“No flowers. Flowers die.” -Darren
The Killing picked right up where it left off last week. The show is unapologetically dark and doesn’t sugar coat anything. There seems to be a lot of positive about the show, which is surprising for a show that is so dark and, for lack of a better word, unhappy. The show beats you up emotionally and we don’t get any real “wins” as a viewer. The Killing continues to further the murder mystery story but also provides us with great images. Two specific images stuck out in my mind from this past episode. The first it the view of “the cage” through the peep hole in the janitor’s office. Was he witness to the horrendous crimes against Rosie? Tough to think about. The second was Mrs. Larsen trying to feel what it’s like drowning herself. The view of the bathtub with just her hands on the outside was definitely stirring. The Killing has an ability to make us feel deeply for those involved through the cinematography and direction.
One aspect I really, and I hesitate to use this word, really *like* about The Killing is that a lot of the crime so far has involved kids. Drama involving teens always has an inherent sense of danger. They don’t fully understand risk, so they’re capable of a lot of damage. For this reason, I find the Jasper/Echols/Sterling story very interesting. I was definitely a bit uncomfortable watching the cell phone video of what appeared to be a duel rape of Rosie, but it seemed so real. Now I hope you can see why I hesitated to use the word “like.” It’s not that I enjoy seeing teens involved in such crimes, but it heightens every sense of justice when kids are involved. After watching what we saw at the end of the episode, we are now so emotionally invested in finding out just who killed Rosie that we will tune in every week and demand those involved get hit with the stiffest punishment possible. The Killing isn’t easy to watch, but dang it if it isn’t compelling.
Because of the nature of murder mysteries, this show will lead to a series of wild conspiracies due to pointers in the script. The newest ones are that Darren is being set up by the current mayor. He had the girl killed and framed his campaign. The other is that Hooper is holding some information that could impact the investigation. We learn about this because of his clandestine phone call. Murder mysteries always have to throw the viewers off the scent a bit. I’m not sure if any of these situations will materialize, but there were definitely some hints that there is more than just meets the eye with Holden and Darren Richmond. I never like it when in murder mysteries the killer is just some random person out of nowhere, so the writers need to introduce us to the killer at some point, make us think they are the murderer, then make us question that thought, and finally deliver them to us. As of right now, the only person we can really write off is Sarah Linden.
The writers have to be careful about the amount of time we spend with the parents of the deceased. I know they need to be present to humanize the situation and make us care, but at what point is it pandering? I know the show can’t just be about the investigation, or else it would be a procedural, but they need to serve and evolve just like everybody else. I’m still liking them, but I worry about that going forward. How much do we need to see of the two kids dealing with the loss of the sister, the dad trying to be strong, and the mom being broken up emotionally. They’re afforded this grieving time now, but at some point I’ll need to see more out of them. Perhaps they go rogue and try and take justice into their own hands because they aren’t satisfied with the pace of the investigation.
I’m curious why we’re spending so much time with campaign of Darren Richmond. It’s not that I don’t find mayoral politics interesting, but I wonder just how essential they are to the story. It has a similar feel to Carcetti on The Wire. It really rounds out the show, but in the first three episodes, we’re getting a heavy dose of it. Perhaps they needed to just show his quest to really get a grip on the race so it his involvement with the case will have higher stakes going forward. Either way, I’d like to see a little less of the mayoral campaign politics and more of the investigation.
Since we’re on the subject of things I think we can spend less time on, I submit Sarah Linden’s love life. I know that she is supposed to leave Seattle for a retired life in Los Angeles with her new husband and kid and that the case is keeping her here. We know she’s going to get emotionally involved and she’ll see the case out, so we don’t need to spend time every episode reminding us that she has somewhere she needs to get to. We should instead spend that time developing the relationship between her and Holden. I really enjoy seeing their two different styles of detecting playing against each other. They both have things they’re hiding and have their own demons, so I’m very intrigued to see how the situation plays out.
The Killing will undoubtedly put us through a roller coaster of emotions. I for one am very excited to be on this ride with the show. I’m a sucker for a good crime story and this seems to be no exception. I hope they take their time and really deliver some great drama. If the first three episodes are any indication, I believe we’re going to be in for a great season of television.
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