The Killing :: First Thoughts :: Night 18

Didn't You Expect ...

When Sterling returned Rosie's locker contents to Stan, didn't you expect them both to look up to find Mitch standing in the doorway, tears in her eyes?

And when Gwen and Jamie offer a reduction of Stan's impending prison sentence in return for his reading a statement exonerating Richmond, didn't you expect all three of them to look up to find Mitch standing in the doorway, her face flashing with anger?

And then when Stan learns of Terry's involvement in Beau Soleil and throws her out of the house, didn't you expect to find that Mitch had heard the whole confession, magnifying the horror of Terry's behavior?

Or even when Richmond himself visits Stan, didn't you expect to see Mitch's fingers curl around the handlebars of the wheelchair as she leaned down to offer a push inside? [Well, no, even I didn't expect that, but it would have been nice if Mitch had made the appearance.]

But really, when Stan goes off script at the press conference, didn't you expect to transition to a television which, as the camera pulled back, revealed Mitch listening to her husband getting all passionate about justice for his dead daughter? That time, I really did expect to see her.

Special Message to Jack

Look, if you're going to engineer the escape from child protective services, then you should be high-fiving its success with your mother, not curling up in a fetal position and pouting in the passenger seat as the two of you speed away.

I Got a Bad Feeling

I am worried about Holder surviving the beating at the casino. You see, despite my promise to myself, I am watching Forbrydelsen before The Killing has officially ended. It's like getting the test questions in advance of an exam. All I can say is that I was so worried about Mitch that I just had to see if a similar meltdown had happened to her Danish counterpart, Pernille. [If you're worried too, I'll let you know that like Mitch, Pernille beds a businessman that she picks up at a hotel, and Theis, the Stan character, gets robbed by some young thugs as he wanders Copenhagen in a drunken stupor. So Mitch's troubling behavior is not straying too far from the original story.]

Jan Meyer, Stephen Holder's original incarnation, is still alive [and finally likable] by episode 15 [where I currently am], but having visited the Forbrydelsen IMDB page, I notice that Meyer appears in only 19 of the 20 episodes and is not part of the second season. Yikes. I hope they're both okay. I love Holder, and I'm starting to develop some fondness for Meyer. Having to deal with the deaths of both this coming week would be hard.

Word Count

The number of words Mitch has spoken this season:

"Reflections" = 0 words
"My Lucky Day" = 0 words
"Numb" = 22 words
"Ogi Jun" = 0 words
"Ghosts of the Past" = 108 words
"Opening" = 137 words
"Keylela" = 0 words
Grand total = 267 words—If words were dollars, we'd be stalled worse than Max and Caroline trying to save enough money to launch their cupcake business!

The Killing :: First Thoughts :: Night 17

Oh, Writers!

Terry's breakup with Michael Ames was lame. So was her explanation of their deep and meaningful "connection" when Linden and Holder interviewed her yet again. Plus, for us to buy Jasper's confrontation with his father, we first needed a scene showing what Mrs. Ames or Rosie meant to this self-absorbed young man. Otherwise, Jasper doesn't really have a reason to leave his champagne-soaked skip day to track down Dad, a man not afraid to use his fists.

But I do want to compliment you for a couple of zingers that made this episode bearable. I loved when Holder announces, "Yo, you're, like, becoming A Beautiful Mind with that board, Linden," and when Gwen tells Darren, "Well, call me if [Jamie] tries to breastfeed you."

Thanks, Jasper!

Despite their interview with you, I think the cops still believe that Rosie was a prostitute—or at least sleeping with someone too old and too powerful for her. Oh, well. They'll come around eventually. I do want to thank you, though, for inspiring my new favorite catchphrase, virgin dork, a descriptor for unsophisticated teenage bling. You know, pink, rhinestones, butterflies. "Oh, I can't wear that shirt. The color is too virgin dork" or "Oh, that print won't work with your décor! It's virgin dork!" I have a feeling I'll be using the expression all summer.

Hey, Linden!

When you asked Stan if he had had any problems with Rosie the months before her murder, and he answered, "Me and Rosie were always good," your next question should have been, "What kind of problems was she having with Mitch?" Come on, let's get this thing solved! Even I am losing patience!

And another thing, I assume that even cheap motels have a cleaning staff, so before you get all spooked about a picture on the refrigerator, consider for just a moment that housekeeping might have innocently stuck it on the freezer door, thinking that you wouldn't want your kid's artwork lost under the bed or ruined by a bucket of melting ice. The poor maid wouldn't have known the significance of that crayon drawing!

You know, I was so disappointed in the contents of Mitch's box, that I don't really care what's in your personnel file. But I'll bet we get a whole episode about your past meltdown before this season is over!

Yo, Mitch!

Rosie was a good kid. She was smart. She had good priorities for a teenager. She was an artist who could see things differently. If she had lived, her palette would have expanded beyond pink. You're not going to find answers or forgiveness from Little Red Riding Pants, who obviously did not grow up in the relatively sane and stable Larsen home and probably has good reason—an abusive step-father or an alcoholic mother—not to call home.

A girl who threatens teachers with lies about sexual harassment, who believes one poorly executed pirouette qualifies her for the Cincinnati ballet, and who robs you blind is severely damaged. She is not your Rosie!

I'm sorry that your youth as an environmental activist metamorphosed into wife and mother, but your letter to Rosie's father indicates that you made a conscious decision to follow the homemaker path. So call Stan. He can settle the motel bill and gas up the station wagon. Get on home. We need that big confrontation with Terry that has been brewing since last season.

Word Count

How many words of dialog has Mitch spoken in Season 2?

"Reflections" = 0 words
"My Lucky Day" = 0 words
"Numb" = 22 words
"Ogi Jun" = 0 words
"Ghosts of the Past" = 108 words
"Opening" = 137 words
Grand total = 267 words, not enough for even a freshman composition!

