his victims' corpses.
• Da Chief: Angela Bishop is the chief of the Iron Lake Police Department… which in a small town consists of herself, a secretary, and two other officers.
• Dead Man Writing: Either Kurt or someone on orders from Kurt leaves a note at Angela's house claiming Jim Lindsay killed Matt Caldwell. This is Kurt's posthumous act of revenge after Dexter discovers Kurt's trophy room and kills him.
• Dead Person Conversation: Dexter with Deb, who died in the final season of the original series.
• Did Not Get the Girl:
  • Even without his death in the end, given that she found out he was the Bay Harbor Butcher, suffice it to say that Dexter and Angela don't end up together after all that.
  • After killing Dexter, Harrison is forced to flee the town to avoid the consequences while Angela covers for him and makes it look like she killed him in self-defense. This means he not only is forced to leave Audrey, but can't even say goodbye either.
• Disposing of a Body: Dexter runs into some problems with this following his impulsive murder of Matt Caldwell. He considers the nearby lake (too shallow, so somebody will find it eventually), a cemetery (frozen ground, so impossible to dig), a woodchipper (too messy and leaves too much evidence), and an abandoned mine (unfortunately, occupied by a bear). He settles for temporarily burying Matt's body parts near his cabin before later incinerating them in an industrial furnace. Unfortunately, this still creates evidence, since the fire wasn't hot enough to melt titanium pins in Matt's leg.
• Distant Sequel: Set ten years after the original series.
• The Dragon: Elric, Kurt's stooge.
• Drugs Are Bad: One of Dexter's targets is a drug dealer who sells fentanyl to high schoolers.
• Eating Lunch Alone: Harrison joins a kid doing this to build up his Bully Hunter persona.
• Extremely Short Timespan: The entire season takes place over the course of two and a half weeks, per Word of God.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Just like in the original series, dogs are unusually upset by Dexter's presence.
• Faking the Dead: Harrison is the only person who knows Dexter Morgan is still alive.
• The Family That Slays Together: Dexter and Harrison team up to take down Kurt.
• First-Person Smartass: Dexter's internal monologues return, snarky as ever.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Bachelor party plans for Masuka can be seen briefly on Angel's computer.
• Freudian Excuse: Kurt witnessing his father abusing prostitutes as a child.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: When Dexter is about to kill Matt, the latter tries to excuse his crimes by saying his mother died when he was young and his father was a bit distant with him. Dexter is dumbfounded that Matt would blame his crimes on "bad parenting", pointing out that his own mother was murdered in front of him. On the other hand, he admits that he probably would never have become a Serial-Killer Killer and just ended up on the electric chair if it wasn't for Harry Morgan.
• From New York to Nowhere: Or rather, from Miami, Florida to Iron Lake, New York.
• Funny Background Event: Angel Batista checks his email in one scene, and we can see Masuka has invited him to his bachelor party and Quinn is wondering if they are obligated to go.
• Furnace Body Disposal: How Dexter disposes of Matt. He eventually also does the same with his father, Kurt.
• Genre Blindness: Despite being a true crime podcaster, Molly willingly puts herself in a situation where she is Alone with the Psycho in a Creepy Basement.
• Gift-Giving Gaffe: Dexter gifts his girlfriend Angela a police handbook for Christmas. She's understandably disappointed.
• Gorn: In episode 9, we see Dexter graphically dismember Kurt.
• Glasgow Grin: Elric gets one courtesy of Dexter cutting him with his binds to the point that he looks like Joker.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Matt's similarly sleazy friend Bill has a particularly embarrassing scar from the boat crash.
• Happily Adopted: Audrey was adopted by Angela when her birth mother abandoned her. She's a loving, dedicated mother to her, and Audrey seems happy with her life (at least insofar as any teen is). Though they butt heads, she still very much considers Angela her real mom and loves her as such.
• He's Back!: The moment "Jim" knocks out Matt with the butt of his rifle, grabs his knife, and comes this close to killing him there and there. Then he takes a breath, and as he collects himself…
  Voiceover: It's been a long time. But if I'm going to do this, I need to do it right.
• The Hero Dies: He is far away from being a hero at that point. but in the final episode, Dexter is finally put down (upon his request) by Harrison after he is called out for all the crimes he has committed and how far he has strayed away from the code.
