How Dexter New Blood Is Different From Seasons 18

How Dexter: New Blood Is Different From Seasons 1-8

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New Blood features several tonal and aesthetic departures from Dexter seasons 1-8, losing much of the original series’ dark grit and fast pace.

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How Dexter New Blood Is Different From Seasons 18

Dexter: New Blood brings back Dexter Morgan nearly a decade later, with the series featuring visible stylistic, character, emotional, and aesthetic differences from Dexter seasons 1-8. While Dexter: New Blood doesn’t have the same gritty energy as the original series, the tonal departures are necessary under the reboot’s circumstances. Dexter finished season 8 with a highly controversial finale that was criticized for its pace, half-baked character resolutions, and lower priorities on emotional stakes, so Dexter: New Blood is making an effort to fix its shortcomings in one final compact season.

Dexter: New Blood takes place nearly a decade after the original series finale in which Dexter drove his boat into the eye of Hurricane Laura, buried Deb in the ocean, abandoned Harrison, and lived under a new identity as a lumberjack in Oregon. By the start of Dexter: New Blood episode 1, Dexter is living in the small town of Iron Lake, New York under the alias Jim Lindsay. It’s been 10 years since he killed with the help of Deb as his conscience to suppress his urges, but upon the return of his estranged son Harrison, a dangerously reckless resident in town, and the signs of a new serial killer, Dexter’s Dark Passenger creeps back to the surface.

Showtime’s sequel series has the opportunity to amend the finale that both Clyde Phillips and Michael C. Hall dissatisfied, while also digging into the emotional depth that originally captivated audiences. Dexter, Deb, and Harrison are back after almost 10 years, but they’re not the same characters in Dexter: New Blood that they were before – and neither is the series. Here’s how New Blood compares to Dexter seasons 1-8, and what their differences mean for the show’s motivations.

Dexter’s Original Series Was Grittier Than New Blood

How Dexter New Blood Is Different From Seasons 18

Dexter: New Blood feels more inviting to those who can’t stomach the brutality and gore of the original series, which is also ties into season 9 prioritizing the drama and emotional stakes of its characters rather than the shock value of kills. The original Dexter was styled more as a noir, detailing the crime, moral ambiguity, and dangers of Miami from the dual points of view of cops and a serial killer. Dexter season 9 is still dark with unsettling themes, but its style is more akin to a typical modern crime drama with softer tones and less overbearing brutality. With Dexter now more human and less murderously-inclined, it’s also more optimistic for character relationships than before. Dexter: New Blood also moves much slower than seasons 1-8, indicating Dexter’s ease in his new life and lowered anxiety about pleasing his Dark Passenger or getting caught. The grit of Dexter’s original series meant everything was fairly fast-paced, with the noir trope that every moment counts for Dexter to avoid slipping up or find his target.

Dexter: New Blood Is Less Of A Cop Procedural Show

How Dexter New Blood Is Different From Seasons 18

Dexter: New Blood focuses more on Dexter’s personal relationships, with the Iron Lake Police Department being further separated from the heart of the new series than Miami Dade Police Department was in the original. Iron Lake Police Department isn’t the primary setting of New Blood like Miami was in Dexter seasons 1-8, which is mostly due to Dexter no longer working for the police. Just like Criminal Minds or Law & Order, Dexter’s original series would document more of the politics within police departments and the actual job, whereas the police presence in New Blood is mostly just an inconvenience for Dexter. New Blood is a drama underscored by criminal events, delivering more on the emotional stakes and narrative heart that were missing from Dexter season 8.

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Angela is seen doing her own investigating outside of Dexter, though her point of view is more important for her relationship to Dexter than just being a policewoman who could catch onto him. Instead, Angela serves as a new Deb in terms of her position in the series and her close connection to Dexter. Similarly, the stakes are high with Dexter having to hide his Dark Passenger from her dually as a cop investigating his crime and his girlfriend, just as he had to do with Deb as a cop and his sister. Dexter doesn’t necessarily have to focus on infiltrating the police department like the original series, and the only way he’s truly connected to them is through his relationship with Angela. He’s not walking on eggshells with the police at all times anymore, with his anxieties over police involvement being primarily confined to when he’s with Angela.

