Dexter: New Blood Episode 1, Cold Snap

Cold Snap is the first of ten episodes in Dexter: New Blood. It first aired 7 November 2021 on Showtime.

For the past decade, Dexter has been living a quiet, isolated life far away from the temptations of his past. He's found comfort in a new identity and has assimilated into small-town life as a beloved member of the Iron Lake community. When a local hotshot begins behaving recklessly, and a mysterious stranger seems to be on Dexter's trail, he questions whether he can continue to suppress the murderous urgings of his Dark Passenger.

Summary
Dexter runs in the snow, gun in hand, through a forest. He points the gun at a white deer but doesn't shoot. Instead, he falls to his knees, having resisted the temptation. He returns home and does a variety of chores - chop wood for his firepit, clean snow off his truck, feed his animals (goats, chickens, a hog), check an ice-fishing hole - before going inside.

Upon entering his cabin, Dexter marks off another day on a calendar, signifying that he resisted the urge to kill. The date is 8 December 2021. Deb, wearing her house robe, reminds him that he is supposed to go line-dancing that night. Dexter comments on how cold it is outside, and she responds, "You're the one that picked this place." They sit at a table, and Deb, seemingly a vision in Dexter's mind, disappears. Dexter then sharpens a cleaver and adds it to a roll of knives.

Dexter gets in his truck and drives past two signs. They read "Seneca Nation 6 Miles" and "Welcome to Iron Lake - Population 2760." A female cop pulls him over and asks for his license and registration. He hands over a New York State driver's license under the name "James Lindsay" but tells her "Jim" is what he goes by. she asks him to step out of the vehicle before patting him down. He pulls her in for a kiss, and they laugh before having sex in her car. The cop is actually Dexter's girlfriend, Chief Angela Bishop. They are interrupted during sex when Angela gets paged by Esther, the police dispatcher, and has to go. She kisses Dexter and tells him to stop by the station later.

After parking his truck, Dexter (as Jim Lindsay) walks through town, seemingly a popular guy around the area. Pastor Brian, who is hanging up Christmas decorations from a ladder on a storefront, greets him and "Jim" promises to go line dancing later. Dexter passes by three high school students who ask if he's coming to the wrestling match next week and "Jim" says, "I'm gonna try. Go Hawks."

Next, Dexter runs into Ramon as he exits a store. As they talk, a helicopter whirs past overhead and Ramon remarks, "Edward Olsen heading up to his chalet. Rich asshole season begins now."

Dexter rounds the corner and sees Gig, the butcher, having difficulty slicing into a pig. He longingly looks at the bloody floor and then hands Gig the sharper set of cutting tools that he requested. "You're a lifesaver, Jimmy," says Gig.

Lastly, Dexter buys a box of pastries before walking across a bridge to his work place for two years - Fred's Fish & Game.Upon entering the store, Dexter immediately adjusts the knife display in the window. He then puts on his name tag and spins around on his stool. Dexter's boss, Fred Jr. takes a strawberry cream cheese sweet roll and tells "Jim" that he and his husband, Pastor Brian, are adopting a dog but they can't greet on its name.

The first customers through the door are two men, soon identified as Matt Caldwell and Bill Harris. "Jim" helps Matt, who is quite arrogant, to select a knife and a rifle to go hunting. However, Matt is flagged in the FBI background check and can't buy a gun for 24 hours, which he thinks is ridiculous but grudgingly accepts it.

During lunch break, Dexter walks over to the police station and chats with the officers there. They talk about why Matt Caldwell was flagged in the background check and Esther mentions a boating crash in which five people died. Sergeant Logan defends Matt until he looks him up in the system and sees "more than a few spots" on his record. Dexter tries to change the subject by mentioning a needed street sign. After meeting with a state trooper, Angela puts up another missing poster on the wall. "Same as always: no body, no pattern, no case."

Dexter and Angela meet at Iron Lake Tavern to line dance with the other townsfolk. He goes to grab drinks and chats with Tess, the bartender, who tells him that Matt Caldwell is picking up everyone's bar tab. Dexter refuses the offer and dances with Angela.