• Hollywood Law: Even if Angela could prove Dexter killed Matt and Jasper, it does not prove he killed anyone in Florida, so in reality, he could not be extradited. As Dexter left behind no physical evidence in Florida that he was the Bay Harbor Butcher, it's unlikely Laguerta's fIle contains anything definitive.
• Hope Spot: Dexter and Harrison plan to leave town and join forces as Serial Killer father and son, but by the end of the finale Dexter is dead by Harrison's hand.
• House Fire: Kurt burns down Dexter's cabin in an attempt to kill him.
• Hunting the Most Dangerous Game:
  • There is a mysterious killer of runaway women, and he does so by trapping them for a while, then letting them out so he can gun them down with a sniper rifle. It's not really much of a hunt, though, considering the minuscule distance and the weapon he's using.
  • In Episode 8, Kurt's lackey has to chase Dexter through a forest after a car accident. Later on, Kurt vanishes into the forest after Dexter rescues Harrison, seemingly starting a new chase right as the episode ends. Subverted when the next episode skips ahead to the morning and a reveal that Dexter and Harrison didn't even try to chase him, and so Kurt shows up at Angela's house on Christmas morning acting like nothing happened.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Harrison.
• I Own This Town: Played With. Kurt Caldwell is a well-liked member of the Iron Lake community to the point of being the unofficial mayor of the town. When (planted) evidence pointed to his son skipping town, he was able to convince the townspeople to continue searching the town mainly by bringing up times he helped them.
• Ignore the Fanservice: One of Kurt's captives strips for the camera in an attempt to seduce him, but he's more concerned with "saving" her innocence and becomes agitated instead.
• Imagine Spot: Through Deb, his new avatar of the Dark Passenger, has some of these when deciding what to do with a body, or when figuring out events he is investigating.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: In Episode 8, Big Game:
  • Kurt's lackey wounds Dexter in the leg because he's meant to bring him in alive, but not well enough to stop him escaping. After declaring he's just going to kill Dexter, he somehow manages to miss repeatedly: once when Dexter is hobbling out in the open, and another while Dexter is behind a tree. The lackey only manages to hit the tree and apparently doesn't see Dexter move to shoot at Dexter again.
  • Kurt when he sees Dexter slowly driving towards him after getting ready to kill Harrison, he firstly fails to shoot Harrison, then manages to miss three shots in a row with his sniper rifle, which has a laser aimpoint and a scope on it. The ranges being about 40 yards down to 5.
• In Vino Veritas:
  • Matt's "friend" Bill does several lines of cocaine and in a moment of anger and partial guilt, reveals to Dexter how Matt lied and bribed his way out of suffering consequences for a boat accident he caused.
  • Harrison reveals Dexter is using a fake name while under the effects of fentanyl.
• Indulgent Fantasy Segue: When Matt starts playing with his new gun, while intoxicated, he points it at Dexter's face. Dexter immediately grabs it and punches him with the butt of the rifle before it turns out he actually restrained himself.
• It's All My Fault: Dexter has visions of all the characters whose deaths he feels responsible for right before he is killed. This even includes characters like Frank Lundy, who died in circumstances completely unrelated to Dexter.
• Jerk Jock: The wrestling team, complete with varsity jackets.
• Just in Time: Dexter appears at Kurt's cabin just before he was going to murder Molly, a crime podcaster who'd gone snooping there, stopping him by his presence.
• Karma Houdini: Harrison faces no consequences for framing and attempting to kill a classmate, nor are there any repercussions for aiding Dexter in killing and dismembering Kurt instead of simply turning him in.
• Karma Houdini Warranty:
  • Dexter managed to get away with being the Bay Harbor Butcher and successfully built a new life for himself in Iron Lake... only to finally pay for his crimes when his son comes to town.
  • Kurt has terrorized Iron Lake as the Runaway Killer for years, but thanks to Dexter, he not only is revealed after all that time, but killed too.
• Karmic Death: Jasper the drug dealer gets force-fed a fatal dose of his own product.
• Kick the Dog: Harrison befriends a bullied classmate named Ethan, who shows himself to be a potential school shooter (based on his violent drawings). Harrison then attacks Ethan and sets him up to make it look like he was about to commit a school shooting, making Harrison look like a hero, while also ruining Ethan and his parents’ lives. Later on, he finally admits to Dexter that he set the whole thing up, but doesn’t seem all that remorseful.
