“We’ve been going at it all Copernicus when we need to be Galileo on this bitch. You feel me?”
That’s Holder explaining to Linden that they are approaching the serial killer investigation from the wrong perspective. I’ve decided to begin each episodic review of The Killing with a Holder quote because he remains the absolute best part of the series and the primary reason I keep tuning in week after week.
And I need a reason to keep tuning in, because this show tries the viewers’ patience, doesn’t it? In “Eminent Domain,” Linden realizes that Ray Seward’s son saw his mother’s murder. Now Linden originally found the little boy in the closet. She didn’t notice then that the closet had glow-in-the-dark lights in the ceiling or a grate at the bottom of the door that provided a perfect viewing portal? It’s hard to buy into Linden’s righteous indignation that no one is heeding her cry that the Seward case and the current rash of murders are connected when she clearly did such a lousy job of investigating the murder the first time around.
The series also continues to make questionable dramatic choices. The previous episode ended with Kallie’s mother, Danette, realizing that her scumbag boyfriend, Joe Mills, had her daughter’s phone. The final image of her looking at Kallie’s phone in Joe’s duffle bag as he opened the door to the bathroom and loomed in the background was frightening. But does the next episode open up with Danette confronting Joe or desperately trying to escape from him? No. It opens with her running into the police station. How did Danette flee Joe? Why didn’t Danette grab Kallie’s phone as she left? The writers skipped a crucial scene.
But it is nice to see Danette suddenly caring about her missing daughter and realizing that she abandoned her adolescent teen when Kallie needed her the most. The scenes where she described taking a young Kallie to the beach were particularly touching. And Linden’s quiet rage while questioning Danette was fantastic. “It’s a shame you didn’t think of give me this information sooner,” Linden deadpans.
Once again, Linden appears to be losing her tenuous grip on reality. It’s her MO to totally get lost in a case. We know this. But still, watching her try to force Angie to identify Joe Mills was a little stomach-turning. Like Holder told her, anything garnered from that type of questioning would be inadmissible in court. And trying to seduce Skinner into letting her run with the case fell more on the side of desperate than sexy.
While everyone is searching for Joe Mills, Holder, who is going all Galileo on this bitch, begins to suspect Pastor Mike, the man who runs the shelter for runaway teens. Okay, this guy has been suspicious since he first hit the screen—I’m not a detective, and I would have brought him in for questioning by now. However, he’s probably another red herring as Linden and Holder track down the real killer. When Rosie Larsen’s killer was finally revealed at the end of last season, I simply didn’t care anymore. The show had cried wolf one too many times. And I fear the same thing is beginning to happen this season too.
But there are some high points. Peter Sarsgaard is quietly fascinating as Ray. As facts about him are slowly revealed (how about that father/son reunion), he remains an intriguing mystery. “Dying in a jump suit doesn’t make you a man,” he sorrowfully tells his father.
And I just adore the Bullet character. Bex Taylor-Klaus is the find of the season. Maybe she can get her own spin-off next season.
Other thoughts:
• Angie wondering if it would be a problem that her ring finger is missing when it comes time to get married was heart-breaking.
• Loved Holder bumming a cigarette from a wheelchair-bound patient at the hospital.
• Both security guards were MIA when Alton commits suicide. I was already a little suspicious of them. This cements it.
• I just need to point out that in 2013, Gregg Henry has played Hollis Doyle on Scandal, Rico on Bunheads and Detective Reddick on The Killing. That, my friends, is some damn fine acting.