Just saw the finale and I thought it was satisfying. I was worried they were going to blow it and they didn't. Obligatory to say that New Blood has been a big improvement on anything post-season 4 and it has definitely justified being made in a sea of member berries media we are so often bombarded with these days.
I'm guessing Michael C. Hall only agreed to return if there was no chance of making any more.
I speculated the same. The series did well and they could have easily spun another season at least and had a ready-made audience for it so I'm glad that they obviously had a plan from the start with where this was going and I'm sure it was MCH's decision that he was one and done.
I was worried early on that the Harrison stuff was going to get overbearing and for the three episodes after he came back they crammed so much that it almost did. I get it, it's 10 episodes. It would have probably felt more natural over a normal 22 episode series but that would have also detracted from what was a pretty straightforward story that they wanted to tell here so it's a minor quibble now. Thought Clancey Brown was excellent and a worthy antagonist as Kurt. Another area that could have been easy to screw up and they didn't.
The "rooting for Dexter" thing has always been part of the series and whilst they did explore that him killing "bad guys" is not a justification in the main series they ramped it up here. There were occasions when Dexter killed people that didn't fit the code in the first series but the Logan kill here was definitely necessary to cement the fact that whilst it's not ideal for him killing innocents is far from a no-go zone for Dexter and to finally wake Harrison up to what his father is.
I liked the Batista call back but it then felt kind of anti-climatic that the last scene we see him in he's red eyeing it straight there to confront Dexter and then it's not resolved.
The arc they had Dexter go on in this series is reminiscent of Walter White after he kills Jessie's girlfriend and you realize that the anti-hero you've been rooting for is actually not redeemable.
GOOD STUFF.
How long before we get the Harrison spin-off?