On the record as being a Dexter fan other than that abysmal, dreadful, shitacular series finale. Even the final season - which gets a lot of grief - would have been fine with out that lumberjack fade out. No, I never forgave John Lithgow for his role in killing Rita -- who was to me perfection. I hate that motherfucker so much I try to avoid any movie or show he happens to be in. Yes, I realize he was only playing a character, but I see his face and I think "that's the son of a bitch who hurt Rita" and I can't stand to look at him or hear his pretentious voice.
Like The Sopranos, I enjoyed Dexter's run enough to want to know what happened to the character. Yeah, I know there won't be a Batista or Mazuka or Deb (maybe) or Rita or Harry (he's dead for real) or LaGuerta (dead in the show), but I was still cautiously optimistic that with a multi-episode arc they wouldn't fuck this up like they totally fucked up Many Saints.
Dexter: New Blood picks up essentially where the series finale left us eight years ago. Eight calendar years have passed in Dexter's world too and he's living in a frozen wasteland somewhere in the Northwest (it looks like). He's carved out (pun, get it) a relatively normal life. He's found a way to bury the Dark Passenger and live a simple existence bound by routines that keep him sane. He runs through the snow in pursuit of a white deer, fries his ham, eats his tuna fish sandwiches, goes to work (and takes donuts) at a sporting goods store, following the same pattern every day. He's snagged a girlfriend and ingratiated himself in the community. It's not such a bad life. No longer Dexter, he's adopted the name and bearing of James (Jim) Lindsey. A little mundane, but everybody likes the guy he's become.
Leopards always remain leopards, though, and his years of maintenance collapse with the insertion of a spoiled, privileged directionless assclown with a deadly secret history. I mean, nobody would really tune in to watch Jim Lindsey sell worms to the populace of a sleepy mountain town, right?
I really expected this new version to walk away from the "fuck you" finale and spin his story in a different direction, but it didn't. Instead it leaned fully into it. It owned the past and despite my trepidation it was absolutely the right move. If it did nothing else, this first episode washes away the distaste the finale left by making it make sense. By accepting it. By embracing it and making it a critical part of his arc. I don't hate it now. Okay, I hate it because the series had spun into absurdity at the end, but I don't loathe it. I get it. That's enough.
I wasn't disappointed. The revival was solidly done. Michael C. slips on Dexter's lizard skin like he was born to wear it. There were some clever nods to the past including the ham frying. I also really, really appreciated how Dexter's turn was emphasized. I went most of the first half of the episode with the nagging feeling that something was missing, but until the turn I didn't realize what it was. I won't spoil it but that one thing helped shine a expository light on his entire history and motivation. It resonated back across the prior eight seasons.
I can't say yet if it's great television because I don't know where it goes from here, but this one single episode helped soothe eight years of disappointment. It "fixed" everything I hated about the way things ended and that's enough.
I've watched it twice and the second viewing didn't diminish my view even a little bit.
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