Dexter: New Blood Review: The Family Business (Season 1 Episode 9)

Please note this review contains spoilers for Dexter: New Blood Season 1 Episode 9.

The moment we’ve all been waiting for finally happens on Dexter: New Blood Season 1 Episode 9, “The Family Business.” 

Dexter opens up to Harrison about his Dark Passenger after realizing that Harrison has those same tendencies within him. It’s a bit of an awkward conversation (obviously) but Harrison listens in earnest. There’s a connection between father and son there that we haven’t yet seen. 

With Deb speaking to him in his subconscious mind, though, Dexter is careful with the details. He uses this creepy clown as an example of what he does, but he makes omissions along the way — including the fact that he’s actually a murderer.

That feels more realistic and more thoughtful to me than if he’d just hit his son with all those details at once, and I think it’s why he’s able to accept it all a little more easily. He gets it in pieces. Plus, he understands — this is a conversation that Dexter’s never really had the opportunity to have. 

Because this time, it’s someone he can really identify with. Dexter and Harrison have something so specific in common — so specific that it really just had to turn out this way. 

And while we’ve heard Dexter’s explanations for what he does and why he does it since the beginning of Dexter, his discussions about it with Harrison still manage to offer a different perspective. It’s an entirely different lens into what makes him tick when it’s about mentorship and relating to his son. 

It’s a relief that Harrison gets it, and rather than being appalled, he’s gaining a new sense of respect for Dexter. It’s also horrifying. That his reaction is that of respect and admiration instead of horror tells us that Harrison really does have that darkness too. 

Mostly, this all works. It manages to be an endearing scene that nearly hits all the right notes, but something is off. As the two get closer, there seems to be a chemistry issue between the two actors that makes things feel a little less authentic than they could be.

Something tells me a little more time spent exploring their relationship this season could have fixed that — and maybe that’s also just me wishing we could have had a few more episodes overall. 

Their Christmas morning reflects a change in their relationship that’s really sweet, and they get some real father-son bonding time that’s fun to watch.

The rifle Dexter gives Harrison is about fitting in, he says, which makes a lot of sense, though I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some foreshadowing there in some way as well. Harrison is too good of a shot with that thing… 

This is all just the beginning, though. When they’re at Angela and Audrey’s house exchanging gifts (where Dexter seems a little too amused by the fact that his son and his girlfriend’s daughter could become an “item”) Kurt arrives, seeming just a little extra unhinged. 

Dexter immediately jumps to Angela’s side in a show of protection, and once Kurt is gone, Harrison and Dexter share a knowing glance and split as fast as they can. 

Harrison expresses an interest in stopping Kurt — still without totally knowing what that means. But he’s a smart kid and as they spend Christmas day looking for a way to get proof that Kurt has killed all of those women, he puts it together. 

This is what leads to the most satisfying part of the episode, and really, of the season altogether. 

They find the proof — the disturbing, horrifying, proof which also reveals that Molly became one of Kurt’s latest victims. Cameras be damned, because Dexter wants Kurt to know they’re on to him now. 

The timing is really something, because if they hadn’t gone out searching for that proof when they did, they might have been at home when Kurt set their house on fire in hopes of getting the perfect shot when Harrison came running out. 

Instead, Dexter and Harrison are oblivious, and instead lure Kurt right to them for a kill. 

This time, Dexter has help. Harrison does his part in catching Kurt and helping get the room set up. Then he just watches his father commit murder. It’s almost funny the way Dexter keeps checking on Harrison to see if he’s okay as he just starts hacking away at Kurt’s body. 

It’s a real teaching moment, and it wants to be heartfelt, except it’s about, you know, the best way to kill someone. 

Harrison’s reaction is hard to read at times, but the most interesting thing is when he asks his dad how many people he’s killed, and when he hears that number is in the hundreds, his realization is that means his father must have therefore saved thousands of innocent people. 

He really does seem to understand his father in a way that no one else ever has. 

Meanwhile, of course, Angela is figuring that Jim/Dexter is the Bay Harbor Butcher. I’ve said before it’s almost too easy that she’s figured it out so quickly, but having gotten to know her character, it works enough.

After all, she’s learned about that case and everything she knows about Dexter already, it’s an obvious tip-off when Dexter and Harrison take off behind Kurt — especially knowing what she knows about Kurt Caldwell and also the kind of people the Bay Harbor Butcher killed. 

And it’s an even bigger tip-off when Dexter and Harrison return to their now burnt-down home after being out all night, with a weak explanation about what they’d been up to. 

With no home to stay in, Audrey insists that Dexter and Harrison come stay with them, and it only makes sense that Angela would agree that for her own boyfriend and his son.

Kurt, of course, took care of one last detail before he tried to flee. Angela opens up an ominous note from Kurt, with the titanium screw included, that reads “Jim Lindsay killed Matt Caldwell.”

Her suspicions are essentially confirmed, all while Dexter is being kind and easygoing in his way, helping the kids make breakfast. It’s a heck of a contrast. 

With just one episode left, this could all still go any number of ways, and I’m just holding my breath waiting to see how everything unfolds. 

If that’s not great storytelling, I don’t know what is. 

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Dexter: New Blood airs Sundays at 9/8c on Showtime.

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