The Killing :: First Thoughts :: Night 16

The Kiss

What do we know about Stan? He's a doer, not a talker. Time and time again, we've watched him act without hesitation or concern for the consequences. Need information about Rosie's whereabouts? Grab her ex-boyfriend by the throat. Want to get the family on track? Pack up your dead daughter's room and erase her existence from the house. Cops not getting you justice quickly enough? Kidnap the suspect they're considering and bash out his brains. That Stan went seeking intimacy with the resident adult female fits the instinctual impulses that compel him.

I am not judging you, Papa Bear. If life and its complications had gotten as rough on Roseanne, Dan Conner might have looked for comfort in Jackie's arms. [Ew.]

I do wish AMC would plug the leaks about what's to come. I didn't like learning that Rosie's murder would be solved at the end of the second season. And I don't like knowing, even before the next episode airs, that the kiss is as far as the Stan-Terry connection goes.

Special Message to Mitch

I understood a road trip to, as my father puts it, "blow the cobwebs out." But you're not traveling, are you? You're just parked at that motel. Are you waiting for someone?

Now let's talk about Little Red Riding Pants. On the one hand, you were creeping me out stuffing her with all that sugar. I kept flashing to the blind witch in the woods fattening up lost children before she roasts them in the oven. Your easy fictions about your family made me question where your mind is.

On the other hand, though, you know better than to give a desperate runaway with a big, impulsive boyfriend the number of your room at a poorly maintained motel. Yeah, make it easy for the two of them to rob you! And this is TV, so you won't come back to a room in disarray. Oh, no. We'll have to watch Little Red Riding Pants first trick you into opening the door and then her boyfriend knock you to the carpet, demanding to know where the money is. Should such violence occur, I hope that they shake out that damn box you brought with you so that we finally learn what's inside.

The Box, Again

What's inside Mitch's mysterious box?

1. Terry's love letters to Stan
2. X's love letters to Mitch [X = Rosie's biological father]
3. Art supplies
4. Dead, crispy monarch butterflies
5. A gun

Special Message to Alexi

What kind of a boyfriend are you? You can track Stan like a hunter after a bear, but you didn't bother to sneak onto the ferry to discover what Rosie was doing? Shame on you!

I'll Have the Fish, Please

I think I preferred last season's string of red herrings to Season 2's endless look at how parents mess up their children. I have sympathy for Det. Linden and Alexi because of their experiences in child protective services. That Jasper has to contend with an abusive father makes me dislike him a little less.

But I don't understand Jack's father being upset with his son's care. Det. Linden has not been ignoring Jack for the 14 months that The Killing has existed, just the 2 ½ weeks of Killing time, and for much of that, Jack was under Regi's care. I am sorry that Terry doesn't get the same kind of approval from her parents that Mitch does, but Terry is an adult, and her parents aren't to blame for her own bad choices.

And we can't forget Rosie's bedroom. A teenager truly unhappy with her family would have decorated the walls with celebrities who offered fantasy escapes from her horrible existence. But Rosie chose pictures of family and friends, indicating that she had a good home life. So why would Rosie have a problem with Stan not being her biological father? And why would her good mother abandon the still living children so callously? The explanations had better be worth it!

The Killing :: First Thoughts :: Night 15

Shaking the Box

Seldom do I play with the online extras for my favorite TV shows. A series should stand on its own, and I should get everything I need from the actual episodes. If in The Killing, for example, a real clue about Rosie's murder existed exclusively in the interactive version of her bedroom, I'd feel cheated as a viewer of the show.

But that box that Mitch has in "Numb" is so enticing that I finally visited the bedroom to see if I could spot it among Rosie's possessions. This interactive feature appears to capture the bedroom that existed before the family realized Rosie was dead. Bennet's letter is still hidden in the globe; a worried message from Sterling is still on the phone.

I can't find the box anywhere—although Rosie wasn't the neatest teenager, and it could lie beneath the heap of clothes on the floor, under the bed, or in one of the drawers that, despite my insistent clicking, won't open.

The contents must be important and not necessarily Rosie's. All we can do is wait and wait until "Christmas" arrives and pray that, once the lid comes off, the box doesn't contain yet another bulky sweater so many of the female cast seem to favor.

Taking Inventory

How many situations have rocked Stan and the boys' world since Mitch left? Well, if Mitch is avoiding TV news, she doesn't know that her husband's best friend tried to assassinate Councilman Richmond and then was himself gunned down. She missed the delivery of Rosie's bloody book bag. She's unaware that her surviving children are freaking out and, despite his impressive size and baseball bat, Stan himself is fearful enough to arrange mob protection with its considerable debt to Kovarsky. And can't you imagine the earful that Detectives Linden and Holder would get if Mitch knew that they suspected her daughter of prostitution!

With all of this additional stress in Stan's life, you would think that he would need his helpmate, but Stan seems unconcerned with Mitch's absence and sympathetic to her need to vanish. Obviously, he knows something about his wife that we don't. Now what could that be?

Special Message to Gwen

Okay, you surprised me and made your flight to DC. Now get back to Seattle, girlfriend! As your phone call to Jamie revealed, you are so obviously not over Darren.

If last season we wallowed in the Larsens' grief, then this season we're immersed in your boyfriend's paralysis. People, in general, avert their eyes when they spot folks in wheelchairs because that complete loss of mobility and sensation is so horrifying. We think to ourselves, "No, please, not that for me. Please."

It's hard wanting to avert my eyes through one third of an episode every Sunday evening, so we need that boy back on the campaign trail. We need a feel-good moment! Mayor Adams needs to pay for making Darren look guilty for Rosie's death and inspiring Belko's meltdown. You can help. Book a seat back to Seattle now!

