How James Doakes Internet Memes Are Converting New Dexter Fans
The presence of first ballot Hater Hall of Famer James Doakes is convincing young viewers to give Dexter a shot.
The Dexter franchise has regained surprising relevancy almost 20 years after the first show’s debut in 2006. Spinoff series such as the prequel, Dexter: Original Sin, and the ongoing sequel, Dexter: Resurrection, have placed the brand in the pop cultural crosshairs once again. But just as The Walking Dead has learned that a myriad of spinoffs can’t always keep your audience interested, Dexter needed an extra shove to convert new fans and regain old ones alike.
We’ve talked before about how internet memes ruin certain iconic scenes in TV shows, but viral clips and out-of-context media can also help propel older works back into the spotlight in an organic way. What better character to represent Dexter’s social presence on X, Facebook, and other platforms than Miami Metro Detective James Doakes (Erik King)?
Dexter’s number one opp in the first two seasons of the series represented one of the internet’s oldest and most hilarious running gags back in the late 2000s, with his infamous catchphrase “surprise, motherfucker”. Now Doakes has returned with a fury, and this time, the fans are giving many more instances of the detective’s brash, darkly comedic timing. The clips of Doakes not only get to the bottom of the original series’ incredible tension and writing in its first two seasons, but they also represent why people love murder drama and mystery on the small screen.
Doakes is famously the only character in the series who suspects something isn’t right with Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) from the very beginning. He doesn’t give any concrete reasons for his disdain of Dexter, but rather bullies him and tries to call his bluff because he feels the blood-spatter analyst is just a little too prim and proper. The juxtaposition between Doakes’ tracking of Dexter’s behavior and Debra’s (Jennifer Carpenter) hero-worship of her brother is one of the most compelling aspects of Dexter’s plotting. The show needed someone to oppose Dexter besides his own psyche, and Doakes does so at such a comical and cartoonish rate that he’s now immortalized as the ultimate representation of somebody who suspects something on a hunch.
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.
Written by
Shawn is a University of Washington graduate in English Language and Literature. He has been a freelance writer for SUPERJUMP, FanFare, and An Injustice! Mag. He…