The trajectory of Dexter was taken wildly off course by two major kills, proving that Dexter: New Blood was necessary to put the serial killer’s ending back on track. Dexter season 8 is in the hall of fame for controversial TV show endings, with many viewers blaming the lack of closure as a big reason behind its failure. Nearly 10 years later, Showtime released the follow-up series Dexter: New Blood, which checked in with Michael C. Hall’s titular serial killer following his move to a small town in upstate New York.
The 10-episode sequel series did what it set out to do, properly ending Dexter Morgan’s arc and passing the torch to his son, Harrison (Jack Alcott). Dexter had particularly gone wrong when it killed off two major characters — James Doakes (Erik King) and Maria LaGuerta (Lauren Vélez) — leading the Bay Harbor Butcher case to be left wide open at the end of the original series and causing Dexter’s “code” to come into question. While neither of these two murders happened directly by Dexter’s hands, they both, in different ways, set the series on a path where its only possible conclusion would be ambiguous.
James Doakes Was A Justified Kill In Dexter
Unlike Maria LaGuerta, the death of James Doakes in Dexter season 2 was partially in line with Dexter Morgan’s code. During his time as an operative in the U.S. Army Rangers, Doakes committed unspeakable atrocities. He was also set up to be a murderer in his own right, but by hiding behind a badge. In Dexter, he killed Jaques Bayard, who was an officer in the Haitian military, after chasing him down, and it was labeled self-defense. He also killed Curtis Barnes, a fellow Operative, after Barnes murdered his wife. This slaughter was also deemed self-defense. Doakes was an easy target to be framed for the Bay Harbor butcher, given his history. However, in the end, he was really killed by Lila (Jaime Murray) because he found Dexter out.
Dexter Couldn’t Come Back From Killing LaGuerta
Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) shockingly caused Maria LaGuerta’s death in Dexter season 7 — but only after Dexter resolved to kill her first. After finding a blood slide at the burned-down church on the heels of the Doomsday Killer case, LaGuerta reopened the Bay Harbor Butcher case hoping to clear Doakes’s name, as she never believed him to be responsible. When she got too close to finding Dexter out, he said to hell with the code and planned to murder her. While Doakes may have fit the code, LaGuerta certainly did not. Even though the LaGuerta murder was necessary to stop Dexter from being found out, it brought his most essential moral principle into question and extended the Bay Harbor Butcher case long past its expiration.
Dexter‘s unsatisfying ending needed to be rectified by New Blood. Killing LaGuerta proved that he was simply a murderer, rather than an antihero vigilante. This set the last two seasons of Dexter on a confusing course, with the Bay Harbor Butcher narrative left wide open and Dexter’s “code” nullified. Harrison and Dexter finally come to the apt conclusion at the end of the sequel series that his code is flawed, and that to atone for his sins, he must die. Dexter: New Blood offered the proper ending to the killer’s arc, which Dexter was unable to do.
