I think it's too early to say that it was a pointless death, since we haven't seen its aftermath at all and it will clearly affect at least one other supporting character. And they foreshadowed that something would happen to the henchmen with all the cryptic comments about them being "invulnerable but expendable" this season. There was definitely shock value to it, but I don't think that shows a hatred for the fans any more than killing Hank and Dean and revealing they were clones did. Doc and Jackson are huge fanboys themselves, and so much of this show is about terrible things happening to these really likable characters.