MovieChat Forums > Dexter: New Blood (2021) Discussion > 1 thing I didn't care for in original or...

1 thing I didn't care for in original or this...

posted 2 years ago by CommonSense (195)
11 replies | jump to latest

I understand trauma sticks with people forever. But 1 thing i never understood in the original was Dexter's age was too young to be traumatized. Just like his son Harrison. They were too young to really know what happened to be soo traumatized from it.

Now i get the part as you get older and know more and look back on what you were told and maybe remember that you know/realize how f'd up that was. But you wouldn't have the initial traumatization from it.

[–] Tyler1986 (235) 2 years ago

I'm not an expert on child trauma so I have no clue what's possible. I just imagine it's possible and know it's a plot device and let it go.

[–] CommonSense (195) 2 years ago

Child drama yes, not infant drama. Imagining it can be true doesn't make it a good plot device. Which was exactly what my post was

[–] letess (1089) 2 years ago

You are absolutely right. But the writer made it part of Dexter’s history for the book and for the purpose of the original series. And the story goes, that in losing his mother, he is the child that is adopted into Harry’s family. The born in blood thing worked well for Dexter’s story as he was a serial killer, and it worked well because his brother was one too. Harrison was never a serial killer. It is also mentioned in Season 5 when Dexter goes to a psychologist to see if Harrison could be traumatized being present at his mother’s death, that the doctor says he’s too young to understand.

[–] CommonSense (195) 2 years ago

I honestly forgot that. Has been alot of years.

[–] ADBruno1985 (3338) 2 years ago

I'm no expert, but I imagine it's possible. My earliest memory is of my third birthday and having cake. Not traumatic though I was anxious about wanting a certain piece of the cake, which I got, being the 3 year old birthday boy. I imagine a traumatic experience might be likelier to be remembered. Of course I guess also the opposite, sometimes people block out traumas, I had a close family member die this past fall and some parts of it are just blanks to me.

According to Google, which is of course always right, memory retention is earliest possible at 2 and a half.

[–] CommonSense (195) 2 years ago

Dexter and Harrison were much younger than 3. Like 1 ish

[–] ADBruno1985 (3338) 2 years ago

You're right about Harrison, but Dexter was 3 according to their wiki page

[–] CommonSense (195) 2 years ago

Been a lot ng time since i watched the early seasons of dexter. I thought he looked younger. But even at 3 years old you may remember something that happened, but you wouldn't grasp how bad it was. And you'd get over it quick. Only as you got older and became more aware you'd warp your own psychy around the tragedy. It would be more of a learned/trained tragedy than an experienced tragedy.

But i don't believe in all that hoopla society tries to feed us now days. I think it just gives people easy excuses. Our society is nuttin but a bunch of whiney cowardly people that gets worst as time goes on.

[–] mtxmind (3296) 2 years ago

My earliest memory is of my third birthday

I think my earliest memory would've also been when I was 3 (in 1966) and a trip to Lake Tahoe w/my parents & siblings where we had to stop because I was car sick. Then I remember camping out somewhere in Lake Tahoe overnight & we had to leave because of a flood that happened.

EDIT: couldn't find anything definitive thru a search for " Flood Lake Tahoe 1966"; one result came up for South Lake Tahoe in Dec 65/Jan 66, when I would've been 2y4months old, so maybe that's it??

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Dexter and Harrison do not have any trauma. They are psychopaths when they are born because of their genetics. Dexter's biological father was a psychopath who was a criminal and those psychopath genes are in Dexter and also in Harrison. Dexter remembering his mother being killed in the blood soaked room that his brother staged was not emotional to Dexter, it was Dexter just remembering and that is it. The viewer who cries whenever they watch that scene is having empathy for Dexter but Dexter does not feel.

[–] pjl69 (2536) 2 years ago

The origin story of Dexter is quite cartoony superhero origin story. I didn't find it very believable, but I could live with it because the resulting series was so damn good. I liked New Blood as well, contrary to my expectations.