• Killed Offscreen: Molly Park is kidnapped by Kurt or an accomplice, and then murdered by him and put into his preserved victim trophy room.
• Lampshade Hanging: Molly mentions how foolish it was of her to follow Kurt, alone, into his Creepy Basement.
• Let Me Tell You a Story: About Mr. Wiggles the Monster Clown.
• Lethally Stupid: Matt Caldwell killed five people in a reckless boat crash, slashed a knife at Dexter as a joke, and nearly shot Dexter while out hunting.
• Let Off by the Detective: [[Spoiler:Angela lets Harrison leave town after he surrenders. She also promises not to tell anyone that she saw him at the scene of Dexter's death.]]
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Dexter to the Runaway Killer, though both are willing to kill innocent people to protect their secrets.
• Like Father, Like Son:
  • Initially, it seems Harrison carries a Dark Passenger born from witnessing the death of his mother, just like Dexter... But this is averted in the end, as Harrison himself explains he doesn't have the same murderous urges, but is instead understandably struggling to cope with immense anger as a result of the suffering he endured due to Dexter's abandonment of him.
  • Harrison is a consummate liar and manipulator, just like dear old dad. They even eat in similar ways and have a tendency to speak in a droning timber.
• Main Character Final Boss: Dexter is the villain protagonist of both Dexter and its sequel series, New Blood. New Blood ends with Dexter as the final boss, and he is killed by his son Harrison after murdering Logan to escape justice for his crimes. However, Dexter allowed this to happen so that his son could live a life free of Dexter's crimes; it's also implied that he would eventually be revealed as the Bay Harbor Butcher.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: With drug dealer Jasper, realizing the police are closing in, Dexter overdoses him on his own Fentanyl to make his death appear to be an accidental overdose.
• Manipulative Bastard: Harrison of all people turns out to be one. He manages to trick his entire school and most of Iron Lake into thinking he's a hero by attacking his bullied friend and framing him as a school shooter, even stabbing himself to make it look like self-defence. When his father finds out, Harrison emotionally manipulates him by guilting him.
• The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Dexter and Harrison both lose their girlfriends over their extracurricular activities.
• Meaningful Echo:
  • "Hello, Dexter Morgan". Said originally by The Trinity Killer when he discovered Dexter's identity, now said by Dexter as he rediscovers his own identity.
  • "Open your eyes and look at what you've done". Said by Dexter in the pilot to his first onscreen victim, now said by Harrison before he kills Dexter.
• Mercy Kill: Dexter prompting his death by Harrison's hand guarantees he not only dies un-captured, but that he also avoids the humiliation and strife from exposure; confrontation by his old friends; trial and eventual execution by lethal injection.
• Merry Christmas in Gotham: After a major confrontation with Harrison in Episode 7 and Dexter and Harrison escaping Kurt's trap Just in Time in Episode 8, Dexter finally lets Harrison in on The Masquerade in Episode 9. The first half of the episode is much Lighter and Softer than the preceding episodes… but when Kurt comes back to town, it turns into An Ass-Kicking Christmas.
• Mirror Scare: Played With. Dexter doesn't surprise a victim by appearing behind him in a mirror - he bursts through the mirror instead!
• Missing Child: The recurring theme of the second episode Storm of Fuck is parents fearing for the safety of their children. Angela is an Overprotective Mom for her daughter Audrey especially as she regularly sees girls from the Seneca Reservation go missing. Kurt Caldwell learns his son is missing and is desperate to find him believing Matt is still alive unaware his son's already dead. Finally Dexter reveals that one of the reasons for faking his death and leaving Harrison with Hannah was because Dex feared passing on his murderous urges onto his son...only to learn that Hannah died and Harrison was left to the horrors of the foster care system.
• Missing Mom: Hannah died three years ago according to Harrison and it led to him finding a letter from Dexter, leading him to discover his father was still alive.
• Monster Clown: As part of admitting to Harrison that he kills serial killers, Dexter relates that he once killed a real life one: a professional clown in Miami who murdered children.
