SureCommaNot

Season Three overall has been a slog. It's been a lot of wheel-spinning, as we reiterate many of the same dramatic moments from the previous seasons (retold in a new context, with some tweaks) and build an arbitrary threat that amounts to a tired dualism we've seen in countless other science-fiction shows already. "Dark" succeeds by giving old ideas a brooding aura and haunting music, that is well-produced, even if derivative.

In this episode, things finally happen. The drama is a mix of timeloop-related shenanigans and more-generic drama. And this is a plus... again, nothing we haven't seen before - but at least there are more diverse threats than the season has presented heretofore, and this helps the episode feel less flat.

Unfortunately, some things keep the episode from truly soaring. The "shocking" ending was as predictable as they come. And another "shocking" moment, which ended with a closeup of a necklace, is shortly followed up with yet another dramatic closeup of the same necklace, just from a different angle (no new information), as if the showrunners forgot they already gave the audience that moment. Take away the brooding music and slow-motion camera shots, and these scenes feel like a parody of Dark, rather than giving the show any more depth.

I'll end with another positive: it's nice that some characters who got comparatively little screentime in previous seasons got at least a little more here, which helps audiences feel more invested.

The show has had a lot of errors, but the team really doubled down on the sloppiness here, especially with how many scenes have mouth movements out-of-sync with characters' words.

We also get N. A. T. A. L. I. E. Outdoors in the daylight in this episode, revealing that she somehow casts a shadow. I don't know how to head-canon that one. Doesn't make sense.

And why does her audio sound like she's a real person (at times)? Shouldn't it always sound like whatever she's being projected from? In fact, we even get scenes that make clear how she sounds when she's inhabiting the suit! So when she's being projected from the suit, isn't that how she should sound? To me this is a massive oversight, added to the overwhelmingly long list of sound mistakes in the show.

Some important things apparently happened in this episode, but viewers who can't turn their brains off will likely be too distracted by the production's carelessness. Personally, trying to suspend disbelief took all my attention.

I've loved the original Dexter (every season) enough to recommend people still watch it, despite its abysmal ending. (I just tell people they can skip the last couple episodes.)

But with "New Blood," the showrunners really stuck the landing. I won't spoil it, but for me the ending made sense from the perspective of every character involved (which is not something I could say about the original's finale).

It didn't blow me away (so I'm holding back a star), and there were also some odd choices with the music. But story-wise, I'm really happy it ended the way it did, with a beautiful synergy of both justice and mercy, sacrifice and free agency, love and loss.

Bravo.