1x07 Skin of Her Teeth

[7.2/10] Not a bad episode. The writers find a nice way to thread the needle with Dexter and Angela working together at the same time she’s increasingly onto his game. I also enjoyed Dexter’s dilemma here, of whether to kill Kurt himself and risk Harrison spiraling further when someone else he cares about just disappears, or whether to let the police handle it in the hopes that exposing who and what Kurt is will end Harrison’s admiration for him. I haven't loved every episode of New Blood so far, but there’s usually a good thematic hook somewhere, which helps!

The plot with Angela finally tracking down the body of her long lost friend, Iris, is a solid one. I still don’t find the actress totally convincing, but she does yeoman’s work in trying to sell what a huge emotional thing this is for her and her community. The devotion to finally finding Iris’ killer, to bring peace to her mother, Miriam, and the people that swell up to support one another in a difficult time is good stuff.

I also liked Kurt’s dodge, and by extension, the show’s dodge for why he doesn’t go down despite Iris having skin that matches his DNA on her teeth. On the one hand, it’s a way out for Kurt. By blaming his dad, someone who’s also a match for the DNA, and who’s conveniently dead, he weakens Angela’s case for a 25-year-old to the point that a plausibly D.A. wouldn’t want to pursue it. Many of Dexter’s feints and escapes require a good amount of willing suspension of disbelief, but this one plays pretty fair.

But it’s also a fairly artful way to deliver Kurt’s origin story. As is often the case for the psychological motivations of Dexter’s villains, the tale of him forced to watch his dad beat sex workers out of anger for his mom leaving, while his trademark song emerged from his little record player, is a bit too tidy and pat an explanation for his rage issue. But it’s in keeping with the season’s motifs of childhood traumas producing adults with deep-seated issues. And again, Kurt’s (presumably?) first victim turning out to be Angela’s best friend is a bit too neat for my tastes (and his the actor who plays him as a younger man seems way too young), but it at least gives us the original sin that spurred his recreations.

That said, I don’t really need him and Dexter circling one another like sharks. This happens a lot in Dexter. Some leeway is owed to a revival season to play the hits. But I just don’t need the two of them intimating threats and taunts toward one another. I get the juice of Dexter trying to prove that Kurt’s a murderer or outright kill him at the same time Kurt’s threatening to expose Dexter as a killer, but I’m just over it already.

What I’m not over is Harrison’s journey here. He’s still gravitating toward Kurt and frustrated with his dad, but starting to find challenges outside of his doorstep. Aubrey not wanting to be with him, the guys from the opposing wrestling team coming to jump him, they all drive him to a place where he’s all the more likely to embrace the dark passenger.

It’s incredibly sad. I don’t know how accurate all of this is (I suspect not very), but I appreciate New Blood’s willingness to take a look at someone disturbed by childhood tragedy and a rough adolescence, not shy away from the effect traumatic events would have on them, but also treat them with empathy. It is, in some ways, the same trick the original series pulled with Dexter himself, but Harrison is a more recognizable figure than the sociopathic side of Dexter we often saw (albeit one often counterbalanced by him “becoming the mask” and realized he liked being a sibling, a partner, a friend, and a father).

Harrison’s admission that he knows he’s messed up is harrowing, especially with the electricity that comes with John Lithgow’s return as the Trinity Killer. He remembers his mother’s grisly death, the same way Dex does, and it left lingering scars just the same. Dexter needs to step up faster and level with his son, and it’s only by dint of plot necessity that he doesn’t. But I appreciate the show again treating Dexter’s letter and abandonment seriously in the effect it had on his son, who now blames himself for being abandoned, a horrible thing to contemplate.

I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, but even when the plot machinations of New Blood bore me a little, the core of the Dexter/Harrison relationship keeps me going.

Otherwise, Angela’s angry disappointment when she can't nail Kurt for the murders is a good beat for her. And I’m not too excited about her and Molly Park piecing together the weirdness of Dexter’s actions and sleuthing together. Overall though, a perfectly decent episode that does some solid work with Kurt’s backstory and better work with Dexter and Harrison.