Special Message to Det. Linden

You have now spent enough time on this case to realize that the murderer won't be a typical suspect. As you and Holder go chasing after Alexi Giffords, please realize that he is just a boy who got his heart stomped by a pretty young thing, not someone who has the brains or power to pull together the three threads of The Killing. The pencil slashes on Rosie's portrait are not Alexi anticipating revenge against Stan for his father's death; no, those slashes are just a young man trying to erase his feelings for the woman who wouldn't reciprocate.

I've avoided calling you incompetent because I understand that the audience has more information than you do since we get insight into the other characters' lives when you're not present. But lately I'm beginning to worry that all the wrong trees you've barked up, all the blind alleys you've gone down will so destroy the Larsen family that Stan will end up jailed [scenes keep foreshadowing him caged], Terry dead, Mitch who-knows-where, and the Tommy and Denny in foster care getting initiated into your experiences as a child!

Rosie was depositing money into her aunt's account. Maybe Terry didn't know that Rosie was the person making those deposits, but she certainly benefitted from the money appearing. Please go question Terry more carefully!

Special Message to Jasper Ames

Skulk all you want in the background, your face pinched and your brow knitted. We're not biting that the detectives overlooked you as Rosie's real murderer. Your father, on the other hand, has had our attention for quite a while. Do you have something to share that the police should know? You don't strike me as the kind of morally upright young man who would risk losing the perks of his father's wealth to help get justice for Rosie. Surprise us! Spill what you know!

Michelle Forbes on Mitch Larsen

Need more Mitch than AMC is providing on The Killing this season? Try this very short interview at YouTube:

The Killing :: First Thoughts :: Night 14

When Will We Learn?

How often has The Killing fooled us because we so willingly embrace stereotypes? Last season, we jumped on Jasper as Rosie's killer because, well, all wealthy young people are sexually depraved. Doesn't everyone remember the Paris Hilton sex tape? Then we jumped on Bennet, the high school English teacher, because, hey, all public school employees are perverts preying on our children. Didn't an LA teacher just get arrested for feeding semen-glazed cookies to his elementary students? Next, we jumped on Councilman Richmond because, you know, all politicians are promiscuous sleazebags who operate above the law. We can just ignore the thousands of elected officials who do their jobs without becoming household names for inappropriate acts. And at the end of the first season, when we overheard Holder thanking the mysterious stranger for the photo, we jumped to the wrong conclusion about our lovable detective because, gosh, all junkies are untrustworthy—that's why we don't want that rehab facility built in our neighborhood.

But then the writers cleared all these men of the suspicions we harbored. We learned, after that vicious slap from Mr. Ames, that Jasper was himself a victim, not the victimizer. And we discovered that Bennet was operating from high moral [if not legal] principles as he hustled a living girl out of his apartment the night Rosie died. Councilman Richmond might have bought himself a hooker, but he is, we remember, unmarried, and when the news breaks, he won't have to ask a wife to make that stand-by-her-man appearance beside the confessional podium as he apologizes to his constituents for the indiscretion. And Holder, we find out, was just an unsuspecting go-between, not entrenched in the conspiracy to discredit the councilman.

So in this new season, the writers are going after the girls. We are still convinced that Rosie is a prostitute because, c'mon, all teenage girls are sluts. And now we've watched mother Mitch bed a textbook rep to reinforce the idea that apple Rosie hasn't fallen far from the family tree. [Well, we didn't actually watch the sex happen, and we should have learned from previous episodes not to trust what we don't see, but there was the more relaxed drag on the cigarette as she stares out at the motel pool ...]

Are we going to fall for these stereotypes too? I am absolutely convinced that Rosie was not a prostitute. Did we see her profile getting erased at the end of "Numb"? No. I also don't think that Kovarsky lied to Stan. I do believe that Kovarsky burned down the shoe store and destroyed the evidence of Beau Soleil's existence. You hire the mob for that kind of job! I'm sure that the councilman wasn't the only high-profile member of Seattle society who would have frequented the service but wouldn't want that fact revealed—and would have the money to disappear the business. But I am also sure that Kovarsky shared the truth with Stan and didn't, despite his high ranking this week on the Suspect Tracker, kill Rosie.

Veena Sud identifies with Rosie! So Ms. Sud is not going to have had our murder victim sneaking off to earn extra cash hooking so that the girl could buy more butterfly stickers! Something else got Rosie in trouble.

Off the Path

Since this episode began with Mitch's first glance of Little Red Riding Pants hitchhiking on the side of the road [way off the route her mother would have advised], let's take a detour ourselves from some common assumptions.

We assume that the box Mitch has brought with her is Rosie's, but is it? Rosie liked her possessions pink and emblazoned with butterflies. Could that box belong to Terry instead? Does its travel motif have any connection to the shirt Terry was wearing in "Numb," the one sporting the names of major world cities? Did Mitch discover why Rosie was depositing money into Terry's account?

Or does the box belong to Mitch herself? Has Rosie's death reawakened a life that Mitch could have had if she hadn't gotten pregnant with Rosie? Does Little Red Riding Pants remind Mitch not of Rosie but of herself at that age?

And what about that tattoo? We're not getting another pink Grand Canyon T-shirt confusion, are we? Apparently, Ogi Jun is a Killing creation. So how popular is the character in this fictionalized Seattle? Is he the tattoo to have? Is Stan's beefy moving guy [Rosie's type?] just one of many men getting inked with this character?

Special Message to Gwen

We expect you to board a plane to DC about as much as we expected Linden ever to make her flight to California. You now know that Darren didn't kill Rosie. Maybe he can explain the Beau Soleil account. Give him a chance! You had five pictures in the Season 2 cast gallery, so we know that we're not going to lose you this soon into the new season!

Special Message to Det. Holder

Look, your partner is going to need your help to solve this crime. You're a smart guy. We all cheered when you handed off the wrong book bag to the evidence lab. But as you and Linden get closer to the truth, the enemy will want to take you out, and there's no better way than to have you arrested for drug possession. So please throw out the meth you stashed in the car astray! I'm begging you!

