Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Dexter: New Blood episode 10.

After promoting the reboot series as a way to redeem its controversial original series finale, Dexter: New Blood’s ending has set an undesirable TV show record. Dexter: New Blood’s twist ending episode has already shattered several records for its entire series and network, with both positive and negative connotations. Showtime revealed that Dexter: New Blood is the most-watched series in network history, but this also comes with the news that New Blood’s finale episode “Sins of the Father” is the lowest-rated episode for the entire series on IMDb at only 4.5/10, which plummets below the season 8 finale rating of 4.6/10. Dexter: New Blood’s finale has made history for its own network and series statistics, but it also sets an upsetting record for TV shows on a larger scale.

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The ending of Dexter: New Blood featured Dexter being arrested for the murder of Matt Caldwell while being discovered as Miami’s Bay Harbor Butcher. After escaping his cell by killing the innocent deputy Logan, Dexter retreats to the woods to meet his son Harrison and flee Iron Lake. Realizing that Dexter killed an innocent, was preparing to evade justice, and wanted to take him down the same path, Harrison gets his new rifle and points it at his father. At this moment, Dexter realizes it’s time to let himself die so Harrison can live, so he talks Harrison through pulling the trigger. After Dexter dies, Angela lets Harrison go and the young Morgan is seen driving out of Iron Lake before New Blood cuts to black. Unfortunately, Dexter: New Blood’s finale is getting a much more contentious reception than expected.

Dexter‘s revival series was in a fairly unique position, as the show’s return was stipulated by the idea that it would outdo the failures of the original season 8 finale, thus providing viewers with a more satisfying conclusion to Dexter Morgan’s story as a serial killer. While this isn’t the first time a series has been brought back nearly a decade later and ended divisively, such as Netflix’s Gilmore Girls revival, Dexter: New Blood is setting a TV show record by having not just one extremely controversial ending, but two. When considering polarizing TV endings like Game of Thrones, Lost, or How I Met Your Mother, most series either leave their finale untouched to conclude the story or embark on spin-offs, hence continuing the franchise without directly addressing its finale controversies. Dexter: New Blood, however, had one goal for its series: Redeem its hated lumberjack finale by granting the show with one last season. Whether viewers believe New Blood accomplished this is proving to be more disputable than the original, therefore giving Dexter the unique label of two extremely controversial series conclusions.

While it was earlier surmised that the enormous popularity of Dexter: New Blood risked another bad ending if Showtime chose to extend it and undo the promoted incredible finale, many viewers are now wishing the reboot series had been granted a second season. Some believe that Dexter: New Blood’s ending was rushed, where the conclusion was logical, but needed far more development and time to reach that point. This runs contrary to the division about Dexter’s first season 8 finale, which was criticized as not making sense character-wise for the protagonist serial killer to suddenly drop his Dark Passenger, abandon his son, and live as a lumberjack in Oregon. While time may have helped New Blood’s ending, Dexter season 8 would hardly hold up well for viewers.

Dexter: New Blood also ended in a fairly ambiguous manner, with storylines about Angel Batista, Angela, and Harrison left untied. This has sparked wide discussion on the possibilities of Dexter: New Blood season 2, or a spin-off titled Harrison rather than Dexter. Considering Michael C. Hall would need to reprise his role as Dexter, it may be difficult to tie an entire series around young Harrison, and some feel the entire finale would need to be undone, would Dexter: New Blood want to risk a third controversial ending? It’s possible that viewers will demand another go at Dexter‘s story in another decade but, for now, the series will remain notable for two incredibly divisive TV show finales.

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Jordan Williams
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Jordan Williams is a Movie/TV Feature Senior Staff Writer for Screen Rant. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Media Studies.

Jordan is based in Seattle, Washington and enjoys exploring the natural beauty the PNW has to offer. She runs on coffee and classic movies, taking pride in having watched every film on AFI’s 100 Greatest Films list and every Best Picture Oscar winner.

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