There have been plenty of upsetting deaths throughout the eight season run of Dexter, including Rita Morgan, Debra Morgan and Frank Lundy. While watching these innocent characters go was heartbreaking, a highly meme-able character was killed off way too soon in the series. Sergeant James Doakes was one of the most compelling antagonists of the series. With his witty banter and relentless pursuit of uncovering Dexter’s secret aside, the most significant “Surprise, mother****er” of them all was when Doakes was unceremoniously murdered in the first 10 minutes of the 2007 Season 2 finale.

The sudden loss of the fan-favorite, no-nonsense black-ops Army Ranger turned Detective Sergeant sent the audience into a frenzy. In a 2007 interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the show’s executive producers stated Doakes was too good not to kill. Further, they insisted that another season of Doakes chasing Dexter would be “redundant and would diminish both their characters' intelligence.”

Nevertheless, many fans of Doakes’ blunt, in-your-face attitude believe that it was a mistake to kill him so soon, and that Dexter could have been better if the character had remained.

RELATED: Dexter Revival Teaser Reveals Dexter's New Name and Career

How Doakes Died in Dexter Season 2

In the events leading up to his death, Doakes secretly tails Dexter and uncovers the remains of Santos Jimenez, the man responsible for murdering Dexter's mother. Soon after, Doakes makes the startling discovery that Dexter is the Bay Harbor Butcher when he finds his hidden slide collection containing the trophy blood samples from all of his victims. After Doakes consults an old friend in Haiti about the slides, he becomes the prime suspect himself, and the FBI begins a search for him.

Upon returning stateside, Doakes follows Dexter to a remote cabin in the Everglades to apprehend him but winds up on the losing end of the battle. Consequently, he is imprisoned in a cell inside Jimenez’s cabin until Dexter can figure out what to do next. Lila, obsessed with Dexter and unwilling to let her affair with him go, stumbles onto the cabin and finds Doakes locked inside, right where Dexter left him.

Despite Doakes’ pleas for her to help him, Lila makes the impulse decision to set the cabin on fire so that she can protect Dexter’s identity and end the investigation into her former lover. When the authorities recover Doakes’ incinerated body alongside evidence pointing to him being the perpetrator of Dexter's disturbing crimes, the case is closed, Dexter gets away scot-free and Miami Metro Homicide is none the wiser.

RELATED: Dexter: All Eight Seasons of the Showtime Show Ranked, According to Critics

Dexter Made a Mistake Killing Doakes

While it was a risky move to kill Doakes off so soon into Dexter’s run, it was the writers' plan all along for him to leave the show before the cat and mouse act grew too stale. Reportedly, the writers knew from the first episode that Doakes was not long for this world. According to their Pittsburgh Post Gazette interview, executive producer Clyde Phillips stated that “The character always had a shelf life because of the collision course. Somebody had to give, and Dexter wasn't going to lose.”

Yes, Doakes was always on a fast-paced collision course with America’s favorite serial killer. However, the writers could have pumped the breaks on Doakes’ rapidly growing suspicions of Dexter by gradually doling out his discovery of the latter’s dark secret over time. Rushing the dramatic climax between the two was a mistake because the electrifying chemistry they shared as enemies soared off the charts and was rarely, if ever, replicated. In truth, the show’s only antagonist to match Doakes’ iconic delivery and surpass the intensity of his character was Arthur Mitchell, the Trinity Killer himself.

Despite his death being a planned event from the start, fans were understandably upset about Doakes’ early demise, finding his departure to be premature and a total letdown. In a series full of disappointing antagonists like Miguel Prado or Jordan Chase, Doakes was a wildly entertaining and formidable adversary worthy of Dexter’s ire. Although the executive producers may have felt that Doakes reached the end of the road where realistic storytelling was concerned, fans of the quick-tempered and hilariously foul-mouthed character still feel that Dexter was robbed of a compelling antagonist.

KEEP READING: Dexter Star Describes the Revival as Darker Than the Original