Special Message to Councilman Richmond

I just discovered a new photo of you in the cast gallery. And in this one you're standing! Look, I don't want anyone to remain paralyzed. But I loved the realistic way the writers handled your denial of your condition in "Numb": how a hot nurse handling your penis during the catheter change didn't register, how you "felt" the doctor's touch when he didn't have a hand on you, how you began to accept after sticking yourself with the campaign button pin. All of those scenes did an amazing job communicating the horror of your paralysis. If, however, you miraculously regain feeling, then I'm going to feel betrayed because I don't think that's the reality for most people whose spines get severed. I can't imagine how a real paralyzed viewer will feel by this flight of fantasy. Here's hoping that we get another explanation for why you're upright in the new photo.

The Killing :: First Thoughts :: Night 13

A Matter of Trust

Poor Linden. Right now, our obsessed detective distrusts both her lieutenant and her partner. The audience knows that she is mistaken about Holder. So is she wrong about Lieutenant Oakes too? Is he not really part of a conspiracy to hide Rosie's real killer? Can we explain his behavior as Big Daddy concern for Sarah's mental health?

And if she's wrong to distrust her colleagues in the police department, is she also erring in the confidence she has for Dep. Attorney Niilsen, her friend in the DA's office? Some of us recognize that Niilsen is Sophie Gråbøl, the original Sara Lund of the Danish Forbrydelsen. Have we mistakenly transfered Lund's trustworthiness to Niilsen, throwing ourselves off track yet again?

Special Message for Linden

Look, girlfriend, if you can lock eyes with a crab fisherman and know in your creepy hoodoo way that he has the explanation for Richmond's wet clothes the night of Rosie's death, then you can also hear the sincerity in Holder's voice and realize he's your ally, not your enemy.

And when the photo of the tattooed arm spills out onto your motel bed, you might want to note that son Jack is reading Japanese manga and can identify the character for you!

Really?

Yo, AMC! You manage to score the original Sara Lund for your version of The Killing. We get that great moment in the parking garage when two actresses who play the same role on different continents face off, like some weird transporter accident from Star Trek. But this photo is the best you have for us? And you don't even note who the shadowy figure on the right is? For shame! Why don't we get to see Gråbøl's face too?

I wonder if the Danes have flown out Mireille Enos for a cameo on the new season of Forbrydelsen?

Rhinestones and Butterflies

The best piece of evidence that Rosie isn't a prostitute is the book bag her "killer" left on the Larsen front steps.

Women who sell their bodies to high-end clients at night do not carry pink knapsacks bedecked with peace buttons by day. Some of the sophistication required for the casino job would have carried over to the typical teen hours of Rosie's life, something that we don't see here.

Sure, I didn't own a hot pink lace bra at seventeen, but back in the day, we didn't have Victoria's Secret in every shopping mall, either, so I don't find the underwear choice all that sophisticated.

The Most Telling Line of the Evening

Oh, Terry. We already suspected that the family couldn't really count on you. So when you tell Stan that he is "all the boys have right now," we thank you for confirming that fact with your Freudian slip!

Hide the Sharp Pieces of Jewelry

I understand why Stan returns to Janek Kovarsky to ask for mob justice for Rosie's death. Stan's life is in dizzying disarray: He's lost his daughter in an especially gruesome murder. Mitch, his support at home, and Belko, his sidekick at work, are both gone—Belko in a death just as senseless and horrifying as Rosie's. And the cops, from Stan's perspective at least, are imbeciles.

But I am too skool'd in the ancients not to recognize that this request might call down even more harm on the Larsen family. Didn't Oedipus demand that the citizens of Thebes drive away the man whose pollution had sickened the city, not realizing that he himself had spawned the plague? Doesn't the seer Teiresias warn Oedipus that the king has eyes which do not see?

I don't think for one minute that Stan murdered Rosie, not even inadvertently. But I do worry that in fulfilling Stan's request, Janek will put something in motion that will annihilate the family. I so don't need a character to go Jocasta and end up hanged from the rafters.

The Killing :: First Thoughts :: Anticipating Night 13

When I watch AMC's The Killing, I identify with the cops, not the parents or the politician. I want to be the one whose interpretation of the evidence finally identifies Rosie's murderer. If I catch myself screaming at the TV, it is always advice for Detectives Linden [Mireille Enos] and Holder [Joel Kinnaman]. As I wait for this evening's new episode, I have only the new gallery shots to analyze. What do they reveal?

We can assume that Holder's "betrayal"—his fabrication of evidence that led to the arrest of mayoral candidate Darren Richmond [Billy Campbell]—gets explained in a manner that satisfies his partner. Their Season 2 photos do not reveal a big change in their attitudes toward one another or a tension that will jeopardize their working relationship. Their body language indicates that they are still a team, and those scowls reveal that they are ready to pursue the evidence wherever it takes them, even if they have to reach through the screen and drag a viewer back to Seattle for questioning.

Despite the assassination attempt, we don't see much of a shake up back at campaign headquarters, either. We can assume that Darren is sitting because a bullet through the abdomen would damage his core muscles enough that standing would be tiring and painful. Is he refusing to look us in the eye because he's ashamed that we know about his dalliances with the Beau Soleil girls? For his candidacy to have any chance at success, we must learn either that the "Orpheus" account is not his, or that the police will keep that information to themselves as their mistakes did get the poor guy shot in the first place. Jamie [Eric Ladin] can look us in the eye, but why won't Gwen [Kristen Lehman]? Should we keep her evasion in mind as Season 2 starts?

