Dexter: New Blood episode 5 recap: Angela figures out Dexter’s identity, what’s next?

Dexter: New Blood episode 5 kicks things up a notch with several reveals and significant plot developments that will fundamentally shake up how the remainder of the season pans out. Dexter: New Blood episode 5, “Runaway,” shows Dexter breaking the rules of his own code, Harrison lashing out against his dad and Angela finally becoming aware of her boyfriend’s real identity. It also includes the return of a fan-favorite original character!

When we left off with Dexter, he had realized that Harrison acted first in the altercation with Ethan, striking with the familiar straight razor once wielded by the Trinity Killer, the serial killer that murdered his mother, Rita.

Dexter makes the rather foolish decision to approach Harrison directly about his lies, pushing Harrison away and threatening to unravel the tentative bond they’ve formed since Harrison arrived in Iron Lake. We know that Dexter is lonely, having no one to share his dark urges with, so this attempt to connect to Harrison is his way of trying to find common ground that backfires. Harrison rightfully points out that he has no real reason to trust his father after being abandoned for most of his life.

Dexter: New Blood episode 5 recap: Harrison overdoses at a party

The tension between Harrison and Dexter drives Harrison to a “kill list” party where he breaks his sobriety by taking several pills, starting the night with ecstasy and ending it with what appears to be oxycontin but is actually a dangerous blend of fentanyl.

Dexter: New Blood episode 5 further confirms Harrison is carrying a Dark Passenger of his own when a girl at the party asks him to carve “H” (she wants to remember the town hero) into her foot, and Harrison, already in a drug-induced haze, starts losing his grip at the immediate sight of blood, something we’ve also seen affect Dexter.

Not long after taking the second pill, Harrison becomes dangerously sick and blabs to Audrey that his “Jim Lindsay” is not his dad’s real name just before overdosing and passing out. Luckily for Harrison, Audrey acts fast and calls Logan, who manages to revive Harrison with Narcan.

Dexter: New Blood episode 5 recap: Dexter gets sloppy while seeking vengeance

As expected, Dexter doesn’t take the news of his son’s near-death experience well and immediately starts looking for vengeance, an act that makes him sloppy and almost gets him caught at two different points in the episode. First, he tracks down the drug dealer who sold to Scott, a low-life who hangs out at a Moose Creek dive bar named Miles.

Dexter has just injected Miles with ketamine when Logan arrives, forcing Dexter to change tactics. He gives him a pissed-off dad beatdown instead, which Logan buys. He doesn’t even get mad, understanding why Dexter would lash out and later, he intimidates Miles by revealing that if Harrison had died, he might not have bothered pulling Dexter off.

But like Scott, Miles is just a mule bringing drugs from one point to another. He’s not the person actually making the deadly concoction. It doesn’t take long for Miles to give up the name of the source, Jasper and Dexter hangs around the police station just long enough to get his address.

This time, Dexter manages to get Jasper in his signature plastic wrap set-up before the cops arrive, yet again causing a panicked Dexter to change course. He forces Jasper to overdose and clears out before the cops find him.

Dexter: New Blood episode 5 recap: Kurt Caldwell is confirmed to be the masked killer in the woods

Elsewhere in town, we finally get confirmation that Kurt Caldwell is indeed the masked killer keeping a creepy house in the woods to kidnap young women. This week he prepares Chloe (the green-haired girl he set up in the house last week) to become his next victim, but Chloe messes up his intricate ritual by attacking Kurt when he comes to her room.

Then he tries to force her to run through the woods like we saw him do with Lily. Chloe brazenly charges him instead, resulting in Kurt shooting her through the head. He becomes distressed by the change in his ritual, marking an interesting contrast to Dexter, who is also meticulous in his ceremonial kills. While we still don’t know Kurt’s motive or the full extent of his killing ritual, we do know that it isn’t sexually motivated. Chloe attempts to seduce him by stripping in front of the cameras, and all that does is infuriate Kurt.

Later, post-recovery, Harrison attempts to leave town. Kurt finds him walking alone on the side of the road and takes him to the same diner where he previously met with Lily and Chloe. He even offers Harrison a job there as he did for Chloe. Kurt’s advice convinces Harrison to stay in town, which could mean that a conflict will later arise between Kurt vs. Dexter. Which man will Harrison listen to?

Dexter: New Blood episode 5 recap: What will Angela do now that she knows the truth about ‘Jim’?

Outside of Iron Lake, Angela and Molly embark on a road trip to New York City to officially confirm that Matt Caldwell is staying at a fancy hotel there. While there, the pair attend a Missing Persons Conference that is hosted by none other than Angel Batista (David Zayas)! It was fun to see Zayas back in the Dexter universe again. But before that, she and Molly get a visual confirmation via security footage that the “Matt Caldwell” staying at the hotel is not the real Matt. So they’re both now aware that Kurt lied.

Angela even gets a chance to chat with Angel one-on-one to get his advice on the missing girls in Iron Lake. As we know, Angel worked on several notable cases throughout the first eight seasons of Dexter, including the infamous Bay Harbor Butcher case.

While chatting, the conversation circles around to Debra Morgan, who Angel speaks of fondly. He also mentions that Debra is dead, as is her brother, and her brother left behind a son named Harrison. Angela’s interest is obviously peaked, although she has no reason to think this Harrison is the same as Jim’s son Harrison. It’s a common enough name, after all.

It’s not until Angela returns home to regroup with Audrey that she finds out there might be something to Angel’s comments because Audrey relays what Harrison said to her right before he passed out. From there, Angela, who is one of the more savvy cops we’ve seen throughout the show, does some more research and prints out an obituary for…Dexter Morgan. The preview for next week’s episode confirms that, yes, Angela officially knows that “Jim Lindsay” is a false identity.

New episodes of Dexter: New Blood air Sunday nights at 9/8c on Showtime. Episodes also stream early via the app and website.