Dexter: New Blood Is Aesthetically Colder

How Dexter New Blood Is Different From Seasons 18

Iron Lake is a stark, isolated town buried in snow with a population of fewer than 3,000 people, which is the perfect place for Dexter to distance himself from his former chaotic life. He also doesn’t have to fake his identity or personality as much in Iron Lake – he sees the same few people everyday, which is nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of Miami residents in the original Dexter series. There may be more places to hide in Miami, but it’s also far more suffocating when he only has a few opportunities to truly be alone – to truly be himself. Dexter lives in an isolated cabin with plenty of land in Iron Lake, meaning he can spend all day in the wilderness hiking or hunting, sharpening knives in his kitchen, gardening in his greenhouse, or chopping wood for a fire without anyone bothering him.

Dexter’s sociability is his own choice in Dexter: New Blood; he has to drive all the way to town before needing to say one word to another human being. At home, it’s just Dexter and Deb in the middle of nowhere, lending him a comforting peace of mind where he can pretend Deb is still around while living a single life in which the only person he can harm is himself. He’s dating Angela, but she’s a cop who feels safe to him – someone who, in a small town, wouldn’t be placed in harm’s way due to his actions since he no longer kills. He can fake being a social person when he’s in town, but at home, it’s just him trying to stick to a cold and isolated routine that keeps him from killing. He’s reminded of what he’s done every day when he’s alone with Deb as his Dark Passenger, but he’ll take the cold of the weather and cold of the heart over seeing another person he loves meet an early grave. Just as he always has to put on a jacket and gloves when he walks outside of his house, the cold weather in Dexter: New Blood doesn’t allow Dexter to naturally be comfortable, he has to put on covers to brave the outside from his self-isolated existence.

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The cold of Dexter’s New Blood life also comes from the depressing memories of everyone Dexter has lost and the monster he tried to leave behind. In Miami, the heat allowed Dexter to comfortably live in the open, using the terrain to his advantage while easily blending in with the sweat and chaos of the city. Miami is loud, filled with crime, and subject to vast moral ambiguity as a populous city – the perfect location for a serial killer like Dexter to blend in. Miami is also vibrant with neon colors painting downtown, a nearby beach allowing for a relaxing escape, and alive with downtown activity both day and night. The neon lights are traded in for muted blues and white snow, the warm beach becomes cold woods, and dynamic downtown streets are now one tavern for weekend line-dancing. Dexter’s world is a lot smaller and colder in New Blood, seemingly leaving less room for true escape or stimulation for his Dark Passenger.

Dexter Had More Humor In Seasons 1-8

How Dexter New Blood Is Different From Seasons 18

One of the most significant differences between New Blood and Dexter’s original series is the humor, which season 9 noticeably lacks. The intensity of Dexter’s murders and traumatic past were diluted with the original show’s clever humor, typically from Masuka, Angel, or Deb. Dexter’s reboot doesn’t have much comic relief, with only a few police department employees allowing for some laughs along the way. New Blood’s missing humor works to establish itself as a drama first and foremost, ridding itself of chipper fluff to directly cope with the ramifications of Dexter’s original finale. Season 8 failed in delivering the emotional crux it needed to end the story, and New Blood brings viewers back with higher stakes by poignantly exploring the characters’ conflicts and narrative trajectory. Simply put, New Blood doesn’t have enough time to be funny. It needs viewers to connect back to the characters quickly and prove why audiences should care about what happens to them nearly 10 years after Dexter’s season 8 finale. Dexter isn’t the same man he was in seasons 1-8, with all of the baggage from the original influencing his, Harrison, and Deb’s current dispositions.

Dexter Is Far More Human In New Blood

The primary conflict in Dexter’s original series was his inner battle to act and feel more human, to try to control the monster he was born to be. Dexter never truly felt he could feel human emotions or enjoy human relationships, resorting himself to faking it for the rest of his life. By the end of the original series, Dexter realized he actually could form genuine attachments to people and, well, care. Season 8 largely saw him wracking his brains around a level of remorse and guilt he hadn’t previously known, especially in relation to how Dexter’s actions led to Deb’s death and how they could impact Harrison. Part of why Dexter left in the season 8 finale is because he realized he is human, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to make that choice. Dexter is still dark in Dexter: New Blood, but he’s not the monster he was back in the original series. After spending nearly 10 years reflecting on his demons and what he has done to his loved ones, Dexter’s humanity is much more present than before.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/dexter-new-blood-original-series-comparison-differences/

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