The most insight into the new season comes in the Larsen photos. We remember, of course, that mother Mitch [Michelle Forbes] abandoned Stan [Brent Sexton] and the boys in the Season 1 finale. The photo nicely communicates that separation—as well as the insinuation of Terry [Jamie Anne Allman] into the ready-made family. Why, though, is Mitch looking away? Will her distance from the day-to-day routine at home let her see something that everyone else is missing and thus solve the murder? Is she feeling guilty about abandoning her responsibilities and so cannot meet our eyes? Or is she feeling guilty about something far worse, like Rosie's death? [According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Rosie had a 20 percent chance of dying at a family member's hand.]

With the Larsen home is disarray, will Season 2 show us ...

1. Another dishwasher malfunction?
2. Cookie baking with Stan, Terry, and the boys?
3. An inappropriate kiss between Stan and Terry?
4. An inappropriate sexual encounter between Stan and Terry?

And what do we make of Mitch standing alone in a bog? Is the water—and whatever it's symbolizing—flooding or receding? Is the sky lightening or graying? Will we be happy with Mitch's development over Season 2, or did Producer/Writer Veena Sud sacrifice the mother in some shocking manner to quiet the raucous critics whose lack of patience and undeserved sense of entitlement tried to ruin show?

And did Ms. Forbes miss the Season 2 LA premiere because ...

1. the cat hacked up a hairball on the dress she planned to wear, and she found no seltzer in the fridge to clean it off?
2. unhappy with the turn her character took, she didn't want the cameras picking up the anger flashing in her eyes?
3. the negotiations with Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady to guest star as herself on next season's The Big Bang Theory ran way over?*
4. she couldn't endure another autograph collector hounding her to sign an Ensign Ro photo?

I guess we'll learn all the answers soon enough!

*How can I be the only one who has thought that Sheldon would finally have a worthy champion to defeat his nemesis Wil Wheaton in the actress who brought us Ensign Ro, Admiral Cain, and Maryann Forrester?

The Killing :: First Thoughts :: Night 12

These Things I Know

I still have my $50 as my friends have agreed that Councilman Richmond might be innocent. I know that next season I will consult the suspect tracker to confirm that my candidate is on it before I make a new bet. [Damn you, Nathan!]

I enjoyed the season finale because it mirrored in an accurate way how professionals behave. My experience has shown that in real life, professionals seldom finish any undertaking to perfection. We move, get promoted, or receive orders to drop one thing to start another. In real life, a fabricated piece of documentation stuck in a notebook to conclude a project is commonplace. Good enough suffices. In real life, we would thank Det. Holder for wrapping up the case so that the rest of us could begin our new assignments. In real life, Det. Linden might disagree with Holder's method, but she would have shrugged her shoulders, sighed, and stayed on the plane. In real life, we reach a point where advancing our lives takes precedence over getting mired in old responsibilities.

I also know, however, that good enough will not satisfy Linden. If, in the excitement of arresting a mayoral candidate, her lieutenant forgot to take her badge, I assume that she is about to flash her credentials to a stewardess, delay the departure for everyone else on board that plane, and return to headquarters. Poor Jack. And poor Holder, who has some explaining to do!

These Things I Hope Aren't True

I cannot believe that Councilman Richmond killed Rosie. I haven't always liked the character, but as I run through everything I know about him, I cannot find a single good clue that would explain his drowning that girl. He does not have the win-at-any-cost mentality that justifies murder. He doesn't seem upset when Linden discovers his Orpheus screen name and goes about his day as if everything is okay. But we have Gwen saying that he disappeared that fateful Friday night and then returned to the bed & breakfast soaking wet. I'm more inclined to think Darren was suicidal and tried unsuccessfully to drown himself than homicidal and Rosie's murderer. But then we would have the unlikely coincidence that he tried to end it all the same night—and in the same way—that Rosie died.

I still don't believe Rosie was a prostitute, either. Did I miss something? Why didn't anyone search those Beau Soleil records for Rosie's profile? We saw all of Celine/Aleena's information on the computer screen. Why didn't Linden and Holder find Rosie's if she was a girl for hire? Yes, Ms. Sud, I know teenagers have secret lives. In fact, I bet without exception we can all tell you how we misled our parents and behaved in ways that Mom and Dad would have found completely out of character. But still. Good-girl student by day, hooker by night? It won't work for me! And why was she banking her earnings under her aunt's name? Why not hide the cash in the globe with Bennet's notes?

These Things I Wish I Knew

Who is Holder helping to protect? When I think over the season, he has always enthusiastically jumped on a new suspect, without caring who it is. What we thought was Holder's inexperience might have been his intention to divert his partner [and us] from the truth—anyone, just so it's not the person who actually committed the murder. Now who could that person be?

And who is in that car? I'm betting it's Gil, his Narcotics Anonymous sponsor. That man is the only character Holder owes enough to falsify evidence for. I believe Gil really is an NA sponsor, but does he also have connections to the mob? Mayor Adams? The casino? The Democratic National Committee?

As Linden is rushing through the airport on her return back to the Seattle Police Department, will she bump into Mitch, ready to depart to places unknown, who says, "You know, I found something funny in Rosie's room," providing the clue to the real murderer?

I guess I'll have to wait a year for answers!

I found this whole experience quite fun [but exhausting]. I will continue to watch The Killing even when Mitch Larsen is no longer a character.

The Killing :: First Thoughts :: Night 11

Gettin' Skooled

So mayoral candidate Darren Richmond, more obsessed with the idea of drowning a pretty young girl than winning an election, took time out of his busy campaign schedule—at a time when anyone in Seattle would recognize him—to murder Rosie? And Rosie, a girl so shy that she could not speak up in class, so family oriented that her younger brothers could count on a bike ride with her after school, was living a secret life as a high-priced casino prostitute?

Hmmm. I hear The Killing series creator Veena Sud asking, "Have I taught you nothing, Grasshopper?"

