With Brian Moser and Sgt. Doakes gone, there was nothing the writers could come up for the role of a formidable foe that could be an actual threat to Dexter -at least not for now. Instead, they devised this sort of friendship / partner in crime / eventual betrayal scheme masterminded by a new character, who apparently everyone in Miami Metro knew and was familiar with (except for Dexter), yet no one even had mentioned anything about him in the past two seasons: Miguel Prado, a city prosecutor, wonderfully portrayed by Jimmy Smits, who is quite a good actor but felt somehow out of place in the series.
I did not care much about the side plots, especially Debra’s romantic interest, or the final antagonist: the skinner, a mysterious nobody who skins his victims, and who is also in cahoots with Miguel on the side. Rita also gets more annoying with every episode. I do not think there was anything wrong with Julie Benz, I just thought the character was poorly written. At one point I kind of felt bad for her, since she did a good job with the material given.
The season of course ends with Dexter killing both Miguel and the skinner in what is arguably the most unrealistic series of scenes I had seen up until that point (yes, even more unrealistic than the fire drill, but oh well).
There is really nothing bad in particular to say about season three, but there is also nothing good either. It is a season that meets the minimum requirements and checks all boxes for a passable average show. Nothing more.
Stay tuned for Season Four: Back in track.
HR