By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Despite the fact that Dexter has officially squared away his dead-body bind, Sunday’s episode of Dexter: New Blood confirmed that the sometimes-killer’s problems have only just begun.
While Kurt’s boldfaced lie about FaceTiming with his (dead) son Matt remains perplexing, Episode 4 puts its primary focus on Harrison, as a scuffle at school may have prevented a deadly school shooting from going down. As many Iron Lake residents are quick to proclaim Harrison a hero, Dexter starts digging, only to discover that things definitely aren’t as they appear. Also, who is seen leading yet another young woman to that creepy cabin in the woods? Read on for a full recap of “H Is for Hero” (and after, be sure to click here to get Michael C. Hall’s and showrunner Clyde Phillips’ takes on the episode).
Dexter and Debra can’t seem to figure out why Kurt would lie about Matt, but as they scratch their heads, the “news” spreads fast. Angela sits down with Kurt to get more info, but the old man continues spinning his web of lies. The chief of police obviously wants to speak with the suspect, but Kurt skirts that, assuring her that he’ll pay whatever fines are owed to the Seneca people in retribution for the dead deer.
—
Molly returns to the station and calls Angela’s board “some real Carrie-from-Homeland s–t.” Of course, Molly is still interested in the case, but Angela threatens to arrest her for interfering in the investigation. However, Harrison is plugged into the podcaster’s previous episodes, including one installment revolving entirely around the Trinity Killer. As he listens to Molly recap Trinity’s well-known habits, a photo of Rita pops up on his screen. Molly says the killer’s last known victim had a baby that was found swimming in a pool of his mom’s blood. “How f–ked up is that kid now, am I right?” she asks. I think we’re about to find out.
Shortly after, an alert notifies everyone that the high school is on lockdown. All Angela knows is there are multiple injuries, and Harrison is involved. Dexter rushes to the school to find his son alive, but with a stab wound in his abdomen. His friend Ethan was planning on shooting up the school, but luckily, Harrison intervened and took him down. The cops find Ethan’s notebook, which includes a kill list and some incredibly violent sketches.
At home, the teen is shaken up. Debra notes that, despite Dexter’s concerns that Harrison might share his same murderous tics, the boy is actually emotional, empathetic and personable. “You’re so different, it’s gonna be impossible for you to have a relationship with your own son,” she taunts. The next day, Dexter gives the teen an interrogation of his own. As Dex tells Deb, the stab wound doesn’t match the story the boy told Angela, so something’s off. “You’re off,” she responds. “He’s normal.” Dexter can only hope she’s right.
Dexter later visits Angela to study the crime-scene photos. He tells her that the weapons they found stashed at Ethan’s house were items he sold to the kid’s parents. Dex then visits the school to inspect the blood spatter and run a few scenarios — and the spatter doesn’t match. His new theory: Ethan was the one trying to get away, and Harrison stabbed himself to sell his story. Why would he do that, Deb asks? “He wanted to know what it felt like,” Dexter responds. “It’s almost like he fit the code.” (I mean, Ethan was entertaining some very violent thoughts.)
Kurt visits Dexter to gift Harrison with a drone. As the grown-ups chat, Kurt says he wishes he did something about Matt’s bad behavior when he was growing up instead of constantly bailing him out. He cops to raising “a terrible kid,” and says it’s hard not to feel responsible for his child’s wrongdoings. Dexter lets it slip that he knows about Matt’s boat accident and the deaths involved, but when he realizes he said too much, he pretends to flub some of the finer details of the story. After Kurt leaves, Dexter thinks: “That guy’s fishing and I just nibbled.”
Angela tells Dexter that Ethan claims Harrison just slashed him, but she doesn’t believe it; she’s moving forward with the case against Ethan. However, based on the photos, Dexter believes Harrison brought his own weapon to school, because the cuts weren’t made with a hunting weapon.
Molly finds one of Angela’s “runaways,” thanks to help from her followers. While it’s a relief that one of the women turned up alive, Angela wonders if maybe her conspiracy theory is wrong after all. Molly presses her for more info, and Angela reveals that her best friend, Iris, disappeared while they were in high school, and no one bothered looking for her. When Angela became a cop, she promised herself she’d be different. She still has a gut feeling that something terrible happened to the rest of the women. Molly offers an alliance, which includes help from her army of armchair sleuths, and Angela accepts. The podcaster pulls out her recorder, and the two start comparing notes.
While Sergeant Logan leads an assembly with the kids found on Ethan’s list, Harrison reminds the group that Ethan was a victim, too, because everyone had bullied him for years. “I guess we all have two sides to us,” he says. “Maybe we’re a little bit hero, and a little bit monster. It’s all about which side wins in the end.” While he talks, we see Kurt walking a young woman over to the compound where Lily was held captive before she was killed.