That the councilman had involved himself in inappropriate sexual dalliances would surprise no one, especially this week. But what evidence do we have that he killed Rosie?

We know from the photos that Mayor Adams gave Gwen that Darren had spent time with Celine/Aleena, one of the Beau Soleil girls for hire. And we know that email sent to Orpheus@bockmail.com was appearing on Darren's computer. But Celine/Aleena did not say that the councilman was Orpheus, the creep who wondered what it was like to drown. Could someone with access to both Orpheus@bockmail.com and Darren's campaign email account be forwarding messages from one to the other? I control 4 email addresses from one Gmail account, so it's certainly possible. Campaign staffers, like Jamie and Gwen—and Nathan!—probably know Darren's password, and if they also have connections to the real "Orpheus," they could easily make the link. After viewing those photos, Gwen now has motivation for making Darren look bad.

The best piece of evidence that Darren didn't kill Rosie, though, was being able to face Mitch and have that very moving conversation about loss in the grocery store. [The reason I never suspected Bennet* was that he was able to rescue Mitch from the high school hallway, take her into his classroom, and share Rosie's favorite poetry with her.] That kind of human-to-human connection is not possible if a couple of nights before you were closing the trunk on the mother's bound and beaten—though still living—daughter and then pushing the car into a lake where you knew she would drown.

The second piece of evidence that Darren didn't do it was his loyalty to Bennet. If Darren had killed Rosie, why didn't he embrace Bennet as the suspect? It would have ended the investigation and protected his secret. We all know that innocent men, especially minorities, pay for crimes they didn't commit.

And Rosie as a prostitute? I am more inclined to think that our artistic Rosie was getting paid to take those beautiful photos of the Beau Soleil girls. The best piece of evidence that Rosie is not a prostitute is that Mitch had to reassemble Rosie's room after Stan packed it up. Mitch would have found something that pointed to Rosie's second life—racy underwear, perhaps, or an ATM receipt—if it existed.

Roll Up Your Sleeve, Sir

After all the mystery surrounding Jack's father, we are expected to believe that some doof—sorry, Helo!—from Chicago is the missing parent? My money is still on Darren. When Linden makes another late night visit to the councilman's condo and is studying the photos of Darren and his late wife, I see her thought balloon: "You said you loved me. You said you would leave your wife. We could have been this happy."

Draw some blood. I want a paternity test!

Step Aside, Linden! I've Solved It for You.

The medical examiner discovered that Rosie had floor cleaning solvent in her lungs and under her fingernails. Here's what must have happened: We know that Rosie and billionaire weirdo Tom Drexler have the Wapi Eagle Casino in common. They met there. Drexler invited Rosie over to help refinish the indoor basketball court. He's a weirdo, remember!

As they were working, they began to argue about the merits of Super 8 film cameras vs. HD digital camcorders. Drexler managed to hold his temper until Rosie added that analog recording and vinyl records far surpassed the depth and warmth of music recorded digitally. As a man who had amassed his fortune in software development and the digital revolution, Drexler could not let that remark slide. He struck Rosie, who fell unconscious into a puddle of solvent, snuffling some of it into her lungs.

When Gwen and Nathan arrived—remember, in Seattle you just show up at all hours, and remember, no one has confirmed Gwen's alibi for Friday night!—Drexler promised that he would help the Richmond campaign in any way if they got rid of the body. Thank god, Gwen had Nathan in tow, as her gym time hadn't developed enough arm muscle to wrestle a body in and out of a car.

The two staffers planned just to dump Rosie in the park, but when they opened the trunk, Rosie leaped out. A chase through the woods ensued. Rosie tripped over a tree root and knocked herself unconscious on a rock. Nathan and Gwen could not rouse her and assumed she was dead. Panicky, Nathan pointed out that DNA evidence now existed in the trunk, so they loaded Rosie back in and pushed the vehicle into the lake, assuming that no one would find it. They did not know that Rosie was actually alive. And, of course, they never accounted for Det. Linden's super crime-scene sixth sense.

Sorry, sorry. I'm just punchy after two and half months of having to think too much.

Video Teasers

Michelle Forbes discusses The Killing, among other things, here:



And Brent Sexton indicates that the season finale will surprise us all:

*Now watch us discover that Bennet did do it!

The Killing :: First Thoughts :: Night 10

If I subtitled this post, I'd call it "So Far out in Left Field I'm on Hockey Ice."

Has The Killing creative team gotten us so fixated on Rosie's murderer that we're not noticing while it sneaks in another big reveal just as shocking? One statement will answer all of these questions:

1. In "Stonewalled," Det. Linden discovers that son Jack has forwarded Rosie's crime scene photos to his friends. After she reprimands him, Jack asks, "Why don't you send me to live with Dad?" Why does Linden answer, "Your dad left ten years* ago, so that probably won't happen. I'm all you've got"?
2. In "I'll Let You Know When I Get There," Regi comes home to find Jack and his friends smoking and drinking on her boat. Why does the exasperated Regi state, "It's not like I can call his dad"? And why does Linden say in response, "Of course you can't! It's all on me, Regi"?
3. In the same episode, why does Linden go in person to Councilman Richmond's condo so late at night to deliver the news that Bennet has been beaten, apologize for being wrong, and share a glass of Scotch?
4. And, in the same episode, why does fiancé Rick not offer to take Jack to Sonoma so that Linden can solve Rosie's case in peace? [Taking Jack would have guaranteed that Linden eventually arrive!]
5. In "Missing," when Det. Holder asks, "What about his real dad?" why does Linden shut him down with "Enough with the twenty questions"?
6. And, in the same episode, why is there no time spent on the campaign storyline?
7. And what piece of information would really integrate the campaign storyline into the rest of the series?
8. Councilman Richmond must have a dark secret; all politicians do. I really don't think he killed Rosie, so what don't we know about the councilman?
9. And what knowledge, in the previews for "Beau Soleil," is Mayor Adams trying to share with Gwen?

