WARNING: The following contains SPOILERS for Dexter: New Blood episode 10, “Sins of the Father.”
The Dexter: New Blood season 1 finale ended with a shockingly tragic twist, which also sets up the trajectory for season 2. After nearly a decade of Dexter’s hated season 8 finale being regarded as one of the worst series endings of all time, Showtime brought back the beloved serial killer for one final season. The set-up of the revival series saw Dexter living under a fake identity in Iron Lake, New York, 10 years after he faked his death in Miami. Having avoided killing since viewers last saw him, Dexter: New Blood episode 1 marked the return of Dexter’s serial killing — as well as his long-lost son Harrison, a teenager with a Dark Passenger of his own, which early on foreshadowed New Blood’s ending.
The Dexter: New Blood finale began its drama with the title killer being arrested for the murder of Matt Caldwell by his girlfriend, Police Chief Angela Bishop. While he cleverly dodged her questions, she also came to the conclusion that Dexter was the Bay Harbor Butcher, with identity confirmation from Angel Batista. While in jail, Dexter escaped by killing Logan — an innocent — before escaping to the woods to rendezvous with Harrison and flee Iron Lake forever. However, Harrison questioned his father’s true motives, realizing his father’s killing cost the lives of innocents like Rita and Deb, and that Harrison’s own Dark Passenger was caused by Dexter, not the Trinity Killer. In the final moments of the series, Harrison takes his rifle and fatally shoots Dexter, while his father talks him through the process of pulling the trigger, allowing himself to be put down. Angela shows up and, in another final twist, lets Harrison go, with the series ending as Harrison drives away from Iron Lake.
After a decade of awaiting such a momentous finale, viewers are now left to decide whether Dexter’s New Blood fate succeeded in redeeming the failures of Dexter‘s first mysterious season 8 ending. While it was seemingly inevitable that Dexter would die, questions remain about why such actions in the finale took place, their significance to the story, and what it means for the show’s future. As Dexter’s story comes to a close, here’s a look at why that final shocking moment had to happen, the meaning of Dexter’s final monologue, and how Dexter: New Blood’s ending sets up season 2 for Harrison.
Why Harrison Had To Kill Dexter
The most shocking, yet logical twist of all in Dexter: New Blood is that Harrison, Dexter’s son who had been searching for him for several years, killed his own father just shortly after the two had finally bonded. While Harrison being the one to pull the trigger was surprising, the idea that Dexter’s story would end with his death was absolutely inevitable — and Dexter: New Blood‘s finale sealed his fate upon killing the innocent Logan. Even though Dexter justified his killing sprees as vigilanteism, Dexter was a cold-blooded killer whose actions caused the deaths of so many innocents, including many of the people he loved so dearly.
While the switch up between Harrison thinking of Dexter as a superhero and thinking of him as a monster was abrupt, the jump in logic makes sense. Harrison wanted to badly to be like his father when Dexter taught him the Code, but when the moment came to him seeing the blood drain from Kurt’s body, he couldn’t stomach it, and everything flooded back to the memories of his own mother’s death by the Trinity Killer. Harrison was never going to be like Dexter, and it was only a matter of time before he decided he couldn’t take it any longer and turned on his father. Harrison even admits that his own Dark Passenger wasn’t caused by Rita’s death by the Trinity Killer: it was caused by Dexter’s abandonment and failure as a father.
Furthermore, the realization that Dexter had killed Logan pushed Harrison over the edge. Logan was an innocent man (and Harrison’s coach); by killing him to escape custody, Dexter had betrayed his Code. To top it off, Dexter fleeing meant that he was going to evade justice for his murder(s), and thus he became the exact type of killer that his Code was designed to punish. Harrison finally realizes that Dexter isn’t just a “Dark Defender” vigilante — he enjoys killing. When Harrison picks up his gun and points it at him, Dexter realizes that it’s time: the insurmountable pain that Dexter has caused his own son and so many others in this world can’t continue. Just as the title says, Harrison has suffered from the sins of his father for too long, and Dexter needs to die so that his son can live.
Why Angela Let Harrison Go
Angela letting Harrison go at the end of Showtime’s Dexter: New Blood was set up just moments earlier when Harrison walked out of the station and Audrey asked if Harrison was dangerous, too, to which Angela responded, “of course not.” Harrison isn’t dangerous on a larger scale unless he’s with Dexter, and once Angela saw that Harrison had killed his own father and was eagerly ready to turn himself in, she realized he had paid for his New Blood crime enough. Angela realized that Harrison didn’t need to suffer from the sins of his father any longer, since he had been suffering so his entire life up until this point. Angela ends up taking the fall for Dexter’s death as an “officer-involved shooting,” telling Harrison to head on the highway and never come back.
