With the return of the television series, Dexter, after such a long hiatus (rebooted this November 2021 from Showtime as Dexter: New Blood), it is inevitable that so much of what we will see will hearken back to the past, uncanny as a visitation by a ghost as our memories are conjured up magically by the media, but also rendered askew.
Dexter’s nightmare ice fishing sequence in the opening episode (“Cold Snap”) is an apt metaphor for this doublement, offering the same ghostly passenger (Harry) but in a new package (Debra), disturbing us with the hauntingly familiar structure presented in an unfamiliar manner. And behind that lurks a second unknowable dark figure. This is the popular uncanny — this play between the same and new, surprise and familiarity, and doubles of doubles.
Many years ago, I did a complete re-watch of the Dexter series, posting my critical reactions and close readings in snippets over Twitter in a hashtag series called #DexterNotes. To celebrate the return of Dexter, I’ve started posting them again throughout the New Blood series. Follow #dexternotes from @MikeArnzen on Twitter