The answer? Jack is the secret bastard son of Councilman Richmond. Jack certainly didn't get that shock of dark hair from his mother. You heard this nonsense here first!

Alas, I probably just have former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former US senator John Edwards on the brain. Although I am also thinking that the writers have missed a huge opportunity here. Or maybe they haven't. We'll see.

*The councilman has been in public office ten years.

The Killing :: First Thoughts :: Night 9

Seven Seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street Taught Me Something

One of my favorite episodes of Homicide is "In Search of Crimes Past." A convicted murderer on death row is facing execution, so his daughter, convinced of Dad's innocence, kidnaps Colonel Barnfather to force another look at her father's case. Lieutenant Giardello orders Stanley Bolander, the original primary, to reinvestigate. Bolander learns that a bartender withheld a piece of important information—not maliciously but because Bolander hadn't asked the right question during the interview. The episode ends with Bolander wondering how many times in how many investigations he neglected to ask the right question.

One of the things that I love about The Killing is that we [both the audience and the detectives] get caught up in the action and fail to ask for really simple—though potentially important—information. It's day 10 in the murder investigation, and there's a lot we don't know.

For example, what does Terry do for a living? The first time I saw her, I thought steak-house waitress, a profession that would leave her free during the day to hang with Mitch and the kids. Next, based on her style of dress, I decided bartender, maybe. Then, when her mother came to the house and said to Mitch, "Yeah, some life your sister has!" I wondered if she was an escort, a call girl, a "masseuse"?

Now I'm wondering if she's a blackjack dealer or a cocktail waitress at the Wapi Eagle Casino. Why hasn't anyone asked for Terry's whereabouts that fateful Friday night? I don't think that Terry killed Rosie, but I'm wondering if she has an important piece of information that the right question will reveal.

If Fingertips Had Eyes

I'm still convinced the shoes are important. That evidence bag containing them just sat right in front of Linden all episode. She threw the bag into the box when she learned Bennet was hurt; she obviously handled it again when she spread all of the evidence back onto the table. Would someone please reexamine the shoes and ask, "Where did Rosie get these?"

T.O.D.

Why are we [the audience and the detectives] convinced that Rosie died Friday night? The coroner indicated that her time of death was anywhere from Friday through Monday, the long stretch a result of the soaking in the car trunk. The detectives, though, ask for Friday night alibis. Just because the Richmond campaign car was reported missing on Saturday morning doesn't mean it went into the lake Friday night. Rosie might have been alive Saturday or Sunday, making everyone's Friday night alibi irrelevant!

I loved that an intern found campaign video with the councilman shaking Rosie's hand. Our victim making contact with the candidate in a crowd of supporters was an instant reminder of the photos that emerged after Independent Counsel Ken Starr accused President Clinton of having improper contact with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Are we supposed to make a connection between Clinton and Richmond? Clinton denied having "sexual relations" with Lewinsky even though the blue dress proved he did. Richmond denies involvement with Rosie. Should we believe him?

Gwen may have provided an alibi for Darren on Friday night, but what about Saturday? Sunday? We've learned that he likes to sneak off by himself. I think the councilman might be the last of the red herrings. I predict the video will get leaked, and we [the audience and the detectives] will have to reinvestigate poor Darren one more time, but he's off my suspect list. There would be no satisfaction in discovering that he murdered Rosie.

Temporal Relativity, Again

Despite what others are saying, Linden is not a bad cop. We've had two months to figure out who killed Rosie Larsen—plus, fly-on-the-wall status that has given us information Linden doesn't know. So who is it, huh? We don't know! Linden has had only ten days, and I'd wager that she figures it out long before we do.

Special Message to Papa Bear

The Stan we know would have "finished business" with the teacher, but I really like you, and Washington State has the death penalty. So I am now happy that you didn't kill Bennet, and I have to hope that he not only lives but also recovers.

Oh, Please, No

The cheesiest ending for Season 1 would be Bennet regaining consciousness during Amber's first visit with their newborn daughter.

The Killing :: First Thoughts :: Night 8

The Adriana Moment

After watching "Undertow" on Sunday, I thought The Killing might have reached The Adriana Moment for me. The Adriana Moment is when a television show makes me feel so disgusted with my species—and with me as a member of it—that I can't follow the story any longer; it refers to the episode of The Sopranos when, on Tony's orders, Silvio executes Adriana. Yes, Adriana had provided information to the FBI. No, she wasn't exactly a civilian; she was involved—at the periphery, not in important ways—in mob business. But still. Sweet, dumb Adriana? Driven into the woods—there we go again—and shot? Her death was nauseating, but I, like the rest of the audience, experienced the story from Tony's perspective. He had a family, a "business," a lifestyle to protect. She had to die. And when I understood that necessity, I quit watching. I was horrified that on one level I agreed with Tony's orders. I didn't tune in again until the series finale when I hoped Tony would get his [while simultaneously praying that he didn't].

So when Stan [my favorite character] killed* Bennet [my second favorite character], I was really upset. Was Bennet's kidnapping and beating plausible? Certainly. Motivated? Yes. Stan didn't know what the audience did, that Detectives Linden and Holder—and Mitch with the discovery of Rosie's actual pink T-shirt—had cleared Bennet of guilt**, and so, as an archetypal figure who had demonstrated perfect grief, his perfect rage should not have surprised me. But still. The poor little frog who just wanted his place at the table? Punched and kicked, his head cracked, no prince magically emerging after the violence? I felt that same disgust with my species that Adriana's death had provoked.

Bloody Lips, Eh?

But then, my interest in the story, my commitment to continue watching, was saved.

I learned early in this project not to read anyone else's thoughts on a work until after I had written my own. Good writers can persuade me to arrive at opinions I wouldn't reach myself, so I avoid their reviews until I have written mine.

