Previewing Dexter: New Blood

A wise man once said, “Well, now, everything dies, baby, that’s a fact.  But maybe everything that dies someday comes back.”  In a time when the creators of the upcoming I Know What You Did Last Summer television show get announced as also doing a Cruel Intentions reboot television show, it may be time to take the “maybe” out of that quote, at least when dealing with the entertainment business.  From here on out, it seems like IP will never really die.  So it is probably only a matter of time before the creators of those previously mentioned shows complete the Sarah Michelle Gellar trifecta and makes a The Grudge television show.

 

The latest reboot is going to undo what was probably the most maligned series finale in television history, at least until Game of Thrones came along: Dexter.  The first couple seasons of the show were very good, a serial killer who only kills bad guys that he vets through his day job in the Miami Police Department.  In true Showtime fashion, the show went on far too long to the point that it was laughable that no one at the police department figured it out.  Well, except Doakes who figured that out in the first season and LaGuarta and Deb finally caught on to Dexter by the final season, but even then it took too long.

 

That knowledge wrecked Deb that led to a spiral and was eventually fatally shot.  In the end Dexter took her lifeless body out to sea during a hurricane and was presumed dead, leaving his son to be raised by another serial killer in a South American country, only for the final scene of the show to feature a heavily bearded Dexter working at as a lumberjack. 

 

It seems like the people behind the show want to let that show die and the show now has a new name, Dexter: New Blood.  But this is the same Dexter with the same back story of the pervious show.  Okay, he does have a new name, James Lindsey (Jeff Lindsey was the author of Dexter series of books), but to the rest of the world, Dexter Morgan is dead.  Despite the same main character, the show could not be further from the original, the show went from the sunny coastal city of Miami to the wooded small town up north.  Okay, one thing the two shows have in common is there is still a multi-ethnic cast of characters as there is a sizable indigenous population in the town.

 

Dexter, err, James, now has a more lo-key job working at a sporting good show (you may recognize his boss as the cat guy from Only Murders in the Building).  But the biggest change is that James is not a serial killer.  It is implied Dexter has not killed anyone since we last saw him.  He does not even kill animals anymore despite living in a big hunting community and sells most of the hunters their guns.  In fact, now he owns plenty of animals that he takes care of.  Instead of his surrogate father helping him cover up his crimes, now Dexter is visited by his sister who tries to guilt him into not killing whenever the urge bubbles to the surface.

 

Much like the rebooted Veronica Mars, Dexter: New Blood is dropping the case, or kill, of the week format with an overarching storyline which seemingly is going to cover the entire season.  But Dexter still has a Big Bad to take down and this time around that comes in the form of Clancy Brown, an imposing figure who runs the local truck stop diner, but has some other extracurricular activities no one else know about.

 

To be honest, James is kind of a boring dude with his no killing edict.  And most of the first episode is also kind of boring as we see James go along his boring day.  He has a boring girlfriend (who seemingly has some secrets of her own, but it will take a couple episode to figure out what), a boring job, and is stuck in a boring routine.  Seriously who line dances to Heart of Glass?  The song that opens the reboot is very on the nose.  The only interesting parts of most of the first episode are his interactions with Deb and a douchebag customer who is so annoying you really hope Dexter breaks his no murdering pledge.  There is a point in the first episode where I realize there is not even some Dexter narration to break up the monotony of his day.  Every time something interesting is about to happen, it turns out to be a red herring… until something interesting happens and the narration finally kick in.

 

So does the reboot redeem the show?  Based on the episodes I have seen (four as I write this) it is way too early to tell.  The change of scenery does add to the show along with almost entirely new cast with just Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter reprising their roles (there is a recast character that does pop up).  Though I am not sure all the new characters are needed.  Jamie Chung as a true crime podcaster seems completely unnecessary so far.  Mabel Mora she is not.  But a disadvantage of dropping the kill of the week just to focus on one storyline puts a lot of emphasis on if the season sticks the preverbal landing.  Hopefully after an eight year hiatus, the writers were able to come up with a good one.

 

Dexter New Blood airs Sundays at 9:00 on Showtime.