The clips are even being used on poor Pedro Pascal, who the internet has cast as a creepy evil-doer who doesn’t deserve all of his newfound superstar success …
The magic of these memes, compared to other times TV characters go viral, is in how the jokes perfectly encapsulate how Doakes behaved in the series. His relationship with Dexter feels relatable to anybody who has had a bone to pick with someone in their own lives. They’re somehow out of context and wholly accurate of Doakes’ persona simultaneously, and it gets to the bottom of what made a story with so many plotholes like Dexter so entertaining.
Dexter needed a battle with someone in his personal and professional life to make sure the series maximized its effectiveness. Keeping his true identity as a serial killer private from others is like a morbid version of Peter Parker or Clark Kent trying to maintain their good guy images on the side while fighting crime during the day. It’s another example of Dexter being a kind of pseudo-Batman figure in modern media and has made him such a complex character.
Doakes was the foil who turned Dexter into an easy-to-root-for character. If everyone had been feeding into Dexter’s lies without any pushback, the show would have been mundane and easy to predict. We never knew what Dexter would do next to avoid the hateful eye of Doakes, and it made Dexter equal parts crime drama and a live-action Tom and Jerry as the killer and detective played a hilarious, twisted, and inspired game of cat-and-mouse. Many fans have even stated the show needed to keep Doakes on for longer than two seasons.
The elimination of Doakes after season 2 is a decision that had to be made after the writers revealed Dexter’s identity to him. After the truth was revealed, somebody had to survive and it was probably gonna be the guy whose name was in the title. People flocking to the show expecting to see many seasons of Doakes will be a little disappointed to know the storyline was somewhat short-lived, but they won’t feel like the memes misguided them. Every clip, every joke, and every Tweet you’ve seen of Doakes will lead you to one of modern TV’s best rivalries. For once, scrolling through your phone will actually bring about a fulfilling outcome rather than just a time sewer!
New episodes of Dexter: Resurrection premiere Fridays on Paramount+, culminating with the finale on September 5.
