12 Main Character Deaths That Killed Great TV Shows
2. Rita Bennett (Dexter)
Episode Of Death: s04E13 - "The Getaway"
This particular character death in itself arguably represents the artistic high point of the whole show. After it, however...
Rita Bennett, lovely, innocent Rita, a single mother whose abusive deadbeat ex is locked up and who, as if things weren't already hard enough, inadvertently ends up hooking up with a serial killer. Though she and her kids, Astor and Cody, may have started off as a cover for our favorite homicidal sociopath, Dexter, a way for him to blend in, to seem normal, he came, in time, to have honest feelings for her.
They got married, had a child of their own, then in the Season 4 finale, Rita was found in the bath by Dexter, having been brutally murdered by the Trinity Killer and Harrison, their infant son, left wailing amidst the gore.
As a threat, John Lithgow's Arthur AKA The Trinity Killer in many ways paralleled Dexter's own development. To the world outside an unassuming family man, Arthur's monstrosity extended, behind closed doors, to his treatment of his wife and kids, leading Dexter to wonder if it was possible for men like him and Trinity to ever live a normal life.
Tragically, Dexter's fascination with Trinity - which prevented him from killing Arthur outright - led to Rita's murder, the eventual shipping off of Cody and Astor to their grandparents, and the breakdown of the family unit that Dexter had tried to hard to construct. And with it went the emotional heart of the show.
The only person left to whom Dexter has an emotional connection, apart from his now preschool son (often fobbed off on the nanny, Jamie, for the sake of plot convenience), is his step-sister, Debra. For the last four seasons, half of the show's whole run, Dexter has struggled to fill the void left by Rita with a would-be disciple (Season 5 - Lumen), with an attempt at faith (Season 6 - Brother Sam), and with a new love (Season 7 - Hannah).
Now his condition's been revealed to Debra, and, three or so episodes from the show's final conclusion, she seems to have accepted it. There seems to be no dramatic ground left to cover.
Though Season 7 was arguably a peak for Dexter after the lackluster Season 5 and terrible Season 6, it's difficult not to feel that the show has, for some time, just been playing out the clock.