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Notes -
I think the show does explore that a little because when Dexter kills and disposes of a body then the case never gets closed because the serial killer just disappears and there is rarely any closure for those who have suffered due to that killer's actions.
There's also some exploration of the idea that Dexter's existence is bad to the extent he inspires other killers to act or attracts them to him to the detriment of those close to him and the city at large.
The big twist reveal in Season 4's finale made this quite stark.
And of course part of why the Doakes/Dexter rivalry was so compelling and fun is because Doakes has a damn point and has Dexter pegged almost from the start but can't get enough evidence because Dexter is that good at covering things up.
"You forget we work for the cops? We love theories! Spin me a story." At least the point was made that Dexter is acting extrajudicially with full knowledge that he could be cooperating with the system.
It is interesting that they never really went with an angle of "The system is corrupt and can't actually stop killers." It really was just "I'm compelled to kill and in order to have an outlet for that urge, I must find people who deserve killing" as the justification.
There needs to be a justification, because if the audience is enjoying watching torture and murder, and yet these are bad things, then we have to put it on the victims: well they are only getting what they did to others!
If it's bad for them to torture and murder because they enjoy it, then it's bad for us to get that same enjoyment vicariously, but if the show makes that point anyway visibly then it ends after the first two episodes ("you are bad people for watching this and you should stop") 😁
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