Back at home, Dexter searches Harrison’s belongings and finds a straight razor — the same weapon Trinity used to kill Rita. “He has my dark passenger,” Dexter confirms, as a mixture of emotions washes over his face.
Is Harrison pure evil, or is something else afoot in Iron Lake? And is Kurt actually responsible for all of the town’s missing women? Drop some comments below!
So far this season has been very predictable. I can honestly see his Son killing him in the end and taking over the family business of killing. Hence the name, New Blood. The show could come back with his son killing and seeing Dexter appearing in his conscience.
Sure, that could be the case. It’s not like this show hasn’t had a blind spot to its own predictability before (e.g., everyone guessing the dumb twist in S7 by the end of Ep 1). But, to be optimistic, a bit of predictability is par for the course in the early-going in order to establish a push-off point for a swerve later on.
That’s true, but the showrunner of New Blood had left Dexter by the end of S4 (which most people would agree was the show’s peak) and Scott Buck’s work is, to say the least, polarizing.
.
I think we’re going to find that the predictability (this far) is largely deliberate, we’ve already been told there are twists coming by the EP. Pretty sure as well that Angela’s missing friend will turn out ot be one of the previous victims of the killer.
.
Also not 100% sure that Harrison has told the truth about everything, I’m wondering if we’ll find out that Hannah didn’t die of cancer after all, assuming she’s even dead at all.
Either Dexter will kill his son. His son will kill him OR most likely Dexter with be the new Harry.
Teaching harrison. The biggest shock would be a innocent harrison
Saw a theory somewhere that Harrison isn’t really Harrison, but one of Trinity’s kids – which would be wild. I don’t think he would have the Debisms down, but maybe he found some old tapes or something. Otherwise, Kurt is 100% the runaway killer. Clancy Brown’s eyes in the white mask are undeniable. So I hope that story line accelerates because they’re not fooling anyone. My prediction for next week: Dexter (er Jim) puts Harrison on the table and shows his cards. But does he gain a protégé or an enemy?
Ah man, I came here just to post this. I got this idea during tonight’s episode, and I think it’s a strong possibility. Glad I’m not alone!
I thought about the possibility that maybe Harrison isn’t really Harrison. I am just not sure they will really want to go there. It would b too predictable a twist.
As far as Harrison being one of Trinity’s children? The ages don’t match up at all. Trinity’s children were at least fifteen years older than Harrison.
Exactly….Dexter has done nothing to verify that this is really Harrison!
My theories:
Kurt was involved with all the runaways (this small town has a lot!). The girls who accept his help and leave move on. The one’s who accept his help and don’t leave town get hunted and die. They are surrogates for Matt or a daughter we don’t know yet.
‘
Harrison is like Dexter, but he may have some tendencies taught to him by Hannah, which we have not seen yet. He might become like Dexter, but he could also be more like Brian Moser (killing without a code). I am excited to see what comes next.
.
It seems plausible that Dexter will somehow die at the end and Harrison will take up the killing – a spinoff may or may not happen (with or without Dex as his conscience).
.
As for Dexter’s table next week: I am guessing either it is Harrison on the table getting a lesson, Harrison getting eliminated (because his kills are for revenge) or Someone entirely different and Harrison is in the room with Dexter.
Yea that is what confuses me about Kurt. He offered the green haired girl a job at the diner. But then he is leading her to the cabin where Lily was. So it’s like why would you offer her a job if you were just going to hunt her and kill her?
So maybe like you said, the ones who keep coming back for help maybe he disposes off. But then there was the other diner employee who saw Kurt with her. So if girl does turn up missing that would be a problem.
Either way I am excited to see what happens next
Fred Lehene and Clancy Brown play villains 9/10 times. I’m willing to bet that they are a double act and Kurt cleans up after Lehane’s character. A proper double act.
Anyone else thinking the trinity killer is in Harrison’s conscience guiding him? Harrison kinda went off after listening to the podcast. We already know John Lithgow is making an appearance on the show
Did we really need Dexter to come back to tell this (very predictable and boring) story ? Everyone was not satisfied with serie finale, but nothing is so essential to justify the comeback, for now. If this was called Joe intead of Dexter, not many would have followed.
Ok, Dexter didn’t deserve that finale. Dexter is not deserving what we are watching, too.
So don’t watch! Lots of us are loving it and can’t wait for the next episode!
So excited to have a new season of Dexter! I love that Harrison is back, and may carry on his father’s Dark Passenger! I dope Dex sticks around a while, and I hope Deb will mellow out on him. I hate to see her so Angry at Dexter. So glad for this new season!!
The supporting characters are so bland and Harrison being a killer is so predictable.
Even if it’s predictable, isn’t that kind of the point, even poetic in a way? That Dex could be someone’s mentor like Harry was to him?
What’s the deal with Audrey and Harrison AnywayZ?