• Mummies at the Dinner Table: Implied Trope. In the penultimate episode, Dexter and Harrison discover Kurt's trophy room, which was already glimpsed in earlier episodes. After killing his victims by shooting them in the chest, Kurt embalms and preserves the corpses as best he can, then displays them in a windowed coffin wearing a white dress and looking quite angelic. He's done this dozens of times, all to preserve their "innocence". He gets very unhinged when one of his murders goes sideways and destroys the girl's face in the process. He proceeds to pummel the body as "punishment".
• Neck Snap: How Dexter kills Logan to escape the police station.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Despite Molly being a potential threat to Dexter, he still decides to save her from Kurt rather than let him kill her. She returns this act of kindness by telling Angela how suspicious it was that Dexter was there to bail her out, and that he must have recorded her and Kurt talking if he knew where they were going. This is ultimately what makes Angela start her investigation of Dexter.
• Obstructive Vigilantism: Logan already has Jasper dead to rights. Dexter's insistence that he must kill Jasper only complicates things.
• Off the Grid:
  • Downplayed, but Dexter obviously doesn't want to be found.
  • Played Straight with Kurt’s cabin, which is one of the reasons Dexter realizes that he is a Serial Killer.
• Off the Wagon: Dexter in the premiere, after ten years of being a Recovered Addict.
• Oh, Crap!: In the finale, Dexter's face screams this when Angela reveals that she has contacted his old friend Angel Batista and that he will be arriving in Iron Lake the next day.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Dexter gets shot in the leg with a high-powered rifle, severely limiting his movement, but has shrugged it off like it was nothing by the end of the episode. It's never referenced again.
• Papa Wolf: When Dexter finds out his son nearly OD'd on drugs, he becomes so enraged that he decides to murder the supplier. He tries to murder the dealer first, but the cops arrive right at that moment, so he improvises and makes it seem like an ordinary concerned dad beating up the guy as a threat. Ultimately, this is a deconstruction as his desire for vengeance results in Angela getting enough evidence to deduce that he is the Bay Harbor Butcher.
• Parent with New Paramour: Angela, who has a teenage daughter, is currently dating "Jim" (Dexter).
• Patricide: In the end, Harrison kills Dexter, at his urging.
• Phone Call from the Dead: Kurt claims to have just got off the phone with his son Matt, even though it is currently raining Matt's ashes.
• Plot Armor: Inverted. In the original series, Dexter had the Plot Armor protagonists usually enjoy, but in the sequel fate essentially conspires against him, most extremely with Angela's unlikely meeting with one of Dexter's former Miami colleagues, but in other ways as well. This leads to, as one would guess, a Downer Ending from the point of view of Dexter. A clever serial killer with Plot Armor can avoid detection, and might have some chance with no Plot Armor, but with inverse Plot Armor he's going to be caught.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Downplayed, but it's clear Kurt has a low opinion of the Native American community in Iron Lake, and it's implied that he specifically preys on them.
• Psychotic Smirk: Dexter has a subtle but noticeable smirk on his face after he discovers Harrison might have the same murderous urges he does.
• Rain of Something Unusual: In this case, Matt's ashes.
• Reckless Gun Usage: Matt is reckless enough to nearly shoot Dexter while illegally hunting.
• Red Herring: Edward Olsen the billionaire is teased as the series' big villain. He takes notice of Audrey and tries to lure her into his car, making it seem like he's the serial killer of runaways, but he's not. Once Kurt is revealed to be the killer, Olsen is never referenced again.
• Retired Monster: Dexter hasn't had a kill in 10 years when the season premieres.
• The Reveal:
  • At the end of Episode 4, the viewers are shown who is behind the murder of the runaways.
  • Part of Dexter's uncovering of the Runaway Killer is finding Molly as one of the murdered, embalmed victims.
• Revealing Cover Up: Kurt tries to prevent the cops from finding his victim's body by calling off the search, ultimately causing people to start digging deeper into what he's trying to hide. Had he allowed the search to continue, it's likely that his secret would not have been exposed, since no one would have been looking for something suspicious.
• Revenge by Proxy: Kurt plots to kill Harrison to get revenge on Dexter for killing his own son.
• Reverse Whodunnit: The audience knows very early on that Kurt Caldwell is the "Runaway Killer", and the question then becomes just how he'll be stopped — through legal means or Vigilante Execution by Dexter.