Meanwhile, the driver of a semi-truck drops off a passenger and says, "Iron Lake's about two miles that way, my man."

At the tavern, a drunk Matt sits down with Dexter and invites him to a party at his father's lodge the next day. He asks "Jim" if he can get that rifle early, but Dexter says his background check needs to clear first. "Man, this Eagle Scout loves his rules," Matt exclaims. He tells "Jim" to still come to the party but not to bring his cop girlfriend.

Angela overhears a girl, apparently a transient, at the bar asking about a burger that she can't afford. Angela pays for it and then gives the girl money for bus fare. She points out Desiree, a woman who runs a shelter in case she needs a place to crash for the night but girl says "she's good." Angela's smart doorbell app shows her daughter and a bunch of kids entering her house, so she tells Dexter that she needs to go "be a mom."

The next day, Dexter runs through the snow and sees the white deer. "Beautiful." He takes aim but a noise startles the deer and it runs away. Dexter sees someone in the distance hiding behind a tree. He walks over to investigate and finds footsteps in the snow. At home, Dexter tells an imaginary Deb, "I have the feeling I'm being watched." Deb tells him to stick to his routine.

The next morning, Dexter again brings pastries to work. When he opens the store at 9:00 a.m., Matt Caldwell's background check is still pending. After he organizes products and helps customers, Dexter takes his lunch break. On his way to the tavern to pick up a tuna sandwich, Dexter passes a group of protesters screaming "Drilling is killing, save the planet, shame on you." Dexter is denied entry to the tavern and Angela walks up and explains that a petrol billionaire is having a meeting in the tavern, and that's who the group is protesting. Angela sees Audrey and asks her if she has a math test, with Audrey responding that math is not important if the planet is destroyed. The billionaire walks out and tells them to keep fighting for what they believe in. He hands out hot cocoa to the protestors but a defiant Audrey pours hers on the ground.

Dexter turns around and thinks someone in a hooded sweatshirt across the street is watching him.

Back in the store, Dexter's boss tells him to sell the gun to Matt because his background check cleared and his father has been a friend to the store for years. Fred Jr. insists that "Jim" deliver the gun and Dexter reluctantly agrees. A party is happening at Kurt's lodge. Matt's friend, Bill Harris, greets Dexter and brings him upstairs to get a signature for the gun. Matt is having sex with someone in a bedroom, so Bill tells "Jim" to wait.

Bill pours out coke on the bathroom counter and snorts a line in front of "Jim." Bill starts to complain to Dexter about Matt and his friends, saying they call him "dick face" and take his girls. Bill opens up about the boat accident, revealing that Matt deliberately rammed another boat and five people died. Bill admits that he covered for Matt at the trial for $2,000 a week and a Rolex watch. though Matt was really culpable for what happened. He realizes he told Dexter more than he should and asks him to keep quiet about it. The girl with Matt exits the bedroom and Dexter recognizes Becka. She's shocked to see "Jim" there and begs him not to tell her dad.

Matt offers Dexter a joint but he refuses and hands the paperwork to Matt. Dexter notices a scar on Matt's leg. After Matt signs the paperwork, he kisses the gun in glee. As a prank, Matt points the rifle at Dexter and Dexter imagines slamming Matt's face with it. He thanks Matt for shopping at the store and leaves the lodge.

Dexter goes home and sees someone through a window. He grabs an ax and walks around the back of the cabin. Inside, he finds an unknown young man going through his things. The stranger asks, "Are you Dexter Morgan? It's me, Harrison." Dexter is blindsided and moves toward Harrison until Deb says, "You can't; everyone close to you dies. That's why we’re here." To protect his son, Dexter lies that he's not Dexter. Harrison, though, says he looks just like he remembered. Deb reminds Dexter of the people in his life that he's lost, and pulls up her shirt to remove a bullet from a gunshot wound. Dexter tells Harrison kindly that he seems like a good kid and he won't report him. He gives his son some cash, suggests the shelter, and says a bus is leaving town the next night. Harrison glares at Dexter and departs the cabin. From a window, Dexter watches Harrison walking away until he disappears into the cold darkness. Deb assures Dexter that he did the right thing and says Harrison will be safer with Hannah.

