It was what made the first seasons so great. Dexter was a show that was not afraid to introduce awesome antagonists and then get rid of them. Other shows would realize the gold they struck and delay ever getting rid of a character for as long as possible, but not Dexter. They had a story to tell, and they told it! It was brave, and it made for exciting TV. The Ice Truck Killer, Doakes, the Trinity Killer; great characters that I would have loved to see more of.
The thing is, I think it was great of them to not milk storylines they wanted to wrap up. Doakes not taking 100 seasons to figure out the truth ends up making him look better as a detective like the writers want us to. Still... Doakes' relationship with Dexter was probably top 3, maybe even the best relationship in the show, and him leaving really revealed a large hole where he used to be. They tried to recreate it a few times after, most notably with Quinn, but it never hit the same. The Trinity Killer is cited as the best villain in the show by many (I'd probably give it to the Ice Truck Killer, myself, though), and again, they didn't play around by having him escape somehow as an overarching "big bad" like some shows would have. They let him have his lasting impact, and realized they completed the story they wanted with him. It was time to move on from him.
The issue is, you can only strike gold so many times. Eventually, you are going to find nothing, but silver (if you are lucky to find even that). Creating a protagonist that people truly loved despite his evil nature, and multiple antagonists that kept the viewer intrigued was not an easy task by any means. You can see the "bad" writing already show up as early as season 2 honestly, as well, so it was clear the strengths were in the writing for villains/Dexter himself as well as the internal dialogue for Dexter that gave it that charm it possessed as a constant source of dark humor. If the villains falter as well, then the show clearly will struggle, as we saw often times in the latter half of the show.
In my personal opinion, I actually think it was a mistake to kill the Ice Truck Killer so early. It was the first major diversion from the book, and tbh, I would have preferred to see Brian continue to play out in the show. He was a solid character, and unlike the other major foes to Dexter, I think one could argue there was more that could have played out ultimately between the two without it feeling like it was dragging on. I can't fault the writers for playing their full hand at the time, but it could have helped them out later on.
Other big issue I have with Dexter is after Rita's death, the show creates another big hole with the whole "normal" family plot being thrown out. That was a big part of why Dexter felt special imo, and it becomes a little too depressing compared to the quirky humor it had in the first 4 seasons afterwards.
I actually think Rita dying was probably a mistake. I think they overplayed their hand to create a big shock that they couldn't navigate around afterwards. Would have rather seen Rita and the kids stay with hindsight, but without her death, I'm sure the Trinity Killer would feel less impactful in our minds as a whole, so there would be some sacrifice.
Number of legendary 500 post topics: 37, 500th posts: 35; PiO ATTN: 6
RotM wins 1, LETTEN MY ARROW FLYEN TRUE