All caught up with Dexter (spoilers)

Disclaimer: There are spoilers below. Lots of them. In fact, the whole post is a giant spoiler.

My wife and I have just caught up with Showtime's Dexter. I can't wait for season 5's start, but I have to say I am incredibly disappointed by the ending of season 4, with Rita's death.

As a family man myself, I was really enjoying watching his struggle to balance family, work, and killing, and I was very happy to see it all coming together for him. One of my favorite aspects of the show was watching him become an overprotective dad and husband. I would've loved to see a full season of him with a happy family doing what he does, but Dexter isn't an ABC family show, it's on Showtime for a reason. I guess I forgot how the show started, how Dexter himself started, a lone serial killer struggling with a dark passenger. I'm a little resentful how long we got to know Rita, only to have her die off so suddenly.

Part of the reason why I'm disappointed is because of writer's obsessions with "twists". As the commercial 2 episodes before season 4's finale (episode 10) stated, this was "the seasons biggest twist". As soon as I read those words on the screen, I knew something bad was going to happen. Not bad as in what they want you to think, but bad as in a bad writing choice. I knew they were going to do something "shocking", this entire show has been shocking from the beginning. Shocking is discovering Christine was Trinity's daughter, back in season 2 when Lila blew up Doakes, and of course the first time you saw kid Dexter crying in a puddle of blood. This wasn't shocking, it was a poor writing choice.

Will I still watch season 5? Hell yes. I want to see how he deals with his guilt, his job, and what's going to happen with the kids. I'm also curious to find out how much more Deb learns about her brother. Unfortunately, I can see how this will lose a part of their audience, primarily I'm thinking of my wife and other wives, mommies, or even the single females who's favorite part of the show was watching him take care of his family. I really hope they don't make another poor writing choice and have him move on too fast, and by too fast I mean within this next season.

Maybe it's strange to say, but I think people still have a lot to learn from Dexter.