Dexter looks down at the photos his son was perusing and sees a photo of himself with Harrison as a baby. He burns the photo in his firepit. Afterward, Dexter has a nightmares in which Deb is pulled down into his ice-fishing hole by an embodied "dark passenger." Dexter wakes up and Deb tells him that he's a changed man now, almost ten years without a kill.

Dexter runs in the snow again after the white deer. The deer begins to trust Dexter and lets him approach. As they look into each other’s eyes, Matt Caldwell shoots and kills the deer, spraying Dexter with its blood. Matt runs up, whooping with glee, and bragging that he shot a white buck. Dexter snaps and knocks Matt out with his rifle. Tempted to kill Matt, Dexter takes his knife but resists. Instead, he spits on Matt, thinking, "It's been a long time." He then cuts the deer's neck so it's blood will cover evidence. He returns the knife to Matt's pants.

That night, Dexter sets up a kill room in his shed to claim his first victim in nearly ten years. He covers the walls in plastic and lays Matt on a kill table, apologizing for the mess because he's out of practice. Dexter uses two pieces of broken glass to make an impromptu blood slide. During his ritual, Dexter refers to the deer, saying, “He didn't do anything wrong. He was perfect. He didn't deserve that.” Dexter orders Matt to own all of the bad things he's done. If not, he'll kill him. At first skeptical, Matt is terrified when Dexter tells him that he "was" a serial killer, correcting himself with "I am." Matt admits that the boat crash was his fault but Dexter yells in his face. "You shot my deer!" Matt promises to change his behavior and screams, "It's not my fault," and claims he had a shitty childhood. Dexter says he is still going to kill him and Matt threatens that his father will reign down a world of pain on him.

Dexter raises his knife and stabs Matt in the chest. "Tonight's the night." He looks into a mirror, thinking, "Hello, Dexter Morgan." Angela calls him and asks why he isn't at the Christmas festival. He lies that a fox got in the hen house and agrees to see her the next day. He places the blood slide on Matt's chest, having moved past the point of needing a trophy. Dexter uses a reciprocating saw to dismember Matt's body, while pondering what to do with the remains. Afterward, he walks to his truck, where Deb is waiting to ask him what the fuck he is doing. He answers, "Not listening to you."

Dexter drives to the bus stop looking for Harrison. He finds his son hunched over on a bench. Dexter approaches slowly and holds out a thermal jacket. Harrison looks up, surprised. Dexter says, "I thought you might need this." Harrison takes the jacket and Dexter sits next to him, inhaling deeply. He tells Harrison that after Miami, he could never get used to the damn cold. Harrison says, "I thought you didn't know me." Dexter chuckles softly, inhales, and admits, "You were right. I'm Dexter Morgan. Your father." He asks Harrison to please come home, and they drive back together.

Spatters of blood are in the snow outside Dexter's cabin.

Quotes

 * I may be a monster, but I'm an evolving monster. - Dexter Morgan

Narration
Dexter's voiceovers are absent until Matt Caldwell shoots a white stag while Dexter is befriending it. Blood sprays onto Dexter's face, and Matt runs up, gloating over his kill. Suddenly, Dexter knocks Matt out with his rifle. As he looks down at Matt, he thinks, "It's been a long time, but if I'm gonna do this, I need to do it right. First rule of the code... don't get caught." Dexter cuts the deer's throat and lets its blood flow across the snow, which hides Matt's blood.

Music

 * "The Passenger" by Iggy Pop
 * "Burnin' For You" by Blue Oyster Cult
 * "King of a One Horse Town" by Dan Auerbach
 * "Hear of Glass" by Blondie
 * "Heavenly Bodies (Fred Falke Remix)" by Midnight Faces
 * "Haunted When The Minutes Drag" by Love & Rockets
 * "Kraftwerk" by Leon Rockmore
 * "All Alright" by Sigor Ros

Related Pages

 * Dexter's Cabin
 * Fred's Fish & Game
 * Iron Lake
 * Iron Lake Police Department
 * Iron Lake Tavern
 * Kill Room
 * Kurt Caldwell's Lodge
 * White Deer