The ‘Dexter: New Blood’ Dissection: Is ‘Storm Of F*ck’ The Best Episode Title Ever?

Dexter: New Blood brought us a whole “new” Dexter Morgan last week, although by the end of the episode, he’d internally given up the Jim Lindsay title. The impetus for that return to “normalcy” was twofold: (1) Dexter killed again; (2) Harrison showed up to greet dad for the first time in nearly a decade (nothing like a little father-son bonding at a crime scene, right?). And the cleanup for both these developments isn’t an easy job, which is wonderful to see because (let’s face it) Dexter let us all down, years ago, and he’s got a lot of making-up-for-lost-time to do.

This episode straddles those two subjects quite well, but once again, I’m getting ahead of myself here because I’ve so far neglected to mention this week’s glorious episode title: “Storm Of F*ck.” How marvelous is that one? It’s somehow better than the greatest — including I May Destroy You‘s “Ego Death,” Arrested Development‘s “The Immaculate Election,” Lucifer‘s “The Good, the Bad and the Crispy” and “Trip To Stabby Town,” and countless Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad offerings — out there. Surely, you can think of your own favorite episode titles, which are in plentiful supply out there and increasing daily because there’s so much TV. Yet “Storm Of F*ck” is a fine utterance, and it’s something that I aim to use on a regular basis.

It’s short, visceral, and to the point, and as Dexter writer Warren Hsu Leonard declared on Twitter, this week’s episode guarantees that “I’ll be forever associated with the phrase Storm of F*ck whenever anyone Googles me.” He added, “Exactly what my parents hoped for when I graduated from Harvard Law School. Hope you enjoy it!” Dude, be proud of what you’ve accomplished here.

The title actually harkens back to an O.G. Deb-ism: “Dex, we are in a storm of f*ck.”

Granted, “Storm Of F*ck” doesn’t have the same cadence as other Deb-isms, including “Where in Fucktopia are You?” and “Motherf*cking suck bag, you c*ck munching f*cking f*ck nugget!” Yet it will do, and my goodness, can you imagine what would happen if “Storm Of F*ck” receives an Emmy nod for writing? If that doesn’t happen for sheer effect, there’s no justice in this world.

That nomination announcement would be even better than The Boys submitting that whale clip. Further, I need to hear Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon present this category at next year’s ceremony. Don’t let me down, Television Academy.

Elsewhere, this episode largely served to move chess pieces into place ahead of next week’s episode, which turns up the heat on the title character. Here’s what I enjoyed most about this episode.

– The “You Got Big” moment: Part of what’s so fun about this revival is that Dexter is truly out of his element, and the awkwardness won’t stop. He can’t propel himself into action as the local Iron Lake blood-spatter specialist. He can only pull a few strings, here and there, since he’s dating a cop and lives in the forest where Matt Caldwell “disappeared” and turned into a Dexter Morgan victim. Amid the law enforcement investigation, Dexter’s attempting to re-connect with Harrison (after dumping him with Hannah in Argentina), despite the better judgment of Debra, and of course, he drops a clunker of a declaration with “You got big.” For his part, Harrison seems as well adjusted as he could possibly be, having been raised by a poison-happy serial killer and discovering that his own dad willingly abandoned him and also feared that Harrison could harbor “dark tendencies.” Honestly at this point, I feel like Dexter could have confessed his own serial-killer status to Harrison, and the kid would not be too shocked. I figure that he’s seen some sh*t after living with Hannah during his formative years, and he has to realize that an alias did not happen for no good reason.

The Dexter-Harrison relationship, as ill-advised as it seems, is actually rather sweet. You can see Dexter hoping that he can become like Harry and raise his son, keep him alive, etc. Dexter finally comes clean about a few vague things like “demons” and how he didn’t want to corrupt the “sweet, smart, trusting little boy with a huge heart.” And Dexter’s visibly affected by news of Hannah’s death, although fortunately, that moment doesn’t go overboard. It needed to be a believable amount of emotion, and the writers reeled things in appropriately. As of now, Harrison may or may not accept his dad’s explanation of abandoning him because he felt “lost.” What choice does the kid have, though? In the meantime, Iron Lake now has a new high school student who had a pet called “Vincent Van Goat.” Anything is truly possible here.

– Ghost Debra is simply the best: I know not everyone was a fan of her during the O.G. show, but I love her even more now. She’s balls-out crazy, shattering windows and making Dexter swallow a bullet and go into freak-out screaming mode in his truck. She’s maniacally laughing and taunting the hell of out of Dexter as he clumsily tries to clean up his messy return to murder. Somehow, Dead Deb is a juicier role than Alive Deb ever was, and honestly, he deserves all the jeers that she’s giving him after that watery grave.

And then there’s this disturbing development…

– Who’s the kidnapper? There’s a side plot that hasn’t melded with the bigger arcs of the show yet, but we saw a young girl being held captive, although she didn’t figure out the dire nature of her situation (being locked in a hotel-like room and recorded on camera) until later in the episode. Absolutely no clues reveal who’s watching her, and this all feels meant to distract us from the larger purpose of Dexter becoming reacquainted with both Harrison and his Dark Passenger. All we can do there is wait for more developments to unfurl and appreciate the “Storm Of F*ck” for what it is: a much cooler storm that that damn hurricane could ever hope to be.

Showtime’s ‘Dexter: New Blood’ airs on Sundays.