Harrison is torn between two flawed father figures in a middling Dexter: New Blood

Alano Miller and Julia Jones Photo: Seacia Pavao/Showtime

Harrison Lindsay, né Morgan, is an impressionable teenager at the precipice of either being rescued from his base impulses or ruined by them. Which route he takes depends on who he decides to emulate, and based on “Too Many Tuna Sandwiches,” that person doesn’t appear to be Dexter these days. The role of Harrison’s mentor is increasingly falling under the purview of Kurt Caldwell, who has taken a shine to Harrison. And much to Dexter’s chagrin, the feeling is mutual, as Harrison seems to have an easier time relating to Kurt than to his actual father.

The uneasy triangulation between Harrison and his two dads is the most interesting thing happening in New Blood, which continues to venture off into wan subplots that have yet to pay off. Harrison is becoming more violent and unpredictable by the episode, and Dexter’s hands-off approach to psychopath parenting isn’t quite doing the trick. Even before the episode’s final scenes, in which Harrison snaps a Moose Creeker’s arm in front of a packed auditorium, there are some pretty unsettling signs. Harrison and Audrey decide to consummate their long-simmering flirtation just moments after Harrison confesses that his violent encounter with Ethan wasn’t his first experience hurting somebody. In fact, he wants to hurt people all the time, and as he and Audrey begin pawing at each other, he reveals his trusty straight razor in his back pocket.

The setting and tone of Dexter may have shifted, but the central premise hasn’t. Kids with especially bloody trauma from their infancy will begin to see the world through crimson-colored glasses. Those impulses will strengthen unless someone steps in to redirect or remove them, and the show hasn’t presented a single example of the latter, of someone being relieved of their Dark Passenger without dying. But Dexter seems to think that despite his relative inexperience as a parent, he’ll be the one to thread the needle and take away Harrison’s darkness without going to Harry’s extremes. At least that’s what Dexter thought before he watched the hero of Iron Lake complete his good ol’ fashioned heel turn at the end of his wrestling match.

This is where Dexter and Kurt’s wrestling match begins in earnest. After Harrison’s horrifying display, Kurt, a long-time wrestling booster from Matt’s time on the team, is overjoyed while everyone else is shocked. It’ll be, for Harrison, another example of Kurt telling him he’s a good kid despite his dark impulses while Dexter is making him feel self-conscious about traits he almost certainly inherited from his father. And now Dexter has a strong hunch that Kurt is also a killer, and who would know better than him? Of course, Dexter still hasn’t fully come to grips with his own Dark Passenger, as proven by his breakthroughs in therapy, which only come because Harrison is willing to tell the truth about their sanguineous father-son origin story.

The other proof of Dexter’s mid-life crisis is the way he pursues Molly Park after coming to the silly conclusion that she’s responsible for outing his true identity to Angela. (It’s the only thing Dexter can come up with since the idea of Angela running into Batista is too implausible to conceive of, even for him.) Everyone says parenting upends a person’s priorities, and that’s certainly true of Dexter, who has been thinking about Harry’s code for some time now but hasn’t really been following it. It’s a bit insane that Dexter spent so much time and energy trying to figure out how to “take care” of Molly whose only sin, as far as Dexter knows, is exposing him to his sheriff girlfriend. No one forced you to play house with the sheriff, big guy.

The Molly Park subplot was a dozen different kinds of silly. If Angela is such an amazing detective (which, obviously she is not otherwise why would she be on this show), wouldn’t she think it convenient that Molly disappeared right after allegedly exposing Dexter’s identity? The thing is though, being meticulous or even cautious isn’t part of Dexter’s modus operandi these days. The guy who used to go to great pains to research his targets and ensure his escape now just kind of kills people randomly if they threaten to interfere with the paternal redemption fantasy he’s maintaining. It’s downright frustrating to see how unmoored from Harry’s code Dexter has become, especially since not getting caught has taken on new urgency for him.

Kurt’s role in the Molly Park detour was also pretty frustrating since it’s impossible that a serial killer with such disregard for discretion could operate so long without getting caught. In fairness to Kurt, he’s extremely desperate to replace the body he ruined when Chloe decided to deviate from a plan that was never explained to her. We still have no idea what Kurt is doing with his victims’ bodies—cue Tom Waits’ “What’s He Building”—but it requires a body without a hole in its face, and he’ll do anything to get it. It’s odd enough that he doesn’t mind being the last person seen with so many desperate runaways. He also doesn’t mind being seen dining with Molly Park, who is now easily Iron Lake’s most recognizable guest, just before he makes her disappear too. Kurt and Dexter are dueling banjos but neither of them is in tune.

That goes double for Angela, who continues to be totally incompetent or super-sharp depending on the needs of each episode. The cliffhanger of the last episode is extinguished almost immediately, with Angela confronting Dexter with his phony obituary and being pretty satisfied with Dexter’s explanation. And look, it’s not the worst explanation possible, at least emotionally. Dexter makes the highly gross move of dragging Angela’s husband and missing best friend as examples of how powerful grief and loss can be. But it’s true all the same. Still, that doesn’t explain why he’s actively hiding from his past, including Harrison, and why he’s gone to such lengths to conceal his illustrious law enforcement career. Angela doesn’t even mention having met Batista, Dexter’s former colleague.

The name Angela does end up saying is “Dexter Morgan” when she frantically calls him after finding Iris’ relatively preserved body buried deep inside Clarke Caves. She’s still not talking to Jim Lindsay, but there’s apparently only one presumed-dead crime scene investigator she can trust right now.

Stray observations

• Seriously, does Dexter ever know where Harrison is and what he’s doing? Like…ever?
• Kurt Caldwell lost some of his villainous luster for me last week, but punching Chloe’s corpse brought it back.
• The therapist is pretty annoying but he’s a Paul Thomas Anderson fan, and that’s not nothing.
• The Matt Caldwell “story” doesn’t seem like it would be that interesting to someone like Molly. Besides, if she did multiple episodes on Miami-based killers, she should still be down there because there are a whole lot of them according to this show.
• My hope was that Logan would be the tenacious cop with Dexter in his crosshairs this season, but that seems pretty unlikely now. That dude is a total goober.