• Rule of Symbolism:
  • The White Stag: a pure white deer that Dexter tracks and "hunts" as part of his morning routine but which he's never seen intending to kill. When Matt Caldwell kills it, it becomes the straw that breaks Dexter's will and leads to murder the former.
  • The Runaway Killer also wears an all-white winter camouflage outfit when he murders his victims. The first victim is also shown in an overhead shot running on a field of pure white snow.
  • Dexter and Harrison meet for the last time where the white deer was shot. Dexter, clad in all-black, is shot in the exact same spot.
• Sanity Slippage: Almost a decade of isolation and having no murder to curb his impulses has not been kind to Dexter. Typified by imaginary Deb being way more aggressive and emotional than imaginary Harry ever was. Predictably, when he breaks the dry spell and kills Matt, it is sloppy.
  • Kurt also gets noticeably more unhinged after his kill routine goes wrong and he misses out on a couple more.
• Self-Defense Ruse: Employed by Harrison so he can attack a classmate.
• Sequel Hook:
  • Near the end of the season, after revealing himself to be a serial killer and having Harrison serve as his accomplice, Dexter suggests Los Angeles as a possible new hunting ground for them to seek out predators to kill. The ending of the series totally nixes the possibility of Dexter and Harrison doing that together... but during the end credits from Harrison's POV, we see him driving from country roads into the streets of a densely populated city.
  • Given the intense reluctance Harrison had when leaving Audrey (to the point that he had to drive by her window to get one last look at her), it's not hard to imagine Harrison going against his better judgment and going back to see her again some day either and trouble brewing as a result of that somehow.
• Serial Killer:
  • Dexter returns to being one after he's refrained for many years.
  • Kurt Caldwell has been abducting and murdering young women who he's put through a ritual first.
• Serial-Killer Killer: Dexter is, once again, a killer of serial killers.
• Series Continuity Error: The Bay Harbor Butcher used M99 animal tranquilizers, but New Blood insists he used Ketamine.
• Shout-Out: To other crime thrillers set in small towns, including Fargo in Episode 3 and Twin Peaks in Episode 9.
• Show Some Leg: One of the Runaway Killer's victims prepares an escape plan by stashing a weapon and tries to get him inside the room by seducing him, taking off her top in front of a security monitor. He gets very annoyed with this and turns off the camera in response, since his kill-ritual is strictly non-sexual.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Molly Park and, unsurprisingly, Deb.
• Stout Strength: Elric has quite an unimpressive physique. When he has Harrison help him move some canisters, the athletic teen clearly struggles to lift his half of one canister. Then Elric finishes his business, picks up two canisters at once, and shuffles away.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Dexter discovers that sending away his toddler son to live with his angelic stepmother in Argentina and faking his own death is a terrible solution to the Evil Parents Want Good Kids problem. Harrison already had unresolved trauma from experiencing his mother's murder as a baby, Hannah dies of pancreatic cancer without Dexter even knowing, and Harrison ends up in foster care for several years before tracking him down a decade later.
  • If you murder your son's wrestling coach after he's only known you for two weeks, he's not going to keep cooperating with you.
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Heat cameras are peppered throughout the woods to track animals, and they nearly catch Dexter in the act of killing Matt. They never come up again, even when the following night Dexter runs through the exact same location the cameras spotted him before to tamper with the crime scene.
• Surveillance Drone: Gifted to Harrison by Kurt and later used to surveil Kurt's property and locate his lair.
• Tears of Remorse: Dexter, in the finale, when he realizes how much collateral damage he has caused over the years.
• Terms of Endangerment: Kurt calls "Jim Lindsay" by the friendly nickname "Jimbo", but there's absolutely nothing friendly about his tone whenever he does it.
• Their First Time: Harrison and Audrey sleep together after significant sexual tension in "Too Many Tuna Sandwiches". Angela gets very upset when she finds them in Audrey's bed together the next morning.
• They Have the Scent!: Dexter uses Matt's jacket to throw off the search dogs that will arrive in the morning.
• Through the Eyes of Madness: We see Dexter as he hallucinates his dead sister berating him for killing Matt Caldwell and letting Harrison back into his life.
• Token Minority: Logan appears to be one of the only Black people in Iron Ridge. Not surprising in a small town. In any case, he's the only one in the main cast.
• Toxic, Inc.: Edward Olsen's oil company is under fire from the local community for its pollution.