With The Killing, however, I have followed the weekly episode recaps/analyses at The Los Angeles Times and New York Magazine. [I rationalize this indulgence by telling myself that these posts of mine are not really reviews.] So on Monday morning, I wanted to see what the professionals had to say. I was shocked to discover that Todd VanDerWerff of The Los Angeles Times and Andy Greenwald of New York Magazine were blaming the series, the genre—not Stan's horrific action, not the consequences of it, not their own willingness to embrace the teacher as suspect—for the bad taste that "Undertow" had left in their mouths.

Obviously, all the fat red herrings, dangled on sharp hooks, had bloodied up these boys' lips. Instead of taking responsibility for swallowing so many of them in the first place, they were now faulting the series for cheap coincidences.

Don't you guys get it? Thirteen [13!] hours on one [1!] murder means that this show is a game, a puzzle, a tussle, like the purchase of a used car from a salesman with a combover. You cannot be a passive viewer, upset that you've been tricked, outfoxed, suckered into a higher price than you needed to pay. You have to expect that your opponent is smarter [in this matter], cheating you, fooling you! This is where the fun is!

And by the way, if this series had been set in New York, no one would find two "I ♥ NY" T-shirts improbable; if this series had been set in Florida, two girls owning pink Walt Disney World T-shirts would not be out of the question. The Grand Canyon and Seattle are both West US; the two T-shirts [not identical—go back and look] do not seem a cheap coincidence. The Grand Canyon is a close enough destination for Washington families to take their kids on vacation.

I think the real reason these writers were upset is that like the unthinking masses they believe themselves too educated and worldly to be a part of, they too had thought the worst of a teacher—one who had a believable explanation every time the evidence pointed his way. I'm not certain why this teacher bashing happens. My theory is that young people are pulled in two directions: where their parents want them to go [same church, same political leanings, same social class] and where their teachers indicate they can go. Most people follow the path their families have laid out, and they later resent their teachers for inspiring dreams they didn't have the courage to pursue. This resentment turns into voting decisions that punish teachers with low pay and little respect—all the while, everyone still expects sacrifices and miracles in the classroom that Jesus himself would tire of performing. For every Mary Kay Letourneau, thousands of teachers leave for school every morning—as Bennet tried to do—to do their jobs, and well.

So I am ready to go head-to-head with The Killing creative team to try to determine who the bad guy is. I don't mind if future episodes prove me wrong. It's all part of the fun.

Plausibility and Satisfaction

I'm still convinced the $2,000 shoes and the end-of-the-line bus rides are important early clues that Linden and Holder did not given sufficient attention. Who has the money to purchase such expensive footwear for Rosie? Who would have an interest in the basketball program?

Councilman Richmond: Darren is the sponsor of the Seattle All-Stars and has a sizable campaign budget, so he might have met Rosie at the All-Star headquarters and could swing the purchase of the shoes. Clues of his involvement include 1) no one checking Gwen's claim that she was with him, out of town, the weekend Rosie disappeared [so he might not actually have an alibi], and 2) the freaky spider-in-a-web reflection when he smashes the bathroom mirror, which inspires that Oh-what-tangled-webs-we-weave-when-first-we-practice-to-deceive rhyme in my head. Plausible? No, I can't see Darren and Gwen pushing that big black car—their own expensive shoes caking with shore muck—into the lake. Satisfying? Only for people who like to see the really virtuous toppled as hypocrites.

Mayor Adams: We know the mayor is a sleaze. Clues of his involvement include 1) shady development deals giving the mayor enough money to buy designer shoes, and 2) the discovery of Rosie's body in a Richmond campaign car, which has certainly helped him pull ahead in the polls. Plausible? Not really. Unlike Stan, for instance, he does not seem capable of getting his hands the kind of dirty that would require chasing Rosie through the woods, tying her up, and drowning her in the trunk. Satisfying? No, we want someone whose sleaziness comes as an unexpected surprise.

Tom Drexler: Our Seattle billionaire seems so numb to regular human pleasures that his stimulation includes illegal cage fights and $5 million free-throw bets. Was he playing midnight pick-up games in the bad part of town to feel something, anything—and there met Rosie? Would his amorality and world weariness inspire him to stage a "Most Dangerous Game," where the wealthy aristocrat hunts another human being for sport? Plausible? Hardly. Satisfying? No. We have only fanciful speculation, no hard clues. Our satisfaction will arrive from seeing where we erred in our interpretation of real evidence.

Michael Ames: Jasper's father has the money to buy the shoes. He doesn't have a connection to the Seattle All-Stars—or to basketball, for that matter—but he does have two connections to Rosie, his son and Rosie's Aunt Terry.*** We know he doesn't mind getting his hands dirty, as we saw him slap Jasper on the first evening. And like Bennet, he came to the wake, was in Mitch's house, ate her food. That the wrong man paid for that affront would be a nice piece of irony. Plausible? If Mr. Ames had "stolen" Rosie from Jasper, it would explain Kris's comment that Jasper hated Rosie. Satisfying? I certainly wouldn't mind the man who raised such an entitled little prick eventually going down.

Okay, creative team, prove me wrong!

*Bennet needs to be dead. Stan knows what he's doing. On life support in an intensive care unit will not work for me, as much as I like both Bennet and Stan.

**That Bennet is the actual killer—his vindication after Muhammed's interrogation the biggest, fattest, juciest red herring of them all—is still possible. Although after chaperoning the dance so late and moving Aisha to a safer location, when would he have had time to kill and dispose of a body? That's too busy a night for anyone.

***I won't be surprised to learn that Aunt Terry inadvertently set up Rosie's death. Even she might not know it yet. Maybe a "girls' night out" while the clueless parents were camping initiated Rosie's meeting with her murderer. Maybe that explains what Rosie's textbooks were doing in Terry's car.