Dexter: New Blood episode 4 recap: Did Harrison inherit the Dark Passenger?

The question we’ve all been wondering since the Dexter revival began is whether or not Dexter’s son, Harrison, would inherit his father’s Dark Passenger and murderous addiction. Dexter: New Blood episode 4, “H is for Hero,” appears to answer that question.

Apart from Harrison’s storyline, Dexter also has to contend with Kurt Caldwell, who has suddenly started telling everyone that Matt is alive. Dexter is the only person who knows Kurt is lying. What does Kurt have to gain from getting the cops to end their investigation early? Dexter and Deb start looking at the situation from a few different perspectives.

No matter how they look at it, they deduce that Kurt is probably lying because he wants to fix things on his own by killing the guy that murdered his son. That could mean going after one of the Seneca leaders who have a motive for hurting Matt after he shot a buck on reservation land…or maybe Kurt is more intuitive than that and intends to keep searching for clues as to the real culprit: Dexter.

Based on how the episode plays out, it appears the latter of the two might be true. At one point, Kurt fishes around for intel, and Dexter slips up, revealing too much knowledge about Matt’s boating accident. He manages to cover it up, but it’s clear he just gave Kurt the nibble he was looking for and might now be on Kurt’s mental suspect list.

Getting the cops off his back won’t be as easy as Kurt would like, though, especially since Angela is actually good at her job. She’s not willing to close the case until she speaks with Matt on the phone. Kurt buys time by claiming Matt is on a bender and might not resurface for weeks or even months.

That excuse won’t last forever. Kurt brought this on himself by putting more pressure on Angela and implying she wasn’t good at her job. Now she’ll be extra cautious in ensuring the details are all accounted for in Matt’s case.

Dexter: New Blood episode 4 recap: Did Harrison inherit the Dark Passenger?

The big question presented by “H is for Hero” is whether or not Harrison inherited his dad’s infamous “Dark Passenger,” or murderous tendencies. By the end of the hour, it looks like the answer to that question is a resounding yes.

After helping Ethan stand up against his school tormentors, Harrison empowered Ethan to do something drastic without realizing it. Ethan shared a series of increasing dark and violent images he’d drawn of killing people like Scott and Zack. He even created an extensive kill list of students he intended to murder, including Audrey.

A confrontation between Harrison and Ethan ends with Harrison stabbed in the abdomen and Ethan in the hospital. We don’t see the conflict occur, which feels like an odd choice until you realize what direction Dexter: New Blood is taking.

Harrison tells Angela, his dad, and the other cops that Ethan confronted him to encourage Harrison to join him in his murderous rampage. When Harrison said no, he claimed Ethan stabbed him, and they ended up wrestling for the knife before Harrison got it back and slashed Ethan in the leg.

Harrison is hailed as an Iron Lake hero, with even Kurt coming over to bring him a gift (an expensive drone). But Dexter soon realizes that something about his son’s story isn’t adding up. For one, Harrison’s stab wound isn’t in the right place for his story to make sense. Then he and Deb visit the scene of the incident to look at the blood splatter wounds, which also don’t match. What really happened is that Harrison attacked Ethan when his back was turned. Then he stabbed himself in the stomach to sell the story.

From the hospital, Ethan remains adamant he never stabbed Harrison. Of course, given that the cops find his kill list and drawings, no one believes him. Even more concerning is that Dexter finds Harrison’s weapon of choice hidden inside a flashlight stashed away in his room. Harrison used a straight razor, the same weapon that Arthur Miller, a.k.a. the Trinity Killer, was fond of using.

What exactly does Harrison remember about the night Arthur murdered Rita? He was born in blood just like Dexter was, and even though Dexter always believed Harrison didn’t remember anything, Deb points out that he remembered. It looks like father and son aren’t so different, and Dexter can barely suppress his grin when he realizes this.

Dexter: New Blood episode 4 recap: Molly and Angela team up

Merry Fucking Kill podcast host Molly isn’t leaving Iron Lake anytime soon. After getting off on the wrong foot with Angela, she fixes things by offering Angela valuable insight into her board of missing person cases. Thanks to the assistance of the thousands of armchair detectives who religiously follow her podcast, they found out one of the girls missing from Iron Lake is fine. She ran away and changed her name.

However, at least three others are definitely missing, and Angela is one of the only people doing anything about it until now. She agrees to let Molly stick around and help her out. Given what we know about that weird kill cabin where Lily was taken, it seems likely those cases are directly related to the cabin. By the episode’s end, it’s confirmed that Kurt is participating in whatever sinister plot is going on there.

He lures a young girl in a similar situation to Lily (broke, nowhere to go, etc.) to the cabin under the pretense of helping her. I think we can safely assume she’s not going to make it out of there alive.