• Triple Shifter: Toward the end of the season, Dexter stays awake multiple days straight without showing any sign of tiredness. On Christmas Eve, he is up during the day, presumably doing a shift at the gun store, saves Harrison from getting into trouble with the kids from the other wrestling school. Dexter is then captured by Kurt's minion. He was seemingly unconscious for a short period before coming back & crashing the minion's car, gets shot, escapes, kills the minion, rescues Harrison, fills him in on his Code, after midnight (making it Christmas), he has to go back to clean up the dead minion before spending the morning with Harrison, Angela. & Audrey. Kurt shows up so the pair go after him, which takes them through past Christmas Night, after they track down Kurt and kill him, the clean up takes so long that they only arrive back to the now burned down cabin on the morning of the 26th. And still haven't actually gone to sleep when the episode ends, or seemingly got any kind of medical help for his gunshot wound that doesn't seem to trouble him at all.
• Troll: Dexter offers to close the door to the cabin room for Kurt, knowing it only has a door knob on the outside.
• Twisted Christmas: "Family Business" is set on Christmas, with Dexter confessing that he's a Serial-Killer Killer to Harrison, then killing Kurt, the Runaway Killer.
• Twofer Token Minority: The main cast has three examples.
  • Angela is Native American (Seneca).
  • Audrey also turns out to be part Seneca on her dad's side.
  • Molly Park is of East Asian ancestry.
• Understanding Boyfriend: Girlfriends in this case, for Audrey and Angela. At first annoyed that Dexter had a son he never mentioned, Angela quickly comes around and offers advice to him. Dexter actually believed she was going to break up with him. Audrey also appears to have gone completely cold on Harrison due to his propensity for violence. At some point before Episode 9 everything is patched up off screen, with Audrey being extremely happy when they come for Christmas morning, while Angela is more reserved, things are well enough in the relationship that they actually make plans for Christmas morning and evening to be spent with each other, and Dexter is comfortable enough again to say he loves her.
• Unreliable Expositor:
  • As Kurt Caldwell describes his first murder after he's been arrested, he claims that his late father was the real culprit, but the audience witnesses him actually doing it.
  • Dexter relays the story of Mr. Wiggles the Monster Clown to Harrison, while explaining his dark passenger. He leaves out the part of the story where he kills and dismembers Mr. Wiggles, at Deb's urgingl
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Matt's friend Bill, fueled with anger and cocaine, tells a random stranger the truth of how Matt deliberately caused a boat accident that killed five people. Unfortunately that person was Dexter Morgan, a Serial-Killer Killer with a preference for asshole victims who escaped justice.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: In Episode 8, Dexter and Harrison embrace after Dexter prevents Kurt from killing them. Kurt uses the time to escape into the forest.
• Villainous Lineage: The series examines the effects Dexter's parenting, disappearance, and inability to save Rita from the Trinity Killer have had on Harrison. Also implied to be the case with the Caldwells.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Harrison has shades of this. He finds out Ethan is a potential school-shooter and attacks him and stages the crime scene. He also repeatedly points out that Dexter's murders are saving a lot of lives. Logan's murder convinces him that Dexter is not like him.
• Wham Episode:
  • In Episode 4 "H is for Hero", it is revealed that Kurt Caldwell is the runaway killer and it is strongly implied that Harrison does indeed have a dark passenger and uses a straight razor as a weapon, as he remembers witnessing Rita being murdered by Trinity.
  • In Episode 5 "Runaway", Angel Batista returns, and in a friendly chat with Angela at a police conference, provides some information that leads to Angela finding out Dexter's true identity.
  • In Episode 7 "Skin of her Teeth", Kurt reveals that he knows Dexter killed his son, Matt. To make things worse, Dexter also finds out that Harrison remembers Rita's murder at the hands of Trinity.
  • In Episode 8 "Big Game", Dexter and Harrison finally get back on the same page, and start the confrontation with Kurt.
  • The finale, Episode 10, Dexter is killed by Harrison, who comes to realise he doesn't have a dark passenger, he's just angry at Dexter for abandoning him.
• Woodchipper Of Doom: Suggested by Deb as a means of disposing of Matt.
  Dexter: Seems a little Fargo, don't ya think?

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"Tonight's the night. Hello, Dexter Morgan."