Dexter: New Blood‘s Harrison Morgan is a teenage kid who, yes, has had his troubles, but the driving influence of his darkness is now dead. If Harrison was going to continue being a threat, Dexter would have been the last person he would kill, and he likely is. Angela just solved the cases of the Bay Harbor Butcher and Runaway Killer, both of whom have been operating for around three decades. The least of her worries is Harrison, who stopped his father from killing more innocents and evading justice. While this still does go against Angela’s morals, it reveals that Harrison won’t have to suffer from Dexter’s sins any longer.
What Dexter’s Letter To Hannah Really Means
As Harrison drives out of town, he looks at the letter that Dexter had written to Hannah before her death after Dexter’s season 8 finale, which is what prompted Harrison to find Dexter in the first place. While Harrison explained in Dexter: New Blood episode 2 that Dexter’s letter mentioned that Hannah should contact him if Harrison has any dark tendencies, New Blood’s finale episode explains the letter had much more to it. In the letter, Dexter explains that Harrison will always be his “phantom limb,” and he loves him dearly, but can’t bear to pass on the darkness that has already caused so much death and tragedy in their lives. He begs Hannah to continue letting Harrison think he died in the hurricane because it’s better off this way; Dexter wanted to die, but miraculously survived.
“Let me die so my son can live” is how Dexter ends the letter, meaning that Dexter: New Blood‘s Harrison will never be able to live a normal life as his own man while stuck on the legacy of his father. Nearly everyone who Dexter loved in the original series died because of his actions, which would always mark a sense of doom for Harrison. Dexter leaving in the season 8 finale was meant to give Harrison a chance at a real life untainted by Dexter’s sins and his tendency to attract death and tragedy. Harrison now has a shot at a life that isn’t motivated by or held back by his father, their relationship, betrayals, and trauma — everything that Harrison does now is about the man that he chooses to be. Harrison can still hold on to the good memories of Dexter as a parent while letting go of the death, tragedy, and vile actions he caused, which is all Dexter really wanted for his son.
How The Dexter: New Blood Ending Sets Up Season 2
Dexter: New Blood’s ending sees a smiling Harrison ride off out of Iron Lake in his father’s truck, heading to an undisclosed location with an undisclosed future. Harrison’s smile isn’t malicious for having just killed his father, however: it’s a smile of relief that his father loved him enough to let him kill him and finally have closure, and Harrison can now lead whatever life he wants that isn’t necessarily led by his father’s legacy or actions. But, Harrison did learn the Code and does still have his own dark tendencies, suggesting he could continue such a life in the future. It’s possible that Harrison is heading down to Miami, which could mean a season in which he reconnects with his half-siblings Astor and Cody Bennett, as well as possibly connecting with Dexter’s old coworkers at Miami Metro.
If Harrison doesn’t follow in Dexter’s footsteps as a killer, he may follow in the footsteps of another family member who had a profound impact on his life, his aunt Deb. It would make sense if Harrison took his lessons from his father and became either a forensic analyst or a policeman like Deb, but so far it’s unknown what will become of Harrison after Dexter’s death. It’s also possible that Dexter: New Blood season 2 could see the return of Michael C. Hall as Dexter, with the deceased serial killer possibly returning as Harrison’s own manifestation of his conscience similar to what Deb and Harry were to Dexter.
The Dexter: New Blood finale episode also left one major question: Will Dexter be confirmed as the Bay Harbor Butcher? The evidence against Dexter that Angela had for him against killing Matt Cadwell and being the Bay Habor Butcher likely wouldn’t have held up in court, especially since Dexter made sure to plant more evidence against James Doakes in Dexter season 7 when Maria LaGuerta was catching on to him. The only major evidence that Angela had against Dexter as the Bay Harbor Butcher was the Ketamine connection, which is actually a retcon of Dexter’s original M99 drug. Dexter: New Blood also ended with Angel Batista coming up to Iron Lake, but he was never actually seen again, so it’s unclear what his role would be in confirming Dexter as the Bay Harbor Butcher. Dexter: New Blood season 2 is set up with the idea that Dexter still isn’t completely confirmed as the Bay Harbor Butcher, while Harrison’s future without his father is ambiguous.
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