3. Forgotten History
Piggybacking off my last point, the later seasons of Dexter showed a very short memory when it came to most of the supporting characters and series events. Most of the time the show seemed to ignore the fact LaGuerta and Batista were married at one point, but the glaring problem is actually in the character of Joseph Quinn. After Rita's death Quinn's eyes fell on Dexter for playing some part in her murder, if not the actual crime itself. He investigated his suspicions only to be told off by LaGuerta. This is a large issue I had with Season 7: instead of giving Quinn a lame and rather unbelievable love story with a Ukrainian stripper, why not bring his suspicions about Dexter back by having LaGuerta recruit him? Apart from Debra and Dexter, LaGuerta was the only other person who knew about his investigations into Dexter's double life. It would have made perfect sense for LaGuerta to go to him for help while creating a bigger conflict given his feelings for Debra. Likewise, Dexter often forgot both Quinn and Batista were actually good detectives. In Batista's case, this is a guy who pieced together a vital clue of the Ice Truck Killer investigation off a hunch and determined the suicide of a man who cheated on his wife wasn't all that it seemed based on the amount of pictures he had of his wife and family. Most of the time he wasn't an idiot, but Season 8 failed both these character by not having any suspicions around LaGuerta's death. Granted, Dexter covered it up as best as he could, but Batista fully believed Laguerta did not attempt to frame Dexter in the Season 7 finale, yet came around to believing she had by the time 8 began. Maybe he was convinced because of the false evidence, but because of the time jump it didn't ring entirely true for his character. Quinn lacked his own deductive skills in the final season by not being suspicious of Dexter or Debra's behaviour. In fact, Debra admitted right to his face she killed LaGuerta and he thought she was being metaphorical! The great thing about Breaking Bad was it never forgot its own history. Every event, no matter how small, was important and came back around again. The show never forgot who any of its characters or what their main traits were whereas Dexter often did for the sake of the plot.